A recent study performed by researchers at Cambridge University and the University of Warick from the United Kingdom, found that oversleeping increase the risk of a stroke. The results of the study were published in the journal Neurology.
The study showed that people who got more than eight hours of sleep a night had an increased risk of developing a stroke, when compared to people who slept 6 to 8 hours per night. It was also discovered that people who changed their sleeping habits from less than 6 hours of sleep per night to 8 hours quadruple their risk of developing a stroke later on in life.
The scientists haven’t really managed to translate the results of the study and explain why oversleeping increases the risk of a stroke.
The researchers used data from a previous cancer study, the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer which was conducted over a decade. The study collected information from 9,500 Brits with ages between 40 and 79, about eating habits, stress levels and sleep patterns and habits, among other things.
The scientists who analyzed the data also took into account other factors that could have influenced the outcome, such as body mass index (BMI), family history, cardiovascular disease, age and smoking.
Researchers found that 350 participants experienced a stroke during the 10 years of the study and 67 people died as a result of a stroke. After careful examination of the data, it was concluded that people who slept more than 8 hours a day had a much higher possibility of developing a stroke. It was also noticed that women who overslept were more predisposed at having a stroke than men were.
Yue Leng, doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, said that it is apparent from the data collected from the participants that there is a link between sleeping longer than 8 hours and an increased risk of stroke.
It was noted by the scientists study that more research is needed to validate the current results. The main reason is that the study does not prove causation, only correlation. Researchers concluded that oversleeping is also a sign of other health issues, such as neurological deterioration, depression and cancer.
Image Source: Reddit
Until now, the purpose of eyelashes was thought to only be that of protecting the eyes against dust and small debris, but a new study has revealed that the purpose of eyelash length is that of protecting the eyes from frying out. The results of the study were published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
David Hu, lead author of the study and researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was prompted to research eyelashes after seeing his newborn child’s eyelashes. Joined by graduate students and colleagues, he set out to find why eyelashes are the length they are.
The researchers measured the lashes of various mammals and then proceeded to make an artificial eye with lashes which they placed inside a wind tunnel. They also measured the eyelashes of 22 species of mammals that were preserved at the American Museum of Natural History and found that the measurements showed the constant relation to the eye size.
The next step was to create mathematical models of airflow over the eyelashes and after careful examination of the results, they determined that lashes are almost always about one third as long as the eye is wide. This measurement appears to be ideal for diverting the airflow around the eye and helping reduce evaporation. The experiments in the wind tunnel corroborated the mathematical data.
Steven Vogel, professor at Duke, studies related issues in biomechanics and catalogued the results of the study as being terrific. He continued to say that now people know why eyelashes are the length they are.
Guillermo Amador, study co-author and a graduate student at Georgia Tech, stated:
[We] expected that longer eyelashes would be better. Instead, it seems like nature has come to this optimal eyelash length to help protect the eye, and making eyelashes any longer doesn’t really benefit them.
In humans, eyelashes have an additional role in seduction and sex, or to put it bluntly, in performing mating rituals. Dr. Hu said that, while that may be true for some species, the changing airflow around the eyes is so important that the proportion of the eyelash length to eye width does not change, from elephants to rabbits to humans.
Image Source: Pixabay
Barbie dolls have always kept up with the Joneses, that’s why a new model will reportedly be an internet connected version of the worldwide famous doll. In order to make this happen, Mattel will be partnering with US ToyTalk, so as to develop Hello Barbie, the doll that will have two-way conversations with children.
ToyTalk must develop a speech-recognition platform in order to make this happen, but things are going pretty fast, as prototype of the doll has already been presented at the New York Toy Fair on February 14th, among other super smart toys.
“The number one request we hear from girls around the world is that they want to have a conversation with Barbie. Now, for the first time ever, Barbie can have a two-way conversation,” said a spokeswoman for Mattel,”
a spokesman for Mattel explained.
The Hello Barbie model will be able to play games with children and also tell stories and even jokes. But the coolest thing is that the doll will also listen to conversations and be able to adapt to them over time. For instance, in case a child mentions that he/she likes to ride a bike, the doll may refer to this in a future chat between them.
Hello Barbie will be given dialogue schemes based on what kids are most likely to say or ask, and due to the fact that the doll is internet connected, the scriptwriters in charge with its conversational skills will be able to load additional conversations after purchasing the doll. Mattel assures its clients that Hello Barbie will be easily updated with new phrases at some later dates.
Both ToyTalk and Mattel don’t want to stop here, but develop the technology even further, so that the doll will be able to talk to kids regarding their future career dreams and help them decide what they would love to do in life. However the doll can also be used as a regular toy if one decides not to take advantage of its internet connection, or anytime internet connection is unavailable.
The doll will reportedly cost $74.99, but an exact release date hasn’t been offered yet.
An apparent dispute regarding Facebook posts lead to the killing of a 13-year old boy by an 18-year old one. Roberto Madrigal, 18, is charged with first degree murder after shooting a 13-year old boy last Sunday in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
According to the Chicago police, Anthony Diaz was shot about 10:35 p.m. on Sunday. Diaz and his two sisters aged 15 and 17 had just left the house after a Facebook confrontation in which the girls had been involved, according to information provided by the boy’s father, Ralph Otero, 47. And while they were confronting some other girls regarding a Facebook issue and Diaz was recording the fight with his smartphone, he was shot in the chest all of a sudden. The boy was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital about an hour later.
This Friday the 18-year-old Roberto Madrigal was charged with first-degree murder for killing Anthony. Madrigal was also scheduled to appear for a bond hearing on Friday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building.
“I’m devastated. The mom is devastated. We’re all in shock. My pastors are very devastated, because he’s a good kid. He was a good kid, honors student, and outgoing person. (…) All I ask is for justice. I don’t wish them harm. I don’t wish them anything bad, but unfortunately, we’re on this Earth, and we’ve got to pay for our mistakes,”
Ralph Otero, the boy’s step father said.
But in the meantime scandals are likely to go on, because according to Anthony’s mother, Laura de Domenico, her 17-year-old daughter is in a street gang and has had previous problems with the police. The woman explained how her daughter has a bone to pick with everybody and enjoys getting into fights. She is also afraid because after she learned that her little brother had passes away, the teen girl promised retaliation. Now both her parents are striving to make her change her mind so as to avoid other potential further tragedies in the family.
The mother admitted she was going to cry for her son for the rest of her life.
Neither of the parents know what the fight between the two boys had been about. Otero and his wife were sleeping when they got the call from Anthony’s oldest sister.
Hymalaia is an instrument resembling an icebox with the help of which scientists have been able to determine the exact texture of a comet. And these findings, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, are pretty reassuring.
The lead author of the study is Antti Lignell, who is a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
“A comet is like deep fried ice cream,”
according to Murthy Gudipati of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who is a corresponding author the recent study.
“The crust is made of crystalline ice, while the interior is colder and more porous. The organics are like a final layer of chocolate on top.”
What happens is that as a comet is getting closer to the Sun, its surface, otherwise rather soft, crystallises and hardens. Thus water-ice crystals form, which become denser and more ordered, while other molecules containing carbon are expelled towards the surface of the comet, resulting in a crunchy comet crust that’s “seasoned” with organic dust.
This is not the first time scientists have announced that comets have hard surfaces and soft interiors. This theory was also confirmed as Rosetta’s Philae landed on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last year. Not to mention the Deep Impact mission that looked into the same issues among other things.
Lignell and Gudipati put together a closely resembling model of crystallising comet crust and began their experiments with amorphous (porous) ice, which is by excellence the proposed composition of some of the chilliest comets and icy moons.
The icy comet surfaces are different from the ice we have here on Earth because of the fact that we don’t have temperatures that are so low so as to form amorphous ice on the planet. So the scientists involved in this discovery used the Himalaya instrument in order to slowly warm up amorphous ice mixtures from minus 243 to minus 123 degrees Celsius, thus imitating the conditions a comet would have to go through throughout its journeys towards the Sun.
Both scientists regard comets as time capsules that contain within themselves clues to our planet’s history and to the birth of our solar system.
A US soldier who has just returned from West Africa and was found dead near his Texas base where he has been posted was not infected with Ebola. Army officials have been awaiting the results of more conclusive tests after the initial screening which also showed that the soldier was not suffering from Ebola infections.
Post officials said in a statement said, “There is no evidence of a public health threat or EVD (Ebola virus disease) exposure to community or law enforcement officials involved in the current investigation of the death of a Ft. Hood soldier.”
The cause of death or the identity of the soldier has not been released. The soldier had recently returned to Fort Hood in central Texas on emergency leave, post officials said.
Every soldier who returns after a stint in West Africa have to monitor themselves twice daily and report his status to medical officials.
Killeen police spokeswoman Carol Smith told Reuters on Tuesday, “We are not saying Ebola at all. It’s just that because of the circumstances from West Africa, we are erring on the side of caution.”
The North American Auto Show is scheduled to open on January 12th but it seems Toyota is impatient to showcase next iteration – The Tacoma pickup. Toyota has released the first pictures of its midsize pickup. The beefier-looking 2016 Tacoma midsize truck will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show on Monday.
The new ‘Taco’ boasts a larger, hexagonal grille, narrower headlamps, and more details imprinted into the doors and tailgate. But the pickup retains the familiar look.
The truck is about the same size as its predecessor and Toyota assures that it will have “new, rugged tech” and that its “off-road prowess is more formidable than ever.”
Tacoma has maintained its position as the best selling midsize pickup in America. However it is not going to be a smooth ride with new entrants into the market like the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which offer more power and efficiency than Toyota’s current truck.
A Decade long Diabetes Control and Complications Trial or DCCT which was followed by Epidemiology of Diabetes Control and Complications (EDIC) study reveals that reducing HbA1c to 7% rather as compared to the standard practice to 9% in Type I diabetes reduced the complications from 35% to 75%. It established the importance of intensive therapy as the criteria for care.
At the American Diabetes Association meeting in 2013, researchers had reported that diabetics on intensive therapy had a 46% reduced risk of retinopathy, 39% reduced risk of microalbuminuria and 61% reduced risk of macroalbuminuria.
The trial involved 1,441 ‘type I Diabetic’ subjects with no complications at baseline. The subjects were randomized for both intensive and conventional treatment for an average of 6.5 years and all the data collated from 1429 patients at the end of the follow up totaled 27 years.
The study reveals that the intense control group had significantly lower risk of death. Higher HbA1c levels were associated with all-cause mortality
The two leading oil companies in the world, Chevron and Exxon, have reported that they experienced an increase in profits for the third quarter of the year with positive performances from their processing plants which make up for the weak outcomes at their production businesses.
Not a lot of people expected that the two companies will meet their targets that are now seen on the charts. This is mainly because there were only a few who believed in what the huge refineries are able to give to the major players in the oil industry.
Now with what Chevron and Exxon showed for their third quarter profits, there is already a solid proof that refinery profits will go up if there is a major decline in oil retail prices.
The largest listed oil company in the world, Exxon, has reported $8.07 billion of net income for the first three months until the 30th of September. This net income shows that there’s been an increase of 3% in the company’s profits as compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, Chevron has reported a net income of $5.6 billion which is 12% higher than what it earned in 2013.
In spite of the boost in third quarter revenues, Chevron and Exxon still reported that they are having a difficult time in keeping the numbers higher to meet their fourth quarter targets. The two made an assurance though that they will continue to extend extra efforts to make sure that there would be no big turmoil in the market.
The earnings of AMMB Holdings Bhd, a banking group jumped RM445.82mil during the second quarter ending September 30, compared to last year’s RM440.85mil, mainly helped by lower expenses and higher operating income.
On Wednesday, the company said revenues slid to RM2.21bil compared to last year’s RM2.38bil. Company earnings for every share were at 14.81 sen, and announced a 12 sen a share for dividend.
The company’s second quarter results showed a decrease in its insurance commission and claims, while some operating income jumped to RM268.87mil. AMMB’s operating profit has been recorded higher than last year, reporting an RM633.06mil total operating profit. Other company expenses decreased to RM491.22mil.
Company earnings jumped to RM982.76mil for the last 6 months ending September 30, while its revenue increased to RM4.793bil. The company’s existing savings account composition remained steady at 20%, reporting 3.6% growth.
Ashok Ramamurthy, AMMB managing director, said the company’s performance in the year’s first half is a reflection of current transformation initiatives. The company’s recent, and newly-implemented combined wholesale banking model is gaining motion in preferred segments and sectors.
The director also said that the company is restructuring its loan portfolio, aiming for stronger growth within targeted segments. AMMB net loans increased 1.4% as a reflection of the company’s careful credit risk efforts in selected retail segments, including the restructuring of its coverage by sector and segment in non-retail loans.
The company reported RM621.2mil pre-tax revenue during the second quarter ending September 30, lower than the previous quarter profit of RM725.8mil ending June 30.
The company stated that the results were largely attributed to some lower operating income, deficiencies on monetary investments, including contingencies and commitments provisions.