Open Your Eyes News

Too Much Aluminum in Infant Formulas, UK Researchers Find

biochemist — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:02:16 +0000

ScienceDaily — The aluminum content of a range of the most popular brands of infant formulas remains high, and particularly so for a product designed for preterm infants and a soya-based product designed for infants with cow’s milk intolerances and allergies, researchers have found. Read article

Bahrain should investigate torture allegations: rights group

sonyamac — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:01:10 +0000

AFP – “Bahraini authorities should immediately investigate… allegations of torture and guarantee the physical and psychological well-being of the four men,” Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East director at HRW, said in the late-Wednesday statement. Abduljalil al-Singace, a leading figure in the mainly-Shiite opposition association Haq, told Bahrain’s attorney general in late August that he had been tortured by security forces while in detention over the previous 15 days, HRW said. Read Article

Scientists Identify Protein That Spurs Formation of Alzheimer’s Plaques

biochemist — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:30:12 +0000

ScienceDaily — In Alzheimer’s disease, the problem is beta-amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and causes nerve cells to weaken and die. Drugs designed to eliminate plaques made of beta-amyloid have a fatal problem: they need to enter the brain and remove the plaques without attacking healthy brain cells. New research from the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner Paul Greengard, however, suggests that treatments modeled on the blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec could be the solution. Read article

Keeping the mind active staves off dementia at first but speeds it up later

biochemist — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:00:33 +0000

Daily Telegraph – The research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as brain training games, crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio protect the brain from memory loss and slowing of thought. But later on, they exacerbate the speed at which conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease take hold. Dr Robert Wilson, of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, said the benefits of an active mind may come at a cost later in life – although he did not know why. Read article

Anti-abortion group targets Democrats in radio ads

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:01:07 +0000

Associated Press – An anti-abortion group plans to air radio ads in three congressional races calling for the defeat of Democratic incumbents, among the first ads to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling this year that freed corporations to directly influence elections. The group, AUL Action, is targeting Democratic Reps. John Boccieri of Ohio, Christopher Carney of Pennsylvania and Baron Hill of Indiana. AUL Action is the legislative arm of the nonprofit Americans United for Life. Ad spending is on a record pace as outside groups raise more money from corporations, individuals and unions. Read Article

Scientific breakthrough to pave the way for human stem cell factories

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:30:05 +0000

PhysOrg.com — Large scale, cost-effective stem cell factories able to keep up with demand for new therapies to treat a range of human illnesses are a step closer to reality, thanks to a scientific breakthrough involving researchers at The University of Nottingham. Read article

Psychoactive drugs: From recreation to medication

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:00:30 +0000

New Scientist – …illegal drugs are not generally associated with the lab bench. Now, for the first time in decades, that is starting to change. For almost 40 years, mainstream research has shied away from investigating the therapeutic benefits of drugs whose recreational use is prohibited by law. But a better understanding of how these drugs work in animal studies, and the advancement of brain-imaging techniques, has sparked a swathe of new research. What’s more, clinical trials of MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and other psychoactive drugs are starting to yield some positive results. Read article

‘Significant damage’ reported after New Zealand quake

notizio — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:59:48 +0000

MSNBC-Some evacuated with water, power, bridges, roads out across city of 350,000. About 1,000 residents of a suburb were told to evacuate their homes Saturday after a major earthquake caused extensive damage in Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-largest city, authorities said. Two men were seriously injured and scores of other people suffered less serious injuries in the aftermath of the quake, which registered 7.0 on the Richter scale at 4:35 a.m -Read Article

Fears grow over global food supply

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:00:46 +0000

Financial Times – Wheat prices rose further on Friday morning in the wake of Russia’s decision to extend its grain export ban by 12 month, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08. In Mozambique, where a 30 per cent rise in bread prices triggered riots on Wednesday and Thursday, the government said seven people had been killed along with 288 wounded. The announcement by Vladimir Putin on Thursday extended an export ban first announced last month until late December 2011, sending wheat and other cereals prices to near a two-year high. Read Article

Australian:First locusts hatch in predicted record plague

notizio — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:57:27 +0000

ABC-The New South Wales Government says the first plague locust nymphs have hatched in the north and central-west, signalling the start to what is predicted to be the state’s worst outbreak in 30 years. Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan says warmer weather over the weekend triggered the insect eggs to hatch -Read Article

Number of illegal immigrants in US now declining

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:00:25 +0000

AP — The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in two decades – decreasing by 8 percent since 2007, a new study finds. The reasons range from the sour economy to Mexican violence and increased U.S. enforcement that has made it harder to sneak across the border. Much of the decline comes from a sharp drop-off in illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America and South America attempting to cross the southern border of the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which based its report on an analysis of 2009 census data. Read article
Related article: Obama signs $600 million border security bill

RBS cuts 3,500 UK jobs

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:00:50 +0000

Guardian – The total number of British jobs axed by RBS and Lloyds TSB, both of which were bailed out by the taxpayer and are still part owned by the government, reached almost 45,000 today. RBS announced that it was axing 3,500 back-office jobs as a result of the sale of 318 of its branches to Santander, a move demanded by EU regulators in return for the bank’s £54bn government bailout almost two years ago. That takes the total number of posts lost since Stephen Hester took over as chief executive two years ago to almost 27,000. Read Article

Botox Maker Settles Case for $600 Million

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:11 +0000

NY Times – The specialty pharmaceutical company Allergan has agreed to pay $600 million to settle civil and criminal accusations that it illegally marketed Botox, the drug used in antiwrinkle injections, for medical uses for which the drug had not been approved. In the settlement with the Justice Department, the company agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge and pay $375 million to the government for misbranding — making statements about a drug for a use not approved in the product label by the Food and Drug Administration. Read article

Mass Extinction Threat: Earth on Verge of Huge Reset Button?

notizio — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:50:34 +0000

Live Science-Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems -Read Article

Drug shootout with army kills 25 in Mexico

The Historian — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:30:49 +0000

Reuters – At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release. Soldiers were sent to the location after an airborne patrol sighted armed men outside a building. Fighting began when the men opened fire on the troops. Read Article

Alcohol ID checks ‘infantilising’ young adults, says survey

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:02:17 +0000

Guardian – Constant ID checks in supermarkets and off-licences are “infantilising” young adults and confusing shoppers about legal age limits, a report by a civil liberties group claims today. The survey by the Manifesto Club suggests that cashiers’ over-zealous questioning of customers in their 20s is “penalising thousands of innocent” people and forcing them to carry their passports all the time. Read Article

Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:35:13 +0000

NY Times — At 18 months, Kyle Warren started taking a daily antipsychotic drug on the orders of a pediatrician trying to quell the boy’s severe temper tantrums. Thus began a troubled toddler’s journey from one doctor to another, from one diagnosis to another, involving even more drugs. Autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia, oppositional defiant disorder. The boy’s daily pill regimen multiplied: the antipsychotic Risperdal, the antidepressant Prozac, two sleeping medicines and one for attention-deficit disorder. All by the time he was 3. Read article

RFID patent pool prices up wireless

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:53 +0000

Register – The RFID Consortium has opened for business after five years of negotiations, providing a one-stop shop for all the patents needed to manufacture RFID tags and readers. The negotiations were drawn out by the large number of patents involved and concerns that a single pool might attract attention from anti-trust regulators. But now anyone wanting to create RFID tags can do so with a single licence from the Consortium, with an early bird discount price of 80 cents per thousand tags in place until March next year. Read Article

Women now make up 10pc of board members

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:00:30 +0000

ABC – The Australian Institute of Directors says the number of women in power at the country’s top companies has reached a “landmark” level. The proportion of women on boards at the ASX 200 companies hit 10 per cent yesterday with the appointment of Sam Mostyn to the board of Virgin Blue. So far this year, more than one in four new directors have been women, compared to one in 20 last year. John Colvin, from the Australian Institute of Company Directors, says the number of women appointed to ASX 200 boards has risen rapidly this year. Read article

UK House prices fall again in August, says Nationwide

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:33:04 +0000

BBC – House prices fell for the second month in a row in August, according to the Nationwide building society. Prices fell 0.9% last month, following a 0.5% decline in July, Nationwide said, adding that it was the first time that prices had fallen for two consecutive months since February 2009. The average house price now stands at just over £166,500. Nationwide said house prices had “essentially stagnated over the summer”. Read Article

Winston Churchill ‘ordered assassination of Mussolini to protect compromising letters’

The Historian — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:16:24 +0000

Daily Telegraph – Winston Churchill ordered the assassination of Benito Mussolini as part of a plot to destroy potentially compromising secret letters he had sent the Italian dictator, a leading French historian has suggested. Pierre Milza, an expert on fascist Italy, theorizes that the wartime prime minister may have wanted Mussolini dead to prevent the letters, in which Churchill expressed his admiration for his Italian counterpart before the outbreak of the Second World War, coming to light. “There is no doubt, judging by his public declarations back in the 1920s and early 1930s, that Churchill was a fan of Mussolini. Roosevelt too,” Mr Milza said. Read Article

Second Leg of Crisis Beginning: Hedge Fund Manager

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:01:03 +0000

CNBC – September and October hold bad news for stock markets and banks remain overleveraged as we head into the second leg of the financial crisis according to Pedro De Noronha, the managing partner at Noster Capital in London. “We are seeing one of the most challenging years for investors ever,” De Noronha told CNBC Tuesday. “Major investors are simply leaving the market. When it looks like markets are about to fall off the cliff they rally and vice versa. Read Article

Australia: Compulsory acquisition ‘theft’ of land

biochemist — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:50:54 +0000

ABC – Indigenous academic Mick Dodson has delivered a warning to the WA Premier, describing compulsory acquisition of land for the Kimberley gas hub as theft and an invasion. The Premier Colin Barnett is expected to start proceedings to acquire the land at James Price Point through the courts this week. He says negotiations between traditional owners and Woodside have dragged on too long, cost too much, and he has run out of patience. Professor Dodson, who’s a Yawuru man from Broome, says it is an appalling path to take. Read article

Karzai Kin Asks U.S. to Bolster His Bank

sonyamac — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:33:01 +0000

Wall Street Journal – A top shareholder in Afghanistan’s largest bank called on the U.S. to shore up the lender after depositors withdrew about a third of its cash reserves in two days, while the country sought to avert a destabilizing crisis at a crucial moment in the fight against the Taliban. Mahmood Karzai, brother of Afghanistan’s president and the third-largest shareholder in Kabul Bank, urged the U.S. to calm the situation, saying the lender could keep up with the pace of withdrawals for only a few more days. Read Article

Wikileaks founder admits sexual relations with accuser

The Historian — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:15:05 +0000

Daily Telegraph – Julian Assange, the founder of the Wikileaks whistleblower website, admitted that he had sexual relations with one of two Swedish women who accused him of sex crimes. Mr Assange said that he had consensual sex more than once with a woman who has accused him of molestation. Sweden’s top prosecutor reopened investigations into allegations of molestation from the woman and of rape by another Swedish female on Tuesday. Read Article