iblog

Rushda: Britney’s long awaited comeback occurred last night on the MTV Video Music Awards and many hopeful fans were eager to see a new burst of talent from someone who was once the biggest selling female artist in the world. Unfortunately, however, the song and dance routine will be going down in history for another reason: it was an absolute disaster.

Clearly overweight and mentally not quite with it, Britney dressed in very revealing gaudy underwear and half-heartedly flapped around the stage, not even lip-syncing properly to her new single in the background. Indeed she sometimes even stopped singing altogether. The 25-year-old fallen superstar forgot both the words and her steps on the stage at the Palms casino in Las Vegas and some described her as looking like a “rabbit caught in headlights,” especially due to the messiness of her newly growing hair. An embarrassing video of the ordeal is, naturally, posted online for everyone’s viewing pleasure. As top celebrity blogger Perez Hilton comments:

“Your performance was beyond pathetic. The old Britney Spears, who was at one point (a long time ago) truly great, would be embarrassed by your lack of professionalism and utterly s**teous appearance at the VMAs.”

Similarly, Steve Hall another celebrity blogger, comments on her performance as well:

“At least twice last night, she had to be hoisted up and down from a riser like an overweight kid trying to climb out of a swimming pool… It’s really not a good thing when the backup dancers exude ten times more exuberance than the star.”

Oops, she’s done it again. It has certainly not been Britney’s year - crazy divorces, head shaving, and problems with her children. Now this return in the guise of a stripper will not do anything but ruin her further. Furthermore, to make matters even worse, the biggest winner of the night was her ex boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who picked up an astounding four awards. One does not know whether to laugh at Britney or pity her, but no doubt most will be doing both.

Rushda: A new government initiative has decided that from April 2009 every pregnant woman will get a one-off £200 paid to their bank account in their 29th week of pregnancy to spend on healthy food and encourage them to eat well. Named the “Health in Pregnancy Grant”, the new plans will be announced by Health Secretary Alan Johnson later next week;they are part of a bid to boost infant health and reduce infant mortality.

Experts have long agreed that a mother’s nutrition during pregnancy can have a strong impact on the health of her new-born child. Indeed, women who have a poor diet during pregnancy are more likely to have low birth weight babies, and this is said to put them at a disadvantage later in life. It is also clear from statistics that infant mortality is higher amongst poorer groups, and so it seems worthwhile for the government to try and narrow the healthcare gap. Any woman who wants to receive the grant must meet with a health professional beforehand to discuss tips for healthy eating routines.

Even though most mothers are understandably thrilled by the new incentive, some charities warn that the measure may not be very effective as it will be impossible to regulate where the money is going. As a spokeswoman for the National Childbirth Trust has said:

“This proposal sounds good in principle - nutrition in pregnancy is very important. However, the logistics of the scheme need to concentrate on ensuring that the funding directly benefits women and their babies nutritionally.”

Also, some believe that the measure has been concentrating on the wrong thing as it is the babies themselves who are more in need of the good nutrition during their early life and often, due to premature births, mothers will lose out on on the grant. As Amy Edmunds from the premature baby charity BLISS, says:

“Babies most in need of support are those born before 29 weeks’ gestation. Around 12% of premature deliveries last year happened at 29 weeks or earlier, which suggests that many women could miss out on the new grant. Poor diet is only one of many potential factors that contribute to premature birth and low birth weight. We recommend that the government addresses the fact that the service that cares for these vulnerable newborns is chronically under-resourced.”

There are still many factors to consider. However, it will come as good news to all expectant and future mothers to know that they will now get help with their diet during a time when it will be difficult to keep track of their diet and eat well.

Rushda: New research from the World Health Organization has revealed that depression is actually a more debilitating condition than angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes.

The study was conducted of 245,000 people in over 60 countries, and participants were asked questions about their health, happiness, sleeping habits and so on. The conclusions of the research were that even after taking into account the terrible effects of poverty and illnesses, depression had the largest impact on one’s health. Furthermore, the worst sufferers are those who have depression combined with another illness. Head of research Dr Somnath Chatterji believes this shows how important mental health is and what a serious issue depression can be. He says:

“These results indicate the urgency of addressing depression as a public health priority to reduce disease, burden and disability, and to improve the overall health of populations.”

Experts call for more research and funding into mental health to combat conditions such as depression, as it is clear from the results that better mental health may significantly improve overall health as well. The team also appealed to doctors worldwide to be more aware of the problem and its treatments, to stop what is a serious issue amongst much of the world’s population. Marcus Roberts, head of policy at mental health charity Mind, says:

“The treatment of depression must be given equal footing to the treatment of other conditions. While treatments for most physical health problems are readily accessible, mental health treatments such as talking therapies are limited, with some patients waiting months or even years for their first appointment with a therapist.”

This is especially serious in the UK where seven million adults suffer from mental conditions related to depression in England alone, and many do not receive treatment. The Department of Health insists that much of this is due to people not seeking help, and they urge people who feel they are suffering to come forward and seek help.

Rushda: An immaculately preserved Inca girl which was found by archaeologists in 1999 has gone on display in Argentina. The girl was originally discovered in an icy pit on top of Mount Llullaillaco, a volcano in north-west Argentina. It is believed that she was sacrificed by the Incas nearly 500 years ago. According to Dr Johan Reinhard, the leading archaeologist from the team that discovered her, she is the best preserved mummy in the world.

The newly famous attraction, a picture of which can be seen here is named “la Doncella” (”the maiden”), and has attracted hundreds of tourists from Argentina and other parts of the world. It is believed that when the girl died in the Andes mountain range she was only fifteen years old; she was discovered along with remains of a younger boy and girl.

The mummy is being kept in special conditions in a cold chamber that mimics the sub-freezing conditions in which she was found. Visitors have found the way in which she has been preserved remarkable and have commented that she looks like she may come alive any minute. Although some groups have disputed with the decision to put her on display, believing that it shows no respect for the dead, most have found the visit to be an intriguing and educational experience.

Now, even in death, the Incan girl lives on, perfectly preserved and showing us a glimpse of what has long, long gone.

Rushda: An interesting bid is currently taking place by the Words for the World campaign to find out what the British population’s favourite words are. Among the entries submitted, there are rather unusual nominations such as “garlic”, “mayfly”, and “home”.

The campaign, organised by the charity Education Action, aims to highlight the issue of children who have been deprived of education due to war, and this fun attempt will publicise their cause. According to Education Action, almost 40 million children cannot go to school because they live in war zones, and, of course, words are essential for an education. The link may be tenuous but the intention is in the right place with the campaign asking British citizens to submit their favourite words in order to support the campaign.

Thousands of people are submitting their entries, from MPs to authors and actors, and the campaign is becoming a rapid success. Some interesting suggestions include “carminative” from Conservative MP Boris Johnson, “indefatigability” from Respect MP George Galloway, “home” from gardening celebrity Monty Don and the rather peculiar “garlic” from historian Simon Schama. Some people have chosen words due to the pure sound of them, whilst others have gone for meanings with words such as “peace” and “love”.

As Head of Development at Education Action Chris Field says of the popular campaign:

“Giving their favourite word is a great way for people to show their support for the education of all children, particularly on International Literacy Day. We’ve had some really interesting and fun results so far and look forward to seeing more.”

For those who are interested in putting forward their own favourite words, they can do so online by visiting the Education Action website.

Rushda: Ipod lovers will be pleased to hear that another iPod is being added to Apple’s group of popular music players and like the iPhone it will sport a touch screen. Not only that but the sleek and nifty gadget will actually have wi-fi and a web browser built in so that you can even buy music whilst on the go.

The iPod touch was unveiled at a press conference where Apple’s Steve Jobs demonstrated the features of the new device. Like the iPhone, it has a clear and efficient touch-screen and contains an in-built Safari browser, with easy access to sites such as YouTube and Google as well as iTunes. Owners will be able to use the wi-fi in places such as Starbucks; Apple has in fact made a deal with the coffee chain which enables free wi-fi access using the iPod in any of the cafes. As Steve Jobs exclaims proudly:

“It’s one of the seven wonders of the world - it’s just incredible.”

The iPod will come in two versions - 8GB and 16GB of memory - with the larger costing $399 in the US and the smaller $299. It will initially be released in anticipation of the holiday season by the end of September in the US and will be available in Europe shortly after. Prices in Europe have not yet been announced.

Rushda: An incredible story emerged today of a 23-year-old woman who, after undergoing heart transplant surgery, can now actually see her own old heart behind a glass display at a medical exhibition. After Jennifer Sutton from Hampshire had the surgery earlier this year, she agreed to donate her damaged heart to the Wellcome Collection in central London, and it can now be seen by anyone, including her.

Understandably, the viewing of her heart (a picture of which can be seen here) was a particularly emotional experience for Jennifer who had long suffered from restrictive cardiomyopathy. She says:

“Seeing my heart for the first time is an emotional and surreal experience. It caused me so much pain and turmoil when it was inside me. Seeing it sitting here is extremely bizarre and very strange. Finally I can see this odd looking lump of muscle that has given me so much upset.”

The exhibition is designed to raise public awareness of medical issues surrounding the heart. It also highlights the serious need in Britain for there to be more donors as the average wait for heart patients is 103 days. Last year almost 30 patients died whilst waiting for a transplant.

Rushda: Scientists from a number of leading institutions around the world believe they have finally found the gene which is responsible for height in humans. Although it has long been known that height is down to genetics, it is only now that any particular gene has been isolated. Indeed a study has shown that those people with two copies of the “tall” version of the HMGA2 gene are up to 1cm taller than those who carry their “short” counterparts. Researchers believe that such results will help them in their mission to discover the links between height and disease.

The study was carried out by an international team from Harvard University, the Children’s Hospital Boston, Oxford University and the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter. The scientists analysed the genomes of 5,000 white European patients who had submitted DNA samples and essential information such as height and weight, and found that just a small change in the HMGA2 gene impacted the height of the patients. The results of the study, which are published in the journal Nature Genetics, are a breakthrough in finding the biological basis of height and will make it possible to discover even more genes that control it.

Interestingly, around 25% of white Europeans carry two copies of the “tall” version whilst a similar number carry copies of the “short” version. As researcher Dr Tim Frayling, of the Peninsula Medical School, explains:

“Height is a typical ‘polygenic’ trait, in other words many genes contribute towards making us taller or shorter. Clearly, our results do not explain why one person will be 6ft 5in (192 cms) and another only 4ft 10in (145cms). This is just the first of many that will be found, possibly as many as several hundred.”

The results are important because they may eventually explain the correlations between height and risk of disease. Statistically, taller people are at a greater risk from lung, bladder and prostate cancer whilst shorter people are more likely to suffer from heart disease. Perhaps when we have isolated the genes which are in charge of height, we will also be able to advance our knowledge of such killer diseases. As Professor Joel Hirschhorn, an expert in genetics at Harvard, says:

“Because height is a complex trait, involving a variety of genetic and non-genetic factors, it can teach us valuable lessons about the genetic framework of other complex traits, such as diabetes, cancer and other common human diseases.”

Maybe right now we can’t know of any special link between height and disease, or why people vary in heights so much, but this study shows that future research into the field is very promising.

Rushda: A huge strike by over 360 maintenance workers on the London Underground has caused chaos due to the shutting down services on nine major lines. Now only the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines are still in operation because they are operated by a different firm. The strike, which started at 6pm today and is meant to last 72 hours, started over issues such as pensions.

The effects of the strike have already started taking their toll with large queue lines at bus stops comprised of workers trying to get home. As managing director Tim O’Toole of the London Underground says:

“It’s massive because we’re talking about the withdrawal of service on two-thirds of the network.”

He also believes that there will be no positive effect of the strike:

“The only result will be that the lives of millions of Londoners are disrupted and RMT members will lose hundreds of pounds.”

The reasons for the strike stem from not being given adequate assurances that there will be no adverse effects due to the collapse of Metronet, such as job losses or forced transfers. Mr Toole believes, however, that all the reasonable assurances have already been received in a letter sent to trade union RMTgeneral secretary Bob Crow.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone says that the strike is one of the most “purposeless” there has ever been. Hopefully the chaos caused by the strike will be minimised, though prospects look do look grim for the next couple of days. It is clear that the strikes are causing serious devastation so hopefully some kind of agreement will be reached before it happens again.

Rushda: New, worrying statistics based on 32 police forces in England and Wales have shown that around 3000 crimes were committed last year by children under 10, who were too young to be prosecuted. Almost half of these incidents involved damage and arson whereas the rest included crimes such as burglary and even sexual harassment.

What has been particularly concerning is that these children often get away with it because they cannot legally be charged with an offence. Police insist that although under-10s cannot be charged, the crime is still recorded by the police and, if concerned, the child can be placed under a supervision order. Though some say the minimum age should be dropped, some want it raised, so it is a controversial issue. Perhaps the most neutral stance is that of Paul Cavadino, Chief Executive of the crime reduction charity Nacro who argues:

“The best approach to serious child offenders is to deal with them as children who need effective care measures.”

Whatever the law, it is clearly a tricky issue as it seems wrong to put blame on children so young and yet there has to be some accountability. Though in some states in the US, the minimum age for having criminal responsibility is a shocking six years old, to many this would sound completely inhumane. Yet what of cases such as little James Bulger who was murdered by children who were barely ten years old?