Apple ‘cuts iPad manufacture cost’ [ BeritaTerkini ]

Apple seems to have trimmed the bill for making its latest iPad along with the width and weight of the tablet computer.

The iPad Air that sells in the US for 499 dollars (£310) costs Apple 274 dollars (£170) to make, based on an analysis by research firm IHS.

The figure is a 13 percent decrease from the estimated 316 dollars (£196) that it cost Apple to make the third-generation iPad introduced last year.

The iPad Air went on sale last week and IHS bought one to take apart and asses how much the parts cost.

“While the iPad Air slims down in size, the profit margins are getting fatter,” said IHS spokesman Andrew Rassweiler.

Apple declined to comment, but chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer assured analysts in a conference call last month that Apple “is going to work really hard to get down the cost curves” of its products.

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Luz Elena Coloma, General Manager, Quito Turismo [ BeritaTerkini ]


Quito is much more than just Ecuador’s capital. The city has one of the largest and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. Indeed, it led Quito to be named one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978. Quito’s 130 historic buildings include ornate and art-filled 16th and 17th century basilicas, churches and palaces, connected by winding cobblestone streets leading to broad open plazas.


Located in the Andes at 9,350 feet above sea level, Quito is within close range of spectacular natural attractions highlighted by Cotopaxi National Park. The city’s busy marketplaces and charming bohemian districts offer opportunities to experience cuisine and culture. Quito recently opened an international airport and a new convention center is under construction at the old airport site, along with several new hotels.


The job of coordinating Quito’s international tourism promotion falls to Luz Elena Coloma, general manager of Quito Turismo, a division of Ecuador’s tourism ministry. A former city council member with an intimate knowledge of Quito and its people, Coloma has focused on publicizing the city’s attractions and helping Quito shed its past identity as a pit stop for travelers headed to the Galapagos Islands. We spoke with Coloma at the recent Latin America TravelMart.


How have travelers traditionally regarded travel to Quito? Quito has been an afterthought for most tour operators. I understand that because 15 years ago in the tourist center it was difficult to have a three-day visit there. You didn’t have too many attractions, you had a lot of vendors in the street and you had a lot of insecurity. It was not visitor-friendly. Still you had all of these monumental treasures. So what the tourism operators did was bring the tourists in early in the morning at around 8 a.m. for a three-hour visit to see the Church of La Compania and then off they went to Galapagos.


What has your office and the government done to change those perceptions? Of course, Galapagos is the jewel of the crown of tourism here, but we have communicated that if you do not visit the Galapagos, you can still have a wonderful visit. We have grown. We now have better services, a new airport and we are building a new convention facility. The historic center has more things to offer and we have the Tren Crucero historic train and more touristic products. The private tourism industry is involved as well. Services are better and we have more professional people to organize things.


In addition to the historic train, what are other attractions in and around Quito? You can do the haciendas and the historic train and visit Cotopaxi, all around Quito. You also have natural and adventure attractions that are very near Quito. If you want to stay in Quito, you can use it as a headquarters to spend a day or two touring the markets, a day at the haciendas, come back and then do a day of bird watching. We are telling people to come to Ecuador through our gateway, and stay and enjoy it here for three days. What we do not want is for travelers to come to Quito for three hours and then go off to the Galapagos and forget about us.


What accommodations are available in Quito? We already have luxury hotels such as Casa Gangotena, but as a municipality we are putting in the market public-private strategic alliances to convert six historic public buildings into small hotels. We also have the bohemian part of the city where you have nightclubs and young people. There also are small three-star hotels there. There will be a new Holiday Inn hotel near the airport and a Hilton in the valley on the way from the airport. Marriott also is building a new hotel tower. The high-end hotels have been operating at 90 percent occupancy here, so I think we need more properties.


Quito currently attracts an additional 100,000 visitors each year, according to the latest government statistics. How have you been able to achieve this growth? We are growing and learning in the business. The government is supported tourism as it looks to create new revenue sources and Quito is learning to be a better city host for tourists. We are learning that tourism can be a great source of income for artisans, taxi drivers, restaurateurs, hotels and for such a variety of people in related fields. We are growing up. 

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Acer shares tumble by daily limit after CEO resigns, job cuts [ BeritaTerkini ]

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Shares of Acer Inc fell by their daily limit on Wednesday after the company announced a restructuring plan with a new chief executive and a 7 percent reduction of its workforce after a worse-than-expected quarterly loss.

Acer shares opened down 6.9 percent, the maximum allowed in a session, at T$ 16.9, in a broader market that was up 0.2 percent.

Citi cut Acer’s target price to T$ 13 after the announcement, saying the restructuring efforts could not change the PC company’s outlook structurally, but reducing operating expenses through headcount reduction could buy time for management to reposition its business model.

(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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Sony to charge monthly fee for multiplayer games on PS4: Nikkei [ BeritaTerkini ]

(Reuters) – Sony Corp plans to charge a monthly fee of $ 9.99 in the United States and 6.99 euros ($ 9.40) in Europe for playing multiplayer online games on its PlayStation 4 (PS4) console scheduled to debut this month, the Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources.

Multiplayer games can be played for free on PlayStation 3.

Sony plans to charge 500 yen ($ 5.00) a month for multiplayer games in Japan when the new console debuts in February, the Nikkei said.

The $ 9.99 monthly option was announced by the company in June this year, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America told Reuters.

In addition to the monthly option, the company will continue to offer its online multiplayer games service at an annual membership fee of $ 49.99 or less than $ 5 a month, the spokeswoman said.

Sony plans to make PS4 more attractive by including more social networking functions, such as the ability to chat with fellow players, the Nikkei reported.

Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One will also launch this month. ($ 1 = 98.54 Japanese yen) ($ 1 = 0.74 euros)

(Reporting By Sampad Patnaik; Editing by Ted Kerr and Chris Gallagher)

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Study: Many herbal supplements contain no herbs – GlobalPost [ BeritaTerkini ]

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Please support our site by enabling javascript to view ads.

That echinacea you take to ward off colds may be missing a key ingredient — echinacea.

Tests of popular herbal supplements by Canadian researchers found that many were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by fillers like rice and weeds, according to a new study.

More from GlobalPost: Omega 3 fatty acid supplements may not stave off heart problems

In fact, a third of the 44 bottles tested contained no trace of herbs at all.

Two bottles of remedies labeled as St. John’s wort, used by some to treat depression, contained none of the herb, according to the findings published in the journal BMC Medicine.

Pills in one bottle were filled with rice, while capsules in the other bottle contained only Alexandrian senna, an Egyptian yellow shrub that is a powerful laxative, The New York Times reported.

One brand of echinacea contained an invasive plant found in India and Australia that has been linked to rashes, nausea and flatulence.

More from GlobalPost: New study questions Vitamin D supplements in pregnancy

Consumer advocates and some industry representatives told The Times tighter regulations are needed.

“If you had a child who was sick and three out of 10 penicillin pills were fake, everybody would be up in arms,” Dr. David A. Baker, whose study last year uncovered similar levels of fakery, told the newspaper. “But it’s OK to buy a supplement where three out of 10 pills are fake. I don’t understand it. Why does this industry get away with that?”

Last week, a new Food and Drug Administration report found bug parts and rat parts in about 12 percent of US spice imports.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/131104/study-many-herbal-supplements-contain-no-herbs

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Study: Many herbal supplements contain no herbs – GlobalPost [ BeritaTerkini ]

‘)
//–>

Please support our site by enabling javascript to view ads.

That echinacea you take to ward off colds may be missing a key ingredient — echinacea.

Tests of popular herbal supplements by Canadian researchers found that many were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by fillers like rice and weeds, according to a new study.

More from GlobalPost: Omega 3 fatty acid supplements may not stave off heart problems

In fact, a third of the 44 bottles tested contained no trace of herbs at all.

Two bottles of remedies labeled as St. John’s wort, used by some to treat depression, contained none of the herb, according to the findings published in the journal BMC Medicine.

Pills in one bottle were filled with rice, while capsules in the other bottle contained only Alexandrian senna, an Egyptian yellow shrub that is a powerful laxative, The New York Times reported.

One brand of echinacea contained an invasive plant found in India and Australia that has been linked to rashes, nausea and flatulence.

More from GlobalPost: New study questions Vitamin D supplements in pregnancy

Consumer advocates and some industry representatives told The Times tighter regulations are needed.

“If you had a child who was sick and three out of 10 penicillin pills were fake, everybody would be up in arms,” Dr. David A. Baker, whose study last year uncovered similar levels of fakery, told the newspaper. “But it’s OK to buy a supplement where three out of 10 pills are fake. I don’t understand it. Why does this industry get away with that?”

Last week, a new Food and Drug Administration report found bug parts and rat parts in about 12 percent of US spice imports.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/131104/study-many-herbal-supplements-contain-no-herbs

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Many Herbal Supplements Don’t Contain the Ingredients They Claim – AllGov [ BeritaTerkini ]


Regardless of what’s printed on their product labels, many herbal supplements don’t contain all the ingredients consumers are paying money for.


 


A new study out of Canada found some producers of supplements skimp or omit altogether actual herbs and replace them with fillers, some of which can cause serious health problems for people with food allergies.


 


Using a DNA barcoding method, Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of popular supplements sold by 12 companies in the United States and Canada and found that nearly 60% contained plant substances not mentioned on the product’s label, and one-third contained outright substitutions of the plant advertised on the bottle.


 


Instead, the products contained soybeans, wheat, rice and other fillers.


 


Some kinds of gingko biloba, which are consumed to improve memory, were mixed with black walnut—something a person with nut allergies would not want to ingest unknowingly.


 


Other popular herbs like St. John’s Wort and echinacea were also found to contain fillers. The echinacea included Parthenium hysterophorus, a plant that can cause rashes, nausea and flatulence. St. John’s Wort contained, in one instance, only rice, and in another instance Alexandrian Senna, an Egyptian shrub that acts as a powerful laxative and can cause liver damage.


 


Consumer advocates and scientists say the research shows that the herbal supplement industry—which makes $ 5 billion annually—needs to address these fraudulent practices.


 


“This suggests that the problems are widespread and that quality control for many companies, whether through ignorance, incompetence or dishonesty, is unacceptable,” David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group, told The New York Times. “Given these results, it’s hard to recommend any herbal supplements to consumers.”


 


A 1994 law allows herbal supplements to be marketed and sold with minimal regulatory oversight. The Food and Drug Administration only requires the manufacturers to ensure that their products are safe, and these products are assumed to be safe unless proven otherwise.


 


“If you had a child who was sick and three out of 10 penicillin pills were fake, everybody would be up in arms,” Stony Brook University’s Dr. David A. Baker, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive medicine who conducted a test of supplements, told the Times. “But it’s O.K. to buy a supplement where three out of 10 pills are fake. I don’t understand it. Why does this industry get away with that?”


-Noel Brinkerhoff, Danny Biederman


 


To Learn More:


Herbal Supplements Are Often Not What They Seem (by Anahad O’Connor, New York Times)


DNA Barcoding Detects Contamination and Substitution in North American Herbal Products (Steven G. Newmaster, Meghan Grguric, Dhivya Shanmughanandhan, Sathishkumar Ramalingam and Subramanyam Ragupathy, BMC Medicine)


Herbal Supplements Often Contain Unlisted Ingredients (by Rachael Rettner, Fox News)

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Wider ADHD definition risks unnecessary medication, say experts [ BeritaTerkini ]


By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – A wider definition of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is causing inappropriate diagnosis and unnecessary and possibly harmful medical treatment costing up to $ 500 million in the United States alone, scientists said on Wednesday.

Less restrictive diagnostic criteria have contributed to a steep rise in diagnoses for the behavioral brain condition -particularly among children – the researchers said, and in the use of stimulant drugs to manage it.

The broader definition also “devalues the diagnosis in those with serious problems”, said Rae Thomas, a senior researcher at Australia’s Bond University who led an analysis of the problem and has published it in the British Medical Journal.

“The broadening of the diagnostic criteria is likely to increase what is already a significant concern about overdiagnosis,” he said. “It risks resulting in a diagnosis of ADHD being regarded with skepticism, to the harm of those with severe problems who unquestionably need sensitive, skilled specialist help and support.”

People with the ADHD are excessively restless, impulsive and easily distracted, and children with the condition often have trouble in school. It is most often diagnosed in children, mainly boys, but it is also known to persist into adulthood.

There is no cure, but the symptoms can be kept in check by a combination of behavioral therapy and medications such as Ritalin or a newer drug called Vyvanse.

Experts not directly involved in the analysis said its conclusions were interesting but should be viewed with caution.

“I suspect that the reason for increased prescriptions of Ritalin and similar medications for ADHD has to do with better detection of the condition in children and the recognition that 50 percent or more of children with ADHD still have it as an adult,” said Barbara Sahakian, a professor of clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge.

Ilina Singh, an ADHD expert at King’s College London, said given the harms of stigma and misunderstanding of the condition “it is important to take care when making generalized claims about the drivers of ADHD diagnosis”.

“In many regions, under-diagnosis and under-treatment of ADHD are also a significant concern,” she said.

CRITERIA FOR DIAGNOSIS

To be diagnosed with ADHD, patients should meet criteria set out in either the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), or the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – the two systems used around the world to classify mental disorders.

But in their BMJ analysis, Thomas’s team noted that definitions of ADHD have been broadened in successive editions of DSM, leading to increasing numbers of diagnoses.

In Australia, data show a 73 percent increase for ADHD medication between 2000 and 2011, they found, while prescriptions in Britain increased two-fold for children and adolescents and four-fold in adults between 2003 and 2008.

Prescribing of methylphenidates and amphetamines – two types of drug used to manage ADHD – increased steadily in the United States between 1996 and 2008, they said, with the greatest increase in adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years.

In the Netherlands, prevalence and prescribing rates for children diagnosed with ADHD doubled between 2003 and 2007.

Europeans are generally more resistant than Americans to the idea of medicating children with ADHD, although attitudes vary from place to place. As a result, sales of drugs in Europe are fairly light, with methylphenidate – the generic ingredient in Ritalin – currently the main treatment used.

But Shire, the world’s biggest seller of ADHD drugs, is hoping to change that following European approval of its newer amphetamine-based product Vyvanse – called Elvanse in the EU – at the end of last year.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Barry Moody)

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Testosterone tied to heart risks among older men [ BeritaTerkini ]


By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Older men who take testosterone are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die over the next few years, new research indicates.

The study included men who were in their early 60s, on average. Most of them already had blocked heart arteries, high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems.

So it’s unclear what the findings mean for younger, healthier men who take testosterone, researchers said.

“It does kind of raise the question of, maybe when patients and their physicians are thinking about starting testosterone therapy, potential risks such as the ones we looked at should be in that discussion,” said Dr. P. Michael Ho.

He worked on the study at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Denver.

Testosterone is recommended for men who make too little of the hormone on their own, a condition called hypogonadism. For them, testosterone can boost strength and sexual functioning.

But advertising campaigns for testosterone products may be reaching a bigger pool of men – who are tired or depressed, for instance, but don’t have clinically low testosterone levels.

One study found the proportion of middle-aged U.S. men getting testosterone treatment more than tripled over the last decade. Not all of those men had undergone a blood test to see if they really needed it (see Reuters Health story of June 4, 2013 here: http://reut.rs/11CoQTL).

The long-term risks of taking testosterone are largely unknown, according to Ho and his colleagues. Some studies suggest it may worsen sleep apnea or prostate cancer.

The researchers collected information on about 8,700 men seen at Veterans Affairs hospitals who had low testosterone levels. Each of those men underwent a test to check for plaque buildup in his heart arteries between 2005 and 2011.

Sometime after that test – which the researchers used to assess initial heart health – one in seven of the men started using testosterone gels, patches or injections.

In the three years following their heart tests, 20 percent of men who didn’t start taking testosterone had a heart attack or stroke or died. That compared to almost 26 percent of those who had started using testosterone.

When the researchers took into account the extent of men’s initial artery blockages, they calculated that using testosterone was tied to a 29-percent higher risk of heart attack, stroke or death.

Those differences weren’t due to variations in blood pressure or cholesterol or in the use of heart drugs between the testosterone and non-testosterone groups.

In fact, men who started using testosterone initially had fewer health problems than those who didn’t, the researchers wrote Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The finding that they still ended up having more cardiovascular problems “says, maybe there really is something that’s happening with that group,” Dr. Anne R. Cappola told Reuters Health.

Cappola, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, wrote an editorial published with the new study.

She agreed it’s hard to know how the results apply to younger men without pre-existing heart problems. But in that case, especially when men don’t have low testosterone, it’s even more important to consider possible risks, she said.

“For the men who are healthier, my question would be, why are you taking this? And is there any risk that’s acceptable for the benefits they are getting?” Cappola said. Among healthy men, “We just don’t know what the benefits are.”

“I think (taking testosterone) is an individual decision, but I think it’s worth weighing the potential benefits of testosterone therapy versus any potential risks before starting it,” Ho told Reuters Health.

What’s more, Cappola added, “If a man is taking testosterone and he doesn’t feel any better, he should stop it.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MvXYT6 Journal of the American Medical Association, online November 5, 2013.

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Jaimie Alexander’s Alluring Makeup Look at Thor: The Dark W [ BeritaTerkini ]


von






Jennifer Chan






| Übersetzt von Jennifer Chan

5. November 2013 – 12:13

At last night’s Thor: The Dark World premiere, all eyes were on the lovely Jaimie Alexander who stunned in a black column gown by Azzaro featuring a provocative sheer mesh panel from head to toe.

The strategically placed fabric left very little to the imagination, revealing plenty of sexy skin on the red carpet, as she accessorized with a metallic Edie Parker clutch and silver earrings.

As for her beauty look, we were mesmerized by her intensified smoky eyes and flawless matte skin.

We tapped her makeup artist Jeffrey Paul to get the rundown on how he created this look using Votre Vu products.

“We wanted the whole look to be defined, but warm and rich because the dress is so powerful. The emphasis was really on her and how beautiful she is, so we kept the skin really clean, the lips pale and emphasized her eyes,” he told us of his inspiration.

Here’s how to get the look:

NEWS: Jaimie Alexander steps out on the red carpet without underwear

Prep the Skin. The beauty expert first smoothed on Votre Vu’s Fleur Blanc Tonic over Alexander’s skin and hydrated it with Best Regards Crème Du Jour moisturizer. After letting it set in, he applied Love Me Deux Moisture Tint in Limoges lightly to even out her skin.

Emphasize the Eyes. Jeffrey prepped Jaimie’s lids with Lingerie Pour Les Yeux in Light and then applied the shade Raw Silk from the Palette Play eye shadow quad in Violette to the center of her lids. To give her eyes more depth and shape, he applied the Gilt shade from the Palette Play eye shadow quad in Copper.  

NEWS: Alexa Chung unveils new line of makeup

Add Shine. Jeffrey applied Votre Vu’s French Kiss Moisture Riche Lipstick in Babette and then blotted it off so that there was a stain of color. Right before she made her red carpet debut, he mixed the Lip Lustre in Charming with a lip brush into the lipstick and applied it to Jaimie’s lips to create a look that was in between cream and velvet. 

Contour the Face. Lastly, Jeffrey took the Votre Vu Beauté en Bronze in Monaco and really worked the bronzer into her skin, concentrating under the cheekbones to enhance the definition of her face. Finally, he applied the blush from the duo to the apples of her cheeks.

Gorgeous! 

PHOTOS: See more must-have beauty products for fall 2013

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Cruise.com Forms New Host Agency Division for Independent Contractors [ BeritaTerkini ]

Cruise.com Forms New Host Agency Division for Independent Contractors


Cruise.com has introduced a new host agency division geared towards independent contractors interested in cruise programs. The technology upgrade includes: 100 percent commission paid, advanced booking technologies across 40 different cruise lines, travel agent and consumer booking engines, agent-branded websites, and a dedicated agent extranet site, all without franchise fees. Membership fees start at $ 39 per month.


“Technology is a focal point of our program. Our technology was designed with the user in mind,” said Anthony Hamawy, president of Cruise.com. “The ease and efficiency of the system puts the products, pricing and amenities at your fingertips allowing you to focus on selling. Personalized websites are also available which allow agents to offer their services 24/7. We’re talking cutting edge technology without paying franchise fees.”


In addition, discounted rates and amenities through Cruise.com will be available to agents affiliated with the new host agency. Cruise.com has the ability to hold group space on thousands of sailings as well as negotiate many exclusive promotional rates and value adds.


Cruise.com, established in 1998, is one of the Internet’s largest cruise specialists. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate travel management company Omega World Travel, Inc. 

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Colon cancer testing may be leveling off in US [ BeritaTerkini ]


ATLANTA (AP) — After years of increases, testing for colon cancer may be leveling off.

A large government survey of older adults last year found about two-thirds had gotten the recommended screening. That’s the same level as 2010, and the first year in a decade of no increase.

Last year’s survey included cellphones for the first time, which may have affected results. But other research has suggested the increase in screening is slowing down. Health officials say it’s not clear why.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report Tuesday. It’s based on a national telephone survey of more than 200,000 adults ages 50 to 75.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

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Early Puberty Tops List of Surprising Obesity Effects [ BeritaTerkini ]

American girls are hitting puberty sooner, according to a new study that suggests obesity could be driving the early development.

The study of more than 1,200 girls found that the median age of breast development ranged from 8.8 to 9.7 years, depending on race, with heavier girls developing breasts sooner than their thinner counterparts.

“Girls with earlier maturation are at risk for lower self-esteem and higher rates of depression,” the study authors wrote in their report, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. “They are more likely to be influenced by older peers and more deviant peers, and initiate intercourse, substance use and other norm-breaking behaviors at younger ages.”

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 30 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rising from 7 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2010. More than one-third of children and teens are now overweight or obese. And the problem only gets worse. More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, according to the CDC.

While these statistics are quoted so often that they make most people’s eyes glaze over, the effects of obesity reach far beyond clothing size and cardiovascular health. Obesity can affect family relationships and income, too.

Read on to learn about eight other ways carrying those extra pounds may influence the way you live.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

A study published in the journal Neurology revealed what a real headache extra weight can be. Johns Hopkins researchers surveyed nearly 4,000 people to find that the higher their body mass index, the greater their chances were of having episodic migraines. Those who were obese were 81 percent more likely to experience at least 14 migraine headaches each month compared with people who were a healthy weight. Obese women over the age of 50 suffered from chronic headaches the most.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

The National Cancer Institute associates 34,000 new cases of cancer in men and 50,000 in women each year with obesity.

Right now the link between excess weight and cancer is purely circumstantial and not necessarily cause-and-effect, but experts have floated some theories about why more body fat tracks with higher rates of cancer.

“It could be that excess fat cells increase hormonal activity or they increase growth factors that lead to tumor growth,” said Dr. Raul Seballos, vice chairman of preventive medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

Obese people are at higher risk for all cancers, Seballos said. They are often diagnosed in later stages of cancer than thinner people and are more likely to die from the disease. Some emerging data looking at weight-loss surgery patients suggest that some of this risk can be diminished by losing weight.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

Overweight women have a harder time getting pregnant. One Indian study of 300 morbidly obese women found that more than 90 percent of them developed polycystic ovarian disease, a condition associated with infertility, over a three-year period.

As with cancer, the association between obesity and infertility isn’t entirely clear.

“Obesity is an inflammatory state, and that alone might decrease fertility,” said Dr. Marc Bessler, director of the Center for Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital. “It may also be the result of hormone changes produced by the fatty tissue.”

Bessler said that many of his heavier patients experienced difficulty getting pregnant. And many infertility clinics don’t accept female patients with high body mass indexes given their diminished chances of conceiving. However, Bessler said some of his patients become pregnant just months after weight-loss surgery once they had dropped a few pounds.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

For heavier women who do get pregnant, the worries aren’t over. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that obesity increased a woman’s chance of having a preterm baby, especially when her body mass index is 35 or higher. The study’s authors speculate that having too much fat may inflame and weaken the uterine and cervical membranes. Whatever the reason, it can have devastating effects. Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death and long-term disabilities.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

Sleep and excess weight do not make good bedfellows. Nearly 80 percent of older, obese Americans report having problems sleeping, a recent American Sleep Foundation survey found.

Poor sleep contributes to a host of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and, ironically, obesity itself. Numerous studies, including the Harvard Nurses’ Study, link short sleep to expanding waistlines. The Harvard Nurses’ Study found that those who slumbered less than five hours a night were 15 percent more likely to gain weight than those who enjoyed at least seven hours of sleep.

Dr. Donald Hensrud, a nutritionist and preventive medicine expert in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic, said one of the most immediate health dangers for many obese people is sleep apnea, a condition in which a person gasps or stops breathing momentarily while asleep.

“Sleep apnea can be caused by increased fat around the neck area that presses down and closes off the soft tissues of the airways while a person is lying down, especially on his back,” Hensrud said. “This means the person does not get good quality sleep, has less oxygen in the blood stream, and the heart has to work harder.”

Surprising Effects of Obesity

Though fat people are often the butt of jokes, obesity stigma is no laughing matter.

A Yale study found that weight is the No. 1 reason people are bullied at any age, and those who are bullied have lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression and increased risk of suicide than those who are not.

The main source of ridicule, according to the Yale researchers: Loved ones.

“More than 40 percent of children who seek treatment for weight loss say they have been bullied or teased by a family member,” said the study’s lead author, Rebecca Puhl. “When we asked obese women who stigmatized them the most, 72 percent said it was someone in their family.”

Puhl said discussions with loved ones about their burgeoning weight often came across as judgmental and derogatory, even when intentions were good. However, offering support and encouragement is the most effective approach to help someone struggling to drop pounds.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

The No. 2 source of stigma, after loved ones?

Puhl said her studies have found that 67 percent of overweight men and women report being shamed or bullied in the doctor’s office. And 50 percent of doctors found that fat patients were “awkward, ugly, weak-willed and unlikely to comply with treatment” while 24 percent of nurses said they were repulsed by their obese patients.

A negative reception from a health care provider is especially detrimental to obese people, Puhl stressed, because they already contend with a greater number of health problems than average.

“Besides jeopardizing discussions between patients and health care providers, someone who is obese is more likely to avoid the doctor altogether even when they have a problem,” she said.

However Puhl noted that the knife cuts both ways. Her studies reveal that people are less apt to follow doctor’s orders and more likely to switch to a new provider if their physician is overweight.

Surprising Effects of Obesity

Wider waistbands seem to widen the pay gap.

One George Washington University School of Public Health study found a strong connection between greater obesity and shrinking wages. Examining data from the 2004 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the researchers discovered that wages among the obese were $ 8,666 less for females and $ 4,772 lower for males compared with their thinner counterparts. In 2008, the researchers found wages were $ 5,826 less for obese females — a 14.6 percent penalty over normal-weight females.

Slimmer females, especially, do seem to have fatter wallets. In a University of Florida study, women who weighed 25 pounds less than the group average, earned $ 15,572 a year more than women of normal weight and women who tipped the scales at 25 pounds above the average weight earned an average of $ 13,847 less than an average-weight female. They found no such disparity among men.

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Why Tesco’s face scanners are nothing to get worried about [ BeritaTerkini ]

As a freelancer for many eCommerce sites, the new customer face scanner OptimEyes screen, developed by Lord Sugar’s Amscreen and rolled out by Tesco hasn’t surprised me. The public’s reaction to it has.

I realise that it seems like an invasion of privacy and that it makes customers feel used as marketing tools – this I completely understand. What I don’t understand is that retailers and eTailers have been using technology like this for almost a decade and it seems this is the first the public have heard about it.

Take any luxury bricks and mortar High Street store or even your current supermarket. The majority have customer analysis applications in force that can:

Tell if you’re male or female

Those security cameras that are there to ensure you don’t make off with the latest Toshiba laptop? They put a pink or blue ring around your face. They can tell your gender by your body language. Big brother has been watching you for a while.

Estimate age

Again body language is the key – they don’t need to see your eyes.

Measure how long you ponder over a product

In many stores your speed is tracked as soon as you enter. You slow down and it registers. You speed up and the results are fed back.

See which products you put back on the shelf after reading the description

This information is fed back to the manufacturers to improve their packaging or copy or the marketers to improve the advertising.

Determine which areas of a store you gravitate to most

They record footfall by the second and know exactly where to place products, how to light them and how to make sure you’re enticed to buy simply by watching where you go when you shop.

Track your walking/browsing speed and produce analysis for retailers as a result

The faster you walk the less interested you are. If your pace slows just a little they know something has caught your interest – a quick zoom in and they know exactly what it is. An ingenious trick for duplicating the success of a particular end of aisle stand.

Along with this your favourite High Street store or supermarket knows your shopping habits and lifestyle almost better than you do.

For instance, you buy toilet roll one week but not the next. They notice a gap in the pattern, suddenly you receive a voucher giving you 10% off toiletries as they know you’ve been elsewhere to scoop up a bargain.

If you have children and buy clothes for 1-2 years but not for 2-3 years they know you’re finding better offers elsewhere, hey presto, an offer arrives giving you money off some great clothes for toddlers.

This is just a small part of how retailers collect information. If we move to online data the potential for gathering information about you is incredible without the face scanner.

This is how eTailers determine their remarketing or retargeting advertising.

The former directs ads at you depending on your browsing history. Have you abandoned any baskets recently? Have you browsed products but not completed checkout? What types of products were they? Family, lifestyle, gardening, DIY? Just by assessing your interest eTailers can determine your age bracket, location, hobbies, family situation and even your yearly income. This is how they bring you relevant ads when you’re on a completely irrelevant site.

The latter uses the information you’ve given when signing up for a newsletter or completing checkout. From the details you provide and your purchase history eTailers can develop powerful campaigns that you may find hard to resist.

Customer analysis is crucial in today’s world if a retailer is to survive, this is why companies such as IMRG and The Consumer Voice are in such high demand. Getting inside your mind is the best way to bring in revenue by delivering exactly what you want.

It may seem like an invasion of privacy, yet consider Amazon. Are you annoyed when your Kindle breaks and the 24 hour replacement opens the book you were reading at the exact same spot? It’s called convenience.

Do you become upset when a High Street store sends you an offer on a 3D TV that you’ve been pondering over for months?

Do you feel disgruntled when Freeview and satellite TV channels make suggestions of movies based on your preferences?

There are many benefits for the consumer too and most of us adore the more personalised marketing and increased convenience of shopping. Tesco is simply expanding to ensure they serve the customer well and of course reap the best reward for their investment in marketing.

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Immunogen halts trial of lung cancer drug; shares drop [ BeritaTerkini ]


(Reuters) – Immunogen Inc said it would discontinue a mid-stage trial of its experimental small-cell lung cancer drug following the death of a patient, sending its shares down 17 percent.

The company said an independent monitoring panel had recommended that all patients discontinue the treatment, noting an imbalance in the rate of infection and infection-related deaths between patients on the treatment and those receiving standard chemotherapy.

The trial was testing the benefits of the drug, code-named IMGN901, in combination with chemotherapy drugs carboplatin or etoposide, compared with chemotherapy alone.

“This news is a negative for the stock and a setback for the company, since IMGN901 is one of four clinical programs that are wholly owned, and was the most advanced clinically,” Cowen and Co analyst Simos Simeonidis wrote in a client note.

The company said there had been one infection-related death, possibly related to the drug, among 198 patients receiving the therapy.

Immunogen said it was analyzing the data trial to determine the future of the drug.

The company’s shares were down 16 percent at $ 13.96 in early trading on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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BASF challenges EU ban on fipronil pesticide [ BeritaTerkini ]


FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German chemicals group BASF said it launched a legal challenge against the European Commission’s ban of BASF’s insecticide fipronil, imposed in July on concern its use as seed treatment is linked to declining bee populations.

BASF has filed legal action with the General Court of the European Union because “valid scientific studies and evidence were not properly taken into account,” BASF said in a statement on Tuesday.

The European Union in July added fipronil to its blacklist of substances suspected of playing a role in declining bee populations.

The ban follows similar EU curbs imposed in April on three of the world’s most widely-used pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, and reflects growing concern in Europe over a recent plunge in the population of honeybees critical to crop pollination and production.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Christiaan Hetzner)

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BASF challenges EU ban on fipronil pesticide [ BeritaTerkini ]


FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German chemicals group BASF said it launched a legal challenge against the European Commission’s ban of BASF’s insecticide fipronil, imposed in July on concern its use as seed treatment is linked to declining bee populations.

BASF has filed legal action with the General Court of the European Union because “valid scientific studies and evidence were not properly taken into account,” BASF said in a statement on Tuesday.

The European Union in July added fipronil to its blacklist of substances suspected of playing a role in declining bee populations.

The ban follows similar EU curbs imposed in April on three of the world’s most widely-used pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, and reflects growing concern in Europe over a recent plunge in the population of honeybees critical to crop pollination and production.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Christiaan Hetzner)

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Smaug Stirs in New ‘Hobbit’ Trailer [ BeritaTerkini ]

Smaug Stirs in New ‘Hobbit’ Trailer

Bilbo Baggins learns exactly why the dwarves need a burglar

Something is stirring under the mountain in a new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and it’s not just a dragon. The latest extended look at the second installment of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy offers a stronger sense of the divisions Smaug and the treasure he guards are causing in the outside world, as dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield hears a foreboding prophecy and Bilbo Baggins learns exactly why the dwarves’ expedition has need of a burglar.

‘Hobbit’ Director Peter Jackson Opens Up on the Movie He Was Afraid to Make

Smaug is not the only evil to contend with: the white orc remains in pursuit of Thorin, giant spiders haunt the woods and the wizard Radagast warns Gandalf of a greater power gathering its strength – all of which seem to recede in importance when Smaug, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, declares in ominous tones, “I am king under the mountain.”

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits theaters on December 13th. The first movie, 20012′s An Unexpected Journey, has grossed more than $ 1 billion worldwide so far. The third and final segment, There and Back Again, is due next year.

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T-Mobile U.S. revenue rises, subscriber growth beats Street [ BeritaTerkini ]

(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc said on Tuesday its third-quarter revenue rose 7.4 percent and it added many more wireless subscribers than expected.

The No. 4 U.S. mobile provider, which is 74 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, also increased its customer growth target for 2013 to a range of 1.6 million to 1.8 million from a previous 1 million to 1.2 million.

It said it added 648,000 net subscribers in the quarter.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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“Be like a postage stamp, stick to one thing until yo [ BeritaTerkini ]

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Must like holidays, no experience necessary … [ BeritaTerkini ]

Relaxing on a long-tail boat in Thailand.

Call this work? … relaxing on a long-tail boat in Thailand. Photograph: Alamy

Travel around the world, and get paid to do it. As jobs go, it sounds too good to be true. But for those holding out for employment that meets these criteria, things are looking up; recruitment opportunities for the “best jobs in the world” are definitely on the rise.

Today, lastminute.com became the latest travel company to offer one lucky individual the chance to become a professional holidayer. The site is the on the hunt for a “Spontaneity Champion”, who will be given £50,000 worth of travel and experiences to “road test” over the course of 2014. The winner will get do something different every weekend of the year – from long haul breaks to luxury hotel stays in London – and by sharing what they get up to will become the online face of the brand.

The ideal candidate will “have a spontaneous approach to life which will inspire others,” which we assume translates as, “is very good at persuading people to drop everything and book a holiday.”

Indeed, it is not just the winner that wins here – for a very modest outlay holiday companies are boosting their social media presence, and there have been a string of such opportunities offered by savvy travel operators.

In August, online travel agents Jauntaroo launched a campaign to find a “Chief World Explorer”, who will be paid $ 100,000 to fly to destinations across the globe. Among the desired attributes for the job is being “partial to naps and/or massages on pristine beaches”, however they are also expected to blog about their travels, sharing photos, videos and other content through the site’s social media channels along the way.

Earlier this year, UK company First Choice advertised for a “slide tester” to spend six months riding and rating the water slides at its SplashWorld resorts around the world, while enjoying free accommodation and an ample £20,000 salary.

Back in 2009, Tourism Queensland advertised for someone to live on the great barrier reef for six months and “house sit” the tropical islands there. The stunt, which is where the “best job in the world” moniker originates, received 34,000 applicants from 200 countries. From a $ 1m investment, Tourism Queensland generated more than $ 110m of global publicity.

The idea was then adopted by Tourism Australia, who now run an annual competition for six jobs, with increasingly daft titles, such as “chief funster” and “wildlife caretaker”.

This year Virgin Australia also jumped on the concept, collaborating with Tourism Australia to offer the role of “high flyer” as a seventh “best job”. The position involves flying around the country “experiencing the heights of Australian hospitality”.

And since 2007, STA Travel have run a “World Traveler Internship”, which invites young people to enjoy a paid for holiday, producing videos and taking photos in each country they visit.

It seems that when it comes to bagging the “best job in the world”, you’ve got a better chance than you think.

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Beijing slashes car sales quota in anti-pollution drive [ BeritaTerkini ]


SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s capital, Beijing, infamous for its thick smog and heavy traffic, will slash the city’s new car sales quotas by almost 40 percent next year, as it looks to curb vehicle emissions and hazardous levels of pollution, the city government website said.

The change in policy gives greater support for new, cleaner cars and could strengthen foreign carmakers’ determination to accelerate growth in China’s less crowded lower-tier cities.

In the last month alone, high levels of pollution have forced China to all but shut down the northeastern city of Harbin, a major urban center with a population of 11 million.

Over the next four years, Beijing will issue 150,000 new license plates annually, down from 240,000 each year now, according to the city government’s website. Car buyers must put on plates before they are allowed to drive on Chinese roads.

That means Beijing’s new passenger vehicles sales during the 2014-2017 period will be capped at 600,000 units, few than the city’s vehicle sales in 2010 alone.

In addition, the government will allot a higher proportion of license plates every year to buyers of new-energy vehicles that need lower amounts of gasoline or use alternative energy. This could benefit electric automakers such as BYD Co Ltd.

The number of plates for such vehicles will triple from 20,000 in 2014, to 60,000 in 2017, accounting for 40 percent of that year’s total plate quota.

China has already taken a series of steps to ease traffic congestion and clean up air and water, as environmental degeneration becomes a source of social unrest. But none has cleaned up the air.

New car sales are currently restricted in four Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guiyang – where car buyers bid for license plates through auctions and lotteries.

China plans to restrict vehicle sales in eight more cities, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in July, a policy trend that has already led carmakers such as General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG to put more resources into China’s smaller, less-crowded lower-tier cities.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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https://news.google.com/news/feeds?q=herbal [ BeritaTerkini ]



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Huge Amounts of Herbal Supplements Are Actually Just Random Crap – Motherboard (blog) [ BeritaTerkini ]

The supplement aisle at the drug store is the “friendly” section. It’s full of Earthy packaging, few if any warning labels (perhaps just one the warning label about not having warning labels, e.g. has not been verified or tested by the FDA), and enormous claims of health benefits. Just the herbal portion of that aisle alone makes up a $ 5 billion a year industry in the United States. That certainly isn’t the $ 70 billion of the over-the-counter drug industry—but still, it isn’t bad for an investment involving few if any regulatory hurdles or R&D expenditures. In fact, at least among publicly-traded supplement companies, you’ll find research budgets frequently below 1 percent of total expenditures.

In the United States, supplements are highly deregulated thanks largely to 1994’s Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Effectively, the law enshrines deregulation, mandating that manufacturers have to say what’s in something, and how much, but pretty much nothing else. A supplement maker doesn’t even have to tell the FDA that it’s producing and selling something, leaving the agency without a list of herbal supplements on the market. It’s a deal that, as an herb seller, you might not want to fuck up by, say, selling dried rice instead of St. John’s Wart.

A damning report out in October in the journal BMC Medicine found instances of dried rice and junk weeds being sold instead of St. John’s Wart in a study examining 44 popular herbal supplements made by 12 different manufacturers. That’s just the beginning. Of those 44, a full third actually contained zero trace of the advertised herb.

Among those cases were Gingko biloba supplements containing, instead, black walnut, a potentially dangerous substitution for consumers with nut allergies. Soybeans and wheat were other popular fillers, with the latter a potentially dangerous ingredient for those suffering from gluten allergies (which, based on my own extremely informal research, is every single herbal supplement consumer over the past three years). Meanwhile, bottles of Echinacea were found to contain the invasive weed Parthenium, known to cause rashes and respiratory problems and historically used to make rubber.

The research comes courtesy of a relatively new testing method based on DNA barcoding, or the sampling of a small region of DNA rather than examining the whole thing. It’s a handy and proven technique, but one with some skeptics. Stefan Gafner of the American Botanical Council, a group that advocates for the supplement industry, notes in The New York Times that the technique may not identify high-refined or purified herbs. “I think that what’s represented here is overblown,” he told the paper. “I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks according to this study.”

Unfortunately, “not as bad” versus “the worst ever” is a smaller distance than it seems. The fundamental problem is illustrated just fine by any substitution at all. You might consider it an admission about the product’s very efficacy that at some point in the manufacturing process a decision was made that it didn’t matter what actual substance was going into the capsules. The problem is that there’s virtually no risk for supplement manufacturers in making that decision—though there clearly is for the consumer. After all, the FDA might not even know it’s on store shelves at all.

@everydayelk
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