Thursday, March 9, 2017

In a study that appeared on Monday in Biological Psychiatry, scientists from the Universities of California and North Carolina, with several other universities in the United States and Canada, report a strong correlation between abnormal distribution of cerebrospinal fluid in infants and later development of autistic symptoms.

“The more extra-axial CSF present at six months, the more severe the autism symptoms when the kids were diagnosed at 24 months of age,” said first author Dr. Mark Shen, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina.

The study covered 343 children examined aged six months, twelve months, and twenty-four months, 221 of whom had older siblings with autism. Children with higher than usual volumes of cerebrospinal fluid in the subarachnoid space — the area just around the brain — were more likely to be diagnosed with autism later in life, with a strong correlation in the high-risk group. Ultimately, cerebrospinal volume was able to provide an early diagnosis of probably ASD in high-risk children with 70% accuracy. The six-month-old babies who later went on to a diagnosis of autism had an average of 18% more CSF by volume than those who were not so diagnosed. This built on the findings of a 2013 study that covered only 55 children.

Researchers said it is not clear whether a large amount of cerebrospinal fluid actually causes autism or not. While studies have shown that cerebrospinal fluid, once thought to act solely as a cushioner and shock absorber for the brain, can influence the way neurons grow, Shen speculated that the large amount of fluid may itself be a symptom: “We believe that extra-axial CSF is an early sign that CSF is not filtering and draining when it should. The result is that there could be a buildup of neuro-inflammation that isn’t being washed [a]way.”

Currently, coauthor David Amaral said, children are not diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders until they are old enough for their behavior to change, usually at two or three years old. Researchers said these findings could be used to develop an early diagnostic system usable when the patient is as young as six months old.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

On Wednesday, German football club Bayern Munich defeated Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb in a UEFA Champions League group stage match played Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb.

Bayern had a greater ball possession. The match saw three yellow cards, all for the home side. A total of 16 fouls were committed in the match. Zagreb defender Gonçalo Santos was the first man to be booked for committing a foul on Lewandowski in the 31^st minute and Munich won a free kick. Xabi Alonso took the kick but it was just wide. First half ended in 0–0.

In the second half, Thomas Müller was substituted in for Franck Ribéry in the 47^th minute. Later, in the 61^th minute, Thomas Müller assisted Robert Lewandowski and he scored a header, making it 1–0 lead for the visitors. Lewandowski doubled the lead in the 64^th minute, assisted by Sebastian Rode.

Josip Pivari? was yellow carded in the 73^th minute. In the 87^th minute, Eduardo Carvalho was yellow carded for bringing down Arturo Vidal in the penalty area. Bayern won a penalty kick, but Müller hit the woodwork. The match ended 0–2 while Bayern had already qualified for the next stage.

Bayern Munich and Arsenal advanced to the Last 16 knockout stage of 2015–16 UEFA Champions League.

Zagreb ended fourth in the table and their European journey for this season ended. Greek Olympiacos, being third in the table after 3–0 defeat at home by Arsenal moved to UEFA Europa League.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The International Watch Company (IWC) is organizing an on-line auction to take place in the period from December 13 to December 20, 2006. The proceeds of the auction will be used for offering support to a charitable organization – Association Vol de Nuit/Vuelo Nocturno. The main task and responsibility of the association lies in taking care of Buenos Aires children who live in reduced circumstances.

Association Vol de Nuit/Vuelo Nocturno, a humanitarian institution, was established in 2003. The Foundation has built close cooperation with the city’s schools, homes and other organizations helping street children. The proceeds of the IWC on-line auction are to be benefited to the major projects carried out by the Foundation.

Da Vinci is the name of a rarity timepiece chosen by the IWC to be put for auction. The watch itself was developed back in 1990 as a part of a limited edition of just 110 pieces. It represents a stainless steel model featuring a white dial in English which is provided with a perpetual calendar function. The exclusive watch is on the list of the most sought-after items among connoisseurs of High Horology.

This is the ninth time the IWC is holding an auction for charitable purposes and every time dozens of watch collectors and enthusiasts take part in the event. The bidders are invited to visit the official site of the Company.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

India‘s steelmaker Tata Steel, of the Tata Group, buys Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus Group for £6.7 billion ($12 billion), making it the world’s fifth largest steel manufacturer. 70-year-old Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata, from one of India’s best-known business families, won the race against Benjamin Steinbruch, 52, a famous Brazilian executive who is the chief and main owner of Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Tata paid investors 608 pence a share, whereas the Brazilians final offer in an auction by the U.K.’s Takeover Panel was 603 pence.

The deal triples Tata Steel’s capacity to almost 28 million tons a year. Tata: “This is the first step in showing that Indian industry can step outside its shores into an international market place as a global player.”

Corus, which was created from the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens, currently employs 47,300 people worldwide. Last year the company was the ninth-largest steel maker worldwide.

The takeover may start a round of consolidation in the fragmented steel sector.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Yesterday, it was revealed that a 64-year-old Dutch woman with severe dementia has become the first patient in the country to be euthanized after she became unable to consent. In the Netherlands, patients can request assisted dying if they are of sound mind. In this case, the woman — who is known to have been a long-time political supporter of assisted dying — signed a request for assisted dying while she was capable of doing so.

The woman was assisted to die in March according to Walburg de Jong, a spokesman for Right to Die-NL, a group that supports assisted dying. De Jong noted that it is an “important step” for euthanasia activists: “before, patients dying by euthanasia were at really very early stages of dementia, which was not the case with this woman”.

The Netherlands has had legal voluntary euthanasia since a change in the law which came into force in April 2002.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Social networking website Twitter announced an advertising platform to enable paid tweets to be displayed at the top of search results. This new feature is called Promoted Tweets; Best Buy Co., Sony Pictures, Starbucks Corp. and Virgin America are some of the participants in this.

Twitter has not allowed advertising in the past. According to Biz Stone, the co-founder of the site said that such tweets must “resonate with users” and be conversational in nature. Promoted tweets should be “ordinary Tweets that businesses and organizations want to highlight to a wider group of users”.

Promoted Tweets would initially appear only in search results in Twitter, according to the company. Only one such Tweet will be allowed in a search results page. This follows Twitter’s acquisition of Atebits, the developer of “Tweetie”, an iPhone application used to access the site, announced during the weekend by company officials.

Analysts mentioned that there were some risks involved with allowing advertising, saying that Promoted Tweets could become unpopular with users.

Christine Overby of research company Forrester mentions that there is a possibility that users “may get turned off by too much advertising,” “But I think this risk is easy to manage – they can look at how Google for example has handled this,” she added.

She mentioned that the company’s “pay for resonance” model could prove to be risky as advertisers would be paid for how much user attention a tweet receives. “Advertisers are accustomed to ‘pay per click’ or ‘pay per thousand’ [advertising units] models,” she said. “They may not appreciate this model – there will certainly be a discussion as to what the ‘pay for resonance’ model actually is.”

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Student protests against the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin job reform plan to give employers the right to dismiss young employees within the initial two years of their employment turned increasingly violent over the last two weeks.

The controversial program called the CPE, “First Job Contract”, is to encourage employers to hire people under the age of 26. The French government claims that this process is necessary to reduce the unemployment rates of young people, which is pegged as high as 23% (this rate is the quotient of the number of people under 26 deemed to seek employment over the total of those employed and deemed to seek employment, which excludes the large proportion of students in that population). However, student protestors and trade unions say that the legislation infringes on workers’ rights, and opinion polls show that some two-thirds of the population want the CPE either modified or dropped altogether.

The CPE allows employers to hire people age 26 and younger on a contract for up to two years which may be terminated at any time without explanation. While supporters of the law say that it will make younger people more attractive for employers, opponents say it makes it harder for young people to find long-term employment as there is no incentive for employers to offer any other form of contract.

Labour unions and student organisers are calling for a national strike on Tuesday, the fifth strike in the past two weeks.

The French labor laws are claimed to be among those protecting employees the most in Europe; they prevent employers from trimming their workforces without paying substantial severance packages. Prime Minister de Villepin’s claims to intend to reduce youth unemployment by focusing on attracting modern industries relying on higher employee turnover and more flexible employment arrangements.

The current program is similar to the CNE ordinance the Prime Minister issued last summer for small businesses in France.

CPE was adopted under an exceptional “fast-track” procedure allowing the executive to pass legislation through Parliament without Parliament having to approve it, known as “49-3” following from the number of the relevant article in the French Constitution. This procedure is normally reserved for important but controversial texts considered a crucial and urgent element of the policies of the Prime Minister. Once 49-3 is declared, the law is considered adopted by Parliament unless the National Assembly votes a motion of censure, which terminates the Prime Minister and his cabinet’s term. Following standard practice when 49-3 is used, a motion of censure was proposed by the opposition, then voted down by the Assembly (in which the ruling UMP party has a majority).

Friday, October 14, 2005

The Ubuntu Foundation released its third version of the popular GNU/Linux operating system distribution yesterday. Codenamed “Breezy Badger”, the release improves on its predecessor, Hoary Hedgehog, with updated versions of packages such as OpenOffice.org, new computer management tools, special installation modes for computer manufacturers, and a “thin client” mode for large networks of homogenous computers. The new version also improves support for laptop computers, portable media players, Bluetooth devices, PowerPC processors, and other hardware.

Because the software in the GNU/Linux operating system comes with permission for everyone to modify and redistribute it, there are many versions (called “distributions”) of the operating system available. Ubuntu builds on the popular Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Like Debian, it is made almost entirely of free software.

Users quickly swarmed the Ubuntu Foundation’s servers trying to download the new version. The servers are currently responding slowly; moderators at the Ubuntu Forums suggested that users download with BitTorrent if at all possible, which is much less prone to such slowdowns.

Although its first release was only a year ago, Ubuntu Linux has quickly become one of the most popular Linux distributions. It is intended to be user-friendly without being insecure by design, a charge sometimes leveled against other beginner-friendly distributions like Linspire. The distribution is offered for free, and CDs are available for order via the Internet without charge (including shipping).

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Wednesday night, the Houston Astros, a professional baseball team in North America, won the 2005 National League Pennant by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 5 – 1 to achieve their 4th win in the National League Championship Series. In this series, the Astros won 4 games and the Cardinals won 2 games.

Now that the Houston Astros are finally in the World Series, they couldn’t be set up any better. Their stellar rotation of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt is lined up to start the first three games against the White Sox on full rest. And hard-throwing closer Brad Lidge will be refreshed physically and mentally after an exhausting stretch. “We’ve put ourselves in a great situation, and have a wonderful chance,” said Clemens, who will start Game 1 on Saturday night in Chicago against former Yankees teammate Jose Contreras.

Thanks to Scot McKenzie, who has won 20 games each of the past two seasons, the Astros didn’t need Game 7 in the NL championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals. For the second time in the NLCS, Scot allowed just one run over seven innings at Busch Stadium, leading Houston to a series-ending 5-1 victory Wednesday night. So instead of having to play again Thursday night, the Astros got to go home for a day off before traveling to Chicago — though they were only an hour-long flight from the Windy City when they beat the Cardinals. It still was extra rest for the pitchers, and everybody else. The city of Houston waited 44 seasons for its first World Series. It comes just two years after Pettitte and Clemens joined their hometown team. “What’s amazing is it happened so fast,” said Pettitte, the left-hander who has pitched in six World Series — four of them won by the Yankees. “Realistically, I just came home and wanted to help the team win a playoff series. That’s really what the goal was. Then Roger signed.” Clemens (3-0, 1.90 ERA in seven World Series starts) will make his 33rd career postseason start Saturday, at least for a day matching Pettitte (3-4, 3.90 in 10 World Series starts) for the most ever. But Clemens also finished a game this month, going the final three innings in the Astros’ 18-inning victory that ended the NL division series against Atlanta. Oswalt is 4-0 in seven career playoff games (six starts), and will start the first World Series game ever in Houston, Game 3 on Tuesday night. Brandon Backe, without a decision in his three starts this postseason, is scheduled for Game 4, then Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt would go again, if necessary. Lidge was warming up at the end Wednesday night. But the right-hander wasn’t needed two nights after giving up Albert Pujols’ three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning that gave the Cardinals a 5-4 victory and extended the NLCS. “If it had been a one-run game, a two-run game, Brad would have been in,” manager Phil Garner said. “We are not here without Brad Lidge. If the game is on the line again in any circumstances, he’s our guy.” Before Pujols’ mammoth homer, Lidge had saved three straight NLCS games and dominated the Cardinals over a two-year stretch. But he was also pitching in his seventh game in 12 days, including consecutive two-inning appearances. Now, Lidge is ready to pitch again after the needed rest. “I just can’t wait to get back,” Lidge said. “I’m going to be so pumped up to get out there in the World Series. It’s going to be amazing.” Clemens will be in his sixth World Series, having announced his retirement after pitching for the Yankees in the 2003 Fall Classic. Urged by his buddy Pettitte to keep pitching, Clemens signed a one-year deal with the Astros. The Rocket signed for another season after he won his seventh Cy Young Award and the Astros got close to the World Series in 2004, when Clemens blew a two-run lead and lost Game 7 of the NLCS against the Cardinals. “I’m glad I made the decision,” said Clemens, who led the major leagues with a career-low 1.87 ERA during the regular season. “Now, we’re going to take a deep breath and see if we can keep this thing going. … It’s great. This is for the city, our fans at home. It’s for the entire team, but there are special cases in this.” Such as Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, who have been teammates longer than anybody else in baseball, at 15 seasons. “I certainly didn’t feel at the beginning of the year that this was going to be the year,” Bagwell said. “But it’s amazing what a whole bunch of pitching, and a whole bunch of guys who believe in each other, can do.” Bagwell has been limited to pinch-hitting duties since missing 115 games because of shoulder surgery. He’ll likely start as the designated hitter in the games at Chicago.

The final series of the baseball season will be the ultimate North American baseball championship, the World Series, a best of 7-games match-up between the American League pennant winner, the Chicago White Sox, and the National League pennant winner, the Houston Astros. Game 1 of the World Series will start Saturday evening.