JoeyBra: The Perfect Under-the-Shoulder Smartphone Holder

JoeyBra

A night out dancing is always so much better when you don’t have to hang on to a clunky purse.

College girls want to avoid carrying items to parties at all costs. Two Washington college students have created a pushup bra specifically for carrying a smartphone, credit cards, IDs, money and keys. The JoeyBra features a pouch on the left side of the bra underneath a woman’s left armpit. The creators compared the pouch to a kangaroo’s. A phone and other small items easily fit into the pocket and can be covered by clothing.

Mariah Gentry and Kyle Bartlow, both junior business students at the University of Washington, said the JoeyBra was inspired by the school’s “vibrant Greek system.” Bartlow said on the site that he has seen too many girls asking for contact information on Facebook after they lost or destroyed their smartphones during a weekend out on the town.

“From our own personal experience, we know that women hate taking purses to dances, bars, or dance clubs,” the JoeyBra creators said on their website. “Leaving these items at home can pose a safety risk, but with JoeyBra women will never have to worry losing or damaging their valuables again.”

The duo launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $4,000 in funding by May 19. So far, 60 people have backed the JoeyBra and the campaign has raised $3,145. Those who donate $30 or more will receive a JoeyBra.

So, ladies — would you wear a JoeyBra? I think this gadget is great for drunk college students, but maybe not for professionals. Reaching under my arm to check a text or grab cash may look weird, and pulling my iPhone out of my bra at a professional event doesn’t seem classy. Tell us what you think in the comments.

News by Mashable

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Scary injury on the rise at playgrounds

Picture of sliding board fracture

Danger on the Playground: Riding the Slide with Your Toddler in Your Lap Could Break Her Leg

When your toddler is clamoring to ride down the big-kid slide at the playground, most parents assume that the safest thing to do is put her on your lap and ride down with her. But orthopedists say that doing so puts small children at risk for broken legs -- and it happens far more frequently than you'd think.

Parents may not notice when their child's shoe catches on the side of the slide for a second or two, but that, combined with the speed at which the parent and child are zipping down the slide, can create enough friction to break the child's shin bone (tibia). Instead, what parents do notice is that at the bottom of the slide, instead of laughing with joy, the child is whimpering or screaming in pain.

"My wife was just trying to keep Hannah extra safe and make sure she didn’t fall,” Jed Dickman told the New York Times. His 18-month-old daughter's sneaker snagged on the slide, and by the time his wife freed it the child's tibia had fractured. "She felt very guilty about it."

Amy Canterella had a similar experience in 2009, when her daughter was 18 months old. "I was horrified,” she told MSNBC. "I thought I was making her safer. I’d never heard this sort of thing could happen."

Dr. John Gaffney, a pediatric orthopedist at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., saw so many toddlers with broken legs that he decided to try to figure out what was causing the problem. He studied the medical records of all of the kids with fractured tibias whom he had treated over the course of 11 months and found that, out of the 58 cases, 13 of the kids had broken their tibias on playground slides -- and every one of them had been riding on an adult's or older sibling's lap at the time.

"If a toddler is riding by himself and gets his leg stuck against the side of the slide, he can stop himself pretty easily," Dr. Gaffney explained to MSNBC. "But with the parent's weight added in, you've got greater velocity and momentum and it's harder to stop."

It can happen even if you've carefully tucked your toddler's legs between yours, too: if the edge of the shoe sticks on the surface of the slide on the way down, the child's leg can twist, snapping the tibia.

Dr. Ed Holt, an orthopedic surgeon at Anne Arundel Medical enter in Annapolis, Maryland, told the New York Times that he's treated several children with what he describes as a "sliding board fracture," which he calls "entirely preventable."

"The parent, the adult, is devastated for having caused a fracture when they were trying to keep the child safe," he said in a video he created to tell parents about the risk.

According to information from Childrens Hospital in Boston, the tibia is the most often-broken leg bone in kids, "especially if they're very active, play contact sports or run competitively." Stress (hairline) fractures to these bones are common among young athletes. More than half of all stress fractures occur in the lower leg bones." The break is typically treated by putting the child in a cast from the foot to above the knee for four to six weeks.

Instead of riding the slide with your child on your lap, you're better off letting your toddler slide down by herself while you monitor her (or hold her hand) from the ground. "If the child can't use the slide independently," Dr. Gaffney says, "then the parent should divert him to something more appropriate for his age."

News by Yahoo

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

US: Deadly crash near New York's Bronx Zoo

Police investigate the van that plunged over the Bronx River Parkway

Van plunges more than 50 feet from highway near Bronx Zoo, killing 7, police say

A van flew off an elevated portion of New York's Bronx River Parkway Sunday afternoon, falling more than 50 feet before landing in a horrific crash that left seven people dead, multiple news outlets reported.

The accident, near the Bronx Zoo, happened at about 12:30 p.m. local time, authorities said. It's not clear what caused the crash.

According to the Associated Press, the van was headed south when "it bounced off the median, crossed all southbound lanes over to the guardrail and fell." The vehicle "flipped off a ramp into a transit facility near the Bronx Zoo," CNN reported. According to NBC's New York affiliate, it was a rail yard.

It was not clear whether all seven of the victims were traveling in the van at the time of the crash. According to the news service, three of the victims were children.

According to NY1, at least one victim was pinned inside the vehicle.

According to the New York Post, all seven victims were traveling in the van when it crashed.

Fire Department spokesman Jim Long told the AP that the victims "were an 84-year-old man; three women, ages 80, 45 and 30; and three girls, ages 12, 10 and 7."

News by Yahoo

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

CONTENT STRATEGY/PR MANAGER, Jobs in US

Jobs worldwide

Posted: April 26, 2012

Address: Newport Beach, CA 92663

Occupation: Marketing

Type: Full-time

Description:Column Five Media is a creative agency based in Newport Beach, CA. We specialize in content marketing and information design. Our company is relaxed, but we work at a fast pace. We are looking for someone that can can not only bring a new level of expertise, but also contribute to our creative environment with a strong imagination and desire to create amazing work.

We are looking for a Content Strategy/PR professional to enhance our current outreach efforts. The position requires a creative, innovative, results driven individual who has prior agency experience. This person will take the lead in implementing an analytics and reporting system to quantify and qualify the effectiveness of our online initiatives. The ability to analyze data, identify trends, create relationships and optimize strategy is key. We need someone who is fluent in existing and emerging social media platforms, trends and engagement tactics. Must have experience with public relations and pitching stories to online publications. Experience with various social analytics tools and readiness to make recommendations and implement solutions a plus.

This position will require you to:

-Be responsible for providing our clients with regular and in-depth reports on our efforts to increase their sites traffic, content pick-up and visitor engagement levels.
-Be proactive in further establishing relationships with people/publications who view our company as a go-to source for quality content.
-Have strong working knowledge of the current and emerging media environment.
-Leverage your existing media connections to form strategic partnerships.
-Actively contribute to our evolving best practices for pr/social media relations.
-Oversee the automation of PR and inbound marketing processes.
-Liaise between Column Five and other agencies for Twitter and Facebook marketing engagements.
-Manage client expectations and engagements.
-Be ready and willing to evolve with the position.

Location: Remote work is a possibility

Compensation: Commensurate with experience

If you think you'd be a perfect fit for Column Five, please get in touch via jobs@columnfivemedia.com, and tell us about yourself.

Your resume and cover letter will only be accepted as PDFs we receive via email. We'll open your resume if you write a compelling cover letter in the body of your email. We'll open your email if you format the subject line in the following way: PR Job : Full Name : Favorite Song

Please do not call about this listing.

Apply by

Email:jobs@columnfivemedia.com

News by Mashable

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

How Samsung Became The World’s Top Handset Vendor

Products by Samsung

It sounds like Nokia’s classic ringtone just got a few octaves lower and sadder. Friday, Strategy Analytics revealed the Finnish phone-maker had been ousted from its lofty position at the top of the cellphone food chain. Samsung just became the leading shipper of mobile phone handsets in the world. How did this happen? The same way a runner in any race pushes to the front: He speeds up, or the other guy slows down. Sometimes both happen at once.

There’s a kind of morbid fascination involved in watching a formerly great goliath stumble: we’ve seen it over the past few years in the mobile space with RIM and Palm (and then HP), but seeing Nokia trip over itself has been akin to witnessing a revered grandfather fall down the stairs. Nokia practically created the mobile phone industry; until recently its brand name was unassailable in most parts of the world, with the curious exception of the United States.

The nature of their missteps has been well-documented, but suffice to say that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop made some difficult choices. He made these choices rather publicly in his “burning platform” memo of February 2011, which, depending on who you ask, either told some hard truths or needlessly eviscerated Symbian sales at a critical point in the company’s history. Whichever view one takes, the fact remains that Nokia didn’t start shipping devices built on its new OS of choice, Windows Phone, until much later in 2011. Perhaps it was unavoidable, but that delay cost them dearly.

As is usually the case with platform wars, the data isn’t exactly clear regarding all the factors surrounding Nokia’s decline. It’s true that the Windows Phone platform has been slow to gain traction, but Nokia was also woefully behind in developing a replacement for Symbian -or even in realizing that a replacement for Symbian was needed- before Elop showed up. To anyone paying attention, the decline seemed inevitable, given the company’s lack of agility.

Seeing Nokia reinvent itself, with the accompanying beautiful design work coming from its hardware division, has been truly incredible; speaking personally as a consumer, the N9 and its derivatives are the reason I started noticing Nokia. But beautiful design and the most interesting innovations, while an indicator of potential greatness, are lousy at arresting downward momentum. A fall from grace was overdue, and it’s finally materialized. After watching storm clouds gathering on the horizon for months, a massive 24% decline in handsets shipped year-over-year is Nokia’s barometer finally crashing into the basement.

So it was only a matter of time before Nokia lost the number-one spot. But the king who loses the crown is only half the story. What steps did the new guy take to snatch it from his head?

Samsung’s current lead over Nokia is in part a byproduct of its war with Apple. In an editorial a while back, I talked about the voracious appetite of second-place companies. There, the conversation was smartphone mind-share, and the leader was Apple, but the second place contender was still Samsung:

    “… Marketing head Younghee Lee recently said, ‘Especially in U.S., people are obsessed with Apple … It’s time to change people’s attention.’ One need only look at the recent patent and advertising war between the two giants to confirm it: Samsung covets Apple’s leading mindshare position in that special way that only a second-place contender can. They’ve got their eye on the prize, and they’re fighting for it.”

Samsung’s approach to satiate that hunger for success has been unexpectedly multifaceted: instead of focusing its efforts on innovation, marketing, or emulation, it’s done all three.

Look at what Samsung has released in just the past year and a half. The Galaxy Note, initially considered a novelty item or a target of mockery by many (myself included), sold 5 million units in five months. It carved out a new “phablet” category not just for itself, but for a host of imitators. “Note”worthy indeed, and not bad for a device many thought was DOA.

The company brought the same zeal to the second coming of its popular Galaxy S smartphone series, once again blasting carrier after carrier with premium versions and midrange derivatives. Where the original Galaxy S devices still suffered a tad of stigma from “regular” consumers associating it with an iPhone knockoff, the growing brand prestige of Samsung had eliminated any such comparisons by the time the Galaxy S II line debuted.

Apple, much more potent a competitor than Nokia but equally as sluggish, refused to incorporate larger AMOLED displays, giving Samsung some purchase for easy visual differentiation. Once buyers’ eyes were attracted by the larger devices, they were drawn in further by the promise of the Android ecosystem and the more advanced capabilities of the Samsung devices, further reinforcing the Samsung brand perception.

At the same time, that brand was being heavily pushed by an aggressive marketing approach. Samsung was taking jabs at — and in some cases openly insulting — iPhone users, a controversial tactic it continues even today with its “The Next Galaxy” teaser. The company isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers in the name of increased mindshare, and judging by its new title, it hasn’t hurt them much.

Even the “bad press” seems to be working in Samsung’s favor. I’ve talked before about my lack of enthusiasm for some of Samsung’s “me-too” products; sometimes it seems like they’re brazenly copying the competition. Some elements of the competition seem to think so too, as Samsung’s been the target of numerous lawsuits recently. But all the accompanying exposure in the media is doing something invaluable: it’s keeping their brand name on people’s screens and in their minds. Ironically, the alleged untrustworthy conduct (copying) is working in concert with its impressive product portfolio to cement the Samsung’s brand name as a trusted one, at least when it comes to mobile phones.

These massive upheavals don’t happen often. They’re the result of years and years of hard work and determination on the part of one company, and stagnation or mismanagement on the part of another. The last time the number-one spot on mobile handset vendors list changed was 1998, when Nokia dethroned Motorola. Fourteen years is an impressive run.

That’s not to say this change is permanent; it’s a volatile and unpredictable market. Nokia and Samsung are very different companies who couldn’t possibly be taking more disparate routes to success. And at the moment, the results they’re seeing are very different, as well. But the fact that Samsung is now the market leader shouldn’t be perverted into a reason to condemn Nokia’s new strategy; Nokia’s midstream shift was violent, and will take a long time to recover.

The longer it takes, though, the more opportunity Samsung has to continue leveraging its considerable advantages to stay on top. Given the uncertainty surrounding Nokia, it’s anyone’s guess when or if we’ll see it on top again. But judging by past performance and looking at who’s sneaking up behind Nokia (a certain Cupertino company), we may see a shift in the second- and third-place slots before we see another change in the first.

News by Mashable

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Frog relaxes, world goes wild

Amazing frog sitting like human on the bench

Frogs have a reputation for being kinetic creatures. Hoping from lily pad to lily pad, searching for flies. But sometimes, an amphibian just needs to relax.

Take this at-ease froggy, for example. She was caught on video while sitting on the edge of a deck, long legs hanging down, belly sticking out, looking like she's unwinding after a long day at the office.

The video quickly went viral and inspired some to ask if the frog was in some way fastened to the deck. After all, the frog is so eerily still. But, according to the person who posted the clip, that just isn't so.

"The frog is OK," the description read. "There is no nails, no glue, animal abuse, etc. Later, she jumped off the bench and galloped away to the water."

News by Yahoo

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

U.S. Secret Service limits alcohol, hotel guests on trips abroad

Hotel Caribe, U.S.

(Reuters) - Heavy drinking and bringing foreign nationals back to hotel rooms on trips abroad is now banned by the U.S. Secret Service in the wake of a growing scandal over allegations that agents consorted with prostitutes in Colombia this month.

The new rules of conduct issued on Friday also ban visits to "non-reputable establishments," presumably including strip clubs, and say staff must obey U.S. laws even while abroad. A copy was provided to Reuters by the Secret Service, and a spokesman said they were effective immediately.

The new rules were issued two weeks after the scandal erupted over allegations that Secret Service agents and military personnel brought prostitutes to their hotels during a night of drinking and carousing in the Colombian city of Cartagena, just before President Barack Obama arrived for a summit.

The Secret Service this week began looking into allegations of similar misbehavior before a 2011 presidential trip to El Salvador, a report that would appear to contradict official government arguments that the Colombian episode must have been an aberration.

The rules were issued as the agency sought to close a chapter in its worst case of alleged misconduct in decades, which embarrassed the United States and overshadowed Obama's participation in the Summit of the Americas.

The new rules issued on Friday say that "foreign nationals, excluding hotel staff and official counterparts, are prohibited in your hotel room."

"Alcohol may only be consumed in moderate amounts while off-duty on a TDY (temporary duty) assignment, and alcohol use is prohibited within 10 hours of reporting or duty," the rules say.

Furthermore, alcohol may not be consumed at all at the hotel where the person being protected by the Secret Service is staying once that person has arrived.

From now on, a member of the agency's professional responsibility section will accompany staff who travel on "car planes," and give staff ethics briefings before they leave, the rules say. The employees in Cartagena were support personnel who came over on the plane to Colombia that brought the president's armored vehicles.

Twelve Secret Service employees were implicated in the Colombia matter. Eight have left the agency, three were cleared of serious misconduct and one is being stripped of his security clearance. Twelve members of the military were also implicated and that investigation is ongoing.

HOUSE COMMITTEE MAY SEND INVESTIGATORS TO COLOMBIA

Earlier, a senior lawmaker said his committee is considering sending investigators to Colombia in the coming weeks to gather information in an expanded probe of the misconduct.

Representative Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said his staff will move to a "full-scale" investigation after it receives answers to 50 questions the panel posed to Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about this month's incident.

Neither King nor another senior House lawmaker, Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, said they saw a weakening of support for Sullivan in Congress despite reports of other Secret Service misbehavior.

"In my estimation, he is doing all he can do. ... Rumors are coming in and he's following each one of them. He's looking into every single rumor that comes in," Cummings told Reuters.

Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which also is looking into the matter, said Sullivan plans to have 100 top Secret Service employees participate in a "very intense" ethics course next week.

'MORALITY COP'

"I'm not into being a morality cop, but what happened in Colombia was clearly wrong because it put security at risk," King said outside the House chamber, adding that his committee "probably in the next few weeks" would send investigators to Colombia as part of the probe.

The Secret Service so far has not been able to validate the allegations about El Salvador made in a report Thursday by KIRO-TV news in Seattle, King said. The station is part of the CBS-Cox media group.

"They have gone through the trip file, and spoke with some of the people who were on the trip, the supervisors, and so far it's nothing," King said. "And they are talking to the reporter and trying to find out who his sources are."

News by Reuters

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Chrysler, Hyundai, VW pull into auto sales fast lane

New Hyundai Car

(Reuters) - Automakers Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Chrysler and Hyundai (005380.KS) pulled away from rivals on Thursday, unveiling strong sales and profits driven by growth in the Americas and Asia.

Carmakers that rely heavily on European sales, by contrast, are struggling with cut-throat price competition in a dwindling market as government budget cuts, weak wages growth and rising unemployment depress consumers' spending power.

Robust sales in North America helped U.S. maker Chrysler Group LLC, managed by majority owner Fiat Spa (FIA.MI), to post its best quarterly profit since its 2009 bankruptcy.

Chrysler's auto sales rose 33 percent in the quarter, led by its home U.S. market, where it gained market share on a first-quarter sales jump of 36 percent. Quarterly profit jumped to $473 million from $116 million a year ago.

"Another positive quarter - built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average - is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus," said Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both Chrysler and Italy's Fiat.

Fiat's European business is expected to post a loss, as the region's debt crisis takes its toll. It releases consolidated Fiat-Chrysler results later in the day.

Korean automaker Hyundai Motor's (005380.KS) quarterly net profit rose almost a third, driven by growth in the United States and China.

FEW RISKS

Even in sickly Europe, Hyundai bucked the trend, as modestly priced compact cars including its revamped i30 model and long warranties fared better with cost-conscious drivers.

The automaker, which with its affiliate Kia Motors (000270.KS) is the world's fifth-largest, managed a double-digit percentage sales increase in Europe in the first quarter, even as the wider market shrank 8 percent. It has also benefited from free trade deals with Europe and the United States.

"There are few risks for Hyundai's strong growth momentum," said Kang Sun-sik, a fund manager at Woori Asset Management, which holds Hyundai stock. "Its overall sales remain strong globally thanks to improving brand and quality; the won is trading relatively cheap, and its key rivals, especially Japanese, continue to struggle.

Germany's Volkswagen posted a surprise 10 percent gain in operating profit for the first quarter.

Europe's biggest carmaker stood by its goal to increase vehicle deliveries beyond last year's record 8.3 million vehicles, relying on expanding markets in the United States, Russia and Latin America.

A day earlier, French maker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) forecast a tough second quarter on sagging demand in its core domestic and southern European markets, while Renault said (RENA.PA) its first quarter sales dipped 8.6 percent.

Car sales in Europe fell for a sixth straight month in March, with a 6.6 percent decline, data from industry association ACEA showed earlier this month.

Increases in the German and British markets were not enough to offset declines in France and Italy.

News by Reuters

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Add kidneys to list of things that can be recycled

Kidney (inner view)

CHICAGO (AP) -- It turns out you can recycle just about anything these days - even kidneys and other organs donated for transplants.

Recently in Chicago, in what is believed to be the first documented case of its kind in the U.S., a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient while he was still alive and given to somebody else.

There have been other cases since the 1980s of transplant organs being used more than once, but they were rare and involved instances in which the first recipient died.

Typically when transplanted organs fail in living patients, doctors throw them away. But with more than 73,000 people awaiting transplants nationwide, some specialists say doctors should consider trying to reuse more organs to ease the severe shortage.

"The need for kidney transplantation doesn't match our capacity," said Dr. Lorenzo Gallon, a Northwestern University transplant specialist who oversaw the kidney recycling operation in Chicago. "People die on dialysis" while awaiting kidneys.

That was the possible fate awaiting two strangers. A research letter describing the unusual case was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The donated kidney lasted just two weeks in the first patient, a 27-year-old Illinois man. The same disease that ruined his kidneys started to damage the new kidney, given to him by his sister. He was getting sicker, and doctors needed to act fast if they were going to save the organ. With permission from the man and his sister, they removed it last July and retransplanted it into a 67-year-old Indiana man.

The Illinois man is back on dialysis and will probably get another transplant eventually.

Still, reusing a transplanted organ can be tricky - and riskier - because surgeons have to deal with scar tissue that typically forms around an organ as the body heals from the operation.

Also, Wayne Shelton, a bioethicist at Albany Medical College in New York, said the practice may raise ethical questions. He said doctors need to make sure patients who are offered reused parts understand all the risks and are not made to feel coerced into accepting such organs. And because these cases are so rare, there is little data on how patients with recycled parts fare, Shelton noted.

Dr. Jonathan Bromberg, director of transplantation at the University of Maryland Medical Center, praised the Northwestern doctors but said organ recycling is unlikely to become commonplace because it would be rare for an already transplanted organ to be healthy enough to be reused.

In Boston in 2009, a man died shortly after a getting a new heart, and the organ was in good enough shape to be transplanted into someone else. A 2005 medical journal report detailed three U.S. cases involving donor livers reused after the initial recipients died, and said they were among 11 similar cases between 1987 and 2005. Medical literature also includes reports from the 1990s about a kidney retransplant in Spain and a heart retransplant in Switzerland.

In the Chicago case, Ray Fearing of Arlington Heights, Ill., received a new kidney that was later reused by Erwin Gomez of Valparaiso, Ind., a surgeon familiar with the medical complexities involved.

Joel Newman, a spokesman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, said previous retransplants in the U.S. "have occurred when the original recipient has died soon after a transplant but the organ is still able to function. To our knowledge, this is the first publicly reported instance where a kidney has been removed from a living person due to the risk of organ failure and retransplanted."

Fearing had a disease that caused scarring that prevented the kidneys from filtering waste from blood. He had to quit his industrial machinery job and went on dialysis a year ago. His sister donated a kidney last June in what was "probably the happiest moment of my life," Fearing said. The worst, he said, was a few days later, when doctors told him the kidney was damaged and had to be removed.

Gallon, medical director of Northwestern's kidney transplant program, thought the kidney could be reused in somebody else if it was removed quickly, before it became irreversibly damaged.

Gallon needed Fearing's permission, and also asked the young man's sister, Cera Fearing.

Fearing said he was heartbroken and reluctant to abandon an organ that had been his only hope for a normal life. But he decided it was the only option that made sense. His sister, too, was crushed but said she didn't hesitate when told her kidney might help someone else.

"I just assumed it's damaged, it's garbage," she said. "The fact that they were able to give it to someone that somehow was able to benefit from it was great."

Gomez was selected because he was a good match. But Gallon said doctors also thought Gomez's medical background would help him understand the complexities. Gomez said he had never heard of reusing transplant organs, and he worried about taking what seemed like damaged goods. But he agreed after the Northwestern team explained the risks and possible benefits.

The removal and retransplant operations took place July 1. Within two days, the transplanted kidney had regained function. Gallon said he is convinced the damage is reversed.

Gomez is taking anti-rejection drugs and is off dialysis. "I finally feel normal," he said. Fearing is back on dialysis and said he is doing OK.

Gallon said it is not uncommon for patients with Fearing's disease to go through more than one transplanted kidney, and he expects Fearing will eventually get another one.

Despite his own misfortune, Fearing said he is "extremely happy about being a part of this medical breakthrough" that might end up helping others.

News by AP

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Apple sells 16,000 iPhones per hour

Apple's latest iPhone

Hong Kong (CNN) – Apple, the world’s most valuable company, nearly doubled its profit in the last quarter based on stronger-than-expected iPhone sales, according to CNNMoney.

The company beat analyst predictions thanks to 35.1 million iPhones sold worldwide from January through March. To help put that figure into perspective, CNN’s Katy Byron spoke to Gene Munster, a senior analyst who covers Apple at Piper Jaffray. A quick breakdown:

    * Apple sold an average of 385,000 iPhones per day the past quarter
    * That’s 16,000 handsets sold each hour a day
    * An average of 5,400 Apple’s iPads left the shelves per hour


As the Financial Times notes “even Tim Cook, Apple’s new chief executive, appeared taken aback” by the huge quarterly growth. “It is mind-boggling that we could do this well,” he said during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

The reason? In a word – China. Sales from China – where the iPhone 4S went on sale – were $7.9 billion, or 20% of the company’s total revenue. “Growth in China for iPhones was 500% year-over-year overall iPhone sales 88% year-over-year worldwide,” Munster told CNN.

And there’s room for Apple to grow in China this year. The iPhone launched on China Unicom and China Telecom this past quarter, but still is only available with 25% of phone carriers in China. “China Mobile still missing – which is like AT&T and Verizon combined here in U.S.,” Munster said. “They'll get that when iPhone 5 comes out (likely) in October 2012.”

Moreover, the strong quarterly results shows strong growth in the developing world as a whole – an area where many wondered whether Apple’s premium line of products could find success. “They've proven that they can sell in emerging markets,” Munster said.

Buy New iPhone 4s at cheapest price here

News by CNN

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

10 Foods That Can Lower Your Cholesterol

Low cholesterol foods

Had your annual physical lately? Here's a reason why you should: Even if you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, your cholesterol might be higher than you'd like.

Janis Jilbrin, R.D., co-author of The Life You Want! Get Motivated, Lose Weight and Be Happy (Simon & Schuster 2011, co-authored with Bob Greene and psychologist Anne Kearney-Cooke), explains the deal with cholesterol and what foods you can eat to help keep yours down.

What would cause your cholesterol to be high in the first place? "Sometimes having high LDL -- the "bad" cholesterol -- is genetic," says Jilbrin. LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein, and it's considered the "bad" cholesterol, Jilbrin explains, because it takes fat and deposits it into your arteries. That's the cholesterol you want to keep "down."

Then there's the "good" cholesterol, called HDL (high-density lipoprotein), which travels in your bloodstream and removes the bad cholesterol. You can also be genetically predisposed to having low levels of HDL; other causes, according to Jilbrin, include being overweight or obese, being sedentary, smoking, a high carb intake, having type 2 diabetes and certain drugs, including beta blockers and steroids.

And why should you be worried about any of this? Heart disease -- which, no, you're not too young to worry about. According to Jilbrin, "Arterial plaque can start forming in young adulthood, even in childhood."

Uh oh. She continues: "And trying to fix it once you've had a heart attack or show signs of heart disease never reduces your risk like you would have if you'd taken care of the problem earlier."

Jilbrin says that the most important type of foods to eat to keep your cholesterol levels healthy are "viscous fibers." Sounds ... gross? Don't worry, they're actually tasty. Here's a list of some yummy viscous fibers:

    * Barley
    * Oatmeal
    * Oat bran
    * Ground psyllium seeds
    * Apples
    * Oranges
    * Prunes
    * Legumes (beans, peas, lentils)
    * Brussels sprouts

Viscous fibers work, Jilbrin explains, for two reasons: First, they trap some of the fat and cholesterol from your diet, sending it out of the body before it can be absorbed.

Second: "Your body uses bile acids, made from cholesterol, to break down the fat you eat, so it can be absorbed in the intestines," Jilbrin explains. "Once the bile acid is secreted in the intestine and does its work breaking down fat, most of the bile acids are reabsorbed." Are you with us so far? "But viscous fibers block some of that reabsorption, so, in order to create more bile acid, the body draws from cholesterol in the blood, thus lowering LDL (the "bad" cholesterol)."

Almonds, while not viscous fibers, are also good to eat, notes Jilbrin, because they contain a monounsaturated fat and a plant sterol, both of which lower LDL.

Of course -- it's not just what you eat. Maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding saturated fats and staying active, says Jilbrin, are also super important to keeping your cholesterol levels -- and your heart -- healthy.

Article by Youbeauty

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Royal photographer laid bare: Lord Lichfield's collection of nudes displayed for the first time in new exhibition

A nude woman is captured climbing the escalator in Moscow

He was famed for his royal commissions - capturing The Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer on their wedding day.

But while he was busy snapping the upper echelons of society, the late Patrick Litchfield also had his lens fixed on the female figure.

Revealed for the first time, his lesser-known collection of nudes are the subject of a new London exhibition.

the 5th Earl of Lichfield, who was the Queen's first cousin

Opening today, images include Good Morning America, a 1990 picture of a woman in a see-through silk dress looking down on Central Park in New York.

Also featured are Checker Cab - a topless model in the back of a New York taxi - and Moscow Underground from 1989.

While Sixties icon Marsha Hunt, English actress Tracy Reed, Australia's best-known pin-up girl Karen Pini and Bianca Jagger are some of named subjects to appear.

Checker Cab - a topless model in the back of a New York taxi

Lichfield - the 5th Earl of Lichfield, who was the Queen's first cousin once removed - didn't use his title in his professional life and first used a camera at the age of seven, taking pictures of his family and scenes at his home, Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire.

He went on to work for magazines around the world including Life and Vogue, and published several books after getting his big break photographing the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

He was the official photographer at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana in 1981 and was chosen by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to take official pictures of her Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Christie’s photography expert Philippe Garner believes the nude portraits show Lichfield at his best.

'What he was known for was celebrating style and glamour. His nudes are a natural extension of what he did.

'Essentially, his photographs tended to be the stuff of dreams. He was a dandy and was somebody who, if he saw an opportunity to make life beautiful, felt he had a duty to do so,' he told the Evening Standard.

He died in 2005 aged 66 after suffering a major stroke. He had recently taken portraits of Baroness Thatcher to mark her 80th birthday.

Following the news of his death she said: 'Patrick Lichfield was not only one of the most talented and professional of photographers, he was also an absolute delight to sit for.'

Lichfield first used a camera at the age of seven, taking pictures of his family

News by Dailymail

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Britain's oldest 20-year-old man has the body of a 160-year-old due to rare condition

Dean Andrews, 20, has told of his life with progeria, a rare ageing disease

I'm aged just 20... but have the body of a 160-year-old man

# Dean has progeria, which means his body ages eight times faster than normal
# He says: 'I've never let the condition hold me back'

Europe’s oldest sufferer of a rare ageing disease has told how in just 20 years his body has become that of a 160-year-old.

Dean Andrews' body has aged eight times faster than normal due to a rare condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria.

He is one of just four progeria sufferers in the UK and out of only 74 cases worldwide, Dean is thought to be the second oldest survivor.

Now Dean has decided to tell the story of his life so far in the hope of providing inspiration to other sufferers.

He said: 'I’ve never let my condition hold me back. I’ve always tried to do what everyone else does and even if I failed, at least I tried.

'My family have kept me going and I’ve got very supportive friends. I’m very lucky as they do everything they can to make me happy.'

Dean weighs just 3st 10lbs - but his small body holds a big personality.

In his 20 years, Dean has learnt to drive, been engaged, got four tattoos and once even started a mechanics course at college. However, he was forced to quit when he was unable to get his tiny 4ft 1in frame over the cars’ bonnets.

Dean with his mother Dawn Thomas, 41, and her husband Wayne, 43

Nevertheless, his achievements are astounding considering that when he was diagnosed with progeria at the age of seven, his mother Dawn Thomas, 41, was told he would not live beyond his early teens.

Back then, the condition was so poorly documented that most doctors had never even heard of it.

Dawn said: 'When Dean was about six months old I noticed he was a lot smaller than he should have been. He was still wearing clothes for a 0-3-month-old baby but the health visitors told me not to worry.

'They said he was just small and there was nothing wrong with him but I carried on taking him to the doctor regularly because his appetite was small.'

In other ways Dean’s development was quite normal, but when he started walking at the age of 18 months, Dawn noticed that he would tire more easily than her other children

Dawn said: 'We would be walking along the street and he would complain that his legs were hurting. At first I just thought he was lazy but then I noticed there were certain things he couldn’t do, like cross his legs during assembly at school.'

The mystery was eventually explained when a geneticist broke the news that he had progeria.

Dawn said: 'The day before we were told, the doctor rang up and told us to come in and said that I should bring someone with me. I knew then that it was bad. I thought it might even be cancer because his hair used to fall out so easily.

'There was so little information available about progeria at that time that I basically had to teach myself everything. All we were told was that Dean was ageing eight times faster than normal and that he would probably not live past 13.

'I didn’t know how to break it to Dean at that time because he was so young. I just told him that he had a growth problem.

'It was really hard to take and I ended up on anti-depressants but it was Dean himself who gave me hope, he never let anything get him down.'

Dawn lives in Birmingham with Dean, her husband Wayne, 43, and children Sophie, 15, and Lewis, 12. She also has an older son Nathan, 23, a warehouse assistant, and fosters her niece Annabel Timby, 14.

She split with Dean’s father Mark Andrews, at that time an airport baggage handler, in 1998 and met Wayne around the time of her son’s crushing diagnosis.

Now both Dawn and Wayne devote their lives to Dean’s full-time care at their council terrace home in Erdington.

She said: 'We have just tried to make every moment count for him as best we could. I’ve never tried to treat him any differently or tell him that he couldn’t do something, if he wanted to try something he would have a go.'

Dean said: 'When I was at primary school I wasn’t really aware that there was anything different about me.

'I only really became aware of my condition when I was about 13 and it was decided that I should go to a special school.'

Progeria causes rapid ageing and sufferers of the genetic disease are prone to arthritis, eye problems, heart disease and baldness.

By the age of 10, most progeria children look like octogenerians. They are said to age at eight times the normal rate, meaning Dean has survived the equivalent of 160 years of ageing.

Dean’s poor prognosis meant doctors expected him to be profoundly disabled before he hit his teens, so Dawn and Wayne decided to send him to special school where the facilities were adapted for wheelchairs.

However, Dean defied medics’ grim predictions and excelled at school, helping his teachers with the other students’ needs and taking part in plenty of after-school activities.

Dean added: 'I had a lot of friends at school and I took part in a lot of after-school clubs. I also did swimming competitions and we went on trips.

'The only time it ever bothered me were when my friends wanted to go theme parks, which I loved, but I was not tall enough to go on most of the rides so I would just stay at home.

'I loved hockey and skateboarding and riding my bike - all the same things as other teenagers.

'I also loved playing football and even though some of the other kids were a bit taller than me, I never let it hold me back.'

Dawn was wary of letting doctors use her son as a guinea pig for untested treatments. She did not want him to receive hormone treatment to kickstart his growth and, at the age of 14, Dean himself refused invasive surgery to correct his jaw.

Apart from an operation to repair damage caused by frequent ear infections, Dean’s health was relatively good all through his teenage years and he amazed doctors with his progress.

He said: 'When I got to about 15, I noticed that I couldn’t lift my legs high enough to peddle my bike anymore but I just rode my little sister’s one instead.

'My friends all had mini-motorbikes around that time too and I struggled to sit comfortably on one. But I still had a go at everything from quad biking to skateboarding.

Dean aged 13, being lifted by models at Max Power car show

'If my mate jumped over a wall I would be there right behind him, trying to scramble over it.'

A Birmingham City fan his whole life, Dean was named the club’s disabled supporter of the year and presented with an award by Emile Heskey in 2005.

As a fan of fast cars, Dean began driving lessons at 17 and passed his test first time. He then found love with a girl named Emily, who would later become his fiancee, although sadly the relationship ended earlier this year.

Dean was living life to the full, but then in November last year tragedy struck.

After suffering frequent breathlessness Dean was admitted to hospital with suspected pneumonia. But when doctors investigated, they found he was suffering from irreversible heart failure.

He now spends most of his days at home where Dawn tends to his every need.

Doctors cannot say how much longer he has left and he must take a cocktail of medications every day. Nevertheless, Dean remains characteristically upbeat.

He said: 'I went to the progeria reunion last year and met Hayley Okines, Harry Crowther and Ashanti Smith - the other three sufferers in the UK. It was great to be able to show them what I’ve done with my life and to give them a bit of inspiration.

'Heart failure has changed my life a lot and I can’t do a lot of the things that I used to, but I have my family and friends around me and they keep me going.

After suffering frequent breathlessness Dean was admitted to hospital with suspected pneumonia. But when doctors investigated, they found he was suffering from irreversible heart failure.

He now spends most of his days at home where Dawn tends to his every need.

Doctors cannot say how much longer he has left and he must take a cocktail of medications every day. Nevertheless, Dean remains characteristically upbeat.

He said: 'I went to the progeria reunion last year and met Hayley Okines, Harry Crowther and Ashanti Smith - the other three sufferers in the UK. It was great to be able to show them what I’ve done with my life and to give them a bit of inspiration.

'Heart failure has changed my life a lot and I can’t do a lot of the things that I used to, but I have my family and friends around me and they keep me going.

'There’s nothing they would not do for me and I’m very lucky to be so loved.'

Dean says there are some things he would like to do in the time he has left. He would love to meet his idol comedian Leigh Francis - known for his character Keith Lemon - and he hopes to make it to the next progeria reunion in September, which takes place in Italy.

These days, he loves nothing more than relaxing in a jacuzzi to soothe his swollen limbs - a side affect of the heart failure - but the NHS withdrew his hydrotherapy funding last year. He is currently trying to find somewhere local that will allow him to use their facilities.

Dawn said: 'We are so proud of Dean and everything that he has achieved but I also feel he has missed out on so much.

'Now we are just trying to make the time he has left as comfortable and as happy for him as possible.'

News by Dailymail

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Obama Courts Young Voters With Student Loan Appeal

President Barack Obama greets students

Wooing the young voters crucial to his re-election, President Obama today launched a passionate campaign-style appeal to students as he pressed lawmakers to prevent the cost of college from rising.

Speaking to a rowdy crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the president said he understands the financial burdens students face. “Michelle and I, we’ve been in your shoes,” Obama said. “We didn’t come from wealthy families.  When we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt.  When we married, we got poorer together.”

While the president did not call out the presumptive GOP nominee by name, he drew a sharp contrast between his background and that of Mitt Romney, who comes from a wealthier family. “This is something Michelle and I know about firsthand,” Obama said. “I didn’t just read about this… I didn’t just get some talking points about this. I didn’t just get a policy briefing on this.”

“Check this out, all right?  I’m the president of the United States.  We only finished paying off our student loans about eight years ago,” he said to laughter from the crowd of roughly 8,000. “That wasn’t that long ago.”

While young voters still overwhelmingly support the president — Obama enjoys a substantial 60 to 34 percent lead over Romney — their interest has waned since 2008.

According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 63 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds took a major interest in the election in 2008. Today, just 45 percent have the same level of interest in this presidential election.

Obama is spending Tuesday and Wednesday visiting three key battleground states to push for low-rate college loans, wooing young voters while targeting a financial burden that hits the middle class and threatens the economic recovery.

In North Carolina Obama urged lawmakers to extend a 2007 law that cut student loan rates to 3.4 percent. If Congress does not act, interest rates will double to 6.8 percent on July 1.

“For each year that Congress doesn’t act, the average student with these loans will rack up an additional thousand dollars in debt,” the president said. “That’s basically a tax hike for more than 7 million students across America, more than 160,000 students here in North Carolina alone.”

Obama is expected to make a similar argument at stops in Colorado and Iowa.

While Romney has come out in support of the extension, the president targeted Republican lawmakers who oppose the measure. “Republicans who run Congress right now have not yet said whether or not they’ll stop your rates from doubling.  We’re two months away,” Obama said, asking those watching to call, email or tweet their members of Congress.

The White House maintains the president’s trip this week is purely official business, but it was hard to ignore Obama’s campaign cadence as he riled up what appeared to be a largely supportive crowd.

“The fact is that since most of you were born, tuition and fees at America’s colleges have more than doubled. That forces students like you to take out a lot more loans.  There are fewer grants.  You rack up more debt.  Can I get an amen?” the president asked.

“Amen!” the crowd cheered.

“The average student who borrows to pay for college now graduates with about $25,000 in student loan debt.  That’s the average.  Some are more.  Can I get an amen for that?” Obama asked again.

“Amen!” the students replied.

News by ABC News

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Migraine Headaches: New Guidelines Focus on Prevention

Doctor finds new guidelines on migraine headaches' prevention

From prescription pills to poisonous plants, plenty of treatments can help prevent migraines, according to new guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology.

The updated guidelines could help some of the country's 30 million "migraineurs" reduce the frequency and severity of their headaches.

"About 38 percent of people who suffer from migraines could benefit from preventive treatments, but only less than a third of these people currently use them," said Dr. Stephen Silberstein, director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and lead author of the guidelines released today.

Migraines are a type of headache often accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to sound and "aura," or visual symptoms. Acute treatments can ease the ache once it's started. But people with frequent migraines are advised to try daily therapies to prevent the pain and dampen the dread of when and where the next headache will hit.

"People who have relatively mild migraines that come infrequently and respond well to acute treatments, those people don't need preventive therapy," said Dr. Richard Lipton, director of the Montefiore Headache Center in New York City. "But if you're losing more than 10 days per month to your migraines, it's probably worth taking medication on a daily basis."

Silberstein and colleagues reviewed the slew of studies on migraine prevention to tease out treatments that were proved to work from ones that were probably ineffective. Among those with "established efficacy" were anti-seizure drugs such as topiramate, blood pressure-lowering drugs called beta-blockers, and inflammation-blocking extracts from the toxic butterbur plant.

"There are many, many different treatments and they have many effects on brain physiology," said Dr. Joel Saper, director of the Michigan Headache and Neurological Institute in Ann Arbor. "Some people need one kind of an effect to feel better; some need another. Some need multiple treatments at the same time."

Preventive treatments that are considered "probably effective" include antidepressants such as amitriptyline, over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen, and natural supplements such as riboflavin.

"Some people say, 'I really don't want be on a medication," said Dr. Audrey Halpern, a neurologist at NYU Langone's Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health in New York City. "It may be appropriate for them to start with a natural supplement or other complementary therapy to get them going."

But Halpern stressed that "natural" doesn't necessarily mean "safe."

"Some supplements may interact with other medications," she said. "It's really important for people to talk to their doctors before starting any therapy."

One natural supplement, butterbur extract, has been used to treat migraine for more than 500 years. But only recently was its migraine-fighting potential proved in a clinical trial.

"The great thing about butterbur is it has a very favorable side effect profile," said Lipton, cautioning that supplements were not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "One of the issues with natural compounds is they're very complex. It's a very complex biochemical soup."

Some of the treatments listed in the guidelines are FDA-approved to treat migraines. But many are approved for other conditions and used off-label in migraineurs.

"The fascinating thing about migraine prevention is almost all the therapies we have were developed for another purpose and discovered to work in migraine prevention by chance alone," said Lipton, describing how drugs designed for epilepsy and hypertension were found to work haphazardly in headache sufferers. "But I think we're moving into an era where we can develop designer drugs specifically for migraine."

The new guidelines are similar to those from 2000 with a few changes: Topiramate is now considered effective in migraine prevention; and gabapentin and verapamil were downgraded from "probably effective" to a category of treatments with "inadequate" evidence to support or refute its use. But experts emphasize the guidelines are not the be-all, end-all.

"They're useful as a starting point," said Saper, adding that difficult cases often required drugs not listed in general guidelines. "Many people respond well to drugs that don't help most other people, and those drugs don't get listed because there's not enough evidence of a generalized benefit."

News by ABC News

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Virginia Woman Wins $1 Million Lottery Twice in the Same Day

Virginia Fike wins 2 Million

Winning the lottery once in a lifetime is pretty lucky. Winning the lottery twice in the same day? Virginia Fike is one of the few people that can describe that feeling.

The Berryville, Va., resident had two tickets that matched five of the six Powerball numbers in an April 7 drawing so that each ticket was worth $1 million.

"I'm in shock!" Fike said in a news release from the Virginia lottery.

In early April, Fike stopped at an Olde Stone Truck Stop in Virginia with her numbers ready and purchased two tickets.

"I picked numbers based on my parents' anniversary and their ages at that time, divided by the year they were married," Fike said in the release. "I just love the jackpot games and I play when I can afford it."

The jackpot that week was at $80 million. In order to win the jackpot, the ticket holder has to match the five numbers and the sixth Powerball number.

After the drawing, it was announced that no one had won the jackpot, but 14 people nationwide had matched five of the numbers and were entitled to $1 million prizes each. Two of the winning tickets were in Virginia.

Pike was in the hospital keeping her mother company.

"I saw a scroll on TV about there being two $1 million winners. I looked at my mom and said 'Wouldn't it be funny if it was us?'" she said.

When she stopped by a convenience store, Pike had the clerk check her tickets and she discovered that she had won both of Virginia's $1 million prizes.

Per Virginia state lottery rules, winners split the jackpot, regardless of how many there are, but non-jackpot prizes from matching part of the winning sequence are not split and can be won multiple times.

"It's not that uncommon for people to buy tickets in games with the same number, but this is the biggest prize we've ever had in Virginia of two tickets in the same drawing," Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty told ABCNews.com.

Pike was presented with a check for $2 million on Friday at the truck stop where she purchased the ticket. Winners in Virginia are required to come forward and be identified. She will receive $1.4 million after taxes. The store also received a $200,000 bonus for selling the two winning tickets.

Pike did not respond to a request for comment from ABCNews.com.

For now, Virginia's newest millionaire is basking in her shocking win.

"I must be dreaming," Pike said. "I look forward to helping to take care of my parents and paying some bills."

News by Yahoo

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Jillian Michaels: Foods That Burn Fat

Daily weight-loss Dose With Jillian Michaels

On 'Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels,' Jillian highlights a few foods that can help dieters burn fat and possibly even boost metabolism. Here's her list.

When you're trying to lose weight, your daily calorie intake is like walking a tightrope: Consume too many calories, and you'll hit a weight-loss plateau or even gain weight, consume too few calories, and your metabolism will stall. And once you slow your metabolism, getting back to your original rate of calorie burning can be tough, if not impossible.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to keep your metabolism on track and your body burning fat. Although there's only one true way to increase your basal metabolic rate, which is the rate your body naturally burns calories (by increasing your body's muscle mass), the foods you choose can help with the fat-burning process.

In a recent episode of Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels, Jillian and her co-host Janice reviewed a few of the top foods that can help burn fat, thanks to their antioxidants and hormone-regulating properties. Here's a look at a few of Jillian's favorite fat-burning foods.

Green tea: Studies have shown that regular consumption of green tea can moderately promote weight and fat loss. The secret to green tea's fat-burning power is its catechins, the antioxidants in tea that combat free radicals and promote healthy cells. One cup of green tea contains between 50 to 100 milligrams of catechins, and most research shows that you must drink about five cups of green tea every day to see a fat-burning effect.

"It can’t hurt if you just sip it all day," Jillian says. "It keeps you hydrated, and you get all those antioxidants and their cancer-fighting effects."

Omega-3 fatty acids: A daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids, whether through a supplement or a natural source such as salmon, boosts weight-loss efforts when combined with exercise more than exercise alone, a study at the University of South Australia found. Researchers say this is because omega-3s are polyunsaturated fats that can boost fat oxidation, but that exercise is also required to reap this benefit. Studies have shown that just a few servings of fish per week can help with fat loss in lieu of supplementation.

Pistachio nuts: The simple act of swapping pistachios for your other favorite salty snacks has been shown to produce weight loss, with no additional effort required. A recent study also demonstrated that pistachios can improve symptoms of metabolic syndrome, such as blood pressure, insulin levels, and blood glucose levels.

"The other thing about pistachios is that it takes a while to open them up, and it’s going to slow your eating down," Jillian says. "You’re not going to house a giant bag of nuts like you would chips."

Pomegranate:  Both pomegranate and pomegranate oil have been shown to help burn fat in overweight people and reduce inflammation in the body, which can lower risk for heart disease and cancer. Some recent studies have even found that eating pomegranates may help prevent obesity and diabetes in both mice and humans.

"These little guys are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant bombs," Jillian says, "which is great for your overall health." 

News by Everydayhealth

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

George Zimmerman Released From Florida Jail on $150,000 Bond

George Zimmerman

George Zimmerman walked calmly out Florida jail at midnight Monday after posting $150,000 bond as he awaits trial for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman left the John E. Polk Correctional Facility (JEPCF) at the Seminole County Sheriff's Office accompanied by a man ABC News identified as his possible bail bondsman. The 28-year-old former neighborhood watch volunteer posted bond and was fitted with an electronic monitoring device prior to release, according to a statement from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. He and the man accompanying him were seen getting into white BMW sport utility vehicle.

The GPS device, which can give immediate identification of an offender's whereabouts anywhere in the US, at any given time, according to a statement from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, a possible hint that the defense's request that he be allowed to wait out the trial out of Florida may have been granted.

Zimmerman, who has been charged with second degree murder, was wearing a brown jacket and jeans, and seemed to be carrying his personal items in a brown paper bag, as he walked to a waiting car. The half dozen or so journalists staking out the jail round the clock over the weekend for the moment of his release were caught somewhat off guard.

On Saturday his attorney Mark O'Mara left the jail saying his client may be in jail through the middle of the week, adding, and "The logistics, that's a lot of money to come up with. $150,000 is a lot of collateral. It's not a family of much means, obviously, we all know that from the bond hearing itself, so it's tough. We're still working on it."

At a bond hearing on Friday morning Judge Kenneth Lester set bail at $150,000. The prosecution had argued that Zimmerman should be denied bail entirely or that it should be set at $1 million.

Zimmerman is being held on charges of second-degree murder for the Feb. 26 shooting of Martin, 17, which could carry a life sentence if he is convicted.

George Zimmerman stunned a Florida court Friday by taking the stand and apologizing to the parents of Trayvon Martin, who were sitting in the courtroom during Zimmerman's bond hearing.

"I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not," Zimmerman said addressing Martin's family directly.

Zimmerman told police the night he shot and killed Martin that he acted in self-defense after Martin punched him and pounced on him. Zimmerman told police that Martin then bashed his head into the concrete sidewalk during the altercation that took place in the tidy middle-class development of the Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Fla.

News by ABC News

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com

Iran Says Is Building Copy of Captured US Drone

US Drone captured by Iran

Iran claimed Sunday that it had reverse-engineered an American spy drone captured by its armed forces last year and has begun building a copy.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the aerospace division of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, related what he said were details of the aircraft's operational history to prove his claim that Tehran's military experts had extracted data from the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel captured in December in eastern Iran, state television reported.

Among the drone's past missions, he said, was surveillance of the compound in northwest Pakistan in which Osama Bin Laden lived and was killed.

Tehran has flaunted the capture of the Sentinel, a top-secret surveillance drone with stealth technology, as a victory for Iran and a defeat for the United States in a complicated intelligence and technological battle.

U.S. officials have acknowledged losing the drone. They have said Iran will find it hard to exploit any data and technology aboard it because of measures taken to limit the intelligence value of drones operating over hostile territory.

Hajizadeh told state television that the captured surveillance drone is a "national asset" for Iran and that he could not reveal full technical details. But he did provide some samples of the data that he claimed Iranian experts had recovered.

"There is almost no part hidden to us in this aircraft. We recovered part of the data that had been erased. There were many codes and characters. But we deciphered them by the grace of God," Hajizadeh said.

He said all operations carried out by the drone had been recorded in the memory of the aircraft, including maintenance and testing.

Hajizadeh claimed that the drone flew over Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan two weeks before the al-Qaida leader was killed there in May 2011 by U.S. Navy SEALs. He did not say how the Iranian experts knew this.

Before that, he said, "this drone was in California on Oct. 16, 2010, for some technical work and was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan on Nov. 18, 2010. It conducted flights there but apparently faced problems and (U.S. experts) were unable to fix it," he said.

Hajizadeh said the drone was taken to Los Angeles in December 2010 where sensors of the aircraft underwent testing at an aerospace factory.

"If we had not achieved access to software and hardware of this aircraft, we would be unable to get these details. Our experts are fully dominant over sections and programs of this plane," he said. "It's not that we can bring down a drone but cannot recover the data."

There are concerns in the U.S. that Iran or other states may be able to reverse-engineer the chemical composition of the drone's radar-deflecting paint or the aircraft's sophisticated optics technology that allows operators to positively identify terror suspects from tens of thousands of feet in the air.

There are also worries that adversaries may be able to hack into the drone's database, as Iran claimed to have done. Some surveillance technologies allow video to stream through to operators on the ground but do not store much collected data. If they do, it is encrypted.

Media reports claimed this week that Russia and China have asked Tehran to provide them with information on the drone but Iran's Defense Ministry denied this.

News by ABC News

Read current news at http://bbc-cnn-worldnews.blogspot.com