Friday, March 20

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Obesity linked to a type of heart failure, finds study
Health

Obesity linked to a type of heart failure, finds study

US researchers have found how obesity impacts muscle structure in patients with a form of heart failure called "heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)".  HFpEF is responsible for more than half of all heart failure worldwide. It also has quite high hospitalisation and death rates (30-40 per cent over 5 years). While it used to be generally associated with having high blood pressure and excess muscle growth (hypertrophy), in the last 20 years, HFpEF has been occurring more often in patients with severe obesity and diabetes. Even as both obesity and diabetes are rising globally, understanding the underlying causes of the diseases is critical, said researchers from Johns Hopkins University. For the study, published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, the team ...
Rocky Mountaineer review: a luxury train ride bookended with Moab and Denver
Life Style

Rocky Mountaineer review: a luxury train ride bookended with Moab and Denver

The Rocky Mountaineer ‘Rockies To The Red Rocks’ route (running from April to October, priced from £1,454 pp) also runs in the reverse direction west from Denver to Moab. The optional SilverLeaf Plus Service experienced by Beverley includes exclusive access to the newly-renovated lounge bar car with craft cocktails and outside viewing platform. Freshly-prepared chef’s meals are paired with local wines. Plan your journey at rockymountaineer.comDiscover more about Denver at denver.org Source link
Mystery surrounds US woman found starving and chained to tree in India
World News

Mystery surrounds US woman found starving and chained to tree in India

Lalita Kayi alleged her husband "chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water". Photo: Supplied / 123RF By Geeta Pandey, Cherylann Mollan and Mushtaq Khan, BBC News Mystery surrounds an American woman who was found chained to a tree "screaming" in a forest in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Lalita Kayi, 50, was discovered a week ago in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after her cries for help were heard by shepherds. They alerted the police who sawed off the chain and rescued her. Kayi, who appeared completely emaciated, was taken to hospital. Her physical health has since improved and, on Friday, she was moved to a psychiatric facility for further treatment, doctors treating her told the BBC. In a written statement to the police, she has alleged ...
Dogpool: Life with the ‘ugliest’ dog turned Hollywood star
World News

Dogpool: Life with the ‘ugliest’ dog turned Hollywood star

By Pritti Mistry, BBC News Peggy stars as Dogpool in the new film Deadpool & Wolverine. Photo: AFP/JAMIE MCCARTHY The transformation of Britain's "ugliest" dog into a Hollywood star has been unexpected and "surreal", her owner has said. Peggy is appearing alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the latest Marvel superhero film, Deadpool & Wolverine. The five-year-old pugese - a pug and Chinese crested cross - was cast as "Dogpool" after finding fame last year when she was crowned the ugliest pooch in a national contest. Recalling the past 18 months, Peggy's owner Holly Middleton, from East Yorkshire, said: "Not in my wildest dreams did I think anything like that would have ever happened." "When we submitted her picture [to the ugly dog competition], I didn't think it woul...
Indonesia’s Papua rebels ready to free New Zealand pilot held for over a year
World News

Indonesia’s Papua rebels ready to free New Zealand pilot held for over a year

New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens was photographed with his rebel captors in Indonesia's Papua region in February 2023. Photo: Supplied/TPNPB A separatist group in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua has agreed to free New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens from more than a year in captivity since kidnapping him, according to an audio message issued by a spokesperson on Saturday. An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on 7 February 2023 after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga. Kogoya has agreed to release Mehrtens and is readying a plan to do so, the spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, said, adding that it could take up to two months. "Commander Egianus has said humbly, for the sake...
Release date of Vijay Varma`s `IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack` out, watch teaser
Entertainment, Movies

Release date of Vijay Varma`s `IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack` out, watch teaser

Actor Vijay Varma is all set to be seen headlining a gripping series `IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack`. The project, which also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Anupam Tripathi, Kumud Mishra and Manoj Pahwa, will be released on Netflix on August 29. On Saturday, the makers also unveiled the teaser. As per the makers, the "six-episode series thrusts you into the nerve-wracking reality faced by passengers and crew trapped at 30,000 feet. With every moment steeped in tension, the series follows a relentless team in India racing against time, deciphering the hijackers` ominous demands, and fighting against the odds to ensure the safe return of everyone on board." IC-814 was hijacked by five terrorists on December 24, 1999, ...
New Brian Eno doco changes at every screening due to generative software
World News

New Brian Eno doco changes at every screening due to generative software

Brian Eno. Photo: Supplied For over 50 years, Brian Eno has been on the cutting edge of music, art and technology. To document his unconventional and relentlessly creative journey, filmmaker Gary Hustwit had to come up with an idea as ground-breaking as Eno himself. Thanks to new generative software, his new documentary Eno appears as a different version at every screening. "There can be billions of potential versions of the film but you'll learn a different kind of set of ideas about Brian every time you watch it," Hustwit told Music 101. Although he's been a fan of Eno's music for years, Hustwit said it was the British musician and producer's highly original approach to creativity that he really wanted to capture in Eno. "He's been able to spend the past 50-plus years exploring exac...
Reserve Bank makes plans to have digital currency in place by 2030
Business

Reserve Bank makes plans to have digital currency in place by 2030

The public consultation on the design of a digital cash system for New Zealand closed last week, with more than 18,000 responses submitted. Photo: 123RF The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is planning to have a government-backed digital currency in place by 2030. It is in stage two of a multi-year project to consider the use of digital cash, which would circulate alongside physical notes and coins. The public consultation on the design of a digital cash system for New Zealand closed last week, with more than 18,000 responses submitted. Reserve Bank head of money and cash Ian Woolford told Saturday Morning, especially after the CrowdStrike glitch, it wanted digital cash to be as similar to physical cash as possible. "What that means is you will be able to use it when the power is down, when ...
Police had warned United States Secret Service of gunman at Trump shooting
World News

Police had warned United States Secret Service of gunman at Trump shooting

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on 13 July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/AFP By Andrew Goudsward and Costas Pitas, Reuters The US Secret Service's acting director said on Friday that local police in Pennsylvania warned that there was a man with a gun on a roof before the 13 July attempted assassination of Donald Trump, but the message did not reach its agents on time. Local authorities and Secret Service agents were using different communications channels, which prevented the warning from getting through before a 20-year-old assailant opened fire on the Republican presidential candidate, Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told reporters. "In the final 30 seconds - which has ...
Love your snacks with a dip? Study shows it may spike your calorie intake
Health

Love your snacks with a dip? Study shows it may spike your calorie intake

If you are looking to limit your calorie intake, skipping the dip with salty snacks may help, suggests a study.  The latest study conducted at the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center in the US investigated how eating behaviour changes when consumers are served a dip with a salty snack. The findings showed that people who ate chips and dip together had a 77 per cent greater caloric intake and a faster total eating rate compared to those who just had chips. However, there was no difference in chip intake, revealed the study, forthcoming in the journal Food Quality and Preference. John Hayes, professor of food science and director of the Center said that "people didn`t eat fewer chips when dip was available -- they ate the same amount of chips, plus the dip". This means that "adding dip...