Why Surgeons Dread Redheads

Meredith Melnick – As the authors of a recent study published in BMJ attest, society’s red-haired members don’t always get a fair shake. Hoary stereotypes, such as the idea that redheads are also hot heads, are mixed together with actual physiological differences — such as a heightened sensitivity to pain. Now science is getting a better understanding of redheaded physiology than ever before.

In numerical terms, people with red hair are a decided minority. They comprise just 2-6% of the population of the northern hemisphere and 1-2% worldwide. It’s genetics that make them such rare birds.

The carrot-top coloration is caused by a gene on chromosome 16 that affects the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) protein, which often leads to the redheads’ characteristic pale skin and light eyes, as well as a sensitivity to ultraviolet light — which is why they must slather on the sunscreen when they go outside. Because the gene is recessive, both parents must carry it in order for a red-haired child to be born. That’s not difficult — 80% of the global population carries the redheaded gene even most if they do so invisibly.

For those few who do have the redhead phenotype, the physical challenges go beyond the occasional sunburn — something that surgeons well know. And that’s what the BMJ authors sought to explore in their meta-analysis, or survey of the existing scientific literature

Operating room docs, for example, have long reported that redheads appear to need more anesthetic than others. The new study suggests that that observation is an accurate one — mostly. Those with the MC1R mutation are more sensitive to opiate pain killers — which means they’d actually need less — but less sensitive to other types, most notably lidocaine injections. One study which used heat-related pain as its litmus of overall sensitivity showed that redheads indeed felt things more acutely and unpleasantly, probably because the MC1R mutation releases a hormone that stimulates a brain receptor associated with pain regulation. …

via Why Surgeons Dread Redheads – TIME Healthland.

I only date red heads.

French village which will ‘survive 2012 Armageddon’ plagued by visitors

Bugarach, population 189, is a peaceful farming village in the Aude region, southwestern France and sits at the foot of the Pic de Bugarach, the highest mountain in the Corbières wine-growing area.

But in the past few months, the quiet village has been inundated by groups of esoteric outsiders who believe the peak is an “alien garage”.

According to them, extraterrestrials are quietly waiting in a massive cavity beneath the rock for the world to end, at which point they will leave, taking, it is hoped, a lucky few humans with them.

Most believe Armageddon will take place on December 21, 2012, the end date of the ancient Maya calendar, at which point they predict human civilisation will come to an end. Another favourite date mentioned is 12, December, 2012. They see Bugarach as one of perhaps several “sacred mountains” sheltered from the cataclysm.

“This is no laughing matter,” Jean-Pierre Delord, the mayor, told The Daily Telegraph.

“If tomorrow 10,000 people turn up, as a village of 200 people we will not be able to cope. I have informed the regional authorities of our concerns and want the army to be at hand if necessary come December 2012.”

Mr Delord said people had been coming to the village for the past 10 years or so in search of alien life following a post in an UFO review by a local man, who has since died. “He claimed he had seen aliens and heard the humming of their spacecraft under the mountain,” he said. …

via French village which will ‘survive 2012 Armageddon’ plagued by visitors – Telegraph.

Defence lifts lid on Kiwi X-files

STACEY WOOD – Thousands of secret files on New Zealand’s UFO reports are set to be made public, nearly 32 years to the day after our most famous sighting.

The files include every witness account of unidentified flying objects reported to authorities since the early 1950s, including the 1978 Kaikoura mystery.

They had been held by Archives New Zealand, which was to make them available in February after requests from the public, but the Defence Force stepped in, saying it needed to remove personal identification to comply with the Privacy Act.

The Defence Force promised to release the files by the end of this year and is due to make them public this week.

More than 2000 pages of files will be issued in 12 volumes. Squadron Leader Kavae Tamariki said the Defence Force would not comment on the files’ content.

“We’ve just been a collection point for the information. We don’t investigate or make reports, we haven’t substantiated anything in them.”

The Defence Force did not have the resources to investigate UFO sightings, Squadron Leader Tamariki said.

The director of research group UFOCUS NZ, Suzanne Hansen, said she had been trying to get hold of the Defence Force files for nearly two years.

“I started lobbying, and at first they said there was no way in the foreseeable future they’d be released. It’s been a long time coming.”

In August last year The Press sought access to the files under the Official Information Act, and was told by the Defence Force the request “would require a substantial amount of collation, research and consultation to identify whether any of that information could be released”, and it was “not in a position to deploy staff to undertake that task”.

It said public files on UFO sightings were available from Archives NZ.

But when access to those files was requested from Archives NZ, it emerged they had been borrowed by the Defence Force.

Ms Hansen said she hoped the files would reveal more detail about some of New Zealand’s most famous cases, including the Kaikoura sighting on December 21, 1978.

Wellington man John Cordy, 77, was in the air traffic control tower on that night and still maintains there was no logical explanation for what happened.

He and his colleague witnessed inexplicable radar readings at a time when no aircraft were cleared to be in the area.

At the same time, crew on an Argosy cargo plane reported strange lights around their aircraft, which tracked them for more than 60 kilometres. Numerous theories were put forward, but Mr Cordy said none fitted the bill.

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“It wasn’t a squid boat, it wasn’t Jupiter, it wasn’t Venus, and it wasn’t harbour lights. What it was I do not know.” …

via Defence lifts lid on Kiwi X-files – national | Stuff.co.nz.

Husband turned out to be a woman and a thief

It took more than six months for 27-year-old Minati Khatua of Rourkela to realise that she had allegedly married a woman and not a man.

By the time she realised, her ‘husband’ had vanished with a car and a jeep bought with loans taken from a bank in her name, police said.

Minati today lodged a complaint with local police which registered it as a case of cheating.

The police said Minati married Sitakant Routray, a frequent visitor to her sister’s house at Golghar here where she was staying.Later the couple got married in a temple and the next day their marriage was registered before a notary.

Though the two stayed together, they did not consummate their marriage as the fraudster convinced her that he was observing a special fast for six months after which a ritual would be performed at Jagannath temple in Puri.

Minati’s relatives grew suspicious of her ‘husband’ when the couple visited her native village in Cuttack district, they told her the doubts following which Minati subsequently found out that Sitakant was a woman posing as a man.

via Husband turned out to be a woman and a thief.

Christmas the deadliest day of the year

Misty Harris – A new U.S. analysis of mortality rates during different times of year found that people are more likely to die during the holidays — notably on Christmas and New Year’s Day — and researchers cannot explain the yearly spike.

After analyzing all official United States death certificates over the 25-year period between 1979 and 2004, a trio of sociologists identified an excess of 42,325 natural deaths — that is, above and beyond the normal seasonal winter increase — in the two weeks starting with Christmas.

In the article in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers David Phillips, Gwendolyn Barker and Kimberly Brewer report that mortality in general rises during the Christmas season.

Deaths in a hospital setting increase tremendously on the holidays themselves.

More people die in hospital emergency wards, or arrive dead on arrival, on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day than on any other days of the year.

“It’s not trivial,” said Mr. Phillips, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego. “We looked at all cause categories and, for nearly every one, we found an excess of deaths — particularly for people who are dying rapidly, like dead-on-arrival or dying in the emergency department.”

In general, Mr. Phillips said the team’s analysis of some 57.5-million death certificates shows the chance of dying during this holiday period increases “somewhere between 3% and 9%, depending on the demographic group you’re looking at, and somewhere between 1% and 10%, depending on what cause of death you’re looking at.” …

The reseachers noted two other, smaller single-day jumps in crib deaths in U.S. data: a 14% spike on July 5, the day after Independence Day, and an 18% boost on April 20, which the authors noted is a “counterculture holiday devoted to the celebration of cannabis consumption.”

via Christmas the deadliest day of the year: study | Posted | National Post.

Shipwrecked 2,000-Year-Old Pills Give Clues to Ancient Medicine

Lee Speigel – Scientists are trying to unravel the mystery of whether pills found in a 2,000-year-old shipwreck were, in fact, created and used as effective plant-based medicines.

And the bigger question: Could the ingredients of these ancient tablets still work to help with modern illnesses?

Around 130 B.C., a ship, identified as the Relitto del Pozzino, sank off Tuscany, Italy. Among the artifacts found on board in 1989 were glass cups, a pitcher and ceramics, all of which suggested that the ship was sailing from the eastern Mediterranean area.Its cargo also included a chest that contained various items related to the medical profession: a copper bleeding cup and 136 boxwood vials and tin containers.

Inside one of the tin vessels, archaeologists found several circular tablets, many still completely dry.

“They were less than an inch in diameter and about a third to a half inch thick,” said Robert Fleischer, an evolutionary geneticist with the Smithsonian’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics in Washington, D.C.

He told AOL News that the tablets were “very tightly compressed vegetation in a very solid pill. …

“We know there’s a lot of traditional knowledge that is out there in cultures and has a lot of use and has been adopted in modern cultures — things like aspirin where the active ingredient is derived from willow bark,” said Fleischer.

“So I think there’s potential to find things in these pills — or combinations of things — that might actually be useful.”…

via Shipwrecked 2,000-Year-Old Pills Give Clues to Ancient Medicine.

Woman Cited for Urinating in Convenience Store Freezer

David Lohr – There are just some things you shouldn’t do on a date.

A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief for urinating inside a convenience store’s freezer and spoiling hundreds of dollars worth of food, police said.

The bizarre incident occurred around 4 a.m. Saturday at the Country Fair convenience store in Meadville, about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh. Police said Carrie Ann Harkness, 23, of Meadville, climbed into one of the store’s walk-in freezers and became upset when employees asked her to get out.

“The incident occurred as the accused entered the walk-in freezer [and] refused to leave when requested by employees,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Robert C. Baldwin said. “[Harkness] then urinated in the freezer, destroying over $500 in food.”

The manager at the Country Fair store declined to comment on the case. “We are not allowed to discuss it,” the manager told AOL News.

State police issued citations in connection with the incident on Monday. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 12.

Harkness did not immediately respond to an interview request from AOL News, and it is not yet known if she is being represented by an attorney.

The Smoking Gun found a Facebook profile for Harkness and said that on Sunday, she posted a status update:

“OMG have you ever liked someone so much and go out with them and make a fool of yourself? Wish I could take back Friday night!” …

via Police: Carrie Ann Harkness Cited for Urinating in Convenience Store Freezer.

 

Christmas Lights Powered By Human Waste

Doug Schepman – A small lighted Christmas tree in a UC Denver laboratory proves the practicality of a novel renewable energy source, and points to its enormous potential.

Jason Ren, an assistant professor of civil engineering, calls it “bug power” referring to the millions of bacteria that help generate electricity from wastewater. The process creates two desirable byproducts.

“Those bacteria are able to consume the waste and produce electricity as well as clean water,” Ren said.

Bacteria in the microbial fuel cells essentially eat the waste and give off electrons in the process. Those electrons are then captured by a graphite brush. Also, Ren recently discovered that salt water could be turned to fresh water as a third, simultaneous function.

“Electricity on one side, treating wastewater on the other side, while desalinating sea water in the middle,” Ren said, pointing to a small three-chambered reactor.

“I think it’s pretty promising,” said Jae-Do Park, an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He is working to make the electricity functional.

“To harvest the energy from the fuel cell in the most efficient way, and at the same time to form that power from the fuel cell into a usable shape,” Park said. …

via Christmas Lights Powered By Poop – Denver News Story – KMGH Denver.

Family says missing dog can predict seizures

A Paradise family is offering an $1,800 reward for a missing dog that Heather Bannister says can predict the seizures of her daughter Nicole.

Nicole has a genetic disorder and doesn’t speak much to strangers. Heather says that when their Yorkshire Terrier Carly ran away Nicole lost her best friend.

What’s more, the untrained dog has the ability to sense when Nicole is about to have a seizure, Heather said.

Heather said she’ll look at Nicole “really seriously,” then start barking and running in circles around her. The warning gives the family time to get Nicole somewhere private and give her medicine.

Carly slipped out of the family van on Second Street in Mount Pearl Dec. 8. The family desperately wants Carly back.

The family has searched everywhere in the Mount Pearl neighbourhood, even bringing in sniffer dogs with no luck.

Heather said her daughter is not taking the loss well.

“Well she’s been having seizures of late because she’s making herself sick, I believe,” she said. “She’s not eating properly and she just doesn’t feel good in general.” …

via CBC News – Nfld. & Labrador – Family says missing dog can predict seizures.

‘Flash Mob’ of Christmas Carolers Force Evacuation of California Mall

Mara Gay- A holiday “flash mob” of merry Christmas carolers forced the evacuation of a California mall when shoppers reported that the floor had begun to buckle.

Nearly 5,000 people showed up Monday night at the Sacramento-area mall to spread holiday cheer in an event organized on Twitter and Facebook by a local choral society. But the scene turned from joy to fright when spectators said the floor of the food court at the Westfield Galleria in Roseville started to shift beneath them as the group began its rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus. “Police kicked the carolers out and evacuated the mall amid fears that the structure was unsafe.

“Somebody reported hearing two pops that sounded like the floor was giving way and another said the floor was shifting,” Tom Dodaro of the Roseville Fire Department told The Sacramento Bee.

The defiant carolers sang Christmas songs as officials ushered them out of the shopping center and a police helicopter sent to the scene roared overhead, according to the Sacramento Press, a local blog.

The “random act of musical kindness” promoted by the Sacramento Choral Society didn’t last long, but no injuries were reported.

So-called “flash mobs” are impromptu performances of song and dance organized through social media and word of mouth.

via ‘Flash Mob’ of Christmas Carolers Force Evacuation of California Mall.

Song and dance? Yeah, not so much, Mara.  Check out flash mob on wikipedia.  The idea is usually that you just show up somewhere and do something random.  I organized the first flash mob in Sacramento and got on the news a few years ago.  We got a bunch of random people to all show up at the Crest Theater wearing tinfoil hats. Then we marched to the park .. and then vanished into the night  … no reason.