STUDY: Using Hand Sanitizer Can Increase Skin's Absorption of Dangerous Chemical... -

STUDY: Using Hand Sanitizer Can Increase Skin's Absorption of Dangerous Chemical... - 

Recent studies have suggested that hand sanitizer is bad for you. Triclosan, the active ingredient in hand sanitizer, can kill off the good bacteria on your hands and allow anti-biotic resistant bad bacteria to grow.
Now a study finds that using hand sanitizer can actually increase the skin’s absorbtion of a dangerous chemical.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to make clear plastic packaging for food and plastic bottles for drinks.
BPA disrupts the bodies hormones in a way that disrupts the endocrine system.
Studies have linked high amounts of BPA to hormone disorders, cancer, heart disease, infertility and even diabetes.
Most commonly used hand sanitizers contain chemicals that increases the ability of certain compounds to penetrate deep under the skin.
Researchers at the University of Missouri used thermal receipt papers, the kind used in many cash registers across the country. The thermal paper contains very high amounts of  BPA.
They found that using hand sanitizer before touching the receipt paper increased the absorption of BPA by up to a hundred-fold.
BPA also lingers on the skin, so if a person eats right after using sanitizer on their hands, he or she would be effectively getting a double dose of the chemical, once through the skin, and the second time by eating it.
The levels of BPA seen in the study are high enough to increase the risk of disease for adults and the risk of developmental abnormalities in children.
The researchers say until BPA is replaced with a safer alternative, people should simply avoid using hand sanitizers. And if someone needs to use it, he or she shouldn’t eat right away.

Read more - 

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/06/15/study-warns-hand-sanitizer/

Google technology counts the number of calories on your plate by analysing a photo -

Google technology counts the number of calories on your plate by analysing a photo - 

Unsure whether the food you are eating is laden with calories? Google is using artificial intelligence to tell from a simple photograph.

The rise in popularity of mobile phones has bred several photo trends: retro filters, selfies and food photography, notably in photo-sharing app Instagram.

Google is taking the food snap to the next level by developing software which can determine how many calories are in your meal simply by analysing a photograph of it.

The project, called Im2Calories, is being run by researchers within Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) division and was revealed at the Rework Deep Learning Summit by research scientist Kevin Murphy.

According to Popular Science, the software works using image-recognition technology that analyses the depth of each pixel, matching it with patterns it recognises and existing calorie information.

Food items aren’t always the same size, of course (for example, a burger varies in size and thickness), so the software analyses the size in relation to the plate and any condiments.

It’s not totally automatic, but if the software incorrectly recognises a piece of food, you can correct it using a drop-down menu.

Murphy admitted Im2Calories isn’t 100% accurate: “Ok fine, maybe we get the calories off by 20 percent. It doesn't matter. We're going to average over a week or a month or a year.”

As well as being a useful tool for dieters, Murphy believes the information could be useful on a bigger scale.

“We can start to potentially join information from multiple people and start to do population level statistics,” he said. “I have colleagues in epidemiology and public health, and they really want this stuff.”

The technology could also be used beyond food, analysing streets.

“We want to do things like localise cars, count the cars, get attributes of the cars, [and] which way are they facing. Then we can do things like traffic scene analysis, predict where the most likely parking spot is,” said Murphy. “And since this is all learned from data, the technology is the same, you just change the data.”

Google has filed a patent for Im2Calories, but there’s no news yet when it will be available to the public.

Read more - 

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tech-news/google-technology-counts-the-number-of-calories-on-your-plate-by-analysing-a-photo-11363984890150

As their currency dies, Zimbabweans will get $5 USD for every $175 Quadrillion local dollars -

As their currency dies, Zimbabweans will get $5 USD for every $175 Quadrillion local dollars - 

Zimbabweans will start exchanging 'quadrillions' of local dollars for a few U.S. dollars next week, as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency, the central bank said on Thursday.

The southern African country started using foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar and South African rand in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was ruined by hyper-inflation, which hit 500 billion percent in 2008.

At the height of Zimbabwe's economic crisis in 2008, Zimbabweans had to carry plastic bags bulging with bank notes to buy basic goods like bread and milk. Prices were rising at least twice a day.

From Monday, customers who held Zimbabwean dollar accounts before March 2009 can approach their banks to convert their Zimbabwean dollar balance into dollars, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mangudya said in a statement.

The process will legally end the local currency. Zimbabweans have until September to turn in their old bank notes, which some people sell as souvenirs to tourists.

Bank accounts with balances of up to 175 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars will be paid $5. Those with balances above 175 quadrillion dollars will be paid at an exchange rate of $1 to 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.

The highest - and last - bank note to be printed by the RBZ in 2008 was 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. It was not enough to ride a public bus to work for a week.

The RBZ said customers who still have stashes of old Zimbabwean dollar notes can walk into any bank and get $1 for every 250 trillion they hold.

That means a holder of a 100 trillion bank note will on Monday get 40 cents. The RBZ has set aside $20 million to pay Zimbabwean dollar currency holders.

Read more - 

http://news.yahoo.com/currency-dies-zimbabweans-5-175-quadrillion-local-dollars-153844646.html

STUDY: Dogs snub people who are mean to their owners... -

STUDY: Dogs snub people who are mean to their owners... - 

Dogs do not like people who are mean to their owners, Japanese researchers said Friday, and will refuse food offered by people who have snubbed their master.

The findings reveal that canines have the capacity to co-operate socially -- a characteristic found in a relatively small number of species, including humans and some other primates.

Researchers led by Kazuo Fujita, a professor of comparative cognition at Kyoto University, tested three groups of 18 dogs using role plays in which their owners needed to open a box.

In all three groups, the owner was accompanied by two people whom the dog did not know.

In the first group, the owner sought assistance from one of the other people, who actively refused to help.

In the second group, the owner asked for, and received, help from one person. In both groups, the third person was neutral and not involved in either helping or refusing to help.

View galleryCanines have the capacity to co-operate socially -- …
Canines have the capacity to co-operate socially -- a characteristic found in a relatively small num …
Neither person interacted with the dog's owner in the control -- third -- group.

After watching the box-opening scene, the dog was offered food by the two unfamiliar people in the room.

Dogs that saw their owner being rebuffed were far more likely to choose food from the neutral observer, and to ignore the offer from the person who had refused to help, Fujita said.

Dogs whose owners were helped and dogs whose owners did not interact with either person showed no marked preference for accepting snacks from the strangers.

"We discovered for the first time that dogs make social and emotional evaluations of people regardless of their direct interest," Fujita said.

If the dogs were acting solely out of self-interest, there would be no differences among the groups, and a roughly equal number of animals would have accepted food from each person.

"This ability is one of key factors in building a highly collaborative society, and this study shows that dogs share that ability with humans," he said.

The trait is present in children from the age of about three, the research papers said.

Interestingly, noted Fujita, not all primates demonstrate this behaviour.

"There is a similar study that showed tufted capuchins (a monkey native to South America) have this ability, but there is no evidence that chimpanzees demonstrate a preference unless there is a direct benefit to them," he told AFP.

The study will appear in the science journal "Animal Behaviour" to be published later this month by Amsterdam-based Elsevier, he said.

Read more - 

http://news.yahoo.com/dogs-snub-people-mean-owners-study-053213855.html

Texas Man Trapped Inside His Dream Car Dies Alongside His Dog -

Texas Man Trapped Inside His Dream Car Dies Alongside His Dog - 

A 72-year-old Texas man died alongside his dog on Monday after he reportedly became trapped in his car.

James Rogers of Port Arthur was having a morning coffee at a local Waffle House he regularly frequented when he stepped outside to check on his Shih Tzu inside his 2007 Chevrolet Corvette. The Port Arthur Police Department told the Beaumont Enterprise that Rogers arrived at the Waffle House around 8 a.m. and checked on the dog around 11:55 a.m. He left his phone to charge inside the restaurant, the paper reported.

Police believe a battery cable came loose, disabling the car's electric locks and other systems and leaving Rogers unable to exit the vehicle, according to KBMT. Authorities believe Rogers struggled to escape and he and the dog eventually succumbed to heat exhaustion.

Waffle House employees reportedly called in another regular patron, who owns a local roadside assistance company, to try to free Rogers, but Rogers was already dead. Firefighters eventually broke a window to access the vehicle.

The owner of a used Corvette dealership in nearby Beaumont told the news station that the 2007 model does have a manual door release on the floorboard but not all owners are aware of it.

Rogers only recently acquired the Corvette, according to the Beaumont Enterprise, and his daughter Tricia Hernandez told KBMT it was his dream car.

A spokesman for General Motors told The Huffington Post that the company does not have any further details beyond what has been reported in the media. He confirmed that Corvettes do have an emergency release for the locks and said it is described in the owner's manual.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/11/man-dies-trapped-in-car_n_7561456.html

Lakes and rivers are flooded with artificial sweeteners - up to 72 metric tons of sweetener floating in Lake Erie -

Lakes and rivers are flooded with artificial sweeteners - up to 72 metric tons of sweetener floating in Lake Erie - 

Artificial sweeteners are found in many foods and beverages worldwide, but did you know that the fish are drinking them as well?
In a 2012 study, Canadian researchers discovered artificial sweeteners could be found in lakes, rivers and oceans worldwide.
The researchers are concerned about the effects of these sweeteners on wildlife and plants, CTV News reports. As part of World Oceans Day (June 8), scientists asked us to ponder where sweeteners wind up after they are eaten.
The Canadian study reported that the effect of these sweeteners in the water is largely unknown. Nevertheless, scientists should be on alert, said Amy Parente, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Penn.

Parente conducted her own study in Lake Erie, and she was looking for sucralose, which is the substitute used by Splenda. As expected, the team found the sweetener in the water. While the other studies took samples from the mouths of the treatment plants, Parente tested the water around the lake's beaches, where the sweeteners were likely to be more diluted. She and her team found 0.15 micrograms of sucralose per every liter of water. This may not sound like much, but when added up, it means there may be up to 72 metric tons of sweetener floating in Lake Erie.

When we take in sugar substitutes like Splenda and Sweet'N Low, our bodies aren't able to break them down, so they pass right on through. Once these sweeteners leave our bodies, wastewater treatment facilities have the same problem. Studies have also shown that they can't break down these complex chemicals either, so they wind up in oceans, lakes, and rivers in pretty much the same form in which they were eaten.
Each day, the equivalent of 81,000 to 190,000 cans of artificially flavored soda flow through Ontario's Grand River, say researchers from the University of Waterloo and Environment Canada. This river flows into Lake Erie, Anadolu Agency reports. As a result, as much as 72 metric tonnes (160,000 pounds) of sweetener are flowing into the lake.
In the earlier study, researchers tested for sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin, and acesulfame and found variations of each of these in tap water in Brantford, Ontario, CTV News reported.
In their studies, Parente and her students noted that the sweeteners tricked animals into thinking there was nutrition in the water, causing the creatures to not be hungry, and reducing the calorie intake needed for them to be healthy and reproduce, Anadolu Agency reports. This was especially true for the snails that Parente and her students studied--indeed, they did stop eating as much, and this affected their calorie intake and reproduction.
Parente thinks the sweeteners may have the same effects on other foraging animals.
"When people think about small animals and small organisms, they tend not to be concerned," she said.
A subsequent study, published by Environmental Science and Technology also discovered large amounts of sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, and acesulfame in the vicinity of wastewater treatment plants in New York State. This study found that the sweeteners may damage a plant's ability to perform photosynthesis, and that, in turn, may mean less food for animals that depend on the plants, creating a domino effect that may make its way to us.
Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners aren't the only chemicals that wind up in our water.
There have been numerous studies in the last decade that highlight pharmaceutical compounds in treated wastewater, rivers, lakes, and ground water. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), more than 80 percent of waterways sampled in the U.S. show traces of everyday medications like acetaminophen, hormones, blood pressure medicine, antibiotics, and codeine, the Watershed Council reports. In 1999 and 2000, samples from 139 streams in 30 states were tested for 95 chemicals. Some 82 of these 95 chemicals were detected at least once. For the most part, these chemicals were in very low concentrations (usually less than one part per billion). Mixtures of these chemicals weren't unusual; 75 percent of the streams had more than one, and about 50 percent had seven or more, and 34 percent had 10 or more.
Besieged by low levels of these pharmaceuticals, aquatic communities suffer harm. This is because many pharmaceutical compounds are specifically designed to affect living organisms. Although the concentrations in the environment are below acutely toxic levels, the biggest worry is the chronic and /or synergistic effects of these pharmaceutical "cocktails" we have released into the water. On a scientific level, it isn't known how damaging the discharge of these highly concentrated drug compounds into the nation's waterways will be, because exactly how these compounds will affect the creatures that ingest them isn't known.
The Watershed Council says that more scientific study and analysis will be needed to better understand the impact presented by these chemicals. However, researchers have already observed endocrine disruption in fish that inhabit areas close to wastewater treatment plants. Endocrine disruption is widespread and is the most frequently documented effect that pharmaceutical drugs have on aquatic wildlife. Constant exposure to endocrine disruptors--such as the compounds found in birth control, can feminize male fish and harm their ability to reproduce.
While there have only been a few studies, they definitely shouldn't be ignored, Parente says, per CTV News. She described them as the canary in the coal mine.
"I feel that out of these small organisms are early warnings," she said. "We need to head those warnings."
Another worrisome problem is the potential for the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria populations. Numerous studies have shown that if antibiotics are widespread in the environment, they are less effective.
For the scientists who are studying the effects of artificial sweeteners on aquatic communities, this is going to be a busy time. Work is underway all around the world, said John Spoelstra, a research scientist with Environment Canada.

Read more: - 

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/lakes-and-rivers-flooded-with-artificial-sweeteners-researchers/article/435300

Detergents linked to genital defects in babies -

Detergents linked to genital defects in babies - 

Pregnant women regularly exposed to a range of detergents, solvents and pesticides have a substantially greater risk of giving birth to boys with genital deformities, according to a new French study.

The research, led by two professors at the Regional University Hospital Centre in the French city of Montpellier, found that women who regularly work with such chemicals, including cleaners and hairdressers, were at greatest risk of having sons born with hypospadias.

The birth defect, which affects about three in 1,000 newborn boys, is a condition where the urinary opening is abnormally positioned on the penis.

Hypospadias can be treated with surgery but it can affect the boy's fertility once he reaches adulthood.

The study, led by pediatric surgeon Nicolas Kalfa and pediatric endocrinologist Charles Sultan, was carried out over five years and examined 600 children at hospitals in four French cities, 300 of whom were boys born with hypospadias.

"The study shows for the first time that regular professional or domestic exposure (to these chemicals), and more generally being in contact with them, seriously raises the risk of genital deformity," Sultan told AFP.

A summary of the research said boys were three times more likely to be born with hypospadias if they had been exposed to chemicals that interfered with their endocrine systems in the womb at the moment when the sex of the foetus is determined.

Both parents' professions and where they live can play a role, the study added.

The study identifies mothers working as cleaners or housekeepers, hairdressers, beauticians and laboratory workers as being particularly at risk.

For the father, being a farmer, lab worker, cleaner, mechanic or painter was found to bring a greater chance of the son having the defect.

Living within three kilometres (1.8 miles) of an incinerator, landfill site or a chemical factory brings a greater risk of having a son with hypospadias, Sultan said.

"For a long time there has been contradictory data over the genetic and environmental causes," Sultan added.

Read more - 

http://news.yahoo.com/detergents-linked-genital-defects-babies-study-222738802.html

How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and only Built Six Homes -

How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and only Built Six Homes - 

THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF CAMPECHE sprawls up a steep hillside in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Goats rustle in trash that goes forever uncollected. Children kick a deflated volleyball in a dusty lot below a wall with a hand-painted logo of the American Red Cross.
In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for “A Better Life in My Neighborhood” — was building hundreds of permanent homes.
Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.
The Red Cross received an outpouring of donations after the quake, nearly half a billion dollars.

Confidential memo warns of “failed results”
Report on key project finds no “contributions of any sort to the well being of households”
Red Cross CEO emails about “wonderful helicopter idea” to spend money
The group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. Confidential memos, emails from worried top officers, and accounts of a dozen frustrated and disappointed insiders show the charity has broken promises, squandered donations, and made dubious claims of success.
The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six.
After the earthquake, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to “develop brand-new communities.” None has ever been built.
Aid organizations from around the world have struggled after the earthquake in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. But ProPublica and NPR’s investigation shows that many of the Red Cross’s failings in Haiti are of its own making. They are also part of a larger pattern in which the organization has botched delivery of aid after disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. Despite its difficulties, the Red Cross remains the charity of choice for ordinary Americans and corporations alike after natural disasters.
One issue that has hindered the Red Cross’ work in Haiti is an overreliance on foreigners who could not speak French or Creole, current and former employees say.
In a blistering 2011 memo, the then-director of the Haiti program, Judith St. Fort, wrote that the group was failing in Haiti and that senior managers had made “very disturbing” remarks disparaging Haitian employees. St. Fort, who is Haitian American, wrote that the comments included, “he is the only hard working one among them” and “the ones that we have hired are not strong so we probably should not pay close attention to Haitian CVs.”
The Red Cross won’t disclose details of how it has spent the hundreds of millions of dollars donated for Haiti. But our reporting shows that less money reached those in need than the Red Cross has said.
Lacking the expertise to mount its own projects, the Red Cross ended up giving much of the money to other groups to do the work. Those groups took out a piece of every dollar to cover overhead and management. Even on the projects done by others, the Red Cross had its own significant expenses – in one case, adding up to a third of the project’s budget.
Where did the half billion raised for Haiti go? The Red Cross won’t say.
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In statements, the Red Cross cited the challenges all groups have faced in post-quake Haiti, including the country’s dysfunctional land title system.
“Like many humanitarian organizations responding in Haiti, the American Red Cross met complications in relation to government coordination delays, disputes over land ownership, delays at Haitian customs, challenges finding qualified staff who were in short supply and high demand, and the cholera outbreak, among other challenges,” the charity said.
The group said it responded quickly to internal concerns, including hiring an expert to train staff on cultural competency after St. Fort’s memo. While the group won’t provide a breakdown of its projects, the Red Cross said it has done more than 100. The projects include repairing 4,000 homes, giving several thousand families temporary shelters, donating $44 million for food after the earthquake, and helping fund the construction of a hospital.
“Millions of Haitians are safer, healthier, more resilient, and better prepared for future disasters thanks to generous donations to the American Red Cross,” McGovern wrote in a recent report marking the fifth anniversary of the earthquake.
In other promotional materials, the Red Cross said it has helped “more than 4.5 million” individual Haitians “get back on their feet.”
It has not provided details to back up the claim. And Jean-Max Bellerive, Haiti’s prime minister at the time of the earthquake, doubts the figure, pointing out the country’s entire population is only about 10 million.
“No, no,” Bellerive said of the Red Cross’ claim, “it’s not possible.”

Read more - 

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

Exposure to common household pesticide 'TRIPLES boys' risk of ADHD', experts warn -

Exposure to common household pesticide 'TRIPLES boys' risk of ADHD', experts warn - 

A pesticide found in common household products has been found to triple a boy's risk of being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, scientists have warned.
Symptoms of the condition, notably hyperactivity and impulsivity, were found to be associated with exposure to pyrethroid pesticides, the US researchers found.
The ingredient is found in many common insecticides and some insect repellents.
Experts, led by those at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, noted the link was stronger in boys than in girls.

Paediatrician Tanya Froehlich, the study's author, said: 'Given the growing use of pyrethroid pesticides and the perception that they may represent a safe alternative, our findings may be of considerable public health importance. 
In the US officials banned the two most commonly used organophosphate pesticides - containing organic compounds with phosphorus - from residential use in 2000, after concerns were raised over adverse health consequences. 

The ban led to the increased use of pyrethroid pesticides, which are now the most commonly used pesticides for residential pest control and public health purposes in the US.
They are also increasingly used in agriculture.
Pyrethroids have often been considered a safer choice because they are not as acutely toxic as the banned organophosphates. 

Pyrethroid pesticide is found in pest control sprays 
But the researchers note, animal studies have suggested a heightened risk of hyperactivity, impulsivity and abnormalities in the dopamine system in male mice.
Dopamine is a neurochemical in the brain thought to be involved in many activities, including those that govern ADHD. 
Researchers studied data from 687 children between the ages of eight and 15, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2000 to 2001.
Pesticide exposure measurements were collected in a random sample of the urine of half the eight to 11-year-olds, and a third of the 12 to 15-year-olds.
Boys with a detectable measure, known as 3-PBA, of pyrethroids in their urine, were three times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, compared with those who had no detectable trace of the pesticide.
Hyperactivity and impulsivity increased by 50 per cent for every 10-fold increase in 3-PBA levels in boys.
The biomarkers were not associated with increased odds of ADHD diagnosis or symptoms in girls. 
Dr Froehlich, added: 'Our study assessed pyrethroid exposure using 3-PBA concentrations in a single urine sample.
'Given that pyrethroids are non-persistent and rapidly metabolised, measurements over time would provide a more accurate assessment of typical exposure and are recommended in future studies before we can say definitively whether our results have public health ramifications.' 
The study was published in the journal Environmental Health.  


Read more: - 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3109035/Exposure-common-household-pesticide-TRIPLES-boys-risk-ADHD-experts-warn.html

Not brushing teeth can lead to dementia, heart disease... -

Not brushing teeth can lead to dementia, heart disease... - 

Neglecting to brush your teeth can trigger dementia and heart disease, while also helping to make you look older, a new study has found.

The study shows that 89 per cent of people believe that bad teeth contribute towards somebody’s age, with 40 per cent admitting that they had never considered how their smile could be affecting their appearance.

Later this week, the BBC will air the first of a two part series examining Britain’s oral hygiene examining our attitudes toward taking care of our teeth.

The documentary also shows that those with chronic inflammation can lead to damage of the circulation system and vital organs, with research showing that bad gums can be linked to the development of illnesses including heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Another 35 per cent of people said that a good smile was the first thing they noticed about someone, although many overlook the need to look after their teeth in later life.

While many believe that teeth become more brittle over time, research shows that instead, tiny flaws build up on our teeth which, along with erosion of enamels and gum recession, contribute to a build up of bacteria.

Mervyn Druian, a leading dentist, said: “When I examine a patient’s mouth I am looking for key factors that both indicate the overall health and assess the wear and tear, the aging, of the mouth.

“Gums that are red looking and inflamed of have pockets, greying teeth that may be showing signs of small cracks, decay or abrasion are all warning signs that your mouth may be aging faster than it should.”

Read more -
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/not-brushing-your-teeth-is-one-of-the-clearest-signs-of-ageing-and-can-lead-to-heart-disease-10290969.html