WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., March 3 (UPI) — African-American and Hispanic U.S. young adults who sleep too little or too much have greater increases than others in belly fat, researchers found.
Compared with people who reported a nightly sleep duration of six to seven hours, those with a self-reported sleep duration of five hours or less per night had an average body mass index increase over a five-year period that was about 4 pounds higher, and greater accumulations of subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue — belly fat.
Those who reported sleeping eight hours or more had a BMI increase that was 1.75 pounds higher, as well as greater accumulations of belly fat.
Lead author Dr. Kristen G. Hairston of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., said obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep is important for people of all races and ethnicities. However, ethnic minorities disproportionately report extremes in sleep duration, putting them at risk for negative metabolic outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
“Appropriate amounts of sleep are important for maintenance of healthy weight,” Hairston said in a statement. “In a group of African-American and Hispanic participants, those who slept less than this had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period.”
Data were collected from 332 African-Americans and 775 Hispanics with a mean age of 41.7 years at baseline and an age range from ages 18-81.
The findings are published in the journal Sleep.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
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HOUSTON, March 2 (UPI) — U.S. and Italian space agency officials say they have found a new use for an existing Multi-Purpose Logistics Module known as “Leonardo.”
The officials said the Italian-built module has been flown inside the payload bays of NASA space shuttles for more than a decade, aiding in the delivery of supplies to the International Space Station. Now, Leonardo will be used as a permanent module aboard the ISS.
NASA said Leonardo will undergo modifications to increase the amount of mass it can carry to orbit. Then the supply-laden module will be flown aboard shuttle Discovery during the STS-133 mission in September and permanently attached to the station.
“The added space within (Leonardo) will enable efficient positioning of experiments throughout the station complex,” NASA said, including experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology, biotechnology and other microgravity research.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
DURHAM, N.C., March 2 (UPI) — A U.S. professor says one of the nation’s snowiest winters in recent history has led some people to erroneously question whether global warming is a fact.
Duke University Professor William Chameides — dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and a member of the National Academy of Sciences — says global warming is a fact, no matter what the current temperature might be.
“There is a reason we call it global warming,” Chameides said. “Global temperatures can be warming, even if temperatures in the United States are not.”
He notes that while some areas have been experiencing wintry extremes, other regions of the world have had to contend with extreme heat waves, including Australia, Brazil and South Africa.
Even in the United States, January was the fourth-warmest January on record, he noted.
“This pattern of (higher) temperatures and stronger storms is consistent with climate models that show global warming will bring more extreme weather, specifically more severe storms with greater amounts of precipitation,” Chameides said. “A careful, objective, complete reading of the scientific literature reveals the scientific evidence that the globe is warming — and that this warming is connected to human activities.”
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
SANTIAGO, Chile, March 2 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, bearing satellite phones and pledges of help for the earthquake-ravaged country.
“The United States is ready to respond to the request that the government of Chile has made so that we can provide not only solidarity, but specific supplies that are needed to help you recover from the (8.8-magnitude) earthquake” that struck Saturday, Clinton said during a news conference with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Clinton praised Bachelet’s leadership and government actions and “the people of Chile are responding with resilience and strength.”
So far, 723 people are confirmed dead, officials said, and 2 million more people are displaced. More than 90 aftershocks have been recorded, ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 in magnitude.
Bachelet said she discussed her country’s needs from the international community, including specific items and financial assistance.
“Our objective is that cooperation will exactly meet and respond to our needs, our most urgent needs,” Bachelet said.
Earlier Tuesday, Chilean newspapers quoted Bachelet as saying the situation in heavily damaged Concepcion was “under control,” The New York Times reported.
Bachelet said the government would be establishing field hospitals and distributing aid by various means, including boats, and would not tolerate looting, arson or other expressions of lawlessness.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 2 (UPI) — U.S. scientists say they have “sonified” solar wind data, allowing researchers to listen to the solar wind that’s usually represented as numbers or graphs.
University of Michigan researchers said they created an acoustic, or musical, representation of the solar wind in order to hear information that their eyes might have missed in solar wind speed and particle density data gathered by NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer satellite.
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun.
The process of sonification isn’t new, the researchers said, noting that is the process used by Geiger counter radiation detectors that emit clicks in the presence of high-energy particles.
“What makes this project different is the level of artistic license I was given,” said composer and recent School of Music alumnus Robert Alexander.
The product, which Alexander says is “in between art and science,” uses a drum beat to represent the rotation of the sun, and the voice of a singer — his sister — to represent the charge state of carbon atoms.
“Every piece of scientific data tells a story. I’m expressing this story through music,” Alexander said. “These sonifications present scientific data in a way that is immediately visceral.”
An example of sonification is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kryCbfRJCyk.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
CEDAR CITY, Utah, March 2 (UPI) — A golden eagle hit by a car in Utah suffered more serious injuries after the collision, when someone plucked its tail feathers, a wildlife rehabilitator says.
Martin Tyner of the Southwest Wildlife Foundation said the feathers were pulled out, an operation that would have required pliers, shortly after the eagle was struck, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The bird was brought to the foundation Sunday by Lt. Scott Dalebout of the state Division of Wildlife Resources after it was found in Sevier County.
Whether it was done by the person who hit the bird or by someone who found it shortly afterward, the removal would have been painful, Tyner said. The feathers are embedded 1.5 inches under the skin.
“It would be equivalent to a person being held on the ground and having their fingernails ripped out with pliers,” he added.
Eagle tail feathers are important for some American Indian rituals, but possession without a special permit is illegal. Bonnie Bell of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said poachers typically kill birds and remove the claws as well as the tail feathers.
Tyner said the eagle cannot be returned to the wild unless the tail feathers regenerate.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
SANTIAGO, Chile, March 2 (UPI) — The death toll has reached 795 from Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile and the government said Tuesday that number likely will rise.
Officials said they expect to find more victims as search-and-rescue crews dig under the rubble. An estimated 2 million people have lost their homes and more than 90 aftershocks have been recorded, ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 in magnitude.
President Michelle Bachelet said looting and lawlessness seen in the city of Concepcion and other areas affected by the quake won’t be tolerated and violators would be subject to the “full force of the law,” CNN reported.
“We have seen images that are, frankly, intolerable,” Bachelet said during a news conference Tuesday. “We want to make it clear that it won’t be accepted.”
Stores were ransacked in Concepcion as soldiers stood guard nearby and residents set up armed security committees.
“What worries us the most today is to provide security and tranquility to the nation,” Bachelet said. “We ask for understanding and patience because the aid will arrive.”
More than 13,000 soldiers are being deployed to secure order, Bachelet said. Trucks and other vehicles carrying some of the aid were getting backed up at a military checkpoint about 12 miles outside of Concepcion, CNN reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Santiago, Chile’s capital, Tuesday as part of her scheduled trip through Latin America. Clinton brought 20 satellite phones and a technician, part of the aid the United States will provide to Chile.
Chile’s ambassador to the United States, Jose Goni, said top priorities for U.S. aid include field hospitals, power generators, water-purification plants, rescue teams, medical crews and equipment, and temporary infrastructure for people in need, CNN said.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
BOSTON, March 2 (UPI) — Education, race, ethnicity, income and age are related to a patients’ willingness to participate in cancer screenings, U.S. researchers found.
Lead author Nancy Kressin, director of the Healthcare Disparities Research Unit and Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues said prior studies showed screenings are crucial in identifying cancer in its early stages and minorities have lower screening rates for certain types of cancer, such as cervical and colorectal cancer.
The researchers examined patients’ agreeability to engage in cancer screening in the context of varied symptoms and screening settings.
A random sample was conducted using telephone interviews in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Baltimore and New York.
Less-educated individuals with lower incomes received fewer cancer screenings than those with higher levels of each and these rates may lead to disparities in cancer-related mortality. However, racial and ethnic minority status, age and lower income were frequently associated with willingness to receiving a cancer screening.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, found people were most willing to participate in a screening when they were examined by their personal doctor and had symptoms of cancer.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., March 3 (UPI) — African-American and Hispanic U.S. young adults who sleep too little or too much have greater increases than others in belly fat, researchers found.
Compared with people who reported a nightly sleep duration of six to seven hours, those with a self-reported sleep duration of five hours or less per night had an average body mass index increase over a five-year period that was about 4 pounds higher, and greater accumulations of subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue — belly fat.
Those who reported sleeping eight hours or more had a BMI increase that was 1.75 pounds higher, as well as greater accumulations of belly fat.
Lead author Dr. Kristen G. Hairston of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., said obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep is important for people of all races and ethnicities. However, ethnic minorities disproportionately report extremes in sleep duration, putting them at risk for negative metabolic outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
“Appropriate amounts of sleep are important for maintenance of healthy weight,” Hairston said in a statement. “In a group of African-American and Hispanic participants, those who slept less than this had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period.”
Data were collected from 332 African-Americans and 775 Hispanics with a mean age of 41.7 years at baseline and an age range from ages 18-81.
The findings are published in the journal Sleep.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
SAVANNAH, Ga., March 2 (UPI) — U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday unveiled a new program that would offer rebates to U.S. consumers who invest to make their homes energy efficient.
The Home Star energy rebate program will save families several hundred dollars in utility bills, reduce the country’s fossil-fuel dependency and “spur hiring up and down the economy,” Obama said during a White House to Main Street visit to Savannah, Ga.
If consumers want to upgrade the energy efficiency through insulation, duct sealing, windows, roofing or doors, among other things, they could be eligible for rebates of between $1,000 and $1,500 to a combined maximum of $3,000.
Consumers looking for more comprehensive energy retrofitting could receive up to a $3,000 rebate for a whole-house energy audit and retrofits that achieve a 20 percent energy savings.
The program requires congressional approval, Obama said, who added, “Working stuff through Congress is more than a notion.”
“This is not a Democratic or a Republican idea, this is a common-sense approach” to help jump start the economy and make it stronger,” Obama said.
Programs such as Home Star and other energy-focused initiatives will help lay the foundation of economic growth that will boost jobs at decent wages critical to “create lasting opportunities and prosperity.”
He noted the first new nuclear power plant in nearly three decades will be built in Georgia, and praised programs at Savannah Technical College, where he spoke, that teach green trades.
“I’m convinced the country that leads in clean energy will lead the global economy,” Obama said. “I want us to be at first.”
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) — The White House is developing a U.S. nuclear strategy that would reduce the country’s arsenal and outline when nuclear weapons would be used, aides said
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was to present President Barack Obama with several options to address unresolved issues, The New York Times reported Monday.
Obama’s strategy will be in “Nuclear Posture Review,” a document all presidents develop.
Among the unresolved issues is the question of how — or whether — to narrow the circumstances under which the United States will declare it might use nuclear weapons. Aides said the administration rejected a proposal that the country state it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.
White House officials said the new strategy commits the United States to developing no new nuclear weapons. Obama already announced he will seek funds to update U.S. weapons laboratories to ensure reliability of a nuclear arsenal anticipated to be much smaller.
“It will be clear in the document that there will be very dramatic reductions — in the thousands — as relates to the stockpile,” an administration official told the Times.
Much of the reduction would come from the retirement of of weapons now in storage, the official said.
The review also shows the United States moving toward more non-nuclear defenses, relying on missile defense, the Times said.
But how the administration describes the purpose of the country’s nuclear arsenal remains a looming issue, the Times said.
Some key Democrats, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Obama to state that the “sole purpose” of the country’s nuclear arsenal is deterrence.
However, officials inside the Pentagon and the White House have urged Obama to be more ambiguous — stating deterrence is a primary but not sole purpose of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.