Interesting News Of The Week 03/09/2012

I'm back!

Yeah that's right, I'm back after my little break and ready to get blogging again, the news blogging continues.

Just a little update before I start, I have now officially moved in with my dad and step mum in Essex and I am now a student at Colchester Institute (my first day being on Monday the 10th).

Being in college means I could be in at anything between 15 and 30 hours a week (not including my two buses to travel there and two back), so at this time I am not sure as to whether this blog will continue to post of a Thursday or not, but I will keep you posted on that and let you know as soon as I know.

Anyway enough talking about me, let's get on with the news stories.

Bad sleep means Alzheimer's?

The first story, hooray.

This story is about sleep (sleep patterns) and Problems sleeping may be an early sign of Alzheimer's if a study in mice also applies to people, say researchers.
Here's the story.

For those of you who don't know what Alzheimer's is and what causes it, here's a little description.

Alzheimer's disease or AD (also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease), is the most common form of dementia. Unfortunately ts of the brain will have already been destroyed, making treatment extremely difficult or maybe even impossible.
 

One large area of research is in plaques of beta amyloid which form on the brain.
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.

However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.

Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.

One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."

He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."

People do not really show problems with their memory (or clarity of thought) until very late on in the disease. Which means by this point parts of the brain will have already been destroyed, making treatment extremely difficult or maybe even impossible.

One large area of research is in plaques of beta amyloid which form on the brain.
Levels of the beta amyloid protein naturally rise and fall over 24 hours in both mice and people, suggesting the link that researchers are looking for.

However, the protein forms permanent rather than temporary plaques in Alzheimer's disease making thing even harder.

Experiments at Washington University showed that nocturnal mice slept for 40 minutes during every hour of daylight.
But as soon brain plaques started to form the mice were sleeping for only 30 minutes, a considerable difference in their sleeping patterns.

One of the researchers, Prof David Holtzman, said: "If sleep abnormalities begin this early in the course of human Alzheimer's disease, those changes could provide us with an easily detectable sign of [the disease]."

He followed up by saying "If these sleep problems exist, we don't yet know exactly what form they take, reduced sleep overall or trouble staying asleep or something else entirely."
However, findings in mice do not always apply to people as there are many reasons for disrupted sleep (seeing as we are not that close you'd expect that, in fact, we try to get rid of them really).

Dr Marie Janson, from the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, called for more studies in people to see if there was a link between sleeping patterns and Alzheimer's (a bold move).

She added: "There has already been research linking changes in sleep patterns to a decline in thinking skills, but these results suggest that disrupted sleep may also be a warning sign of Alzheimer's.
If research confirms specific sleep changes as a possible early marker of Alzheimer's, it could prove a useful strategy for doctors to identify patients at risk of the disease."

Well that's story one, here's an picture I thought is appropriate from the Alzheimer's association's "Walk to end Alzheimer's" last year:

Bernard Matthews' last wish "Denied"

The second story this week is about Norfolk Turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews and the denial of his last wish before he sadly passed away at the age of 80 on November the 25th 2010.

Here's the story.

Right so what was his last wish? was it something dramatic or deadly?
No not at all the last wish of Norfolk turkey tycoon (turkey as in the meat. not the country) Bernard Matthews was to leave a £12m French villa to the woman he lived with.

So what did he exactly want to do?
Well, he wanted to give Villa Bolinha in the south of France to Odile Marteyn, who had "unfailingly" supported him.

He had hoped his three adopted children and his son would give up legal rights to the villa to grant his last wish but no, the children thwarted (basically ignored) this wish and used a French law giving them a share of the villa.

In a dispute over inheritance tax, deputy High Court judge Nicholas Strauss QC heard that Mr Matthews' wishes had been "disregarded" by the adopted children and Ms Marteyn had been left with less than a half share in the villa.

Mr Matthews and his wife Joyce, who helped him found the turkey business, had lived apart for 35 years despite the fact that they had adopted Kathleen, Jason and Victoria.

He also had a son by Cornelia Elgershuizen called George who inherited much of the estate.

Judge Strauss said Mr Matthews had lived with Ms Marteyn in England and Ramatuelle for about 20 years, meaning that it was fair for her to have the villa, especially as it had Matthews consent.

It was apparent that Mr Matthews had left three wills and in which one he said that the Villa Bolinha was left to Ms Marteyn outright, this was confimed by in a written ruling published on Wednesday following a hearing in July.

The judge said: "He was aware that, by French law, his children were entitled to 75% of Villa Bolinha on his death."

Followed by "He hoped nevertheless that his children would not exercise their rights, and left a letter to that effect. While George respected his wishes, the adopted children did not, with the result that Odile could only inherit 43.75%."

In a letter to the children, Mr Matthews said: "Odile has supported me unfailingly for many years and particularly so during my recent illnesses.
Without such support I might not have been able to continue directing our family company for our mutual benefit, especially since trading conditions have become so difficult.
I wish the French villa to continue to be occupied and enjoyed, and consider Odile would be the best person to take on this responsibility."

The judge said Mr Matthews owned more than £50m worth of property when he died, meaning that the children would have had more than enough value of property to share between them, but still this has happened.

French tax authorities estimated Villa Bolinha to be worth £12m and Mr Matthews' property outside France was worth about £40m.

The adopted children's lawyers had claimed that French inheritance tax liabilities should be paid by the Matthews estate but this was rejected by Judge Strauss, thankfully.

Here's a nice picture of the man himself Mr Bernard Matthews to end with:

Summary of the week

So for my returning week we have "bad sleep" being a possible cause for Alzheimer's and the adopted children of a great food icon denying his last wishes.

Interesting News Of The Week - 28/05/2012

It's post time, so here's the news.

Miami's 'growling cannibal' named
Story number one, "Miami's 'growling cannibal' named", first of all, it's a very interesting title, and no its not a trick, this story is about a real cannibal in Miami.
Anyway let's take a look at the story.

A man was shot dead in Miami at the weekend, he was found biting the face off another man who was stripped naked, the cannibal has been identified by police.

His name was Rudy Eugene, aged 31, he was reported to have growled at a police officer after he was warned to back away from the man, so when a police officer stood in front of him with a gun, threatening to shoot him, he continued to eat the man's face off, he must be one, extremely messed up guy.

A witness said he continued to eat the victim, before the officer opened fire several times, killing him, well I suppose if he was warned then it was viable.
After that there was another attack next to a busy road on Saturday afternoon that has been linked to a potent drug known as "bath salts", wait. Bath salts? as in the salts you put in your bath to soften the water up? or are the drug dealers these days just running out of names for their merchandise?

It was said that about 75% of the victim's face was reportedly missing, but seriously I can not understand why he'd want to eat someones face.

Cyclist Larry Vega said there was "blood all over the place" when he came across the horrific scene by MacArthur Causeway.
"I told him get off," Mr Vega told WSVN Fox 7. "The guy just kept eating the other guy away like ripping his skin.".

He said he alerted a police officer, who warned the attacker several times to back away from the victim.

"The guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled," Mr Vega said.

The victim, identified as a 65-year-old homeless man, Ronald Poppo, remained in a critical condition in hospital on Tuesday, so he attacked some old homeless guy and said "I'm going to eat your face now", what a weird, weird guy.

A Miami police spokesman said: "We are expecting a report from our detectives to give more details to the media. We are also looking for more witnesses to this crime."
Ives Eugene, Ruby Eugene's (or the cannibals) uncle, described his nephew as a "nice and hard-working" man who washed cars at a local dealership.

Miami police said they still do not know what prompted the bizarre and savage assault, which has been compared to a "zombie" attack.
The zombie apocalypse is starting people.

Here's the news coverage of this story:

London, France's sixth biggest city

Story deux (two in French).

Here's a fact for you more French people live in London than in Bordeaux, Nantes or Strasbourg and it is now thought to be France's sixth biggest city in terms of population.

So what is attracting a new generation of young French professionals to the city? Who knows.

Imagine this (quoted from the BBC):

On a wet Friday night in Hackney, a group of young professional women walk into a pub. Laughing about the British weather, they shake their umbrellas, peel off their raincoats and make their way to the bar.
Like many Londoners at the end of a busy working week, they have come to unwind over a few drinks.
But if you move a bit closer, you realise they are all speaking French.
They are not tourists, exchange or students. They all work in creative industries, have lived in east London quite some time and consider it home.

Thought that was a nice little story for you all.

Believe it or not London has a long-standing French community, but it is no longer confined to the streets, I can't understand why though, you can find French bookshops, patisseries and cafes.
There are between 300,000 and 400,000 French citizens living in the British capital of London most of them in the East End.

The French first came the East End way, way back in the 17th Century. They were named Huguenots, they had endured years of persecution in France because of their Protestant faith, but were offered sanctuary here by our king at the time, King Charles II (the second).

So our French population is being re-noticed as more and more French men and women apply for work, schooling and other things that we as British citizens do, they are considered our equals, which in some ways the fact that we as a country are treating each other equally (as Christianity states we are created in "God's Image"), but at the same time it is also effecting the amount of jobs and school places available for us too.

That's pretty much it for this story, there's a little bit of religion, a story and a little bit of history too, a nice little bit of everything there, sorry it's a bit short as well.

Unfortunately there is no video for this story, so it's even more of a let down, but here's a picture I found appropriate:

  

Summary for this week

So this week we have people turning into cannibals in Miami and we have discovered that we actually have a lot of the French in the UK, maybe it's a secret plan over centuries to take over, who knows.

Interesting News Of The Week - 23/04/2012

Time for a new post I think, lets start with some interesting stories I've found this week shall we?

Confused Driver 'Parks' Car in the Paris metro station

The first news story I've found this week that seems interesting is a European story, this news story has taken place in Paris, France.
Here's a basic summary of what has happened. in my own words.

There was a claimed "confused" driver that managed to trap his car on the steps of a metro station in Paris, after somehow mistaking it for the entrance to an underground car park.

Here's what the "confused" drivers excuse was:

"There's a sign saying 'Haussmann Parking' right in front... I made a mistake"

So what this guy is saying (his name only identified only as Johan) is that he managed to mistake a set of public walking steps for a underground parking ramp, how?

Fortunately this 26-year-old managed to brake in time to stop his car, leaving the back wheels sticking out making sure that no one was hurt, but in doing this he only ended up making himself look a bit like an idiot really.
He managed to also immediately get a crowd of onlookers or new fans that just stood there and watched him as he struggled to get out of his car (great citizenship there, what happened to "Love thy neighbour"?).
They just stood, watched and took pictures of the incident.

After all the commotion the driver was later asked by French police to do an alcohol test, which he managed to pass meaning he wasn't drunk (this still doesn't explain how it happened as his excuse is pretty poor really).

Later a member of staff at a local restaurant was asked about the event that had taken place that day and said that a similar incident took place at the site about five years ago.

So this seems to be something that is just a common mistake to the people of Paris and France, maybe driving a car into metro station steps will soon be a sport the French bring to the Olympic Games, I'm sure they will be very good at it.

Here the BBC's video for the story:

CCTV shows girl falling through pavement in China

Here's the second news story I've found this week that seems interesting, it's a Non-European story, this news story has taken place in Northern China.
Here's what has happened. in my own words.

A teenage girl was walking down the path as you usually would and fell through it right in view of a CCTV camera (a good video for You've Been Framed there).

She was described to have had a "remarkable escape" after the events had taken place.
News crews were told that she has "fell into an underground cavern" which basically to you and me means a hole in the ground (and a bit of a drastic description by he media there if you ask me).

The teenager was seen by a taxi driver that rushed to her aid (along with another woman) and he also helped in the rescue process, making sure the girl got out safe (now there's a good Samaritan).

But once again you can see from the news story's video, she along with our man from the other news story managed to attract a nice crowd that once again stood there and watched as she and the taxi driver struggled, which proves the people of our world really do care for one another and will do whatever we can to help others (yeah right, I don't think so somehow).

Here's a link to the BBC's video for the story:

Summary for this week

So an overall summary this week shows that in the next Olympic games it looks like we will have France introducing the the sport of "Car Park Crashers" and China the new sport of "Floor Fallers".

I'm sure we all can't wait for that to hit our screens.