Relationship between Coffee & blood pressure, dementia, skin cancer

ONE CUP

PROS: Drinking just one cup of a coffee a day could reduce your blood pressure, according to a Greek study of 485 people aged 65 to 100.

The researchers found those who drank between one and two cups daily had the healthiest arteries.

The scientists believe this is due to antioxidants in the coffee increasing the production of nitric oxide, a compound found naturally in the body. Nitric oxide helps relax artery walls, and lowers blood pressure.

And a single cup could boost your brainpower, too: a Bristol University study of 600 people found those who had a cup of regular coffee performed better in mental tests than those who drank decaffeinated coffee or nothing.

This may be because caffeine causes more sugar to travel to the brain, giving it extra energy and creating a temporary ‘lift’, says Dr Sarah Schenker, a dietitian.

CONS: Even one cup during the day could keep you counting sheep late into the night, says Sian Porter, of the British Dietetic Association. It takes around eight hours to completely remove caffeine from the body, she explains, so don’t drink a cup after 3pm to 4pm if you suffer from sleep troubles.

TWO CUPS

PROS: This amount of coffee a day could keep Alzheimer’s at bay, say scientists from the University of Florida. Although the findings came from animal research, the team say that around 200mg of caffeine, the equivalent of two cups of coffee, could help prevent the build-up of proteins in the brain that have been linked to memory loss associated with the disease.

And drinking the equivalent of two cups of coffee 30 minutes before exercise may enhance your performance by providing you with more energy, suggests a study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

‘It stimulates the production of fatty acids in your body which you use for fuel — it’s like opening the cap on your reserve tank,’ says Dr Schenker.

CONS: ‘If you’re pregnant, your upper caffeine intake limit should be 200mg, or two cups of regular-strength coffee,’ says Dr Schenker.

‘It’s thought the caffeine causes the body to release high levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, which could increase the risk of miscarriage.’

THREE CUPS

PROS: The caffeine intake from three cups a day can reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer by a fifth, the American medical journal Cancer reported in 2008.

After studying more than 122,000 women, researchers found the benefits were even greater for women who’d never been on the contraceptive pill or HRT (their risk was reduced by 35 and 43 per cent respectively).

Men who drink three cups of coffee have a 40 per cent lower risk of developing gallstones, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The scientists believe the caffeine stimulates contractions in the gall bladder, helping to remove any small stones before they become a problem.

CONS: Coffee drinkers who have more than three cups a day may increase their risk of heart attack, a U.S. study in 2006 found.

‘After around three cups of coffee, your heart will beat noticeably faster, raising blood pressure slightly,’ explains Dr Schenker.

And bizarrely, drinking just three cups of a coffee a day may make some women’s breasts shrink, according to researchers from Lund University in Stockholm.

The scientists surveyed almost 300 women about their bust size and coffee consumption, and found a clear link between drinking three or more cups of coffee daily and smaller breasts. The effect of caffeine on oestrogen levels could be responsible for the results, say the researchers.

FOUR CUPS

PROS: There is 400mg of caffeine in four cups of coffee and this amount is thought to provide the maximum benefit of coffee’s disease-combating antioxidants.

‘Tea and coffee are packed with antioxidant polyphenols, which can potentially cut the risk of cancer,’ says Dr Michelle Harvey, research dietitian at the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.

‘Studies show it promotes production of a less potent form of the cancer-causing hormone oestrogen,’ she says.

University of Utah scientists found people who drink four cups daily are 39 per cent less likely to suffer from cancers of the mouth and larynx.

Other research suggests this amount may also reduce the risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancer, as well as type-2 diabetes.

CONS: People who drink this amount are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers believe coffee may increase the levels of compounds in the body that can lead to inflammation and joint pain.

FIVE CUPS

PROS: Researchers at the National Cancer Centre in Tokyo found that drinking five cups of coffee reduced the risk of serious liver damage by three quarters.

Their findings were based on a study of 90,000 middle-aged men and women over ten years. The scientists believe antioxidants in the coffee may be responsible for the protective effect.

CONS: Several studies have shown that this amount of coffee is a risk factor for osteoporosis, as caffeine can interfere with the absorption of calcium.

However, many experts dispute this, and the National Osteoporosis Society says there is no conclusive evidence that coffee thins bones, but advises no more than five cups to be safe.

SIX OR MORE CUPS

PROS: Drinking six or more cups a day can reduce the risk of some skin cancers by 31 per cent, according to researchers from Wayne State University in Detroit, who studied more than 90,000 women. They believe antioxidants may protect skin cells.

CONS: This amount of coffee can lead to dehydration, says Dr Schenker. ‘The coffee causes excess fluid to be lost from the body. 

This speeds up the elimination of minerals and vitamins — one of the key vitamins it depletes is B6, vital for preventing kidney stones.’

It can also cause the body to release hormones that, linked to anxiety and stress, can lead to irritable bowel syndrome, increase blood pressure and in turn, the risk of cardiovascular illnesses.

‘The constant “fight-or-flight” response this amount of caffeine has on your body can definitely have severe health implications,’ she adds.

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Largest ever fossil of spider found after 165m years | Trends At Glance

Largest ever fossil of spider

The largest ever fossil of a prehistoric spider which was weaving webs when dinosaurs ruled the Earth has been discovered by scientists.

Its fossilized features have been so perfectly preserved from 165 million years ago that experts have identified it down to the exact species and were even able to tell it was an adult female.

The Golden Orb Weaver has been named Nephila jurassica and is the largest fossil of a spider ever found.

It lived in the forests of northern China when the climate was much warmer and more tropical than today.

Its discovery means Golden Orb Weavers, or 'nephilids' - giant spiders that can grow bigger than a human hand and which still thrive today - are the longest ranging spider genus known to man in terms of age.

Palaeontologist Professor Paul Selden, of Kansas University, said the females are the largest web-weaving spiders alive today with a body length of up to two inches and a leg span of six inches. Males are relatively small in comparison.

They are 'common and spectacular' inhabitants of tropical and subtropical regions with females weaving distinctive five foot wide webs of yellow silk that glisten like gold in sunlight.

Prof Selden, who reports his discovery in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, said: 'Here, we describe the largest known fossil spider: a female Nephila from the Middle Jurassic of China.'

Microscopic examination of the female, with a body length of about an inch and more than half an inch wide, revealed clear details including the brushes of long bristles on the ends of her legs that are characteristic of the Golden Orb Weaver.

The spider was dug up at a site called Daohugou in Inner Mongolia that is filled with fossilized salamanders, small primitive mammals, insects and water crustaceans.

During the Jurassic era, the fossil bed was part of a lake in a volcanic region.
Spider fossils from this period are rare, because the arachnids' soft bodies are easily destroyed.

The pristine Nephila jurassica was probably created when the spider was quickly encased in a tomb of silt and ash during a volcanic eruption to keep it from being scavenged or decaying.

Prof Selden said the find means Golden Orb Weavers must have an unusually ancient lineage, an extremely long range for any animal genus.

Their prized webs were being woven to capture moths and beetles in the days of T Rex, and influencing insect evolution.

The Golden Orb Weaver spins a strong web high in protein because it depends on it to capture large insects for food.

The find also suggests the climate was 'warm and humid at this time'.

Added Prof Selden: 'It is likely that Nephila jurassica wove large, golden orb webs to catch medium to large sized insects in the Daohugou forests.

'Predation by these spiders would have played an important role in the natural selection of contemporaneous insects.'

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FBI released a memo that proves "aliens landed at Roswell"

Alien that was autopsied at Roswell in 1947

A bizarre memo that appears to prove that aliens did land in New Mexico prior to 1950 has been published by the FBI. The bureau has made thousands of files available in a new online resource called The Vault.

Among them is a memo to the director from Guy Hottel, the special agent in charge of the Washington field office in 1950.

In the memo, whose subject line is 'Flying Saucers', Agent Hottel reveals that an Air Force investigator had stated that 'three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico'.

The investigator gave the information to a special agent, he said. The FBI has censored both the agent and the investigator's identity. Agent Hottel went on to write: 'They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter.

'Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall,' he stated. The bodies were 'dressed in a metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.'

He said that the informant, whose identity was censored in the memo, claimed the saucers had been found in New Mexico 'due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with teh controlling mechanism of the saucers'.

He then stated that the special agent did not attempt to investigate further.The release of the secret memo is likely to fuel conspiracy theorists' claims of a government cover-up.

Secret memo released online is written to the FBI Director and could confirm the 1947 Roswell UFO incident

The town of Roswell in New Mexico became infamous after reports that a flying saucer had crashed in the desert near a military base there on or around July 2, 1947. The bodies of aliens were said to have been recovered and autopsied by the U.S. military,

but American authorities allegedly covered the incident up Military authorities issued a press release, which began: ‘The many rumours regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc.’

The headlines screamed: 'Flying Disc captured by Air Force.' Yet, just 24 hours later, the military changed their story and claimed the object they'd first thought was a 'flying disc' was a weather balloon that had crashed on a nearby ranch.

Amazingly, the media and the public accepted the explanation without question. Roswell disappeared from the news until the late Seventies, when some of the military involved began to speak out. Another memo published in The Vault from 1947 claimed that an object 'purporting to be a flying disc' had been recovered near Roswell.
 

A dead alien is allegedly examined following the landing at Roswell

The disc was 'hexagonal in shape' and 'suspended from a balloon by a cable', according to the memo, marked as 'Urgent', to the FBI director. The memo noted that the disc resembled a weather balloon - but claimed that a telephone conversation between the Air Force and the field office 'had not [word
censored] borne out this belief'.

The disc and balloon were being transported to Wright Field for further inspection, the memo noted.

It added that the information was being flagged up because of 'national interest' in the episode, and noting that both NBC and the AP were set to break the story that day.

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Ever wondered why Mars is red? Earth can too become Red

Mars has not always been red. At least that is the theory proposed by a scientist who has discovered a reason as to how the red planet got its rosy color.

According to Dr John Brandednberg, about 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction may have wiped out everything on Mars, sending a 

shock-wave that turned the planet into dry sand.

He told Fox News: 'The Martian surface is covered with a thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium - and this pattern radiates from a hot spot on Mars.

'A nuclear explosion could have sent debris all around the planet. 'Maps of gamma rays on Mars show a big red spot that seems like a radiating debris pattern ... on the opposite side of the planet there is another red spot.' Dr Brandenburg, who is a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp, said the natural explosion - the equivalent of one million one-megaton hydrogen bombs - occurred in the northern Mare Acidalium region of Mars where there is a heavy concentration of radioactivity.

This explosion also filled the Martian atmosphere with radio-isotopes, which are seen in recent gamma ray spectrometry data taken by NASA, he said. The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red.

Dr Brandenburg believes that a natural nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet - and could happen again. Dr David Beaty, Mars programme science manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told FoxNews.com that he finds the idea intriguing and fascinating. 

But he said to prove the science, the agency would need to plan a mission to explore Mare Acidalium on Mars.                                                                                                                                                                      

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Spice can be a cheap sensor for explosives

Turmeric, one of the most popular spices, contains a chemical that could be the basis for cheap explosives detectors, a new study has claimed.

A team led by an Indian scientist found that the curcumin molecule, which is known for its anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties, could replace more complex solutions to spot explosives like TNT, the BBC News reported.

Dr Abhishek Kumar of the University of Massachusetts and his colleagues, who presented their findings at the American Physical Society meeting, said the light-emitting properties of the curry ingredient changes when it gathers molecules of explosive material in air. This "fluorescence apectroscopy" is already employed in a wide array of sensing and analysis techniques.

Illuminating some chemicals causes them to re-emit light of a different color, sometimes for extended periods. The intensity of this re-emitted light can change if different molecules bind to the fluoorescent ones, and that is how sensing techniques can exploit the effect, Kumar said.

"If you have a gram of TNT and you sample a billion air molecules from anywhere in the room, you'll find four or five molecules of TNT - that's the reason they're so hard to detect," Kumar told the conference. "And, the US State Department estimates there are about 60 to 70 million land mines througout the the world; we need a very portable, field-deployable sensing device which is cheap, very sensitive,and easy to handle."

A curcumin-based mine detector could outperform the animal version, he claimed.

Kumar and his team were investigating the use of curcumin for biological applications, trying to make it easily dissolve in water, when they hit on the idea of making use of its optical properties. The team's first trick was to use a chemical reaction to attach "side groups" to the curcumin that preferentially bind to explosive molecules.

The researchers then hit on the idea of using a polymer called polydimethylsiloxane, spinning the mixture on glass plates to make extremely thin films. The idea would be to use an inexpensive light source - the team uses LEDs - shone on to the thin films, detecting the light they then put off. In the presence of explosives, the light would dim.

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Important Breakthrough In Heart Disease

Researchers have discovered that a protein known to regulate cholesterol is also linked to the formation of the type of blood clot known as thrombosis that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

They believe that by developing drugs that can control the important protein, called LXR, they will be able to prevent thrombosis and also control cholesterol levels.

It could help the fight against heart and circulatory diseases, which kill 191,000 people a year in Britain – accounting for one in three deaths in the country.

Professor Jon Gibbins, Director of Reading University’s Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, who led the research, said: “While blood clotting is essential to prevent bleeding, inappropriate clotting within the circulation, known as thrombosis, is the trigger for heart attacks and strokes – which kill more people in the UK each year than any other disease.

“This ground-breaking study paves the way for new and more effective medicines to prevent thrombosis.”

The new paper, published in the journal Blood, details how scientists discovered the “double life” of the protein LXR in cardiovascular disease.

It was already known that the protein regulates levels of blood cholesterol, which can narrow blood vessels and increase the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

But it now appears that LXR also inhibits the function of blood cells called platelets, which can cause blood clots when they accumulate and so also trigger heart attacks.
In the study, funded by the British Heart Foundation and Heart Research UK, the researchers targeted the protein in mice with experimental drugs.

They found that the treatment allowed small clots to form but acted quickly to inhibit their formation by about 40 per cent, preventing them from blocking blood vessels and so potentially triggering a heart attack.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Both anti-clotting and cholesterol-lowering drugs are vital in reducing the chance of a heart attack or stroke in high-risk patients, but are not always effective and don't suit all patients because of the risk of side-effects.

“This exciting discovery by Professor Gibbin's team shows that drugs which lower cholesterol through targeting LXR protein can also reduce harmful blood clotting – potentially opening up paths towards new, more effective treatments.”

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If you're old then don't walk and talk at same time

Older people find multi-tasking more difficult than younger ones, researchers have found, so those who "walk and talk" across a road could be putting themselves at greater risk.

Psychologists at the University of Illinois's Beckman Institute in the US found it took people aged 59 to 81 "significantly longer than college students to cross a simulated street while talking on a mobile".

In a series of tests which looked at a range of distractions while crossing the road, including listening to music and talking on a mobile phone using a hands-free kit, the older volunteers were "significantly impaired" when it came to getting across a busy road safely.

By comparison, the student "showed no impairment on dual-task performance", the researchers said.

Mark Neider, a postdoctoral researcher who conducted the study with Prof Art Kramer of the institute, said: "Combined with our previous work, the current findings suggest that while all pedestrians should exercise caution when attempting to cross a street while conversing on a cell phone, older adults should be particularly careful."

However, he added that young people were not immune from the dangers of listening to music or talking on the phone while crossing the road.

"It should be noted that we have previously found that younger adults show similar performance decrements, but under much more challenging crossing conditions," he said.

The results of the study are published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

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City lost in "Tsunami" finally located after 2,600 years

A US-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain.

"This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund said. "It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspended submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed domination known as Atlantis.

The team of archaeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site. Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities", built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.

Atlantis residents who did not perish in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added. The team's findings will be unveiled on Sunday in "Finding Atlantis", a new National Geographic Channel special.

While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain is Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats on Spain's southern coast. "We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archaeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said.

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules", as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity. Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantis as the best possible sites for the city.

Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, Freund says. Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 BC are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths of the sea".

Experts plan further excavations at the site where they believe Atlantis is located and at the mysterious "cities" in central Spain 150 miles away to more  closely study geological formations and to date artifacts.

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