Picture: Getty Images
Scientists in the United States claim people who starve themselves on alternate days may live longer, boost brain power and lose weight.

The National Institutes for Aging researchers based their evidence on studies involving animals and humans.

Animals were given the bare minimum of calories needed to keep them alive. The researchers said the results showed they lived up to twice as long.

The diet was also tested on humans and appeared to protect the heart, circulatory system and brain against age-related diseases including Alzheimer’s, they said.

Mark Mattson, who heads the NIA’s neurosciences lab and is the neuroscience professor at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, said dietary energy restriction extended lifespan and protected the brain and cardiovascular system against age-related diseases.

“We have found that dietary energy restriction, particularly when administered in intermittent bouts of major caloric restriction, such as alternative-day fasting, activates cellular stress response pathways in neurones,” he said.

One experiment involved a group of mice being fed only on alternate days, while others ate daily.

“Both groups were given unlimited access to food on the days they were allowed to eat and eventually consumed the same amount of calories,” The Daily Mail has reported.

Today Tonight: Diet lessons from France

“Professor Mattson said he found the mice fed on alternate days were more sensitive to insulin and needed to produce less of it.

“High levels of the hormone, which is produced to control sugar levels after a meal or snack, are usually associated with lower brain power and are at a higher risk of diabetes.”

Professor Mattson said that after examining the animals’ brains, the calorie-restricted diets appeared to improve the function of brain synapses.

“These are the junctions between brain cells which promote the generation of new cells and make them more resistant to stress,” The Mail said.

via Ageing study looks at fasting to live longer – The West Australian.

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A Brazilian model has survived a horrific car crash, thanks to her extra-large breasts that seem to have acted like protective air bags.

Sheyla Hershey, 32, escaped the accident with only minor bruises to her 16KKK-size breasts (US size 38KKK) and she is thankful for her money makers.

Hershey was driving home after a Super Bowl party last week when she lost control of her car and crashed into a tree.

“My breasts stopped my face and my head being hit. I am so thankful for them,” she told The Sun, “I think my breasts saved my life”.

Hershey has had at least 10 breast enhancement surgeries and intends to increase her bust size to 38MMM.

According to some reports, Hershey was charged with drink driving and was allegedly not wearing a seatbelt when she lost control of her car.

However she blames the accident on medication she takes for depression and pain relief and claims she does not drink at all.

“I was on my way to meet my husband and our two kids at a friend’s house but I started to feel dizzy,” she told The Sun, “I swerved to avoid a dog and ended up writing off my car. I hit a tree, spun round three times and then hit another tree on the other side of the road”.

Sheyla Hershey has had 10 breast enhancement surgeries and plans to undergo more.

Photo courtesy: The Daily Mail/BMUSA

via Massive breasts save model’s life – Yahoo!7.

A US graffiti artist who painted Facebook’s offices is set to become a multi-millionaire when the social network begins trading as a public company.

David Choe painted the first Facebook offices in 2005

David Choe, who first spray-painted the walls of Facebook HQ in 2005, accepted shares in payment for his work.

Now the site is planning to float on the stock market, its thought his share could be worth around $200m (£126m).

Writing on his blog, Choe said he was the “highest paid decorator alive”.

Although he had initially thought the idea of the social network was “ridiculous and pointless”, the artist decided to take the stock option instead of cash “in the thousands of dollars” according to the New York Times.

Choe’s payout could be worth more money than auction house Sotheby’s attracted for its record-breaking $200.7m (£127m) sale in 2008 for a collection of work by Damien Hirst.

The Korean-American artist, 35, was first asked to paint erotic murals for Facebook’s first office in Palo Alto, California, by the site’s then-president, Sean Parker.

The site’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, later asked Choe to paint “tamer” art for its second office in 2007.

However art from the original headquarters was cut out from the walls and is on display at other Facebook offices around the world.

Choe – whose work can now be seen in galleries all over the world – is currently painting the site’s new offices in Menlo Park, California.

The artist, who began spray-painting in his teens, created the cover art for Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s multi-platinum album Collision Course in 2004.

In 2008, he also painted a portrait of the then-Senator Barack Obama – a picture that now hangs in the White House.

BBC News – Graffiti artist David Choe set for Facebook windfall.

Katie Piper arriving at The TV Choice Awards 2011 in the UK and right, with Lisa Faulkner at a London awards ceremony honouring inspirational women in 2012. Photo: AAP / Getty Images

Surgeons in Britain have restored the sight of a woman blinded after having acid thrown in her face in an attack arranged by her former boyfriend.

Katie Piper, 29, endured hundreds of operations, skin grafts and wore a mask up to 23 hours a day to stretch the scar tissue on her face as part of her recovery.

She suffered third degree burns, had a damaged left eye and was scarred for life in the 2008 attack.

The Daily Mail newspaper reported that her sight has been restored after doctors used eye tissue from the cornea of an anonymous male donor.

The stem cells were grown and then stitched into Ms Piper’s damaged eye and the eye was covered with womb lining donated by women who have had caesarean births. The lining acted as a bandage.

Speaking to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, Ms Piper said: “I’d seen a lot of progress with my scars, but my sight was the one injury I’d say to myself was permanent and least expected to change. I do feel like I’m winning.”

“It wasn’t like I took the bandage off and my sight came back like that, it happened gradually.”

“It has been an amazing feeling,” she said.

Acid attack victim can see again – The West Australian.

HACKERS have targeted the websites of several law enforcement agencies worldwide in attacks attributed to Anonymous, allegedly accessing details of informants and eavesdropping on a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard on how to stop them.

Anonymous has published a recording of the phone call, gloating in a Twitter message that “the FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now”.

Amid the material published was an email purportedly sent by an FBI agent to international law enforcement agencies. It invites his foreign counterparts to join the call to “discuss the ongoing investigations related to Anonymous … and other associated splinter groups” on January 17 at 4pm.

The message – addressed to law enforcement officials in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and France – contained a phone number and password for accessing the call.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation, said that authorities were looking at the possibility that the message was intercepted after a private email account of one of the invited participants was compromised.

Graham Cluley, an expert with data security company Sophos, said that knowing the time, telephone number and passcode for the call meant it was all too easy to spy on the investigators. ”Even my ironing lady could have rung in and silently listened to the call just like Anonymous did,” he said, calling the fiasco “highly embarrassing for the cops”.

The FBI said the information “was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained” but that no FBI systems were breached. It added that “a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.”

The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on the website of a Virginia law firm for a US Marine convicted in a deadly 2005 attack in Iraq.  Puckett and Faraj served as the lead defense lawyer for Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who faced a US military court martial last month in connection with the killings in Haditha.

in a statement which appeared on the website of the law firm, Anonymous also claimed to have published three gigabytes of private email messages of attorneys Neal Puckett and Haytham Faraj.

“The contents of these email messages include detailed records, transcripts, testimony, trial evidence, and legal defence donation records pertaining to not only Frank Wuterich but also many other marines they have represented,” Anonymous said.

Informants details seen

Police say hackers in Salt Lake City, Utah, gained access to sensitive data, including citizen complaints about drug crimes, including phone numbers, addresses and other personal information.

“We’re still knee deep in trying to get a feel for the extent of the problem,” Salt Lake City police Detective Dennis McGowan said.

In Greece, the Justice Ministry took down its site after a video by activists claiming to be Greek and Cypriot members of Anonymous was displayed for at least two hours.

In Boston, a message posted on the police website said, “Anonymous hacks Boston Police website in retaliation for police brutality at OWS,” apparently a reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The message said that the site had been attacked several months ago and that hundreds of passwords were released in retaliation for what they called brutality against Occupy Boston.  A police spokesman would not confirm Anonymous was responsible.

In October, Boston police acknowledged that various websites used by members of the police department – including the website belonging to the police patrolmen’s association – had been hacked and possibly compromised. The department said it had asked all department personnel to change their passwords on the police department’s network.

“They clearly ignored our warnings,” the message on the department’s website said. ”So you get your kicks beating protesters? “That’s OK; we get kicks defacing … your websites – again.”

via Hackers listen in on FBI’s anti-hacker call | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au.

Scientists claim to have solved the mystery behind the strange blue jelly balls which ‘rained’ down on the garden of a UK resident a week ago.

Researchers at Bournemouth University say the mysterious balls were merely a common substance found in nappies.

Steve Hornsby of Dorset was left puzzled when a torrent of gooey balls rained from the sky during a hailstorm.

Hornsby spotted about a dozen balls in his garden after the storm and scooped them into a jar out of curiosity.

The former aircraft engineer described the balls as having an exterior shell with a “softer inner but no smell”.

While some speculated the bizarre droppings were eggs of a marine creature, others went as far as to say that they were “the bodily secretions of angels”.

But research assistant Josie Pegg has confirmed the substance was sodium polyacrylate, commonly used in gardening or agriculture to improve soil, as well used in nappies.

“Speculation on the nature of the mystery jelly balls has provided much entertainment, but now that we have possession of a sample we can rule out some of the early guesses,” Pegg told the Daily Mail.

Though it’s not clear how the balls landed in Hornsby’s garden, Pegg said it could be a result of “someone having a clear-out…and chucked them over the fence”.

via Scientists claim ‘blue balls rain’ mystery solved – Yahoo!7.

A woman with an IQ of 64 has been banned from having sex after a judge ruled that she lacked the mental capacity to say no to sexual intercourse.Britains Justice Hedley said the woman, 29, was autistic and the order was passed keeping her best interests in mind.

Hedley said she had previously engaged in “risky behavior” with a number of people, and that she should be protected from “potentially exploitative and damaging” relations in future, the Daily Mail reports.

The order prevents the woman from having sex and also means anyone trying to have sex with her can be charged with sexual assault or rape.

“It is strange, but nevertheless true, that even the freedom to make unwise decisions is one that the court is required to guard and only to restrict if and when the best interests of [the woman] so require,” Hedley was quoted as saying by The Daily Mail.According to Hedley, the woman was on an at-risk register as a child after her parents split up and her father died.

She was kept in a psychiatric hospital for almost two years and was described as “highly vulnerable”.One man was convicted of attempting to rape her and she reportedly indulged in in “exploitative and unconventional” behaviour with others.

via Judge bans woman from having sex, says its in her best interest – Yahoo!7.

The Facebook timeline feature will soon be mandatory for all users. Picture: Facebook

FACEBOOK will soon expose users who post embarrassing photos and status updates, whether they like it or not.

The social networking giant will force users on to its new timeline function, which displays their entire history on the site – from status updates to photos – within a matter of weeks, the Herald Sun reported.

Search engine Google has joined the social network in forcing privacy changes on its Google Account users after advising it would share user information between searches, YouTube, Google+ and its other services from March 1.

Both made the announcements in blogs, with Facebook saying: “Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline.”

Google noted “Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services.”

Timeline is a feature announced by the social network late last year that reorganises people’s Facebook page to tell their “life story”.

But for those who don’t use a seven-day grace period to moderate what will appear on their old profile page, it could soon expose embarrassing photos they had forgotten about.

Australian Privacy Foundation vice-chair David Vaile equated the social network to a “naughty teenager” for not encouraging people to think through the changes.

He warned people whose lives had moved on from embarrassing photos that they might face more serious consequences if they resurfaced.

“Up until now you had security by obscurity – now at Facebook’s whim rather than yours, stuff will come back bubbling up from your past,” Mr Vaile said.

“And one of the problems with Facebook’s model of encouraging people not to worry about security is it disrespects other people as well.”

via You’ve been warned: Time’s up on Facebook gaffes | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au.

BECAUSE Cyrano weighs more than nine kilograms, amputating his cancer-weakened leg was out of the question.

So the tubby tabby’s owners turned to doctors and engineers at North Carolina State University to get who they describe as “their child” back into mice-catching trim.

On Thursday, the 10-year-old cat from Upperville, Virginia, received what doctors believe is the first feline total knee replacement in the US.

“This is the most complex implant that NC State has made and really, in all honesty, that anyone has built for any situation that I know of,” said surgeon Denis Marcellin-Little, a French-born veterinarian.

Cyrano underwent treatment last year at Colorado State University for cancer in his left hind leg. The disease is in remission, but the treatment left the leg nearly useless and extremely painful.

In 2005, Marcellin-Little performed the world’s first surgery to fuse leg implants with a cat’s bone tissue, so Cyrano’s owners turned to him for help.

Such implants have become commonplace in dogs. But a cat’s smaller anatomy has proved more difficult.

Unlike other joints, which are machined, Cyrano’s knee was fabricated using a laser process that hardens metal powder to exactly replicate his bones. More than a dozen people worked on developing and testing the implant and the operation lasted around six hours.

Marcellin-Little said the tabby’s girth and big bones were a plus. He said Cyrano should be up and around in about a week, although he will not be climbing trees for a while yet.

“We would like him to take it easy for about three months after surgery,” the doctor said. “And then we will let him be himself.”

The full cost of the operation could not be measured but is thought to be around $20,000.

via Cat has total knee replacement | News.com.au.

A variety of McDonald’s burgers, wraps and the preferred nuggets. Picture: Nicholas Welsh

A TEENAGE girl who has eaten almost nothing else except chicken nuggets for 15 years has been warned by doctors the junk food is killing her.

Stacey Irvine, 17, has been hooked on the fast food since her mother bought her some at a McDonald’s restaurant when she was two, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Shocked doctors learned of her habit when the factory worker, from Birmingham, north of London, collapsed and was taken to hospital after struggling to breathe.

Ms Irvine, who has never eaten fruit or vegetables, had swollen veins in her tongue and was found to have anaemia.

Medics gave her a series of injections and started her on an urgent course of vitamins.

Despite being warned she could die if she stuck to her nugget addiction, she still can’t resist the fast food.

Despite a diet that regularly means she eats at least a third more than the 56g of fat recommended by experts, she manages to keep relatively trim.

This may be down to the amount of exercise she does or to her metabolism.

But the craving is taking a toll on her health. A lack of vitamins and other nutrients combined with a dangerous amount of salt can raise blood pressure and weaken the immune system and lead to an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, particularly as Ms Irvine ages.

A less serious consequence of her craving is that she is struggling to find places to store all the free toys and novelties that come with the meals. They currently fill four bin bags.

Her exasperated mother Evonne Irvine, 39, who is battling to get her daughter seen by a specialist, said: “It breaks my heart to see her eating those damned nuggets.

“She’s been told in no uncertain terms that she’ll die if she carries on like this. But she says she can’t eat anything else.”

She once tried unsuccessfully to starve her daughter in a bid to have her eat nutritious food.

Ms Irvine, whose only other variation in her diet is the occasional slice of toast for breakfast – and crisps – said that once she tried nuggets she “loved them so much they were all I would eat”.

Evonne Irvine’s other two children – Leo, five, and Ava, three – both eat healthily.

In one six-piece portion of McNuggets there are 280 calories, 17g of fat, 16g of carbohydrate, 14g protein, and 600mg sodium and in a small portion of fries there are 230 calories, 11g of fat, 29g of carbohydrates, 3g protein and 160mg sodium.

If Ms Irvine ate three portions of each in a day she would eat a third more fat and almost double the recommended salt but virtually no vitamin C.

Each portion of nuggets contains just two per cent of the daily vitamin C requirement.

via Teen girl slowly dying of her McAddiction | News.com.au.