Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June 14, 2013

Stress can cause permanent damage to a man's sperm - and affect the mental health of his children

Stress can cause permanent damage to a man's sperm and even stunt his children's brain development, a new study has found. Researchers have discovered that suffering anxiety or depression as an adult, teenager or even as a child could cause a lasting genetic change in a man's sperm. Scientists conducting a study on mice found that sperm damage caused by stress leads to offspring developing a 'blunted reaction to stress' - a trait associated with several mental disorders.  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say this is the first time a link has been found between stress-related diseases potentially being passed from a father to his children. Previous studies have concentrated on how environmental challenges - such as diet, drug abuse, and chronic stress - felt by mothers during pregnancy can affect their offspring's neurodevelopment and increase the risk of certain diseases. In this study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, m

Turkey protests: Recep Tayyip Erdogan vows to remove demonstrators from Taksim Square

Istanbul is preparing for more violent scenes after protesters were warned they would be removed from Taksim Square within 24 hours. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued the warning today following two weeks of violent confrontations. It comes after the European Parliament issued a resolution condemning the excessive use of force by Turkish riot police against demonstrators. Scroll down for video Stand-off: Activists stand on a barricade at the entrance of Gezi Park in Istanbul today following an ultimatum by the Turkish Prime Minister Warning: The European Parliament has issued a resolution condemning the excessive use of force by Turkish riot police against demonstrators. This activist stands on a barricade at the entrance of Gezi Park Troubling: This bus stop shows signs of damage following recent violent scenes in Istanbul Ratcheting up his defiant tone, Prime Minister Erdogan appears determined to end the protests that have put an unflattering in

Manipulative paedophile who pretended to be a teenage boy to persuade young girls to carry out indecent acts online, including self-harm, is jailed for eight years

A predatory paedophile who terrorised teenage girls over the internet has been jailed for eight years. Lee Christie, 43, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, pretended to be a teenage boy to persuade young girls to strip and carry out indecent acts online. He manipulated and threatened his ten victims, who were aged between 13 and 16, and accumulated thousands of indecent images of children. On one occasion, Christie pressured a 14-year-old girl to harm herself as he watched on webcam after threatening to send indecent images of her to her parents and post them online. He told one of his youngest victims, aged just 13, that he would kill her family if she didn’t do what he asked. Christie admitted 23 charges and was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court today. Nearly 70,000 indecent images and videos of children were found on two of his computers, as well as a further 3,000 images of extreme pornography. Nottinghamshire Police was contacted by the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEO

Give us this day, our Sainsbury¿s bread: Vicar takes up job as supermarket delivery driver because he is short of money

Every Sunday Reverend Martyn Pinnock offers communion to the congregation at his parish church in Cornwall. But the cash-strapped vicar was forced to take up delivering a different kind of bread - by becoming a Sainsbury's delivery driver.  The 66-year-old combines work for the church with two days a week behind the wheel for the supermarket giants. Reverend Martyn Pinnock has taken a job as a Sainsbury's delivery driver because he is short of cash He started working for Sainsbury’s five years ago but only regained his religious licence last November after marrying for the second time. Rev Pinnock took charge of the Parish of Tregony and St Cuby with Cornelly near Truro in Cornwall.   More... 'It's like living on a gypsy site': Neighbours' fury after family attach 26ft mobile caravan to the side of their home for a cheap extension Mean scrap metals thieves rip up children's model railway ride and take 120ft of track The grandfather said: 'I’m

Syria death toll stands at 93,000, with 5,000 people dying every month, says the UN

Syria's spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of nearly 93,000 people, but the real number is likely to be far higher, the United Nations revealed today. The new death toll released in Geneva points to the seemingly unstoppable carnage that has engulfed Syria for more than two years. An average of more than 5,000 people have been killed every month since July, while the Damascus region and Aleppo have recorded the highest tolls since November, the UN's human rights office said in its latest study of documented deaths. Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10. Scroll down for video Toll of civil war: A picture taken in April shows a mass grave of people allegedly killed by Syrian forces. Nearly 93,000 people have been killed in the conflict, the UN said today In Damascus, officials said that at least one mortar shell fell on the edge of Damascus International Airport close to the runway, briefly disruptin

'It was the busiest night of all, we couldn't cope': Nurse who said 81-year-old patient was ASLEEP after she had died blames hospital for not giving her a break

Evelyn Agbeko said: 'We didn¿t have the staff - maybe me, an agency nurse and two carers and that was it.¿ A nurse at scandal-hit Stafford Hospital said she mistakenly claimed a patient was sleeping when she was dead because she hadn't had a break on a 15-hour night shift. Evelyn Agbeko told the Nursery and Midwifery Council that she made notes saying the elderly patient was asleep at 4am and 6am when she had died at 3am. Ms Agbeko, the nurse in charge of the ward, said she was overworked because of staffing cutbacks and the night that she made the medical note was, 'the busiest night of all.' The experienced nurse told the hearing that she was overworked and her ward was understaffed. ‘I couldn’t have a break because I’d have to leave a patient on their own in filth or leave them without having their treatment. ‘That night was the busiest night of all, we couldn’t cope,’ she explained. ‘The hospital didn’t give us the level of care we needed - there would be the

'I lost control of my thoughts before I threw my six-day-old baby down a rubbish chute', mother tells court

> A mother has told a court she 'lost control' of her thoughts before throwing her six-day-old baby down a tower-block rubbish chute. Jaymin Abdulrahman, said to have been suffering from a post-natal psychosis, told jurors she did not plan to cause any harm to the baby before the incident last September. The Crown alleges the 25-year-old Iraqi national deliberately placed her baby daughter into the chute with the intention of killing her. Abdulrahman, who denies attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, wept several times while giving evidence on the third day of her trial. Speaking through a Kurdish interpreter, she told the court she was in tears while cleaning her bathroom shortly before placing the baby in the chute. 'I was extremely sad,' she told jurors. 'I went to the living room, I put the baby in a rubbish bag and I threw her away. 'After I had done so, I just couldn’t believe what I had just done, and I couldn’t understand why I did it.

Freak 11-STONE halibut (that's 3 times bigger than usual) caught with a fishing rod off Shetland coast and sold to restaurant for £1,000

A freak 11-stone halibut has been line caught off the Shetland coast and is expected to serve up to 300 people. The huge fish is believed to be about 50 years old and is about three times the size of regular halibut catches. The remarkable fish has been sold to a seafood restaurant for £950 where it will be made into roughly 300 portions and make the establishment three times the cost in profit. Human-sized: The giant halibut is longer than Crabshakk's head chef David Scott Monster: The enormous halibut, caught off the Shetland coast, is believed to be about 50 years old Big operation: Restaurant owner John Macleod said they would be unlikely to see such a large fish again The catch is immediately being put on the menu and will be served to customers this weekend. The giant fish is so big, it is longer than head chef David Scott, who was given the task of filleting it. Mr Scott, head chef at the restaurant, where fish and chips sells for £9.50, will turn the massiv

Seaweed in China: Beach is turned into a giant salad by mysterious 'sea lettuce' algae that has swamped the shoreline

A seashore looked more like a meadow after huge piles of seaweed was washed up onto the shoreline. A beach in Rizhao, Shandong, has been given a whole new look after the lush green mess lay tangled on the beach. The pile of seaweed - also known as sea lettuce - arrived on Saturday, and shows no sign of disappearing as the sea waves are constantly pushing them on to the land. Scroll down for video Swamped in seaweed: The non-poisonous algae covers a beach in Rizhao, Shandong The large quantity of enteromorpha has arrived on the Qingdao and Rizhao coast in Shandong province The pile of seaweed - also known as sea lettuce - arrived on Saturday, and shows no sign of disappearing

Mother of Jamie Oliver chef calls on Prime Minister to ban suicide websites she blames for her son's death

A mother has called on the Prime Minister to ban websites which promote ways of committing suicide which she blames for her son's death.  Kevin Boyle, 26, beat more than 1,500 competitors to become one of the original apprentices at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant where he cooked for Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey. But the talented cook had a history of mental illness and was found dead about two miles from his home in Coulsdon, south London, in January last year, three months after going missing. His badly decomposed body was found with two notes and what is believed to be a suicide kit that had been bought for £44 from a foreign company on the internet. At his inquest at Croydon Coroner's Court yesterday, Kevin's mother Patti, 55, described the paraphernalia bought from the website as 'death in a bag'. The website has since been closed but she asked the coroner to write to David Cameron urging him to ban similar websites still selling 'encyclopaedias

27-stone mother who was terrified of going abroad in case she got stuck in a plane seat loses 16 STONE and ten dress sizes

A mother-of-one who was terrified of getting stuck in an aeroplane seat has been crowned this year’s Slimming World Slimmer of the Year after losing 16 stone. Sue Thompson, 40, was so afraid of getting her 27-stone frame stuck in an aeroplane seat that she spent years avoiding her family’s requests for a foreign holiday. However, Mrs Thompson, who dropped ten dress sizes to weigh a healthy 11 stone, can now jet off on her first holiday with husband, Shaun, and daughter, Jessica-Ray, 15. Scroll down for video Sue Thompson, 40, shrank from an obese 27 stone to a healthy 11 stone. She also dropped ten dress sizes to go from a size 32 to a size 12. She has been crowned Slimming World's Slimmer of the Year She was so heavy (left) that she once cracked a sunbed but she says that when she was younger she was not worried about her weight and that embarrassing events like this did not motivate her to lose weight (right) Mrs Thompson, who left her job to work for Slimming