Author: Agasel

Discovery: How Folic Acid is Absorbed

- Agasel

Scientists have discovered how the vitamin folate is absorbed in the intestinal tract.  The discovery may lead to being able to test infants that cannot absorb this important nutrient.folic acid_1.jpg

Folate, also known as folic acid or vitamin B9, is important for growth and gene expression in the fetus.  Babies who are deficient in it, or cannot absorb it, may have mental retardation, seizures, severe infections, or anemia.

Until now, scientists were not sure what mechanism the body used to absorb folate.  This vitamin is water soluble, therefore not easily penetrating fatty cell membranes.  Recent research at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in New York concludes that a membrane protein called PCFT/HCP1 transports folate into intestinal cells.

This discovery may help cure hereditary folate malabsorption in babies.

A Buzkashi Renaissance

- Agasel

Kabul is mad for buzkashi, a sport involving riders, fast horses … and a decapitated animal corpse.buzkashi.jpg

Imagine: groups of men dressed to ward off the chill, wearing heavy coats, woollen hats, and thick boots; impatient horses churning towards their goal: in this case, a decapitated calf corpse.  The crowd hunkers on an overlooking cliff, and gets up to cheer as a rider and his horse break free from the circle of players, dragging the heavy calf around a flagpole and into a white circle.  He’s scored a goal!

Prize money includes sums from local businessmen, ranging from $20 to $100 — a considerable amount by local standards.  Some games are modest, but some attract up to 800 riders.  More prestigious games involve warlords and politicians adding to the pot.  Foreigners are also beginning to join in the fun.

There is hope that the game of buzkashi will unify Afghans, as it did during the reign of King Zahir Shah from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Safer Homes

- Agasel

A house in West Point, PEI, is the first Canadian home built under the “Designed for safer living” program.  This program is a joint collaboration between the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, the Canadian insurance industry, and home builders.

This slide show details how the house was rebuilt after being badly damaged by fire last spring.  The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction says it’s unclear how much the improvements added to the cost of the home, because the program is new.

Five more are expected to be built by December 2007, including one in the Prairies that will withstand wildfires, one in Vancouver that will handle earthquakes, and another in Sudbury to deal with wind and storms.

How High?

- Agasel 2 Comments

Rising construction equals rising profits.  The Dubai Tower, or “Burj Dubai”, is slated to become the world’s tallest tower.  Located in downtown Dubai,  it reaches 79 floors so far.  By the end of 2008, it will extend at least 700 metres, and cost 1 billion dollars.

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However, Emaar Properties, the company promoting the tower, refuses to reveal the end goal.  Only when construction is finished will the general public find out how high the tower reaches.  “At the moment, we are not answering. We’ll say it (will be) more than 700 metres and more than 160 stories … The people who need to know, know,” says Greg Sang, the Emaar official in charge of Burj Dubai.

Every week, two stories are added to the tower.  It is expected to be the centerpiece of a 20-billion-dollar venture featuring the construction of a new district, “Downtown Burj Dubai”.  This new community will have 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.

Currently, the world’s tallest inhabited building is “Taipei 101” in Taiwan, which is 508 metres tall.

French Kissing

- Agasel

Last week France, land of the French Kiss, fell far short of beating the current Guinness World Records holder for Most Kissers At Once.

At the Guinness World Records’ sponsored event, in Paris, 1,188 people showed up for simultaneous kissing.  (I know, you’re thinking, “Best. Date. Ever.”) Unfortunately, they failed to beat Budapest’s impressive 2005 record of 11,570 kissers.kissers.jpg

Some Parisians blame the location chosen for the event: La Defense, a modernist business park on the west edge of Paris.  It’s been suggested that a better known, and perhaps more inspiring spot, would have been the Eiffel Tower.

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