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Below are some of the cartoons on Britney Spear’s for Feb 27 2007. Simply click
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Eating garlic - either raw or as a supplement - does not lower cholesterol levels, a US study has found. There has been a belief that garlic could help, supported by positive lab and animal studies.

But a comparison of raw garlic and two garlic supplements in Archives of Internal Medicine found none of the three had any effect.

British experts said a healthy diet combined with plenty of exercise was the best way to prevent heart disease.

There were no statistically significant effects Stanford University researchers

Garlic has been used for thousands of years in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases - the first recorded use was in ancient Egypt 3,500 years ago.

Recently allicin, a compound in garlic has been shown to prevent the formation of cholesterol in over 90 animal studies and, in the early 1990s, studies in humans also suggested there could be benefits.

But the studies were poorly designed, and did not provide conclusive proof.

Even so, garlic supplements are often promoted as cholesterol-lowering agents, the researchers carrying out this latest study say.

Bad breath

They monitored 170 people aged 30 to 65 who had moderately high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels for six months.

They were divided into four groups.

One was asked to eat a four-gram clove of garlic each day, the second were given a powdered garlic supplement, the third had aged garlic extract - which has been treated in alcohol for up to two years - while the fourth group had a dummy supplement.

All were advised to avoid foods known to contain garlic and to cut their intake of onions and chives, which are known to contain some of the same chemical compounds found in garlic.

Blood cholesterol levels were assessed each month.

Writing in Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers led by Dr Christopher Gardner, said the findings had contradicted their expectations that garlic, particularly in its raw form, would be effective in lowering cholesterol.

They said: “There were no statistically significant effects of the three forms of garlic on LDL cholesterol concentrations.”

No serious side effects were seen - although half of those in the raw garlic group (28 people) reported body odour and bad breath.

Balanced diet

However, the researchers say the results of this study should not be applied to everyone.

“Garlic might lower LDL in specific subpopulations, such as those with higher LDL concentrations, or may have other beneficial health effects.”

Judy O’Sullivan, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “This small study shows that eating raw cloves of garlic or taking garlic supplements has no benefit for the heart.

“However, eating garlic as part of a balanced diet will help to add variety and flavour, and it is a healthier alternative to salt, for example.”

She added: “In order to reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease, it’s best to eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and low in fat, especially saturated fat, and keep physically active.”

A girl born after just under 22 weeks in the womb - among the shortest gestation periods known for a live birth - will remain in a hospital a few extra days as a precaution, officials said.Amillia Taylor, who weighed less than 10 ounces (283 grams), had been expected to be sent home this week.

However, routine tests indicated she was vulnerable to infection, said Dr. Paul Fassbach, who has cared for the baby since shortly after she was born.

“She has been fine,” Fassbach said, but doctors are being extra cautious “now that she’s going into the world.”

Video…the tiny baby who survived against all the odds
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Doctors say she is the first baby known to have survived after a gestation of fewer than 23 weeks. But full-term births usually come after 37 to 40 weeks. Amillia was just 9 1/2 inches long and weighed less than 10 ounces when she was delivered by Caesarean section. She now weighs 4 1/2 pounds.

She has suffered respiratory and digestive problems, as well as a mild brain hemorrhage, but doctors believe the health concerns will not have major long-term effects.

“Her prognosis is excellent,” said Dr. Paul Fassbach, who has cared for Amillia since her second day.

Amillia was conceived in vitro and has been in an incubator since birth. She will continue to receive a small amount of supplemental oxygen even after she goes home.

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Her parents Sonja and Eddie, from Homestead, Florida, were visiting friends in Miami when Mrs Taylor went into labour at just over 19 weeks pregnant, having conceived by IVF.

Doctors attempted to delay the birth but eventually were forced to carry out an emergency caesarean.

Amillia Taylor weighed just under 10oz and was only 91/2 inches long at birth

Dr Guillermo Lievano, who delivered Amillia, said he was not expecting her to survive.

“I was prepared for the worst and prepared to break the bad news to the mother.”

Amillia responded to treatment, however. During two months in an incubator, she even had plastic surgery after her left ear was partially torn off during the delivery.

“I’m still in amazement,” said Mrs Taylor, 37, a teacher. “I wanted her to have a chance and I knew in my heart that she was going to make it.

“It was hard to imagine she would get this far. But now she is beginning to look like a real baby. Even though she’s only 4lb now, she’s plump to me.”

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Ten ounces of determination: Amillia was little longer than this pen

William Smalling, neo-natologist at Baptist Children’s Hospital in Miami, said: “She’s truly a miracle baby. We didn’t even know what a normal blood pressure is for a baby this small.”

Amillia’s incredible story will reignite the debate over Britain’s abortion laws, which campaigners say must be updated in the light of recent medical advances.

Babies can still be aborted for non-medical reasons at up to 24 weeks. Recent evidence shows that, of those born at 25 weeks, half of them manage to live.

Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in the eastern Colombian city of Cucuta, police say. The attacker jumped into the arena and fired before fleeing, police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Efe news agency.

Local reports say the audience of about 20 people, mostly children, thought the shooting was part of the show before realising both men had been killed.

Last year, a prominent circus clown, known as Pepe, was also shot dead by a unknown assailant in Cucuta.

The motive for the latest killing remains unclear, police said. Local media reports suggest two attackers may have been involved.

One clown was shot in the head as he performed on stage, about an hour into the Circo del Sol’s evening show.

The second, named as 18-year-old Franklin Leal, from Cucuta, was then shot as he stood by the ticket booth, according to the newspaper La Opinion.

The travelling circus had set up in a suburb of Cucuta, capital of Norte de Santander province near the Venezuelan border, about 10 days earlier, the paper says.

The US hair salon where pop star Britney Spears shaved her head has apparently set up a website to auction her locks for more than $1m (£512,500). Spears had the drastic cut at Esther’s Hair Studio in California on Friday.

The website, buybritneyshair.com, claims to have been set up by salon owner Esther Tognozzi.

It includes photos of the hair, saying it is “absolutely authentic”. Meanwhile, Spears has been spotted in Hollywood sporting a short blonde wig.

The salon’s website offers bidders an “opportunity of a lifetime” and says a portion of the proceeds will be donated to various unnamed charities.

A bald Spears was photographed at an LA tattoo parlour

As well as the hair, the winning bidder will also get the hair clippers Spears used, a blue lighter she left at the salon and the can of Red Bull she was drinking at the time. The site adds that the successful bidder can pick up the hair from Esther’s Hair Studio in Tarzana, California.

Salon co-owner JT Tognozzi said: “We still don’t know why Britney chose our shop. We’ll probably never know.”

Mr Tognozzi said they originally listed the hair on internet auction site eBay, but it was cancelled for an “unknown reason.”

Internet frauds

On Tuesday morning there were scores of supposed locks of Spears’ hair for sale on eBay - including some located in the UK and Germany.

“It’s pretty crazy all the frauds and stuff that’s out there,” Mr Tognozzi said. “They’re not even in our state.”

Spears has since been spotted wearing a blonde wig Britney’s looks

EBay said many postings claiming to offer “genuine” locks have already been removed.

An eBay spokeswoman said: “Anyone considering the purchase of such an item should read the listing carefully and only proceed if they are completely happy that the item they are buying is authentic.”

Since splitting with husband Kevin Federline last year, Spears has been making headlines with her partying lifestyle.

The next time you dread a trip to the dentist, consider the plight of poor Tusko the elephant. It took veterinarians and a dentist nearly five hours Saturday to remove what was left of an elephant’s infected tusk at the Oregon Zoo, and it took a chain saw, hand saws and a drill that can punch through concrete to do the job.

At least 20 people worked from midmorning to early afternoon to remove the rock-hard ivory, which was extracted in foot-long, bloody slabs. A ring the size of a roll of duct tape remains; veterinarians plan to go after it in about six weeks.

Tusko, who weighs about 13,500 pounds, broke both tusks decades ago. The right tusk was removed when he was young. Years ago, a veterinarian sawed the left tusk off flush with Tusko’s lip, hoping it would heal. But infection persisted.

Oregon Zoo veterinarian Mitch Finnegan said the procedure posed a risk, but feared leaving the long-term infection untreated posed a greater one. Finnegan feared that Tusko would be too weak to stand when the anesthesia wore off, or that if he did stand, he might fall.

But Tusko started to move his legs, then rocked his body back and forth before sitting up and slowly standing.

The Indian government plans to set up a series of orphanages to raise unwanted baby girls in a bid to halt the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses, according to a senior government official.

Dubbed the “cradle scheme,” the plan is an attempt to slow the practice that international groups say has killed more than 10 million female fetuses in the last two decades, leading to an alarming imbalance in the ratio between males and females in India, Renuka Chowdhury, the minister of state for women and child development, told the Press Trust of India news agency in an interview published Sunday.

“What we are saying to the people is have your children, don’t kill them. And if you don’t want a girl child, leave her to us,” Chowdhury told the agency, adding that the government planned to set up a center in each regional district.

“We will bring up the children. But don’t kill them because there really is a crisis situation,” she said.

On Sunday, police arrested a gynecologist and janitor at a hospital near the central Indian city of Bhopal after the discovery of nearly 400 bones from fetuses and newborns in a pit behind the hospital. It is believed they are the remains of unwanted baby girls.

Many districts in the country of more than 1 billion people routinely report only 800 girls born for every 1,000 boys. According to the latest census figures in India, the number of girls per 1,000 boys declined from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001.

Asked if the scheme would not encourage parents to abandon female infants, Chowdhury said: “It doesn’t matter. It is better than killing them.”

Discrimination against girls stems from the low value attached to females in Indian society. Girls are seen as a burden on the family, requiring a large dowry which many poor families cannot afford. Females are generally the last to be educated or to get medical treatment.

Tests to determine the gender of a fetus are outlawed in India and the government says it is clamping down on doctors who break the law.

But social activists say there are many loopholes which allow those who provide tests to remain free. Since the law was enacted in 1994 only one doctor has been convicted.

Chowdhury did not say how much the orphanage plan would cost but said money had been allocated in the next budget for it. Officials in her office could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. It was not clear when the first orphanages will open.

Kirk Yeager makes bombs from the stuff found under kitchen sinks. He does it to help the FBI defend against what officials say is the next frontier for terrorists in the United States.

Ten years ago, peroxide-based bombs were mostly the work of young pranksters. But the easy-to-make yet deadly chemical cocktails were embraced in the late 1990s by Palestinian militants and suicide bombers bent on killing large groups of people.

Now, Yeager says, such explosives are considered the most likely weapon that terrorists will use against the U.S.

“Every serious terrorist group knows about them and knows how to make them,” Yeager said. The forensic scientist heads the explosives unit at the FBI’s laboratory.

The bombs are made by mixing chemicals used in common household items and easily found at drugstores or hardware stores. Experts know them as TATP, short for triacetone triperoxide, and HMTD, or hexamethylene triperoxide diamine.

Recent cases of explosions or thwarted attacks with TATP or HMTD in the U.S. include:

• Millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam. He was carrying HMTD among the 124 pounds of explosives in the trunk of his car when he was arrested near the U.S.-Canadian border in December 1999.
• Richard Reid. The would-be British shoe bomber tried unsuccessfully to detonate 8 ounces of TATP hidden in his high-top sneaker during a Paris-to-Miami flight in 2001.
• University of Oklahoma suicide bomber Joel Henry Hinrichs III. He used TATP to blow himself up near a packed football stadium in October 2005.

Also, eco-terrorists and animal rights extremist groups such as Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front are believed by authorities to use peroxide-based explosives.

Yeager, 41, who helps the FBI solve bombing cases by investigating the crime scene debris, is the only U.S. official who makes TATP and similar explosives in mass quantities. His brews are used for testing and training police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs.

A New York congressman on Wednesday jokingly suggested the Bush administration may fear a “platoon of lesbians” more than terrorists in Baghdad, given the military’s resistance to letting homosexuals openly serve.Representative Gary Ackerman’s criticism of Pentagon policy came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Ackerman, a New York City Democrat, complained to Rice that the military had fired Arabic and Farsi translators after learning they were gay.

“For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are against terrorists. They’re very brave with the terrorists, and if the terrorists ever got a hold of this information, they get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad,” said Ackerman, prompting laughter in the hearing room.

The legislator, who in 2002 voted for the invasion of Iraq but is now a fierce opponent of the war, made one other crack, too, in reference to the Bush administration’s opposition to gay marriage.

Ackerman suggested the Department of State could hire dozens of outed - and ousted - former military translators.

“Can we marry up these two - or maybe that’s not the right word. . . . Can we have some kind of union of those two issues?” Ackerman asked, prompting a fresh outburst of laughter.

Rice, in diplomatic fashion, played it cool.

“Congressman, I’m not aware of the availability of people, but I will certainly look,” she said, adding that her department has quadrupled the number of employees in critical languages.

A Washington-based gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, said Ackerman was right to criticize the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” concerning gays.

“It is clear the congressman was underscoring the ridiculousness of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy and how it’s hurting our efforts to fight the war on terror,” HRC spokesman Luis Vizcaino said.

Missing out on sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells, a study has suggested. The work on rats, by a team from Princeton University found a lack of sleep affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories.

The research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed a stress hormone causes the effect.

A UK expert said it would be interesting to see if too little rather than no sleep had the same consequence.

Deficits

The researchers compared animals who were deprived of sleep for 72 hours with others who were not.

They found those who missed out on rest had higher levels of the stress hormone corticosterone.

It would be interesting to see if partial sleep deprivation - getting a little bit less sleep every night that you need - had the same effect Dr Neil Stanley, sleep expert

They also produced significantly fewer new brain cells in a particular region of the hippocampus.

When the animals’ corticosterone levels were kept at a constant level, the reduction in cell proliferation was abolished.

The results suggest that elevated stress hormone levels resulting from sleep deprivation could explain the reduction in cell production in the adult brain.

Sleep patterns were restored to normal within a week.

However levels of nerve cell production (neurogenesis) were not restored for two weeks, and the brain appears to boost its efforts in order to counteract the shortage.

Writing in PNAS, the researchers led by Dr Elizabeth Gould, said that although the role of nerve cell production in adults remained unknown, “the suppression of adult neurogenesis may underlie some of the cognitive deficits associated with prolonged sleep deprivation.”

People who experience a lack of sleep experience concentration problems and other difficulties.

Sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley, based at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said the study’s findings could not be directly translated to humans because people did not go without sleep for 72 hours, unless they were in extreme circumstances.

But he added: “It is an interesting finding. It would be interesting to see if partial sleep deprivation - getting a little bit less sleep every night that you need - had the same effect.”