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A study conducted in mice has revealed that maternal milk provides an essential signal that triggers the maturation of heart metabolism after birth, allowing the neonatal heart to function correctly and ensuring postnatal survival. The study shows that the fatty acid gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), present in breast milk, binds to the retinoid X receptor (RXR) protein found in heart cells. RXR acts as a nutritional sensor of lipids and vitamin A derivatives, altering gene expression and influencing biological functions such as immunity, cell differentiation, and metabolism. Once activated by maternal GLA, RXR initiates genetic programs that equip mitochondria, the energy...

According to a recent international study, the volcano of the island Santorini, Greece, erupted in the 16th century BC and not earlier. The survey characterized a number of research studies that took place in the past and have indicated that Santorini's volcano may have erupted a century earlier, as unreliable because the method based on tree-ring measurements that they used, could not provide them with accurate results. An international team of researchers led by Paolo Cherubini from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) has demonstrated in the scientific journal Antiquity, that this method cannot provide...

Dating to the mid-13th century B.C., the stone passage passed under the massive walls of the Mycenaean citadel of Midea and probably led to a nearby water source, authorities said Friday. The passage would allow the people of Midea, about 93 miles south of Athens, safe access to drinkable water even in times of enemy attack... Only three such networks - major engineering feats requiring intensive labor - from Mycenaean times have been found so far. Excavations in late June and July at Midea revealed cut rock steps leading to the triangular passage, whose entrance was covered with a large...

The results of the survey are particularly encouraging, as they brought to light new facts about the Middle Helladic and Early Mycenaean background of the settlements developed on the northern margin of the lake. In addition, the finding, with stratigraphic data, that the fortified settlements in the hills of Agios Ioannis and Aghia Marina have a phase of fortification, rehousing and abandonment chronologically analogous to the acropolis of Gla, ie around the middle of the 13th century BC, a milestone of the problems of the socio-political hierarchical relations of the Mycenaean northeastern coppaid field, as well as of the Orchomenos-Glas...

In Bible-belt Georgia, one would think that pro-life organizations would support the federal “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” which imposes a 20 week abortion ban (with exceptions for rape and incest).  The bill passed the House last week generally along party lines, 242-184.  But one pro-life organization vigorously opposed this bill. Georgia Right to Life wrote that the bill, H.R. 36, “contains dangerous exceptions that allow babies conceived via rape or incest to be murdered despite the ability to feel pain.”  And while that’s true, this is more than a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  It’s a...

AT&T is lining up support for its acquisition of T-Mobile from a slew of liberal groups with no obvious interest in telecom deals — except that they’ve received big piles of AT&T’s cash. In recent weeks, the NAACP, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance, and the National Education Association have each issued public statements in support of the deal. The groups all say their public positions have nothing to do with the money they received from AT&T.

The good doctor on the day of his grand jihad Cambridge alum guilty of plotting the jihad deaths of untold numbers. Poverty Causes Terrorism Update: "Iraqi doctor found guilty of Glasgow airport bomb plot," by Steve Bird in the Times, December 16 (thanks to all who sent this in): An NHS doctor who waged a terrorist car-bomb campaign intended to kill and maim hundreds of people in London and Glasgow has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Dr Bilal Abdulla was part of a cell that set up a bomb-making factory and bought five cars to convert into firebombs...

An NHS doctor accused of the Glasgow airport attack today admitted planning to set cars on fire to give Britain a "taste of fear". Bilal Abdulla, 29, an Iraqi, said he had wanted the incendiary devices to throw the spotlight back on the devastating effect of war on his homeland. He branded the British government "democratically elected murderers" and said he wanted Muslims to escape oppression and leave Britain. But Abdulla told Woolwich crown court in London that he knew the "horror and terror" of the July 7 attacks and had not wanted to injure or kill anyone. Going into...

Islamic extremists planned to carry out a series of spectacular terror attacks against British nightclubs, the Old Bailey has heard. Hundreds of people at one club in London escaped death only because two car bombs packed with improvised explosives and gas cylinders failed to go off. One of the devices was left directly outside the Tiger Tiger club in the capital’s Haymarket area and the second was positioned further down the street. The bombers tried to set them off with mobile phones but the fume-filled cars did not ignite and the club was successfully evacuated. Details of the attempted bombing...

MI5 says Saudi king's 7/7 claim is 'a myth' By Robert Winnett and James Kirkup Last Updated: 9:03pm GMT 29/10/2007 The intelligence services have become embroiled in a rare public row with the Saudi government by describing comments about the 7/7 London bombings made by the Saudi king as a "myth". King Abdullah, currently on a state visit to Britain, said in an interview that his country had "sent information before the terrorist attacks" which was not acted upon and which "may have been able to avert the tragedy". King Abdullah accepted that al-Qa'eda remains a problem in his country...

Hero baggage handler at 9/11 event 5 hours ago Hero baggage handler John Smeaton has travelled to the US, where he will take part in a ceremony marking the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The airport worker, who found worldwide fame after his courage during the terror attack on Glasgow Airport, has been invited to this year's commemoration service at the World Trade Centre in New York. The 31-year-old, from Renfrewshire, jetted off from Heathrow airport in London. He was pushed into the limelight after he raced to help when a burning Jeep was driven into the airport terminal....

Theodore Dalrymple: How Societies Commit Suicide - Scots and Italians surrender to Islam. 17 August 2007 In an effort to ensure that no Muslim doctors ever again try to bomb Glasgow Airport, bureaucrats at Glasgow’s public hospitals have decreed that henceforth no staff may eat lunch at their desks or in their offices during the holy month of Ramadan, so that fasting Muslims shall not be offended by the sight or smell of their food. Vending machines will also disappear from the premises during that period. Apparently the bureaucrats believe that the would-be bombers were demanding sandwich-free offices in Glasgow...

The Scottish Procurator Fiscal ordered a postmortem on the body of Dr. Kafeel Ahmed, one of the two terror suspects involved in the terror attack at Glasgow Airport on June 30.Kafeel, a 27-year-old from Bangalore in India, died late Thursday evening at Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a result of 90 degree burns he received to his torso after driving a blazing Jeep Cherokee laden with gas and petrol cylinders, and nails, into the main terminal building at the airport.Because of the severity of his burns he was later transferred to the specialist burns unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where doctors...

PM applauds hero airport workerAn airport baggage handler who restrained a terror suspect was hailed a hero by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. John Smeaton met Mr Brown during a visit to 10 Downing Street. Mr Smeaton, 31, shot to fame after helping police tackle a man who was in a blazing jeep which was driven into the Glasgow Airport terminal building. The PM arranged to meet Mr Smeaton to thank him personally on Thursday after being told he was in London to film a television interview. Mr Brown said: "This is a very brave man and a very courageous man...

A terror suspect being treated for severe burns following a car bomb attack on Glasgow Airport has died in hospital. Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was being cared for at a specialist unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. After being doused with a fire extinguisher by an off-duty policeman, Ahmed was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley. Ahmed, who is also known as Khalid, suffered 90% burns. The alleged attack on Glasgow airport came a day after two attempted car bombings failed in London on June 29. Ahmed spent 33 days in hospital before succumbing to his injuries. A spokesman for...

LONDON - A man critically burned after allegedly crashing an explosive-laden Jeep into Glasgow Airport died of his injuries Thursday, Strathclyde Police said. Kafeel Ahmed, 27, had been in the hospital for a month with burns from the alleged attack on June 30, which followed a day after two failed car bombings in London. The other man in the car, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiring to set off explosions. "We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow Airport on Saturday June 30 has died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary,"...

Glasgow Terror Suspect Dies Updated: 23:08, Thursday August 02, 2007 The terror suspect badly burned in the failed attack on Glasgow airport has died. Kafeel Ahmed, 27, is believed to have been the driver of the Jeep Cherokee which burst into flames as it was rammed into the terminal building. Scene of the failed attackAfter being doused with a fire extinguisher by an off-duty policeman, Ahmed was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley.

Glasgow Airport attack man dies A man injured in the Glasgow Airport attack on Saturday 30 June has died in hospital, police have confirmed. A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said that the man seriously injured during the incident died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Kafeel Ahmed, one of two men held at the airport after a Jeep struck the terminal, died on Thursday evening. The circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator fiscal.

“Any attempt to identify a murderous ideology with a great faith such as Islam is wrong, and needs to be denied,” declared Jacqui Smith, the new British Home Secretary, starting her job with a bang, or near-bang, as a flaming Jeep Cherokee (doing a fine impression of a Chevy Blazer) crashed through the terminal at Glasgow Airport, with one of its passengers staggering fron the wreckage screaming, “Allah! Allah!” The following day, nine persons, including seven Spanish tourists, were killed by a somewhat more efficient suicide bomber in Yemen.

Bangalore, July 30 (PTI): Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, who returned here after Australian authorities dropped terror charges against him, today said he wanted Australia to apologise to his "peace-loving country". "I don't expect an apology from the Australian government or the authorities but I would appreciate if they apologise to my peace-loving country and citizens," he told a press conference here. Asked whether he would sue the Australian Government for the trauma he had suffered, Haneef said "I have not sought any legal advice at this time. That will be later on." "I would like to return. I want the...