Health
Antioxidant Levels May be Linked to Autism
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
SUNDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Could oxidative stress, a suspected contributor to many disease processes like heart disease and cancer, also play a role in autism?
University of Arkansas researchers think it may.
In a recent study, autistic children were found to have significantly lower levels of an antioxidant called glutathione and its metabolic precursors.
"Glutathione is the major antioxidant in cells important for detoxification and elimination of environmental toxins, and its active form is reduced in about 80 percent of the kids with autism," said the study's lead author, S. Jill James. She is director of the biochemical genetics laboratory at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute and a professor of pediatrics at the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/04/03/hscout524907.html
The New Zealand Herald
Rome braces for flood of faithful
A statue overlooks St Peter's square on Easter Sunday. The Pope tried unsuccessfully to speak to the crowd. Picture / Reuters
04.04.05 4.00pm
ROME - Rome laid on extra trains and fresh water supplies and began to erect hundreds of tents today in expectation that the death of Pope John Paul II may spark the greatest influx of pilgrims in its history.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118615
Pope's reign full of contradictions, critics say
04.04.05 1.00pm
VIENNA - As world leaders hailed Pope John Paul as a force for peace, Catholic reformers critical of his traditionalist stand on Church dogmas took issue with his 26-year papacy, which ended with his death on Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118588
Nine million Chinese face drinking-water shortage
04.04.05 2.20pm
BEIJING - Drought in China has left over nine million people facing drinking water shortages and could take a heavy toll on spring planting around the country, the China Daily reported today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118642
Ousted Kyrgyz leader agrees to resign
04.04.05 1.20pm
by Gennady Novikov
MOSCOW - Kyrgyzstan's deposed president Askar Akayev has agreed to formally resign in a move welcomed by the Central Asian state's post-coup government as key to cementing the opposition's seizure of power.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118635
Blair ahead as UK election nears
04.04.05 12.20pm
LONDON - British prime minister Tony Blair is on course to win a third general election, according to an opinion poll published today as he prepares to announce the date of the vote.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118623
Blair ahead as UK election nears
04.04.05 12.20pm
LONDON - British prime minister Tony Blair is on course to win a third general election, according to an opinion poll published today as he prepares to announce the date of the vote.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118623
Blair postpones election date announcement
04.04.05 8.05am UPDATE
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair put off today's expected announcement of a May 5 general election out of respect for Pope John Paul II, who died on Saturday aged 84.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118485
Three bombs kill 1 and wound 50 in Thailand
04.04.05 10.20am
BANGKOK - Three bombs exploded almost simultaneously at an airport, a supermarket and a hotel in Thailand's restive Muslim south on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than 50 others, police and witnesses said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118590
Fiery chopper crash kills relief workers
04.04.05
GUNUNGSITOLI - Nine Australian military personnel were presumed dead after their helicopter crashed on the Indonesian island of Nias while they were trying to help earthquake survivors.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118478
Lebanese find jobs as Syrians head home
04.04.05 1.00pm
by Roula Najem
BEIRUT - Jobless until two weeks ago, Lebanese Ibrahim Abboud has found salvation in the departure of thousands of Syrian workers who he said undercut prices and made it impossible for him to eke out a living as a street vendor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118613
Un troops kill 38 militiamen in Congo raid
04.04.05 5.20am
KINSHASA - United Nations troops killed up to 38 militia fighters during a raid by hundreds of peacekeepers backed by helicopter gunships in the Ituri district of eastern Congo on Saturday, a UN military source said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118530
Earlybird affliction may be caused by mutant gene
04.04.05
A mutant gene rather than anti-social tendencies may be the cause of people going to sleep and waking up unsociably early, says scientists.
They made their discovery after studying three generations of a family in which five members suffered from the so-called earlybird ailment officially known as Familial Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118465
Academy sues after Oscar tickets fetch US$30,000
04.04.05
LOS ANGELES - Oscar organizers have sued several companies and 50 unknown parties for selling tickets for Hollywood’s biggest award show, fetching up to US$30,000 a pair from fans longing to rub shoulders with Leonardo DiCaprio or Hilary Swank.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118526
China’s giant pandas get broadband
04.04.05
BEIJING - Calling all tech-savvy pandas - China’s biggest nature reserve in the foggy mountains of southwest Sichuan province is now wired for broadband.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118525
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-22.0°
Updated Monday 04 Apr 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park is:
36 °F / 2 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
32 °F / 0 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.42 in / 996 hPa
Visibility:
9.0 miles / 14.5 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 2000 ft / 609 m
end
