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Weekly Update
‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ sold for one million dollars
WASHINGTON: The original “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, made famous in the renowned 19th-century novel of slavery, was sold to a suburban Washing-ton county for one
million dollars, local officials said.The rustic log cabin in Bethesda, Maryland is the original home of Josiah Henson, the model for Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 story of African-American slavery.
A ceremony marking the sale of the cabin, which is attached to a more modern-looking whitewashed three-bedroom colonial home in the wealthy suburb, took place Monday on the occasion of the birthday of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission plans to restore the cabin and open it to the public.—AFP
Cough syrups could harm kids’ teeth
NEW YORK: Children should brush their teeth after swallowing syrupy cough and cold medications, results of a new study suggest.
“Although some medications are necessary for general health they can be extremely harmful to the teeth if the medicine is given at bedtime or without following proper oral health habits,” said study author Dr. Carolina Covolo da Costa, of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil.
Her findings are based on a study involving a popular cough medication used to treat respiratory allergies. The syrup was found to be very acidic, while containing no fluoride and only a small amount of calcium — all factors that could lead to tooth erosion.
To investigate, da Costa and her team studied 70 samples of tooth enamel immersed in various solutions to simulate the normal oral environment during the day and at night for 10 days. An antihistamine cough syrup was repeatedly applied to some of the tooth samples and several were also given daily fluoride treatments.
Under the microscope all of the enamel samples exposed to the antihistamine showed signs of erosion, but the fluoride “protected the enamel and thus is capable of diminishing the erosive effect of an acid product,” the researchers report in the current issue of General Dentistry.—Reuters
Alaska volcano erupts, shooting ash miles high
ANCHORAGE (Alaska): A volcano on an uninhabited island off the coast of Alaska erupted again on Tuesday, shooting ash miles into the air, a scientist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.
The eruption from the Augustine volcano, which is about 175 miles (280 km) southwest of Anchorage, sent a cloud of ash 8.5 miles (13.7 km) above sea level. It was the ninth eruption since the volcano rumbled to life last week. Based on past eruptions in 1976 and 1986, Augustine’s explosions are expected to continue, said a scientist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, a joint federal-state office.
“They’re still an accumulation of eruptive behavior of a single volcano over time,” said Jennifer Adleman, a geologist at the observatory. “It could be up to two weeks, based on what we know of recent eruptions.”
The 4,134-foot (1,260-metre) volcano forms its own uninhabited island in Cook Inlet, the channel that runs from the Anchorage area to the Gulf of Alaska.—Reuters
India’s world record bid fails in drawn Test
LAHORE: India’s openers Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid missed a world record opening partnership by four runs as the first cricket Test against Pakistan ended in a draw here on Tuesday.
India were 410-1 in reply to Pakistan’s 679-7 declared when play was called off after just 2.2 overs on the fifth and final day at the Gaddafi stadium.
The result was a formality after murky weather and light rain curtailed play to just 64.2 overs from the available 270 over the last three days of the high-scoring Test.
Sehwag and Dravid needed 11 runs to surpass the world record of 413 for the first wicket by fellow-countrymen Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in Madras in 1956.—AFP
Russians take pairs lead at Europeans
LYON: Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin moved closer to their fifth straight European pairs title when they took the lead after the short programme at the European figure skating championship here on Tuesday.
The two-time world champions skated cleanly to lead fellow Russians and former world champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov going into Wednesday night’s free skating final.
Petrova and Tikhonov, the 1999 and 2000 European champions, performed flawlessly a crowd-pleasing routine to Sarabande, but scored 66.07 to Totmianina and Marinin’s 68.04 to the displeasure of the crowd at the Gerland stadium. Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov, looking to give Germany their first podium finish in a decade, are in third on 64.46.—AFP
Effects of Asprin on men and women
ISLAMABAD: Taking aspirin can cut the risk of cardiovascular disease in both men and women, but seems to work differently for both. An analysis by Duke University in North Carolina of more than 95,000patients found aspirin can cut the risk of heart attack and stroke in healthy people. However, the drug seemed particularly to cut the risk of heart attack in men, and stroke in women, BBC reported. It also found that the use of aspirin carries an increased risk of internal bleeding among both sexes, but only in a small minority of cases.—APP
Woman rescued from chimney
LOS ANGELES: Firefighters have rescued a woman who was found mysteriously stuck in the chimney of a house in California, officials said. “We were called out and discovered the female, who was approximately 20-years-old, was stuck about eight feet (2.4 metres) down from the top of the chimney,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers told AFP.
“The firefighters were able to rig up a system of pulleys and hoist her out of the top of the chimney without having to damage it. “However we have no idea how she got in there in the first place or what she was doing,” Myers added.—AFP
MOSCOW: Steam puffs rise over Moscow. Two people froze to death in Moscow, officials said Tuesday, as Arctic cold from Siberia descended on western Russia, sending night-time temperatures to as low as minus 36ºC and prompting warnings of power cuts to some businesses.—AFP
ULAN BATOR (Mongolia): Mongolian Contortionists rehearse at the State Circus in the capital, Ulan Bator. Formed in 1940 the State Circus hosts acrobats, juggling and a variety of animal performers but it is renowned worldwide for its extraordinary contortionists.—AFP
VENICE (Italy): Italian torchbearers hold the Olympic flame on a gondola along Canal Grande in Venice. The Olympic torch will tour 140 Italian cities before arriving at Turin’s Stadio Comunale for the opening ceremony of the Games next February 10.—AFP|
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