Spanish researchers say they have found a link between the consumption of cured meats and the increased number of hospital admissions among people suffering from chronic pulmonary disease (COPD).

The umbrella term is used for a number of respiratory illnesses caused by inflammation in the lungs.

For their study, published in the European Respiratory Journal last week, the researchers worked with 274 COPD patients from their first hospital admission and monitored them over two years. Participants also provided information on their consumption of cured meat.

They found that people who ate large quantities of cured meats — identified as more than a slice of ham or equivalent a day — were more likely to have exacerbated symptoms and be admitted to hospital.

Researchers believe the problem lies in the nitrites used as preservatives and anti-bacterial agents in the meats — substances that have also been shown to cause a reaction and damage tissue in the lungs.

While previous research has shown that increased consumption of cured meats such as hot dogs and salami can lead to an increased risk of developing COPD, the Spanish researchers say their findings are the first to show that eating processed meats can also inflame and worsen symptoms.

Processed and cured red meats, which are high in sodium and nitrites, have also been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and bowel cancer. — Relaxnews

The lawsuit, filed in a San Jose, California federal court, marks a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

Yahoo’s patent lawsuit follows Facebook’s announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about US$100 billion (RM303 billion).

Facebook spokesman Jonathan Thaw said Facebook learned of the lawsuit through the media.

“We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a long-time business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation,” he said.

In an emailed statement, Yahoo said it is confident it will prevail.

“Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court,” the company said in a statement.

Yahoo said late last month it was seeking licensing fees from Facebook over its patents and that other companies have already agreed to such licensing deals.

In deciding to sue Facebook, Yahoo has retained the same law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, used by Google and other manufacturers in many android-related smartphone patent cases. Google is also a player in social media with its Google+ service.

Quinn Emanuel also counts social gaming service Zynga Inc as a client, according to its website.

Yahoo has not indicated whether it will bring patent claims against other social networking companies and a Google spokesman declined to comment on Quinn Emanuel’s involvement. Zynga declined to comment.

In the lawsuit, Yahoo says Facebook was considered “one of the worst performing sites for advertising” prior to adapting Yahoo’s ideas.

“Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, has conceded that the design of Facebook is not novel and is based on the ideas of others,” the lawsuit said.

Several social networking companies, including Facebook, have seen an uptick in patent claims asserted against them as they move through the IPO process.

However, most of those lawsuits have been filed by patent aggregators that buy up intellectual property to squeeze value from it via licensing deals and none by a large tech company such as Yahoo.

The first Assassin’s Creed took in the 12th century Holy Land, while Assassin’s Creed II and its sequels Brotherhood and Revelations started off in Renaissance period Italy before ending up in 16th century Constantinople.

A new era necessitates a new hero, with some rumours pointing toward an American adventure during the late 1700s as revolutionary leaders rise and fall.

Activision’s fondness for launching annual Call of Duty instalments during the second week of November is well established.

By moving the Assassin’s Creed III date forward from a traditional mid-November launch, Ubisoft can hope to get the jump on Activision’s near-guaranteed goldmine. Electronic Arts is expected to repeat its Battlefield 3 strategy by naming an October 2012 date for Medal of Honor 2.

Assassin’s Creed III is confirmed for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The franchise is to appear on Wii U, Nintendo’s new console for 2012, but whether that will be as AC III remains to be seen. — AFP/Relaxnews

The Cupertino, California-based company said the updated operating system, called Mountain Lion, will be available to Macintosh developers immediately and Mac owners can upgrade to the new software in late summer.

Apple said Mountain Lion includes a new Messages application which replaces iChat and allows a user to send unlimited messages, photos and video from a Mac to another Mac or a device running iOS software such as the iPad or iPhone.

It also includes integration with Twitter allowing users to sign in and tweet directly from Safari, Photo Booth and third-party applications, Apple said.

Game Centre allows for live multiplayer games to be played across iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch devices.

Mountain Lion is the first Mac operating system built with the Internet “cloud” in mind, Apple said.

“More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices,” Apple said.

A new security feature called Gatekeeper protects the computer against malicious software by giving the user control over what applications can be installed and downloaded, Apple said.

With AirPlay Mirroring, a Mac user can wirelessly send video from a Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the new Macintosh operating system takes advantage of features popular on the iPad and iPhone.

“We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here,” Cook said of the iPhone. “Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac.”

Apple sold 5.2 million Macs last quarter. — AFP/Relaxnews

ErenEben now has the second-largest share of the Chinese tablet market, according to industry watchers Analysys International, and while that share might only amount to six per cent, it still puts the company ahead of the likes of China’s much-heralded international gadget maker Lenovo and the South Korean giant Samsun Electronics.

An estimated five million tablets were sold across mainland China in 2011, according to the international research company IDC, with the market expected to expand to 18 million units this year.

And ErenEben is hoping to increase its slice of the pie by heavily promoting its tablet’s Mind Mark feature, which uses a stylus to allow users to see their own handwriting on screen.

The company has made the device a lot more friendly to the local market by installing a Chinese copy book application – a feature it is cleverly marketing to an older generation that might not exactly get what this tablet business is all about.

Calligraphy has long been a cherished part of Chinese culture and a much-envied skill and the country’s leaders have already given ErenEben’s tablet a vote of confidence by naming it the “hand-writing computer of the meeting” at last year’s all-important Fourth Session of the 11th Chinese People’s Political Consulation Conference.

The local tablet – fitted with Google’s Android system – sets consumers back 4,980 yuan (RM2,391) compared to the 3,688 yuan to 5,288 yuan they can expect to pay for an iPad.

“Most government officials and business leaders are of the older generation and are used to writing in their own style. And they are the ones with strong purchasing power,” ErenEben’s chief operation officer Fang Liyong told the South China Morning Post.

The tablet market is having an increasingly larger influence on the international gadget market – and, of course, on consumers.

The Taiwan-based research firm Digitimes this month claimed tablet sales around the world would rise 60 per cent in 2012, to more than 95 million units, with Apple predicted to grab a share amounting to a staggering 57 million units. – AFP

 In a study to be presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April, US researchers say they found a correlation between high caloric intake and mild cognitive impairment in people over the age of 70.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is defined as the stage between normal memory loss that comes with aging and early Alzheimer’s disease.

For the study, 1,230 seniors aged 70 to 89 were asked to report their daily caloric intake in a food questionnaire which divided respondents into three groups: those who consumed between 600 to 1,526 calories a day; another third who ate 1,526 and 2,143 calories daily; and the final group who ate between 2,143 calories and 6,000 calories a day.

After analysing responses and group profiles, the researchers found the odds of having mild cognitive impairment more than doubled for the group that consumed the most calories, compared to the group that consumed the lowest amount of calories. No differences were observed in the middle group.

“Cutting calories and eating foods that make up a healthy diet may be a simpler way to prevent memory loss as we age,” said Dr. Yonas Geda, study co-author with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and member of the American Academy of Neurology.

Other studies have also found that too much salt, too little exercise, and smoking can accelerate cognitive decline, while a full calendar and busy social life can help with mental health in older people. — AFP-Relaxnews

The research suggested that the effects of long-term cigarette smoking show up terms of memory loss, inability to connect past experience with actions in the present, and a drop in overall cognition skills.

The study in the Archives of General Psychiatry followed more than 5,000 men and 2,100 women in the British civil service. Research subjects entered the study at an average age of 56 and were followed for up to 25 years.

Researchers at the University College London checked their smoking status six times over that span and ran a series of cognitive tests.

They found that smoking was linked to more rapid declines in mental ability across all cognitive tests among men who smoked when compared to non-smoking men.

“Our results show that the association between smoking and cognition, particularly at older ages, is likely to be underestimated owing to higher risk of death and dropout among smokers,” said the study, led by Severine Sabia of University College London.

Men who quit smoking within 10 years of entering the study were still at risk of greater cognitive decline, but long-term ex-smokers did not show the same deterioration levels.

“This study underscores that smoking is bad for your brain,” said Marc Gordon, chief of neurology at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, who was not involved in the study.

“Mid-life smoking is a modifiable risk factor with an effect size roughly equivalent to 10 years of aging on the rate of cognitive decline,” he added.

The findings are increasingly relevant to the world’s aging population, the study authors said, with some 36 million dementia cases across the globe, a figure that is projected to double every 20 years.

Just why women did not show the same link was unclear, though researchers suggested the smaller sample size and the higher volume of cigarettes smoked by men in comparison to women could be contributing factors. — AFPrelaxnews.com