Features

If your laptop computer is four years or older and you are planning to replace it with a new one, you may want to prepare mentally to accept the new changes in the technology when shopping for the new model. Indeed, a number of features you were used to have been discarded while others have been added. Some go without saying while other require you to be flexible and to adapt to the change — which is well in line with what we all have be doing and experiencing non-stop with IT. Luckily the changes are not many in number, although a couple of them are rather drastic.

The first and most obvious is the absence of an optical CD/DVD drive. Virtually all new models now come without such a drive. Although an inexpensive element, the optical drive has become a useless part of computers. If they still include one in their larger desktop models sometime, manufacturers find it wrong, by design, to integrate it in their laptop models. It prevents them from making very thin computers (definitely a trend), it adds to the weight, and it consumes battery.

CD/DVD drives were (as “in the past”…) used to play music or videos, and to install software. Today all these tasks are performed through networks, either your local network, or via the Internet. Software often is simply downloaded to be installed, and music and videos are played via YouTube or dedicated streaming services. In the rare cases where none of these functionalities would do the job, you still have the option to get what you want on a small USB flash drive!

And in the even rarest cases where you must absolutely have a CD/DVD player to use that CD or DVD optical media you have in your hands, you still have the option to connect an external CD/DVD drive to your laptop, via a USB port. External, USB-connectable CD/DVD drives are very practical when you need them, and they remain outside your laptop in the overwhelming number of cases when you don’t.

The other big change is the SSD drive, the internal disk on which you store everything, from the operating system (Windows, Apple OS, …) to your programmes, data, photos, music, etc. SSDs were introduced a few years ago but have now become standard units, mainly because prices have significantly gone down. SSDs are many times faster than traditional magnetic hard disk drives, and they consume less power. The small drawback is that SSDs, typically, come with a little less storage space than their older counterparts. Generally you will have a 256GB SSD, instead of a 1TB (=1,000GB) hard disk.

Again, this is the trend, the consumer uses more and more cloud storage of all kinds. Here too prices of renting storage space in the cloud have gone down. Moreover, the availability of fast wireless Internet connectivity everywhere makes using cloud storage easier, more convenient, safer, and more reliable. Why then would you want to have a huge local “old type” hard disk inside your laptop?

Whereas the above two major trends may require you to adapt and change your computing habits a little, the others are more straightforward as they are actually improvements of already existing characteristics. The first and obvious one is the battery life. From an average three hours, batteries now last at least six hours and often longer.

Confirming the growing importance of fast and high-definition graphics, most new laptops computers now feature an advanced, separate graphic processor, in addition to the computer’s main one. This would be an NVidia for example or an Intel graphic processor. It would also have its own memory (from 2GB up to 8GB), so as not to use any of the computer’s main memory.

USB ports have been enhanced to work at much faster transfer rates, and your new laptop will probably feature USB with the famous “C” connector type, which makes connections easier and faster than before.

In all cases it is a win-win situation, since prices of new laptops also have become very tempting and, for the same machine performance and capability, have gone down. This is particularly interesting when you think that the average price of JD800 will get you a good laptop, whereas a high-end smartphone would cost you the same.

Puffing on electronic cigarettes can damage neural stem cells important to brain function, a new study says.

E-cigarettes produce a stress response in neural stem cells, researchers at the University of California at Riverside reported in a study published in the interdisciplinary open-access journal iScience.

E-cigarette users may think they’re safer and cleaner than tobacco cigarettes — but evidence is mounting that nicotine is harmful whether it’s smoked in a traditional cigarette or vaped in an e-cigarette. Another recent study found that certain e-cigarette flavourings damage cardiovascular cells.

Such products “are not harmless”, said Atena Zahedi, who earned her PhD in bioengineering and co-authored the paper.

“Even short-term exposure can stress cells in a manner that may lead, with chronic use, to cell death or disease. Our observations are likely to pertain to any product containing nicotine,” Zahedi said in a statement.

E-cigarettes set off a complex series of cellular-level events that damage stem cells’ DNA, the researchers said.

“The neural stem cells get damaged and could eventually die,” Zahedi said. “If that happens, no more specialised cells — astrocytes and neurons, for example — can be produced from stem cells.”

Those cells are critical, the researchers said. Young people and foetuses are especially prone to stem cell damage because their brains are still developing, the researchers said.

That means young people and pregnant women could be particularly vulnerable to harm from e-cigarettes, the researchers say.

“Their brains are in a critical developmental stage,” said Prue Talbot, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology who led the research and directs the Riverside campus’ Stem Cell Centre.

“Nicotine exposure during prenatal or adolescent development can affect the brain in multiple ways that may impair memory, learning, and cognition,” Talbot said in the statement. “Furthermore, addiction and dependence on nicotine in youth are pressing concerns. It’s worth stressing that it is nicotine that is doing damage to neural stem cells and their mitochondria.”

Given the prevalence and availability of nicotine in liquid, inhalable form, Talbot added, “We should be concerned about this.”

The secret to a healthier life may lie in the guts of elite athletes.

Scientists who studied marathon runners discovered a type of bacteria that flourished in their digestive tracts. These Veillonella bacteria produce a molecule that helps increase exercise endurance.

The results, published in the journal Nature Medicine, could someday change the way we work out, said microbiologist George Weinstock from the Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Conn.

“It starts to build the case that someday we may be able to take a Veillonella probiotic just before we are going to exercise, and we’ll be able to exercise more” said Weinstock, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Our bodies are teeming with microbes, helping us digest the food we eat and providing us with nutrients that we can’t make ourselves. Studies of these microbes — collectively known as the microbiome — have led to insights into diseases ranging from obesity to arthritis.

Previous research has found that athletes have a very different composition of microbes within their guts compared to non-athletes, but it’s not yet clear how those differences contribute to an athlete’s health.

“It’s the notion of mining the biology of super-healthy people and translating that into nutritional interventions for everyone else,” said study leader Jonathan Scheiman, who began studying the microbiomes of athletes while working at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

Almost every day for a week before and after the 2015 Boston Marathon, the Harvard researchers collected stool samples from 15 runners entered in the race as well as from 10 non-athletes, who served as controls. Those samples allowed researchers to see what kinds of microbes were inhabiting subjects’ guts.

When they compared the abundance of the different species of bacteria within those samples, one group in particular jumped out at them.

“We found this one bacterial genus, Veillonella, that was not only in higher abundance in athletes compared to controls, but almost immediately after the marathon there’s this spike in abundance,” Scheiman said.

What was especially intriguing about these bacteria was their appetite for a molecule called lactate.

This discovery “was kind of a lightbulb moment because lactate is a metabolite that accumulates in the blood after strenuous exercise”, Scheiman said. “When your ability to utilise it gets outpaced by your ability to produce it, it then starts to accumulate in the blood, and it tends to be a marker of fatigue.”

This connection between Veillonella, lactate, and exercise prompted the researchers to wonder whether giving Veillonella to mice might affect their endurance.

So they isolated a sample of the species Veillonella atypica from one of the marathon runners and administered it to 16 mice. They also gave Lactobacillus bulgaricus, another bacterium that does not eat lactate, to 16 other mice. Then they had all the animals run on a treadmill until they collapsed in exhaustion.

Sure enough, the mice given Veillonella ran 13 per cent longer than mice given the microbe that could not eat lactate.

The results prompted Scheiman and some of his Harvard colleagues to launch a biotech start-up called FitBiomics to see if they could turn their discovery into a suite of products. Scheiman is now the chief executive of the New York City-based company.

This 13 per cent increase “might sound not impressive”, said senior author Aleksandar Kostic, a microbiologist at Harvard Medical School who co-founded FitBiomics. “But I think any endurance athlete or any athlete in general will tell you that a 13 per cent increase is pretty significant.”

Lactate is produced in the muscles and travels through the bloodstream to the liver, where it is converted into glucose to fuel exercise. But the researchers wondered how it made its way into the gut, where the Veillonella bacteria were waiting to break it down.

To find out, they tagged lactate molecules with a radioactive marker and injected them into the tails of four mice. They found that a portion of the labelled lactate molecules moved from the bloodstream into the liver as expected, but a portion also travelled directly into the gut.

While a few groups of bacteria in the gut are able to eat lactate, Veillonella is one of the only groups that can convert lactate into molecules called short-chain fatty acids.

“Short-chain fatty acids are typically a hallmark of healthy guts,” Scheiman said. “They have all sorts of cool properties. They’re anti-inflammatory. They can serve as energy sources for cells in the body.”

The one produced by Veillonella is propionate. That made the researchers wonder whether they could boost the endurance of mice by skipping the bacteria step and introducing propionate directly into their colons via a standard enema.

It worked. Mice given propionate ran just as long as mice given Veillonella. The researchers saw this as an indication that the propionate produced by Veillonella, not the Veillonella itself, was allowing the mice to run for a longer time.

Clinical trials will be needed to figure out what exactly propionate is doing in the body that enables a runner to exercise for longer. And not just for the sake of finishing the Boston Marathon in less time.

“The ability to do meaningful exercise is strongly correlated with a decrease in risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes,” Kostic said. “If it’s possible that we can increase a person’s exercise capacity by making a simple modification to their microbiome, perhaps by introducing Veillonella as a probiotic, this could have a potentially medically important impact in reducing risk of chronic diseases.”

Paul Cotter, a molecular microbiologist from Ireland’s University College Cork who was not involved in the work, said the study made a convincing case that Veillonella boosts propionate, and that propionate in turn boosts endurance.

“It’s a very nice study,” said Cotter, who didn’t work on the project. But he cautioned that a probiotic form of the bacterium won’t be available to the public for quite a while. “You’d have to establish its safety, and go through a lot of trials before you could do that.”

Scheiman agreed that it could take a couple of years or so. “Certainly it will take some time to develop commercially and to move into human studies.”

And that’s just one type of bacteria they found in marathon runners. Schieman said he’s eager to search for other bacteria in our guts that can improve human fitness.

“What if we look at super-strong athletes or super-fast athletes?” he said. “What are all the sorts of beneficial bacteria we can discover and then look to translate to human health?”

Weinstock, of Jackson Laboratory, said that’s the right question to ask.

“We really need to learn a lot more about the microbes before we’re going to understand how we function,” he said.

“Imagine, someday we can take a pill, and it makes us an elite athlete.”

MORRO BAY, California — I stepped out of the car and took a visit to a local hotel here right off the main road. It was so easy to find, I didn’t have to use Google Maps to get there.

So imagine my surprise when I later looked up the hotel on Google and saw this message: “You visited here two days ago.”

That was Google’s Location History talking, the search giant’s controversial people-tracking feature that’s billed as a tool to help Google make better suggestions on places to eat and visit.

For me, Google had indeed made a detailed record of everywhere I went — from strolling along the waterfront, where I bought gas, and even when I pulled off the road on the way home and got out of the car to take a photo of a railroad bridge in Gaviota, California.

Google says “Location History” is an opt-in feature that I don’t remember opting in for. I put the question to folks on social media and received similar responses. They could not remember either.

“I knew I was being tracked but naively didn’t think they were saving everything in a timeline,” says Google user Leslie Morgan Nakajima, of Capitola, California. “But to see everything there was pretty chilling. They had every store, restaurant and bar I had visited, and the exact times I was there. I was so freaked out.”

There’s a good explanation why folks like Nakajima and others can’t recall opting in.

Yes, Location History is truly turned off when you sign up for a Google account. But if you want to use certain Google features, you will get a notification stopping you — until you turn the feature on.

For instance, Google Maps has a service called “Match”, which suggests restaurants based on your past dining experiences and tastes. If you click on it, Google sends you to Settings to allow Location History tracking.

Google also routes people to turn on Location History in exchange for “real-time traffic updates based on your current location” or with Google Photos to “help improve auto-organisation and search”.

And the company is totally upfront about what it does, with fine print that most consumers probably do not read.

Location History “saves where you go even when you aren’t using a specific Google service”, says the company.

And while Google declined to address the popularity of this feature, it has made two significant changes to try to calm users’ fears of data mining.

Currently, if you’re uncomfortable with Google having all this information, you can go in and delete it. But later this summer, Google will introduce a new “auto-delete” tool that will get rid of your data, either every three or 18 months.

Also over the summer, “Incognito Mode” comes to Maps. Users can click on the feature, popular in the Google Chrome browser, to search, says Google, without being tracked.

Users could use Maps all the time without being tracked by simply changing the settings, at https://www.myaccount.google.com.

This is where Google offers different degrees of privacy controls that can be turned off.

Web and app activity: Google monitors your searches. It says doing so gets you faster results and better searches. Pro: We love when Google finds us local restaurants and gas stations. Con: It is the deal with the devil — leave this off and Google now is a spy in your pocket. So think about that before you turn it off.

Activity controls: This is where Google collects the data on your contacts and calendars in order to, say, create a personalised trip for your next vacation from getting the confirmations from your calendar. Pro: Better vacation info is good. Con: You are using Google for search. Does it really need to know your mother’s address and phone number?

Voice and audio activity: This gives Google the right to record your voice asking queries of the Google Home speaker. Turn it off and “voice inputs won’t be saved to your Google Account, even if you’re signed in”, says Google. Or, in other words, as Nakajima found out, her Google Home is now inoperable, because she turned this feature off. “I may just give it to a friend,” she says. “It’s useless to me now.” Pro: Talking to home speakers is always fun and useful, for checking spellings, doing math and finding arcane trivia answers. Con: It’s always ready to listen.

Beyond turning off Location Services, the two other selections are for Google-owned YouTube. Turn off YouTube search and watch history, and the network says it will not be able to make on-the-money recommendations based on your video tastes.

And for all the angst over Location History, some people do like it.

“I look at it this [paranoid] way: I don’t plan on committing any crimes,” says Mark Loundy, a San Francisco based photographer. “Should I ever be wrongly accused of one, my location history would likely be exculpatory.”

Denver-based web designer Bill Beebe poses a fascinating question. “Do you think it’s better that Google reminds the population subtly how much they know or just leave it off?” Most people, he adds, would be amazed at how much Google knows, “but I wonder how much they care until something bad happens with that data”.

Aleksandra Korolova, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Southern California, says companies just need to be more upfront about their tracking.

“Tracking without meaningful controls for individuals is not good for society and individual freedoms,” she says. “Going forward, if information is going to be tracked, then individuals should be given more meaningful controls to opt-out.”

Google declined to comment.

By Ghaith Madadha

Among Jordan’s most popular mid-size saloons, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is a comfortable, smooth and refined cruiser that combines eye-catching design with the fuel efficiency and confidently plentiful torque output often associated with part-electric hybrid cars.

Launched shortly after the seventh generation Sonata first arrived in 2014, the current Sonata Hybrid may be evolutionary in design, engineering and concept, but makes subtle yet significant improvements over its predecessor.

Better integrated within the Sonata range, the current Sonata Hybrid eschews its predecessor’s use of a noticeably different fascia to non-hybrid models.

Distinguished from garden-variety Sonatas by blue badges, clear rear light casings, hidden exhaust tip and more aerodynamically efficient alloy wheels, the current Sonata Hybrid is more discrete and less obvious to signal its petrol/electric driveline.

Featuring a similarly low and arcing roofline, high flanks and sharply creased, yet more sophisticatedly refined body work, the seventh generation adopted a more elegantly restrained and somewhat conservative front design than the deliberately attention grabbing sixth generation. But by a 2017 facelift it was restyled with sharper rear lights and a bigger, snoutier grille.

Generous yet frugal

Better incorporated with Hyundai’s new family design themes and a more fluent lead-in to the soon-arriving eighth generation Sonata, the face-lifted Sonata Hybrid is powered by a downsized but more sophisticated 2-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine behind its tapered “cascading grille” centre piece.

Replacing its predecessor’s 2.4-litre multipoint injection engine, the current Hybrid’s petrol engine incorporates direct fuel injection and like several economy-minded models — notably including the 1980s BMW 525e — runs on a thermally-efficient Atkinson cycle, and is mated to an electric motor sandwiched between its transversely-mounted combustion engine and gearbox.

Producing 154BHP at 6,000rpm and
140lb/ft torque at 5,000rpm from its combustion engine and supplemented by 38BHP at 1,770-2,000rpm and 151lb/ft at 0-1,770rpm from its electric motor for a total 192BHP and unspecified but ever-generous combined torque over a broad band.

Better integrating its petrol-electric systems than before, the Sonata Hybrid briskly hauls its 1.6-tonne mass through 0-100km/h in 9.3-seconds with a chirp of its driven front wheels and onto 192km/h. Responsive from standstill after a moment’s pause, it is flexible accumulating speed, overtaking and on steep, if brief, inclines.

Improved integration

More fluently integrating drive units, the Sonata Hybrid also features improved off-throttle response and winds down quicker than before from full throttle. Versatile on short sharp inclines, the Sonata’s comfort zone however isn’t sustained steep hill climbs where hybrid drive batteries can deplete. That said, kinetic energy recovery brakes well use every opportunity to quickly recharge batteries.

In its element in city driving and on highways where it makes use of abundant and broad torque availability, the Sonata Hybrid features improved brief 120km/h electric-only cruising and returns frugal 5.6l/100km/h combined fuel efficiency.

Built using more high strength steel and better body bracing to develop 41 per cent increased torsional rigidity for improved ride refinement and handling precision, the Sonata Hybrid however also develops less aerodynamic drag (CD0.24) than non-Hybrid sister models for improved efficiency and reduced noise. A natural cruiser that eats up long distances in comfort, the Sonata Hybrid is stable, settled and thoroughly well-damped on highway, where it feels like a bigger and grander car. Brakes are meanwhile reassuringly grippy, but with kinetic recover functionality, aren’t especially nuanced in pedal feel.

Refined ride

Taking imperfections in its stride and virtually gliding over more progressive bumps, the smooth riding Sonata Hybrid features improved handling characteristics, better body lean control and quicker more direct steering, but over sudden crests, dips and on rebound through rougher and winding roads, perhaps slightly firmer damping would lend better vertical control. 

Through such switchbacks one can briskly hustle the Sonata Hybrid with light finger tip steering inputs, where more measured progressive throttle inputs make for tidier turn-in and aggressive input tend to provoke some understeer, that is easily scrubbed away by easing off.

A forgiving, quiet and refined ride, the Sonata Hybrid’s wide cabin is meanwhile suited for cruising duties, with big comfortable and well-adjustable driving position.

Sitting low and hunkered down, the Sonata is spacious in front, while for tall passengers, generous rear legroom makes up for slight headroom lost to its rakish roofline.

Similarly, parking sensors, reversing camera and blindspot warnings prove useful considering the Sonata’s low glasshouse. Reduced bootspace meanwhile remains generous at 380-litres in Hybrid guise.

Well-built, stylised and user-friendly inside, the Sonata Hybrid is also well outfitted with convenience, infotainment and safety equipment.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, Atkinson cycle, aluminium block/head, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 81 x 97mm

Compression ratio: 13.5:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct fuel injection

Hybrid type: Parallel petrol combustion engine & electric motor

Battery: Lithium polymer

Battery voltage/capacity: 270v/1.76kWh

Battery output: 56kW

Gearbox: 6-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Gear ratios: 1st 4.639:1; 2nd 2.826:1; 3rd 1.841:1; 4th 1.386:1; 5th 1:1; 6th 0.772:1

Reverse/final drive ratios: 3.385:1/3.32:1

Petrol engine power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 154 (156) [115] @6,000 rpm

Electric motor power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 38 (51) [52] @1,770-2,000rpm

Combined power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 192 (195) [145] @6,000rpm

Petrol engine torque, lb/ft (Nm): 140 (190) @5,000rpm

Electric motor torque, lb/ft (Nm): 151 (205) @0-1,770rpm

0-100km/h: approximately 9.3-seconds

Top speed: 192km/h

Electric-only limit: 120km/h

Fuel consumption, city/highway/combined: 5.9-/5.3-/
5.6-litres/100km

Length: 4,855mm

Width: 1,865mm (excluding door mirrors)

Height: 1,470mm

Tread, F/R: 1,602/1,609mm

Fuel capacity: 60-litres

Steering: Electrically assisted rack & pinion

Steering ratio: 14.3:1

Suspension: MacPherson struts/multi-link, coil-springs, stabiliser bars, 24.2mm/17mm

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 304mm/284mm

Tyres: 215/55R17

A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba

Edited by Atef AlShaer

London: Saqi Books

Pp. 252

In “A Map of Absence”, forty-eight Palestinian writers and one Lebanese (Elias Khoury) recreate and reflect on the Nakba in poetry and prose. Most of the contributors are well-known; roughly one-third of them are no longer with us, but there are also new voices.

Despite their approaching the subject from different angles, certain themes stand out, from the trauma, disruption and deep, lasting sadness caused by the violent dispossession of 1947-48 and its aftermath, to Palestinians’ determination to remain connected to their land and culture. 

The contents--poems, short stories, excerpts from longer fiction and memoirs, are arranged in chronological order from the 1930s until today. Introducing the book, editor Atef Alshaer divides these almost ninety years into three phases: The first is the immediate experience of the Nakba; the second, the formation of the Palestinian national movement and organised resistance, with Ghassan Kanafani bridging between these two phases. Nationalism was at the core of the first two generations’ vision, although many in the second generation in particular began to critique patriarchy and dictatorship.

However, as Alshaer points out, “The third generation of writers, writing after the Oslo Accords in 1993, are prepared to challenge elitism as well as questions of national identity.” (p. xvii) 

While the early poetry, such as that of Ibrahim Tuqan, paints the national cause in sweeping terms, later poets began to employ more subtle techniques, evoking details of everyday life or encounters that speak to Palestinian memory and the ongoing effects of dispossession. A prime example is the poetry of Lisa Suhair Majaj who writes: “Fifty years on I am trying to tell the story of what we are still losing… in despair we seek the particular light angling gently in single rays.” (pp. 182, 184) 

Mahmoud Darwish is of course a master in turning “small things” in nature or human encounters into potent symbols of Palestinian memory or identity, sometimes with universal implications. The title of this book partially echoes one of his metaphors: “Here the train fell off the map in the middle of the coastal path. And the fires flamed in the heart of the map, then winter extinguished the fires, though winter was late.” (p. 48)

In an excerpt from “Hunters in a Narrow Street”, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra poignantly relates how he lost not only his Jerusalem home but his young love in 1948; he also expands the humanistic scope of the Palestinian resistance by terming it “our ill-equipped defiance of hate”. (p. 27)

Such defiance seems particularly relevant today with the excessive displays of hate emanating from the extreme, right-wing, Israeli regime, though it should be noted that the Palestinians are now better equipped to combat this.

Palestinians have often employed irony to express the illogic of their dispossession, most famously in Emile Habibi’s “Pessoptimist” which satirises the situation of Palestinians remaining in Israel. Irony is also overwhelming when Edward Said discovers that his family home in Jerusalem has been occupied by the “International Christian Embassy”, a right-wing, Zionist-linked entity. He also notes the spiralling regional by-products of Israel’s colonisation of Palestine: “a vast militarisation took over every society, almost without exception, as it did also take over Israel”. (p. 39)

Adania Shibli’s acute sense of injustice is apparent in her commentary on Samira Azzam’s short story, “Man and His Alarm Clock”, which is also included in this anthology. It was the only Palestinian text allowed to be taught in schools by the Israeli Censorship Bureau, yet Shibli discovered its subtle subversion, which “contributed towards shaping my consciousness regarding the question of Palestine as no other text I have ever read in my life has done.

Were there one day Palestinian employees who commuted to work by train?... Was there one day a normal life in Palestine?… The text engraved on my soul a deep sense of yearning for all that was… normal and banal, to a degree that I could no longer accept the marginalised, minor life to which we’ve been exiled since 1948, during which our existence turned into a ‘problem’.” (p. 192)

Core questions are addressed throughout: injustice, memory, resistance, longing for peace and a normal life, and especially return to the homeland. Some address these questions very directly such as Dareen Tatour who was imprisoned for her poetry. Abdelkarim Al Karmi of the first generation entitles his poem “We Will Return”, while Tawfiq Ziad insists “We Will Remain”.

Writing today, Amira Sakalla, one of the new voices introduced in this book, proclaims “We weren’t supposed to survive but we did… We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE” — significantly, this is the last line in the book that looks towards the future.” (p. 230)

Every selection in this book deserves comment, which is unfortunately impossible in a short review. “A Map of Absence” has the makings of becoming a classic, due both to its documentation of a seminal event and the beauty and intensity of the writing. In the words of editor Atef Alshaer, “Nowhere has the voice of Palestine resonated more powerfully than in the literature of Palestinians”. (p. xix)

Neem is a traditional medicinal plant and is India’s best-kept secret for centuries! 

Magical avenue

The magic of the neem tree remains concealed in its evergreen and everlasting universal property.

My journey through the Indian sub-continent and North Africa takes me back to the avenue of Margosa trees catering to the world of traditional medicine and shade to travellers.

A prominent street is named after it in my hometown Bangalore, which remains a legendary icon of the city.

Saplings of neem trees were planted in tropical countries due to its resilient all-weather property and its medicinal value.

Health haven

The plant contains an extraordinary amount of amino acids, vitamins and minerals which enhance the healing process. Neem has been extensively used in recent times as it exhibits a wide array of biologically active compounds.

All parts of the neem tree, starting from leaves to bark, have been traditionally used for the treatment of inflammation, infections, skin conditions and dental disorders. Neem twigs are popularly used for brushing teeth as it works as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory wonder to avoid bleeding gum; it is good for oral hygiene and whitens teeth.

The active ingredients from the bark, leaves, seeds and flowers are extracted for their proven antiseptic, antipyretic, analgesic, contraceptive and anti-cancerous property.

Neem extracts have been widely used for making mosquito repellents and insecticides for pest control in agriculture and for treating mosquito nets in recent times.

The alcoholic extract of the leaves has proved to be an effective contraceptive.

Cosmetic applications

In the world of cosmetics, neem flowers are generously used as moisturisers. The flowers have a sweet, almost mystical jasmine-like scent at night and blossom once in the afternoon and then again in the evening.

The robust bitter property of the leaves has proven to be a very active ingredient for most cosmetic products. Some of the popular concoctions with coconut oil are used for treating acne, blackheads, dandruff and for healing wounds.

Its antibacterial property works wonders for treating infections, burns and all kinds of dermatological conditions. It is known to stimulate the immune system and encourage rapid healing. 

The paste of crushed neem leaves combined with turmeric acts actively for itching, eczema, ringworms and dark spots. Neem face masks, soaps, oils and capsules are popularly sold in organic health outlets across the world.

Culinary contribution

Neem flowers are specially used in south Indian recipes in dried and powdered form for curries.

The fresh white flowers in a green salad enhance the flavour and give colour to recipes. Some of the best recipes at home are chutneys, tamarind-tomato stew, yoghurt raita and aromatic rice. 

Tea infused with neem flowers makes a favourite drink after dinner as it has a calming property.

Recipe for relief

Winter itch: Neem oil baths.

Bleeding gums: Neem flowers are popularly used to garnish salads and curries. A couple of leaves chewed daily could help bleeding gums.

Thinning hair: A weekly neem oil scalp massage could strengthen hair and serve as a natural hair conditioner, preventing split ends and dandruff.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

An ingredient commonly used to kill bacteria in toothpaste and hand sanitiser could put people at greater risk of bone disease, new research has found.

Women exposed to triclosan, a chemical often found in soaps and hand sanitisers, may be more likely to develop osteoporosis than women who do not have this exposure, a new study suggests. 

Triclosan has been widely used for years as an antimicrobial agent in consumer goods and personal care products including soaps, hand sanitizers, toothpaste and mouthwash, researchers note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 

While the exact effect of the chemical on human health is not clear, some previous research suggests that triclosan may interfere with thyroid and reproductive hormones. 

Triclosan has also been shown to impact bone health in animals, but less is known about the potential for this chemical to contribute to weak, brittle bones in people, said Yingjun Li of Hangzhou Medical College School of Public Health in China. 

For the current study, Li and colleagues examined data on 1,848 women in the US and found that those with the highest levels of triclosan in their urine were two-and-a-half times as likely to have osteoporosis as women with the lowest triclosan levels. 

“Triclosan exposure may be a risk factor for lower bone mineral density and osteoporosis,” Li said by e-mail. “The evidence was stronger in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women.” 

In women, reduced estrogen production during menopause and afterward can slow production of new bone tissues. Over time, this process increases their risk of osteoporosis. 

About 30 per cent of postmenopausal women in the US have osteoporosis, and four in 10 of them will experience a bone fracture, the authors note. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how triclosan might directly cause osteoporosis. 

But it is possible that triclosan exposure could trigger changes in the production of thyroid hormones and estrogen that interrupt normal skeletal development and maintenance of healthy bones as women age, Li said. 

“Triclosan could lead to lower bone mineral density and increased prevalence of osteoporosis,” Li said. 

Even though more research is needed to prove whether triclosan directly causes osteoporosis, it still makes sense to avoid using products that contain the chemical, said Luz Claudio, an environmental medicine and public health researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. 

“Luckily, triclosan is rapidly excreted from the body after exposure, so in theory, it should be possible to reduce the amount of it we have on our bodies by avoiding continuous exposure,” Claudio, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“People who are concerned can avoid products that contain triclosan by reading the labels,” Claudio advised. 

Washing with regular soap and water, for example, can help fight germs just as well as using antibacterial cleaning products and avoid exposure to triclosan, Claudio said. 

But consumers do need to read the labels because triclosan is in a lot of cosmetics and personal care items that are not necessarily marketed as antibacterial products. 

“If a product contains triclosan, this should be listed on the label,” Claudio said. 

In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration limited the use of triclosan in some products as it was not proven to be safe for long-term use.

In April, the FDA banned its use in over-the-counter hand sanitisers in the United States, though it is still found in other products.

Past studies assessing its use in toothpaste suggested it was safe, but said more research was needed.

A study out of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom found there is a link between dementia and certain classes of anticholinergic drugs.

The drugs — particularly antidepressants, bladder antimuscarinics, antipsychotics and antiepileptic drugs — resulted in nearly “50 per cent increased odds of dementia”, according to the observational study published on Monday in the peer-reviewed JAMA Internal Medicine journal.

Anticholinergic drugs help contract and relax muscles, according to Mayo Clinic. They can also be used to treat ulcers and prevent nausea. This is done by blocking a neurotransmitter in the brain, acetylcholine, from entering the nervous system.

Doctors prescribe these kinds of drugs to treat a variety of conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bladder conditions, allergies, gastrointestinal disorders and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

The risk is only associated with 1,095 daily doses within a 10-year period, which is equivalent to an older adult taking a strong anticholinergic medication daily for at least three years.

“The study is important because it strengthens a growing body of evidence showing that strong anticholinergic drugs have long term associations with dementia risk,” said study author Carol Coupland, professor of medical statistics in primary care at the University of Nottingham.

“It also highlights which types of anticholinergic drugs have the strongest associations. This is important information for physicians to know when considering whether to prescribe these drugs,” she told CNN. “This is an observational study so no firm conclusions can be drawn about whether these anticholinergic drugs cause dementia.”

The study warns people against stopping any of the medications listed without consulting their doctors.

The researchers found no significant increases in dementia risk associated with antihistamines, skeletal muscle relaxants, gastrointestinal antispasmodics, antiarrhythmics, or antimuscarinic bronchodilators, but associations were found among other classes of anticholinergic drugs.

An estimated 47 million people worldwide were living with dementia in 2015, while in the United States around 5.7 million people have Alzheimer dementia, according to the study.

Anticholergenic drugs include, but are not limited to, Artane, Bentyl, Oxytrol, Neosol, Symax and Vesicare. A full list can be found at Mayo Clinic.

Recent criticism of social networking is clearly on the increase. And it is being heard from not just journalists, government officials and academics, but also from some of the most authoritative people on the web, including its father Tim Berners Lee. Add to that the admission by the founder of the largest, most widely used social network of them all, Facebook, who recently recognised that certain aspects of the extremely popular media were to be adjusted, fine-tuned, so as to better protect privacy, to fight misuse, abuse, and so forth.

However imperfect Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, Tumblr, Viber, Snapchat or Pinterest may be, they have literally changed the way people share and enjoy personal, non-business communication. Billions of postings and messages are exchanged every day. A recent article on makeawebsitehub.com lists not less than 65 social networks. Some are used not just as social media but in a wider scope, including business and politics, like for instance WhatsApp and Twitter. US president Trump’s famous Tweets are good illustration of such use.

And then there is the dark web. Two days ago the French newspaper Le Figaro reported that a large-scale security operation had allowed the dismantling of a big platform referred to as Deep Web-Market that was selling weapons of all kinds — including heavy, military grade arms — as well as narcotics, and forged identity documents. 

So it is agreed, there is a bad, dark side of the Internet. Everybody knew it. What is new is the admission by the web authorities of the size, of the impact of the phenomenon, and that something was to be done about it. However, given the inherent sprawling structure of the Internet, its gigantic size, and the fact that the freedom of the populations using it is to be taken into consideration, it is unlikely that a radical, fair solution can be found in the near future.

Despite such rather sad news, the good news about the Internet prevail, and by far.

The dark web and social networks misuse should not make us forget all the good things we find on the network. Besides, the Internet is not just about social networking! There is a mile long list of online applications that we just cannot imagine living without anymore and that cover virtually everything from online shopping, banking, airline reservation, tax declaration, utility bills payment, personal cloud storage, e-mail, and where there is nothing “bad, ugly”, but mainly “good”.

Demonising the Internet in a global manner, without nuance or distinction, would be unfair and wrong. Especially that the good applications and websites largely tip the scale in their favour. This is true even inside a specific social network such as Facebook. How many people have been reunited with their friends, how many get daily, instant news of their relatives at the other end of the world, how many share pleasant news and photos thanks to Facebook? How many elderly, sometime lonely people find a friend, a nice way to entertain themselves with Facebook? Certainly much more than there is any misuse of it.

It has been said times and again before, and it is good to be reminded of it now that there is a trend among famous and important people to blame the web: It is like life itself, like going out in the street or to your workplace, you must learn to accept and to live with the good and the bad. Luckily on the web we have more of the first.