Features

LOS ANGELES — Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” is flying high with an estimated $105 million in North America during the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend.

It is the sixth-highest Memorial Day weekend total ever, topping the 2011 mark of $103.4 million for “The Hangover Part II”. The top total came in 2007, when “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” took in $139 million in its first four days. “Aladdin” is also dominating moviegoing internationally with $121 million in 56 markets.

“Aladdin” has outperformed Disney’s pre-opening domestic projections, which were in the $75 million to $85 million range, taking in $86.1 million in its first three days. The reboot of the original 1992 animated movie — which generated $502 million in worldwide box office — stars Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Will Smith as the Genie, Naomi Scott as Jasmine and Marwan Kenzari as Jafar. Guy Ritchie directed “Aladdin”, produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich.

Comscore’s PostTrak general audience survey found that 67 per cent of patrons said they would “definitely recommend” the film to their friends. Notably, 39 per cent said their affection for the original was their primary reason for seeing the film, a high percentage that reflects moviegoers’ love for the “Aladdin” brand and the characters in the film.

“A very strong 22 per cent said they would see the film again in theatres — much higher than the norm of 14 per cent,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst.

Comscore estimated that total domestic business for the four-day weekend was $226 million. That was about $1.8 million shy of the total for the same frame last year, when “Solo: A Star Wars Story” launched with $103 million. The top Memorial Day weekend took place in 2013 when “Fast and Furious 6” launched and North American moviegoing totalled $314 million for the four days.

“A very solid Memorial Day weekend was led by the bigger-than-expected performance of Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ conjured up huge numbers of moviegoers looking for the perfect family-friendly treat over the extended holiday weekend,” he said.

Sony’s launch of horror-thriller “Brightburn” should pull in about $9 million for the holiday weekend to finish fifth and United Artists-Annapurna’s teen comedy “Booksmart” will open in sixth at around $8 million. Both were positioned as counter-programmers to “Aladdin” and finished slightly below forecasts.

Lionsgate’s second session of “John Wick: Chapter 3” should be runner-up with $30.5 million following its surprisingly strong opening of $56.8 million. The actioner will wind up the holiday weekend with $107 million domestically.

Disney’s fifth frame of “Avengers: Endgame” will finish third in the $22 million range, increasing its haul to about $803 million domestically by the end of Memorial Day. “Endgame” trails only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in domestic gross, with the space saga having grossed $936 million.

Warner Bros.’ third weekend of “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” will follow in fourth with about $17 million. The family adventure will finish the weekend at the $120 million mark in North America.

Overall moviegoing for 2019 has hit $4.34 billion as of Sunday, down 10 per cent from the same point last year. The lag is due to a dismal performance during the first two months of this year.

“Aladdin” is the third biggest launch of 2019, following the record-setting $357 million for “Avengers: Endgame” and $153 million for “Captain Marvel”.

Beginning life as a quasi-military machine developed in cooperation with off-road specialists Steyr-Daimler-Puch and at the behest of then major Mercedes-Benz shareholder Shah Reza Pahlavi, the Mercedes G-Class got off to a rocky start in 1979 just as the Shah was toppled, leaving a stock of pre-ordered G-Classes unsold. Since then, the boxy G-Class has become Mercedes’ longest serving platform and modern automotive icon, whose continual development was largely driven by its position as status symbol in the Arabian Gulf.

Little altered in its basic and highly off-road biased underpinnings and defiantly un-aerodynamic shape, yet constantly upgraded in terms of luxury, amenities and performance, the G-Class biggest departure came with last year’s new and larger model. Ditched the G-Class traditional and distinctive front live axle suspension and adopting a softer edged design that seemed almost apologetic at the front headlights, the new G-Class finally may be more technologically advanced, comfortable and refined with its concessions to modernity, but seems to lack its predecessor’s old school charm.

Desirable and defiant to end

A gloriously defiant dinosaur the likes of which we’ll likely not see again, the last iteration original G-Class, circa 2016-18, spawned truly excessive six-wheel-drive, raised and twin-turbo V12 versions as last hurrahs courtesy of Mercedes-Benz’s inhouse AMG tuning division and primarily catering to the Gulf. However, it was most iconic and desirable in standard high performance AMG G63 guise, where it reached its apogee of development and authenticity. No longer manufactured, but soon to become highly sought after, the outgoing G63 could probably still be sourced from independent or maybe even official traders and dealerships.

Improved for more performance and enhanced efficiency since its 2016 face-lift, the G63’s twin-turbocharged direct injection 5.5-litre V8 engine is a brutal powerhouse developing 563BHP at 5,500rpm and 561lb/ft throughout a 1,750-5,000rpm mid-range sweet spot. Driving all wheels with even front-to-rear distribution through a 7-speed automatic gearbox, the G63 digs in to tarmac and propels its 2,550kg mass through 0-100km/h is scant 5.4-seconds. Epic at full chat and flexibly mighty in mid-range, the G63’s defies its un-aerodynamic design at speed and returns reduced, but still thirsty 13.8l/100km fuel consumption.

Unimpeachable off-roader at heart

Designed with brutal upright lines, sharp angles and box-like shape to maximise space and driving visibility in confined conditions, the G63 is unapologetically utilitarian and features exposed door hinges, dual side exhaust ports, flat wheel-arch flares and surfaces, including a flat wind screen. That given, the G63’s top speed is limited to 210km/h, and it is more susceptible to wind-buffeting at speed than modern aerodynamically-design SUVs. More aggressive with AMG bumpers and wider, lower profile 275/50R20 tyres, the G63’s extensive off-road capability is slightly compromised next to non-AMG G-Class versions.

Riding lower than garden-variety G-Classes, the G63’s 196mm ground clearance, 600mm water fording, equal 27 degrees approach and departure angles, 54 per cent lateral angle and 80 per cent climbing rate are generous, while low gear ratios allow maximum power driving at crawling pace. But most formidable are its rugged all-round live-axle suspension, and fully and individually locking rear, centre and front differentials. Deployed as needed over the loosest surfaces and harshest terrain, the G63 becomes near unstoppable and continue driving even if only one wheel has traction, when all three differentials are locked.

Updated and integrated

More forgiving, refined and stable than expected, the G63’s all-round live axle suspension that makes it a legendary off-roader, however, reduces its on-road comfort and agility. The G63’s front live axle set-up is an automotive rarity that means that a wheel on one side reacts in an equal and opposite manner in vertical travel and camber to the other side, and so feels busy and less grounded through corners and over road undulations. Generating good grip, the G63 is not as fluent being hustled though quick country switchbacks as Mercedes’ more sophisticated independent suspension SUVs.

Featuring reassuringly alert electronic stability controls and light if slightly vague and long steering, the G63 is an easy drive. Visibility is meanwhile excellent owing to a big glasshouse, boxy uniform shape and upright driving position near the doors. If somewhat old school in its cabin shape and driving position, the G63 is nevertheless luxuriously finished and equipped, with quality leathers, woods, safety, infotainment and convenience features and designs updated to best integrate it its cabin ambiance, refinement and sophistication to other contemporary Mercedes luxury models built on modern platforms.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 5.5-litre, 32-valve, twin-turbocharged V8-cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 98 x 90.5mm

Compression ratio: 10:1

Gearbox: 7-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Drive-line: Locking centre, rear & front differentials, low ratio transfer case

Power distribution, F:R: 50:50 per cent

Gear ratios: 1st 4.38; 2nd 2.86; 3rd 1.92; 4th 1.37; 5th 1.0; 6th 0.82; 7th 0.73; R1 4.42; R2 2.23

Final drive: 3.58

Power, HP (PS) [kW]: 563 (571) [420] @5,500rpm

Specific power: 103BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 220.7BHP/tonne

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 561 (760) @ 1750-5,000rpm

Specific torque: 139Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 298Nm/tonne

0-100 km/h: 5.4-seconds

Maximum speed: 210km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 13.8 litres/100km

CO2 emissions: 322g/km

Length: 4,763mm

Width: 1,855mm 

Height: 1,938mm

Wheelbase: 2,850mm

Track: 1,501mm

Headroom, F/R: 1,077/1,018mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,333/1,064mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,430/1,430mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 487-/2,126-litres

Ground clearance: 196mm

Fording depth: 600mm

Approach/departure angle: 27/27 degrees

Maximum lateral angle: 54 per cent

Maximum climbing grade: 80 per cent

Kerb weight: 2,550kg

Payload capacity: 650kg

Towing capacity, braked/unbraked: 3,500kg/750kg

Fuel capacity: 96-litres

Steering: Recirculating ball, hydraulic power assistance

Suspension, F&R: Live axle, coil springs, gas-charged dampers

Tyres: 275/50R20

By Sheela Sheth

Food Expert

Popularly known as Ajwain or Carom, Bishop’s weed is an annual herb that belongs to the family of Apiaceae often used in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. This leafy herb grows enthusiastically in a temperate climate and indoors, but requires very little nurturing besides watering and occasional pruning.

Mistaken identity

Ajwain flavouring is often confused by many due to its occasional use globally but does belong to the family of cumin, celery, dill, parsley, thyme and oregano. Both the leaves and the fruit are edible and used extensively in Indian medicine. The olive green elliptical shape and thickness of the leaves distinguish it from other plants in the family.

Household healer

It is one of the rare spices with rich medicinal value and often used for digestive health and the treatment of abdominal discomfort. Thymol, an essential oil obtained from the seeds, has shown to have local anaesthetic, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Its anaesthetic property is known to ease arthritis pain by applying the paste of crushed seeds on the joints to relieve inflammation. 

On the other hand, chewing on a few seeds have shown instant relief from acidity and indigestion. Steaming with ajwain infused seeds helps to relieve respiratory ailments like asthma, bronchitis and migraine headache. It has also been used for instant relief of toothache and is a great mouthwash for maintaining oral hygiene.

Cosmetic accent

Ajwain is rarely used for aesthetic purposes, though both leaves and the seeds have the essential oil thymol, which gives it an aromatic fragrance and is a rich source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. It is used for lightening acne scars, and a paste of the leaves could be used as a skin cleanser. 

Twist on taste

Ajwain occupies a special place in my spice box, and I use it regularly as a mouth freshener after a meal. I season my curries and rotis to create a unique blend of flavour, setting it apart from other recipes. It is often roasted lightly to highlight the taste and added to beans, bread, curries and marinades to improve digestion and reduce bloating. The seeds are also used in pickling along with fenugreek, mustard seeds and turmeric. Indian recipes also incorporate fresh leaves of the plant. Be sure to consult your doctor before trying any herbal remedies. 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

Memoirs of a Woman Doctor

Nawal El Saadawi

Translated by Catherine Cobham

London: Saqi Books, 2019

Pp. 102

Long known for publishing daring, high-quality Arabic literature in English, Saqi Books has initiated a new project this year. It is called Saqi Bookshelf and will include new editions of modern classics as well as other original fiction from the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.  The first titles in this series are the renowned Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi’s “Memoirs of a Woman Doctor”, “Love in the Kingdom of Oil” and “Zeina”. In July, Saqi will publish “The Quarter”, a collection of recently discovered writings by Naguib Mahfouz.

First published in Arabic (Cairo, 1958), “Memoirs of a Woman Doctor” has retained all its original energy and relevance. Although in the interim, women have fought for and won many new rights, most of the issues highlighted by Saadawi are still contested today. The book reveals her naturally acquired feminism, having been written when she was in her twenties and had not read any feminist literature. Rather, as she states in the Author’s Note of the original English edition of 1988, while not autobiographical as the title implies, it “expressed my feelings and experiences as a woman who was a doctor at work, but still performed the roles of a wife and a mother at home”. (p. 7)

How many women still feel the frustrations involved in trying to juggle these demanding roles?

A pent-up, almost frantic urgency runs through the first half of the story as the protagonist chronicles what she calls “the conflict between me and my femininity”. She experiences this conflict most tangibly in reaction to the privileges enjoyed by her brother and denied to her — his getting a bigger piece of meat, being exempted from household chores, and perhaps most irking, being allowed to run free outside. Running, jumping and aspiring to fly are her greatest desires, but she is often curtailed. “Shameful! Everything in me was shameful and I was a child of just nine years old… I wept over my femininity even before I knew what it was.” (p. 10)

Her only consolation was that her brother couldn’t fly either. “I began to search constantly for weak spots in males to console me for the powerlessness imposed on me by the fact of being female.” (p. 11)

This rebellion against not being able to live life to the fullest continues and intensifies during puberty, punctuated by small instances of sexual harassment and the appearance in her home of the first suitor. It builds up to her leaving the house without permission and having her long hair cropped short, an act to which her mother reacts violently. 

Graduating from secondary school at the top of her class, she chooses to study medicine for the respect that it engenders and enters the world of science which gives her new evidence that the restrictions imposed on women have no basis in material reality. But she is also terrified by the prospects of having bound her life to sickness, pain and death. Realising that humans are separated from extinction by only a hair’s breadth, “Science toppled from its throne and fell at my feet naked and powerless, just as man had done before.” (p. 40)

Having until then been racing towards fulfilment, the protagonist is plunged into a crisis by her realisation of the limits of science, leading her to withdraw to a remote village. But this retreat also engenders the solution. Here, for the first time, she sees a patient “as a whole person, not a loose assemblage of discrete parts” (p. 46).

She begins to develop her emotional side, discovering compassion and her own humanity, returning to the city, reconnecting with her family and eventually seeking male companionship on an equal basis. She attains an inner calm, realising that it is her will which guides her behaviour, and embarks on her work as a doctor with new determination to protect young girls in particular who are threatened by their families and/or unjust traditional practices. “Since childhood I’d been immersed in a series of endless battles and here I was up against a new one with society at large.” (p. 80)

But by now she is up to the challenge.

Though not a memoir, this novel certainly has an autobiographical aspect, as it traces the early evolution of Nawal Saadawi’s thinking, especially the sharpening of her critical powers, as well as her drive to act upon her principles, which placed her in the vanguard of the modern Arab women’s movement. The swift interplay between the protagonist’s emotions and her sense of justice are compelling, and the rich sensory detail and impulsive way in which she tells her story makes it all the more genuine, and at least as effective as theoretical feminist writing.

WASHINGTON — The staggering figure of more than 3 billion fake accounts blocked by Facebook over a six-month period highlights the challenges faced by social networks in curbing automated accounts, or bots, and other nefarious efforts to manipulate the platforms.

Here are four key questions on fake accounts:

How did so many fake accounts crop up?

Facebook said this week it “disabled” 1.2 billion fake accounts in the last three months of 2018 and 2.19 billion in the first quarter of 2019. 

Most fake social media accounts are “bots,” created by automated programmes to post certain kinds of information — a violation of Facebook’s terms of service and part of an effort to manipulate social conversations. Sophisticated actors can create millions of accounts using the same programme.

Facebook said its artificial intelligence detects most of these efforts and disables the accounts before they can post on the platform. Still, it acknowledges that around 5 per cent of the more than 2 billion active Facebook accounts are probably fake.

What’s the harm from fake accounts? 

Fake accounts may be used to amplify the popularity or dislike of a person or movement, thus distorting users’ views of true public sentiment. 

Bots played a disproportionate role in spreading misinformation on social media ahead of the 2016 US election, according to researchers. Malicious actors have been using these kinds of fake accounts to sow distrust and social division in many parts of the world, in some cases fomenting violence against groups or individuals.

Bots “don’t just manipulate the conversation, they build groups and bridge groups”, said Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Kathleen Carley, who has researched social media bots.

“They can make people in one group believe they think the same thing as people in another group, and in doing so they build echo chambers.”

Facebook says its artificial intelligence tools can identify and block fake accounts as they are being created — and thus before they can post misinformation.

“These systems use a combination of signals such as patterns of using suspicious e-mail addresses, suspicious actions, or other signals previously associated with other fake accounts we’ve removed,” said Facebook analytics vice president Alex Schultz in a blog post.

Does Facebook have the control of the situation?

The figures from Facebook’s transparency report suggests Facebook is acting aggressively on fake accounts, said Onur Varol, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University.

“Three billion is a big number — it shows they don’t want to miss any fake accounts. But they are willing to take a risk” of disabling some legitimate accounts, Varol said.

Legitimate users may be inconvenienced, but can generally get their accounts reinstated, the researcher noted.

“My feeling is that Facebook is making serious efforts” to combat fake accounts, he added.

But new bots are becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect, because they can use language nearly as well as humans, according to Carley.

“Facebook may have solved yesterday’s battle but the nature of these things is changing so rapidly they may not be getting the new ones,” she said.

Varol agreed, noting that “there are bots that understand natural language and can respond to people, and that’s why it’s important to keep research going”.

Should I worry about bots and fake accounts?

Many users cannot tell the difference between a real and fake account, researchers say. Facebook and Twitter have been stepping up efforts to identify and weed out bogus accounts, and some public tools like Botometer developed by Varol and other researchers can help determine the likelihood of fake Twitter accounts and followers.

“If you use Facebook to communicate with family and friends you should not worry much,” said Filippo Menczer, a computer scientist who researches social media at Indiana University.

“If you use it to access news and share that with friends, you should be careful.”

Menczer said many Facebook users pay little attention to the source of material and may end up sharing false or misleading information.

“Everyone thinks they cannot be manipulated but we are all vulnerable,” he said.

Along with bots, humans represent a key element in the misinformation chain, researchers say.

“Most false information is not coming from bots,” Carley said. “Most of it comes from blogs and the bots rebroadcast it” to amplify the misinformation.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is seeking to eliminate the financial incentives of fake accounts.

“A lot of the harmful content we see, including misinformation, are in fact commercially motivated,” Zuckerberg told reporters. “So one of the best tactics is removing incentives to create fake accounts upstream, which limits content made downstream.”

Seniors who feel their life has purpose may be less likely to die from heart, circulatory and digestive diseases and more likely to live longer, new data suggest.

In a study that followed nearly 7,000 people over age 50 for more than a decade, researchers determined that people were more likely to die at a younger age if they felt their lives had little purpose, according to the report published in JAMA Network Open. 

“We found a strong association between life purpose and mortality in the US,” said the study’s lead author, Leigh Pearce of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “This has also been found in a number of studies conducted in a number of populations and seems to be quite a robust association.” 

What constitutes “life purpose?” 

“I think it’s about what people think is most valuable to them,” Pearce said. “Community, achievement, reputation, relationships, spirituality, kindness—these can all feed into any one person’s life purpose. So there is not a specific definition for any one person.” 

Pearce and her colleagues explored the topic using data from The Health and Retirement Study, a national cohort study of US adults older than 50. The earliest participants were enrolled in the study in 1992 and were born between 1931 and 1941. 

For the new study, the researchers analysed data from 6,985 individuals who filled out a seven-item survey in 2006. Participants were told to rate each item on the survey on a scale of one to six. Among the seven items were: “I enjoy making plans for the future and working to make them a reality”; “My daily activities often seem trivial to me”; “I don’t have a good sense of what I’m trying to accomplish in life”; and “I live life one day at a time and don’t really think about the future.” 

Higher scores on the survey indicated greater purpose in life. When comparing individuals who scored lowest on the survey to those who scored highest, the researchers found that the low scorers were 2.43 times more likely to have died by the end of the study. Those with the lowest life purpose scores were 2.66 times more likely to die from heart, circulatory and blood conditions, compared to participants with the highest scores. Those with the lowest life purpose scores were also twice as likely to die from digestive tract conditions, compared to participants with the highest scores. 

Other studies have found that low life purpose scores are associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers and stress hormones, Pearce said. “And there is one study that shows that life purpose is associated with telomere length,” she added. 

Those life purpose scores can be changed, Pearce said. “The literature shows that meditation or yoga can be used to help build life purpose,” she explained. “And there are studies showing that volunteering can have a positive effect on well-being. So I think taking steps that affect and improve life purpose could be beneficial.” 

As the study suggests, volunteering can be a good strategy for those searching for life purpose, said Rick Morycz, an associate professor of psychiatry and social work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre and a member of the board of directors at UPMC’s Ageing Institute. 

The key, Morycz said, “may be to be more altruistic and to engage in compassionate behaviour. One thing I have tried in my own clinical work helping people who are struggling is to look at ways to find their own goals and meaning in life. Part of that is suggesting that people try to help others. It doesn’t have to be structured. But it has to be regular, like perhaps every Wednesday volunteering for Meals on Wheels.”

Homemade sunscreens on Pinterest may look pretty and smell even prettier, but most of them will not shield you from sunburn or skin cancer, new research shows. 

“Ninety-five per cent of the pins really positively portrayed the effectiveness of homemade sunscreens, yet about 65 per cent were recommending recipes that offered insufficient ultraviolet radiation protection,” Julie Merten of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, the lead author of the new study, told Reuters Health by phone. 

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure from the sun and from indoor tanning is by far the leading cause of skin cancer, which will affect 20 per cent of Americans at some point in their lives, Merten and her team note in a report released by the journal Health Communication. Sunscreen helps prevent sunburn, and regular use reduces skin cancer risk. 

The US Food and Drug Administration has tested and approved 17 active sunscreen ingredients, but concerns ranging from coral reef damage to hormone disruption have led many people to search for alternatives. 

Merten and her colleagues analysed a sample of 189 pins mentioning homemade or natural sunscreen. Coconut oil was the most common ingredient. Many recipes also featured lavender oil, raspberry oil, shea butter or beeswax. Sixty-three of the pins claimed a specific sun protection factor number, ranging from two to 50. 

“This is concerning because the ingredients recommended in homemade sunscreen pins offer minimal scientifically proven broad-spectrum protection from UV radiation yet are widely shared and promoted as safe alternatives to commercial sunscreens on Pinterest,” Merten said. 

“Homemade sunscreen products are risky because they are not regulated or tested for efficacy like commercial sunscreens. When you make it yourself, you don’t know if it’s safe or effective,” she added. “With rising skin cancer rates, the use of effective broadband sunscreen is critical to protect the skin from UV radiation and reduce incidence of skin cancer.” 

“As public health professionals, [we advise people to use] a commercial sunscreen, and if you’re concerned about the chemical piece go for a mineral sunscreen such as zinc oxide,” she said. 

David Leffell, a professor of dermatology and surgery at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, reviewed the study for Reuters Health. 

“I would not encourage anyone to make their own sunscreen,” he said by phone. “Sunscreen formulation is actually quite complex. Despite concerns about various ingredients that come up, they are proven to be effective.” 

“I think it’s part of an overall trend in healthcare of self-diagnosis and self-treatment,” Leffell added. “It’s not going to change, but I would think that after someone has a bad sunburn after using their homemade beeswax formulation they will get smarter.” 

The recent admission by aircraft industry giant Boeing that there was indeed a bug in the software systems of its 737 Max airplane is sad, regrettable but — quite unfortunately — not a new phenomenon in the software industry.

There have been bugs, or programming errors, ever since there was software. Examples abound in the 60 years or so history of modern computing, in all fields of application. The severity and the eventual consequences go from very mild, even funny in some cases, to extremely dramatic, like in an air crash, in others.

The public awareness about IT and high-tech today is such that people know very well what a software bug is, and how it enters a programme because of a human error. They also know that such errors are impossible to avoid completely, that the human error factor will always be there.

However, the obvious question that most of us would ask is the following: How come that the process of debugging a programme, of making it 100 per cent bug-free by having it extensively verified and thoroughly tested, by several different teams, time and again, how come that this process is not applied and followed systematically as it should be, scrupulously, before critical and life-threatening applications are actually put to work?

The question is simple but the answer is not. There is in fact a set of them.

The first is that debugging a large software system is a daunting task. Think of the most common of these systems, the one that most people in the world use: MS-Windows. It is a gigantic piece of code, developed over the years, by different teams. The size of the code sometimes consists of millions of line — yes, millions. The change of the successive teams who do the development adds another dimension to the complexity and therefore the fragility of the project. We all know that MS-Windows is not 100 per cent bug-free, that each version may iron out previous mistakes but introduce new ones and we accept to live that way.

Moreover, software developers and coders sometime argue that if they have to do complete and perfect testing before they release their product, it would take years and years, and therefore is not a commercially doable approach, not a viable solution. Such argument should not be acceptable in what we call critical applications. It is one thing to experience a bug in your bank account, while chatting with your friend over Skype, or while watching a Netflix video stream, and it is totally another when it hits aboard a flying aircraft, or in a busy hospital operating room.

The current trend towards driverless vehicles — among other heavily IT-dependent high-tech trends — implies more and more software, constantly more complex programming, and larger coding size. Will the industry rush to release software for unmanned cars for commercial reasons or will it spend the time it takes to produce clean, thoroughly tested applications?

A few weeks ago I downloaded and installed the very latest version of my software music player, J. River Media Centre. The manufacturer was very professional and warned us users that this new release may not yet be perfectly debugged, and that it was up to each and every one to go for it immediately or to wait for its complete debugging, knowing and keeping mind that the very fact that some users are willing to try it out as it is does help debugging it, thanks to their testing and feedback.

I bravely went for it from the start, experienced a couple of minor bugs (sudden shutdowns), and six weeks later I was happy to receive the fully-debugged copy from the maker. This is all but fair and ethical, but again in no way acceptable in otherwise critical applications. My music player certainly does not qualify as anything “critical”.

The above is nothing new. The industry knows very well what is critical and what is not, and what methodology is to apply in the first case. It is therefore not about knowing what is right, but about doing it by the book. Maybe it is a management issue after all! At a very big scale, certainly.

People who eat a lot of ultra-processed foods — such as frozen entrees, white bread and canned side dishes — tend to consume more calories than those who eat foods that are not processed, a new study suggests. 

Government researchers found that people ate about 500 calories more when offered meals that contained ultra-processed items, according to the results in Cell Metabolism. 

“It was a surprise to us,” said the study’s lead author Kevin Hall, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. “Despite our matching meals for salt, sugar and fat — the nutrients people think cause weight gain — we still saw substantial increases in consumption with ultra-processed foods.” 

The results underscore the futility of cutting out specific nutrients to lose weight, Hall said. “This study suggests that there could be major benefits from reducing ultra-processed foods and not focusing on specific nutrients or calories,” he added. 

Hall and his colleagues rounded up 20 volunteers who were willing to live in the lab for 28 days and consume only the foods that were offered to them. 

Each participant was randomly assigned to get either meals containing ultra-processed foods for two weeks or meals with only unprocessed foods. At the end of two weeks, the participants switched to the other group’s diet. 

Included in the ultra-processed food category were items such as canned ravioli, canned peaches in heavy syrup, turkey sausages, frozen macaroni and cheese, frozen fried chicken. In the unprocessed category were fresh fruits, homemade hash brown potatoes, scrambled fresh eggs, grilled chicken breast, frozen but unprocessed vegetables. 

Meals were designed such that they contained the same amount of nutrients and calories, whether they were ultra-processed or unprocessed. 

The researchers calculated how many calories each volunteer should be eating each day to maintain their weight and then doubled that amount for the meals that were offered. Volunteers were told to eat as much as they wanted, and the researchers measured the calories left unconsumed. 

The volunteers reported that both diets tasted good and were satisfying, which meant they were not eating less of the unprocessed foods because of taste issues. 

One big difference, Hall said, was that levels of an appetite suppressing hormone increased when study participants consumed unprocessed foods “and similarly, ghrelin, a hormone that induces hunger, was lower in those consuming an unprocessed diet, suggesting that this may have suppressed hunger and enabled them to eat fewer calories”. 

During the two weeks the volunteers ate ultra-processed food, they consumed an average of 508 more calories per day compared to the amount they ate on unprocessed food days. Moreover, during the two weeks of consuming ultra-processed foods volunteers gained an average of two pounds as compared to a loss of two pounds after two weeks of eating unprocessed food. 

While they do not yet know why people ate more and gained weight on a diet rich in ultra-processed foods, the researchers have some theories. 

It is possible, Hall said, that the processed foods combine high levels of sweetness and fat in a way that would not occur in nature. “That may stimulate the reward region in our brains,” he said. 

Another hypothesis suggests that people ate more ultra-processed food because these items “may be softer and easier to chew and swallow”, Hall said. “We did notice they ate these foods more quickly. When you eat that quickly, it doesn’t give your gut enough time to process that signal.” 

This is a “really great study”, said Dr Rekha Kumar, an endocrinologist and an assistant professor of medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. 

“Even though the obesity epidemic was correlated with the increasing prevalence of processed food consumption, this is the first time we’ve seeing this in a randomised, controlled trial,” Kumar said. “This kind of study is hard to do. I have a feeling that other things, such as blood sugar and liver enzymes, would go the wrong way as well with these ultra-processed foods in a longer-term study.”

A balanced, low-fat diet significantly lowers the risk of dying from breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to new long-term data from the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification trial. 

“Ours is the first randomised, controlled trial to prove that a healthy diet can reduce the risk of death from breast cancer. The balanced diet we designed is one of moderation, and after nearly 20 years of follow-up, the health benefits are still accruing,” lead investigator Dr Rowan Chlebowski from Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre in Torrance, California, said in a statement. 

He discussed the findings during a press briefing May 15 ahead of a presentation June 2 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. 

“This study makes clear there are no down-sides, only up-sides to a healthier diet, and it adds to a growing volume of studies showing similar positive effects across cancer types,” ASCO President and briefing moderator Dr Monica M. Bertagnolli said in the statement. 

The trial enrolled 48,835 postmenopausal women with no previous breast cancer and with dietary fat accounting for at least 32 per cent of total daily calories. From 1993 to 1998, the women were randomly allocated to a usual-diet comparison group or a dietary intervention group that aimed to reduce fat intake to 20 per cent of daily calories and increase consumption of vegetables, fruit and grains. 

Women in the balanced, low-fat diet group stuck to the diet for roughly 8.5 years. Most of them increased their intake of fruits, vegetables and grains, and cut their daily fat intake to 25 per cent or less, although most did not reach the 20 per cent goal.

The research team was able to track half of the women for more than 19.6 years.

A total of 3,374 women developed breast cancer between 1993 and 2013. The low-fat diet did not significantly reduce women’s risk of developing breast cancer — still, women in the dietary intervention group experienced a range of short- and long-term health benefits as compared with women in the normal diet group, Chlebowski noted. Specifically, they had a 21 per cent lower risk of death from breast cancer and a 15 per cent lower risk of death from any cause during the follow up period.

Postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome (increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels) were particularly likely to benefit from the dietary intervention.

Commenting on the findings during the briefing, Dr Lidia Schapira from Stanford Cancer Institute in California said this study is “very important and helps us understand that what we put on the plate matters, and it is worth coaching and pushing our patients to put fruits, vegetables and grains on their plate”.

She continued, “This is not easy, Dr Chlebowski said that they did not accomplish reducing the dietary fat as much as they had intended to, but even at the level that they did, they showed that there was a health advantage.” 

“Quality of the diet and dietary patterns over time are an important component of long-term health in women with breast cancer,” Kelly Hogan, a registered dietician and clinical nutrition and wellness manager at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Centre of the Tisch Cancer Institute in New York City, told Reuters Health by e-mail.

“The health benefits of a plant-based diet are well known, and this study further emphasizes the importance and possible protective factors of a diet high in plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, in women with breast cancer, as well as the importance of continued nutritional guidance from their healthcare teams to help them adapt these dietary changes throughout their treatment and beyond,” said Hogan, who was not involved in the study.