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People who get hugs are less likely to experience a bad mood after a disagreement than those who do not receive this kind of affection, a small study suggests. 

While close personal touch and meaningful social interactions with other people have long been linked to better physical and mental health, much of this research has focused on romantic or family relationships, researchers note in the online journal PLOS ONE. 

The current study focused on adults who were typically not married or in long-term committed relationships and still found a link between simple touch — hugs — and better moods after people experienced conflict. 

For the study, researchers interviewed 404 men and women every night for two weeks about a wide range of activities and interactions they had experienced during the day as well as any positive or negative moods. Just 98 of the participants were married or in what they described as “marriage-like” relationships. 

When people experienced conflicts, they noted a smaller decrease in positive emotions and a smaller increase in negative feelings when they had also received one or more hugs that day, the study found. 

“We were not surprised to find that people who reported receiving a hug appeared to be protected against poorer moods related to experiencing conflict,” said lead study author Michael Murphy of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

“This finding is consistent with multiple emerging lines of evidence demonstrating the ability of touch-behaviours within close relationships to reduce perceptions of threat and increase feelings of security and well-being,” Murphy said by e-mail. “We were, however, at least somewhat surprised to find that there were no detectable differences between women and men in our study in the extent to which hugs protected against conflict-related negative mood.” 

Overall, participants reported experiencing conflicts on an average of two days during the study; they reported receiving hugs, on average, on almost nine days. 

On any given day, about 10 per cent of participants experienced conflict and also received a hug, the study found. About 4 per cent of participants on any given day experienced conflict but did not get a hug.

Marital status did not appear to influence the connection between hugs and mood. Neither did the amount of social support people perceived in relationships with others.

Although the connection between hugs and mood also looked similar for men and women, women did report more days of conflict and more days of hugs than men.

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how hugs might directly impact mood.

However, social interaction and touch have long been linked to changes in the brain that can have a positive impact on physical and mental health, noted Dr. Guohua Li, director of the Centre for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University in New York City.

“There are multiple plausible mechanisms that may help explain the observed benefits of hugs in reducing conflict-related negative moods, including perceptual, psychological and neurobiological pathways,” Li, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail.

“It is well known that social interaction and engagement is essential to the long-term survival of all social animals from ants to chimpanzees and is beneficial to mental and physical health for children and older adults,” Li said.

“For infants, gentle and kind personal touch, dubbed as ‘kangaroo care’ is found to have strong therapeutic effects and facilitate positive neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes,” Li added. “This study indicates that the health benefits of social interaction and engagement, in the form of hugs, also apply to young and middle-aged adults.”

Depending on how one looks at it, modern car makers are either diversifying or diluting their model ranges. Offering more choice than ever, modern cars also share more parts than ever and try to cover as much ground as possible rather than offering a core line-up to define a brand.

Among such manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz now catering to just about any and every car niche one can think of. And among the most niche of these is the Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe.

New niches

In a veritable alphanumeric soup of numbers and letters, the Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe is a derivative of the SUV formerly known as the ML-Class. A sporty, entry-level high performance road-oriented SUV, the GLE Coupe sports a fashionably low so-called “four-door coupe” cabin that is more practical than a two-door but less than the regular GLE-Class’ traditional SUV body style. Powered by a new engine, the GLE43 less extreme V6 engine bridges the performance gap between regular Mercedes GLE models and the full fat AMG GLE63.

Tall riding and with a high waistline, the GLE43 Coupe has a distinctly bottom-heavy and wide stance that is accentuated by its huge 275/45R21 front and 315/40R21 rear tyres, and smoothly and arcing roofline and short glasshouse cabin. Arrogant yet with elegant lines, the GLE43 Coupe is not as classically handsome as its traditional SUV body sister model, and uses huge front side intakes, ridged side character lines and more details at the rear to add feature to its tall flanks and front and rear fascia.

Junior brute 

Under its muscular bonnet and behind its snouty single-slat grille with big tri-star emblem, the GLE43 Coupe is powered by Mercedes’ twin-turbocharged 3-litre direct injection V6-engine, as reworked for high performance service by the brand’s in-house AMG skunkworks division. Different in character and delivery to AMG’s brutishly bellowing, brawnier and bigger V8 engine, the GLE43’s V6 seems more eager to rev and delivers its best efforts higher up in the rev range in an urgently progressive manner. Smaller in displacement, fuel efficiency is also more restrained at 9.8l/100km, combined.

Responsive from idling owing to quick boosting turbos, the GLE43 Coupe produces 362BHP at a 5,500-6,000rpm plateau and 383lb/ft torque throughout a broad, versatile and accessible 1,200-4,000rpm range. Not one wanting for more power or torque, the GLE43 is plenty quick with a responsive mid-range and is able to accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in 5.7-seconds and onto 250km/h. However, the GLE43’s 2.2-tonne weight seems to slightly blunt the edge off its engine’s zesty delivery when driven back to back with a lighter, lower and zippier Mercedes-AMG C43.

Settled and stable 

Driving all four wheels through a smooth and slick-shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox, the GLE43 Coupe has tenacious grip traction off the line. With staggered tyre sizes to improve steering accuracy in front and to generate high levels of grip at the rear, the GLE43 Coupe is confident, reassuring and committed through corners. Direct and with good meaty weighting at speed, the GLE43 Coupe’s steering is precise but lacks the intimate, nuanced feel and feedback of a lighter and sportier car. Brakes meanwhile were faithfully reassuring.

Committed through corners and tidy on turn-in and through for a high riding and heavy SUV, the GLE43 Coupe’s weight and height become more apparent when driven on track after driving the Mercedes-AMG C43, and while agile next to most competitors, the GLE43 lacks the Audi Q8’s sublime optional four-wheel-steering and the agility enabled by it. Manoeuvrable and balanced nonetheless, the GL443’s body lean through corners is minimised and kept well in check by its taut yet forgiving adaptive dampers.

Fast fastback 

Driven on a smooth surfaced track, the GLE43 Coupe felt comfortable and with refinement, but one expects that its low profile tyres and 21-inch alloy wheels might feel firm over jagged bumps and cracks at medium speeds, but that its adaptive dampers would take the edge off more common road imperfections. Well-insulated, refined and quiet inside, the GLE43 Coupe feels like the up-market sports SUV it is, while at high speed it remained as stable, settled and reassuring as one expects from the Stuttgart tri-star brand.

With a good, supportive and well-adjustable driving position one feels well-ensconed behind the GLE43 Coupe’s thick sporty steering wheel and within its high waistline. And while front visibility is good, the GLE’s small glasshouse reduces rear and rear-side visibility compared to the regular GLE SUV, but driver assistance systems and a reversing camera help mitigate this. Stylish, well-laid out and equipped and finished with quality materials inside, the GLE43 Coupe’s rakish roofline reduces rear headroom compared to the non-coupe GLE, and while it looks similar to a saloon from outside, its lift-back tailgate provides good access to its generous boot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3-litre, twin-turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders
• Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 362 (367) [270] @5,500-6,000rpm
• Specific power: 120.8BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 161.6BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 383.5 (520) @1,200-4,000rpm
• Specific torque: 173.5Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 232Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 5.7-seconds
• Maximum speed: 250km/h
• Fuel consumption, urban/ extra-urban/ combined: 12.3-/8.4-/9.8-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 225g/km
• Fuel tank: 93-litres
• Length: 4,900mm
• Width: 2,003mm
• Height: 1,731mm
• Wheelbase: 2,915mm
• Track, F/R: 1,658/1,725mm
• Overhang, F/R: 897/1,088mm
• Headroom, F/R: 1,020/959mm
• Shoulder room, F/R: 1,485/1,482mm
• Loading height: 931mm
• Boot capacity, min/max: 650-/1,720-litres
• Cargo capacity: 660kg
• Unladen weight: 2240kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-metres
• Suspension: MacPherson struts/Multi-link, 
• adjustable damping
• Brakes: Ventilated discs
• Tyres, F/R: 275/45R21/315/40R21

Clinical Dietician

Some of our poor food choices have the ability to reduce testosterone, diminish sex drive, reduce sensitivity, alter sperm production and increase the risk of prostate cancer. Luckily, healthier food choices can achieve the opposite.

Healthy weight

I know many men who eat as though they have a stomach of steal. But the truth is, overweight and obese men, especially those with waist circumference larger than 101 centimetres are more likely to have erectile dysfunction and reduced sperm count.

The unhealthy fat in the belly (medically known as visceral fat) is the major reason for blocking blood vessels and even the tiny vessels in the penis. Without blood circulation, you might suffer from erectile dysfunction. Excess abdominal fat not only reduces testosterone production, but is also associated with a rise in the female hormone estradiol in men.

Recommendations: Try to cut out fast food, greasy food and pre-prepared meals as they are usually rich in transfats, refined simple sugars and low in essential vitamins and minerals. These types of food are a major cause of visceral fat and an abnormal sperm production. I do appreciate that you are working long hours and have full schedules, but remember to invest in your own health as it will be your source of happiness and your peace of mind. 

I know many men are busy at work and depend mostly on their spouses or mothers to prepare their meals and snacks, but I think it is time for you to start getting involved in preparing your own meals and snacks.

Preparing healthy dishes is easy and usually does not take time. Here are some tips: 

Best animal sources

Eating less red meat and more seafood is the general recommendation these days. Seafood, especially oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel and even sardines), is rich in zinc, Omega-3, L-carnitine and L-arginine (L-arginine is an amino acid important for building up proteins and improve blood flow). Zinc is important for sperm production and enhancing the count. Omega-3 can prevent plaque build-up, especially in your arteries, thus improving blood flow throughout your body. Oysters, lobster and mussels are known to be an aphrodisiac, are rich in selenium and other essential elements for sperm production and speed. If you are not a seafood fan, another great source for zinc is grilled non-smoked turkey.

Best plant choices

Fruits and vegetables have amazing benefits for most health problems because they are rich in vitamins and minerals, especially the dark green leafy varieties (folic acid, magnesium and zinc in addition to beta-Carotene, a precursor for vitamin A).

Deficiencies in vitamin A are a common cause of low fertility because a lack of vitamin A plays a role in the speed of sperms. Broccoli is a very rich source of vitamin A and C as are red peppers, spinach, apricots, sweet potatoes and carrots. Asparagus is another weapon against those nasty free radicals. It is also packed with vitamin C, which protects sperm from damage and increases its motility and volume so you will have more active sperms and they will move faster.

Bananas and pineapples have been found to increase both male and female libido and regulate sex hormones because of an enzyme called bromelain. They are also full of vitamins C, A and B1 which will boost sperm production.

Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that may help prevent prostate cancer as well as reduce tumour growth among men with prostate cancer. Some research showed that men who ate more tomatoes and tomato based products (raw or cooked) may be less likely to develop prostate cancer and that is because of Lycopene which may decrease cell damage and slow cancer cell production. But because lycopene is tightly bound to the plant cell walls, our bodies have a difficult time extracting it from raw tomatoes so the more cooked the better. Cooked tomatoes can be found in tomato paste, sauce, soup and even ketchup.

Best choices of nuts and seeds

Seeds and nuts, such as walnuts, peanuts, pecan, hazelnut, pumpkin, sunflower and black seeds are all very rich in zinc, and L-arginine (an amino acid that helps the body to build proteins). Although they help improve blood flow, you have to be careful not to go overboard with eating nuts to avoid weight gain! Note that taking L-arginine supplements can cause an allergic reaction or worsen asthma in some people and can also lower blood pressure.

Best choices of herbs

Turmeric and saffron are a natural antioxidant that can improve your immune system and reduce inflammation, especially in the genitals. Chilli pepper enhances blood flow while the aphrodisiac root of ginkgo biloba has been used to treat infertility for hundreds of years. It boosts levels of testosterone and increases blood flow, with some claiming that it can also treat erectile dysfunction. Drink tea with ginseng, mix it in your honey or even add some to your thyme.

Be and feel your best with the help of good nutrition. Another perk? You can now make a happy wife for a happy life! 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

Abu Samra Is Angry: Short Stories

Janset Berkok Shami

Istanbul: Cinius Yayinlari, 2018

Pp. 268

Peopled with unusual, often idiosyncratic, characters and vibrantly described scenes, Janset Shami’s short stories are a delight to read but not because they necessarily give a rosy outlook on life. On the contrary, Shami often delves into the dark side of things, exploring people’s obsessions and unspoken motives. But whether written in an optimistic or pessimistic tone, all her stories are told from an unexpected angle which captures the reader’s imagination.

This book is the second collection of Shami’s short stories to be published in English. It contains eighteen of her tales written at different times in the course of her almost six-decades-long writing career. The volume is especially attractive as the cover displays a painting by Jordanian artist Riham Ghassib, depicting the traditional foods and popular activities of a large, open-air, Ramadan iftar. The painting is referred to in a story titled “Abu Samra Is Angry” which gives the collection its name. Ironically, in contrast to the painting’s subject matter, this story is about a man who has worked so hard to be “a thoroughly modern man” that he has lost all connection to his Arab heritage and to happiness as well. 

“Abu Samra Is Angry” is told in the first person, as are over half of the stories. This narrative style gives the reader access to the character’s mind, and many of them are quite introspective, questioning not only others’ actions but their own. Such introspection is not always productive however. The young man in one story thinks carefully over everything he does, big and small, but is ill-prepared to make the most important decision in his life.

The stories are set in a variety of places: Two are in Turkey where the author grew up. Three “have no country” as she says in the preface. The rest are set in the Middle East, mainly Jordan, moving from refugee camps and modest neighbourhoods to middle class and wealthy homes in Amman and Irbid. About half the stories involve Palestine, mainly via displaced Palestinians living in Jordan and their offspring. One story is set in Nablus and considers the psychological effects of living in a place where death is ever-present, and where one’s killer, if Israeli, would never be held accountable.

The stories are short but not simple. The themes are varied, and most of the stories touch on more than one theme. Conflicted family dynamics are at the heart of several stories. In one, a young girl discovers the depth of her parents’ incompatibility in the run-up to her younger brother’s circumcision, making her question the whole idea of marriage and parenthood. Friction in other stories is caused by a man in the family having married a foreigner who does not adapt to life in Jordan, but most often marriage problems are seen as caused by the husband’s lack of consideration or real interest in his wife. 

There are, however, happy families, such as the mother who creates marionettes with her children and the full support of her husband, perhaps reflecting Shami’s own experience with the marionette show she presented on Jordan Television for many years. There are also shining examples of families who love and care for each other, such as the story where a blind girl suggests to the blind man she loves that he marry her sighted sister instead, since they would better manage one of them could see, and her sister would be better off because he is from a wealthy family. 

Several stories address how people deal with tragedy, how they fare when trying to cross class boundaries, or the masks they wear for various purposes. Many stories convey local customs, or recreate the scenery of old neighbourhoods of Amman, which are no longer the same, giving these stories a kind of nostalgia which they may not have had when written. The conflicts in the stories are not always black-and-white; some characters’ motives remain murky; and many stories end in an ambiguous way, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.

Shami’s style is distinctive, and her imagery is original and sometimes jolting. At a fateful wedding, the bride compares the cake to a rocket: “It might take off and carry away our wedding vows.” (p. 229)

There is lots of personification as objects come alive in Shami’s charming descriptions. Emotions are described in visceral terms, as when one character describes facing a potentially humiliating situation: “Some organs inside me switched positions. They went sideways, then turned upside down. That upheaval made the decision for me.” (p. 243-4)

Taking her inspiration from real life and ordinary people — if such a species exists, Shami digs below the surface to unearth the psychology behind human behaviour. By slightly heightening or exaggerating reality and describing it in vivid language, she creates stories that are both fantastic and credible, which is no small feat.

LISBON — Social networks need better regulation to stop them spreading “fake news” and undermining democracy, disillusioned tech pioneers said at an industry conference that closed in Lisbon on Thursday.

The issue has come to the fore after the spread of false information, and allegations of Russian meddling, during election campaigns around the world.

“I think we’re only 10 per cent down a very long road towards making social platforms secure,” Raffi Krikorian, the chief technology officer at the Democratic National Committee, said at Web Summit, Europe’s largest tech event.

“I don’t believe they’re doing enough now,” said the former Twitter executive who now leads a team of 35 people charged with protecting the US Democratic Party from computer attacks like the ones which revealed embarrassing e-mails during the 2016 presidential election.

“Hacking is one of those things we’re not going to detect. If there’s a hack we’re not going to see it happening, whereas disinformation we see it happening every single day,” Krikorian said.

‘Wake-up call’

He was one of many high-profile speakers who called for more regulation of the Internet and social networks at the four-day gathering dubbed “the Davos for geeks”.

The inventor of the World Wide Web, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, urged governments and companies to draw up a new “contract” for the web to make the Internet “safe and accessible” for all.

Christopher Wylie, a whistleblower who claimed a data consultancy took millions of Facebook users’ data without their knowledge to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016, also called for greater government regulation of social media and online advertising.

He suggested data scientists should be subject to an ethical code just as doctors, nurses and teachers are.

The 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal was a “wake-up call”, added European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova.

“It is time to address non-transparent political advertising and the misuse of people’s personal data. In our online world, the risk of interference and manipulation has never been so high,” she said.

‘New code of conduct’

For Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, who now heads blogging site Medium, social media companies “are very aware of the downsides of their systems”.

“I think everybody, including those running the big companies, agrees there is much more to do to protect people from misinformation and abuse,” he told AFP.

“I think that’s going to happen, whether or not there is government regulation. I expect there will be more, and I think it will be very difficult to figure out the right regulation.”

Various efforts have been made by political leaders to curb intimidation, abuse, and misinformation on social media but many elected representatives argue that more legislation is needed to police the Internet.

The founder and CEO of Web Summit, Ireland’s Paddy Cosgrave, compared the “turbulence”, which the tech sector is experiencing to the dangers that accompanied the arrival of the automobile.

“Our society decided that cars were globally positive but we had to protect ourselves with ruled that have not ceased to evolve. I think we also need a new code of conduct for this new digital era,” he said.

PARIS — Soaring birth rates in developing nations are fuelling a global baby boom while women in dozens of richer countries are not producing enough children to maintain population levels there, according to figures released on Friday.

A global overview of birth, death and disease rates evaluating thousands of datasets on a country-by-country basis also found that heart disease was now the single leading cause of death worldwide.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), set up at the University of Washington by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, used more than 8,000 data sources — more than 600 of them new — to compile one of the most detailed looks at global public health.

Their sources included in-country investigations, social media and open-source material.

It found that while the world’s population skyrocketed from 2.6 billion in 1950 to 7.6 billion last year, that growth was deeply uneven according to region and income.

Ninety-one nations, mainly in Europe and North and South America, were not producing enough children to sustain their current populations, according to the IHME study.

But in Africa and Asia fertility rates continued to grow, with the average woman in Niger giving birth to seven children during her lifetime. 

Ali Mokdad, professor of Health Metrics Sciences at IHME, told AFP that the single most important factor in determining population growth was education. 

“It is down to socioeconomic factors but it’s a function of a woman’s education,” he said. “The more a woman is educated, she is spending more years in school, she is delaying her pregnancies and so will have fewer babies.”

The IHME found that Cyprus was the least fertile nation on Earth, with the average woman giving birth just once in her life.

By contrast, women in Mali, Chad and Afghanistan have on average more than six babies. 

‘Less mortality, 

more disability’

The United Nations predicts there will be more than 10 billion humans on the planet by the middle of the century, broadly in line with IHME’s projection. 

This raises the question of how many people our world can support, known as Earth’s “carrying capacity”.

Mokdad said that while populations in developing nations continue to rise, so in general are their economies growing. 

This typically has a knock-on effect on fertility rates over time.

“In Asia and Africa the population is still increasing and people are moving from poverty to better income — unless there are wars or unrest,” he said. 

“Countries are expected to fare better economically and it’s more likely that fertility there will decline and level out.”

Not only are there now billions more of us than 70 years ago, but we are also living longer than ever before. 

The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, showed male life expectancy had increased to 71 years from 48 in 1950. Women are now expected to live to 76, compared with 53 in 1950.

Living longer brings its own health problems, as we age and deteriorate and place greater burdens on our healthcare systems.

The IHME said heart disease was now the leading cause of death globally. As recently as 1990, neonatal disorders were the biggest killer, followed by lung disease and diarrhoea.

Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan had the highest death rates from heart disease, where as South Korea, Japan and France had among the lowest.

“You see less mortality from infectious diseases as countries get richer, but also more disability as people are living longer,” said Mokdad.

He pointed out that although deaths from infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are down significantly since 1990, new, non-communicable killers have taken their place.

“There are certain behaviours that are leading to an increase in cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Obesity is number one — it is increasing every year and our behaviour is contributing to that.”

Back in 2015, I reviewed a Nikon camera called the Coolpix P900, which is a “bridge camera”.

I was not familiar with the term then, but I am now. A bridge camera is a bridge between a point-and-shoot camera and a DSLR, or digital single-lens reflex camera.

Back then, I thought the P900 was a pretty darn good camera with a lens that had an 83x optical zoom, or the equivalent of a 24 millimetre-2,000mm lens on a 35mm camera.

My bottom-line thought on the P900 was that it was all the camera most of us would ever need.

I guess Nikon thought I was wrong, because I’ve been testing the new Nikon Coolpix P1000 ($999, www.nikonusa.com), and it is bigger and better than the P900 in almost every way possible.

Meet the new boss

The P1000 is like the P900 on steroids. It’s physically bigger and heavier, and the built-in lens has an insane zoom range of 125x (24mm-3,000mm).

I’ll go ahead and say it: Nobody really needs a zoom lens that goes out to 3,000mm, but it sure is fun to see what it can do.

You could not buy a 3,000mm lens for your DSLR if you wanted to, but that did not stop Nikon from putting one on the P1000.

I admire Nikon for creating such a beast of a camera.

The first thing I noticed is how heavy it is. As you extend the zoom lens, the camera’s weight shifts forward.

Holding the P1000 with the lens fully extended is difficult but not impossible, especially with the camera’s built-in image stabilisation.

The camera weighs just over 1.3 kilogrammes which means you will not wear it around your neck all day without some discomfort.

The P1000 weighs 50 per cent more than the 2-pound P900.

The camera’s sensor captures 16-megapixel images with a resolution up to 4,608 by 3,456 pixels.

It has an ISO (film speed) range of 100 to 6400, and it can shoot up to 7 frames per second, but in short bursts, not continuously.

The lens has an aperture of f/2.8 at the widest to f/8 at maximum zoom.

The lens and imaging system has a digital zoom of 4x, so if you really want to experiment, the lens will reach out to the equivalent of a 12,000 lens for a 35mm camera. That is telescope territory and not really a mode I would expect to produce very good images.

The lens focuses from one foot to infinity at the wide end and from 23 feet to infinity at the telephoto end.

In macro mode, it can focus as close as 0.4 inches.

The viewfinder is not optical. It is a tiny 1 centimeter OLED screen. The main screen is a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD, but it is oddly not a touch screen, which I think is a shame for a $1,000 camera.

The camera’s battery is a weak point. The battery is good for up to 250 shots, or one hour and 20 minutes of video shooting. For a camera the size of the P1000, that is underwhelming. If you buy the P1000, plan to buy a few extra batteries.

The P1000 takes beautiful video at resolutions up to 4K UHD (3,840 by 2,160 pixels at 30 frames per second).

The camera can shoot RAW files, which capture more image data than JPG images, but every time you take a RAW photo, be prepared for up to a 5-second delay while the camera processes the shot. During this five seconds, the camera is unresponsive, which is a pain.

The built-in flash works out to about 12.5 metres.

Scene modes

The P1000 really wants to help you take good photos. There is a long list of scene modes that will change the exposure settings for certain situations.

The wheel on top of the camera includes program settings for shooting birds and the moon.

I took shots of both at the camera’s maximum zoom, and both modes resulted in really nice photos.

I took a stunning picture of the moon by steadying the camera against a post in my front yard. I found some pelicans at White Rock Lake gathered under the Garland Road bridge.

Other scene modes include Beach, Easy Panorama, Fireworks Show, Food, Night Landscape, Pet Portrait, Snow, Sports, Sunset, Timelapse Movie and a bunch more.

The P1000 shoots onto SD cards, but it also has wireless connectivity. If you load the Nikon SnapBridge app to your smartphone or tablet, the camera can upload its images to your smart device as you shoot the photos or videos.

Accessories

Nikon was nice enough to send along two optional accessories for the Coolpix P1000, the Dot Sight and a remote control.

To enable the remote, you have to turn off the smart device connection, but from the remote you can zoom in and out and set the aperture, shutter and ISO as well as change modes.

The remote can trigger the shutter and start/stop videos. It is great for when you have the camera on a tripod and you do not want to disturb your image composition as you make adjustments.

The Dot Sight is an alternate optical viewfinder with an adjustable illuminated dot to help you keep track of far off subjects when you are zoomed to the max.

I took the P1000 on a trip around White Rock Lake to see how well it handled, especially at extreme zoom with and without a tripod.

The P1000 is a big camera, but I am a big guy with big hands, and it was just fine to carry around and shoot. I carried it over my shoulder, but that is what I had to do with heavy cameras and lenses back when I was a news photographer, so that did not bother me.

With the lens extended, keeping the camera steady gets interesting. I found myself looking for stationary objects to help steady my aim.

A monopod or tripod would be helpful. The 3,000 mm lens made things interesting when shooting all the way across the lake or reaching out to bring in birds at the spillway.

Overall, I liked the P1000, but I am not sure it’s right for everyone.

If I were a bird watcher or into sports or wildlife photography, this would be a great camera to buy.

On a vacation, it is certainly all the camera you would need, but is the increase in size and weight a good trade-off for the long lens?

Interestingly, Nikon still sells the P900, which is smaller and lighter and has most of the lens range of the P1000. It obviously sees a market where both are viable.

If the thought of that huge zoom lens is making you giddy with possibilities, you are a good candidate to buy one.

Kudos again to Nikon for giving us choices. The P1000 is sure a lot of fun to use.

Pros: Biggest zoom lens; image stabilisation; SmartBridge app.

Cons: Underwhelming battery; heavy; difficult to hold at maximum zoom.

Bottom line: P1000 has more lens than most of us need, but I had fun with it.

PARIS — Skin cancer deaths among men have soared in wealthy nations since 1985, with mortality rates among women rising more slowly or even declining, researchers told a medical conference in Glasgow on Sunday.

Reasons for the discrepancy between sexes are unclear but evidence suggests men are “less likely to protect themselves from the sun” or heed public health warnings, lead researcher Dorothy Yang, a doctor at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London, told AFP. 

More than 90 per cent of melanoma cancers are caused by skin cell damage from exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation such as tanning beds, according to the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

In eight of 18 countries examined, men’s skin cancer death rates increased over three decades by at least 50 per cent.

In two nations — Ireland and Croatia — it roughly doubled.

Also seeing a sharp jump were Spain and Britain (70 per cent), The Netherlands (60 per cent), as well as France and Belgium (50 per cent).

In the United States, which was not included in the study, male melanoma mortality went up by about 25 per cent, according to CDC statistics.

But the nations with the biggest rise in skin cancer deaths were often not with the most elevated mortality rates, the new research showed.

In Australia, for example, nearly six of every 100,000 men succumbed to the disease in 2013-15. That is twice the second highest death rate (Finland), but only a 10 per cent increase compared to 30 years earlier.

“Australia has been an early implementer of public health media campaigns since the 1970s to promote ‘sun-smart’ behaviour,” Yang told AFP by phone before presenting her data at the 2018 UK National Cancer Research Institute Conference.

While debate continues as to how much of Australia’s record skin cancer rate stems from depletion of UV-filtering ozone in the stratosphere, 30 years of public health campaigns have no doubt made Australians acutely aware of the dangers.

The so-called “ozone hole” was especially big over Australia when the efforts kicked off.

Skin cancer deaths among women in 1985 in Australia occurred at half the rate as for men, and declined by 10 per cent over the next 30 years, Yang and three colleagues reported.

Other countries where female mortality from the disease went down over the same period are Austria (9 per cent), the Czech Republic (16 per cent), and Israel (23 per cent). In several other nations — Romania, Sweden and Britain — there were slight increases.

In some other sun-loving nations, however, women saw at least as sharp a jump from 1985 to 2015 in death rates as men: The Netherlands (58 per cent), Ireland (49 per cent), Belgium (67 per cent) and Spain (74 per cent).

Japan has by far the lowest melanoma mortality, for both men and women, at 0.24 and 0.18 per 100,000, respectively.

Scientists are investigating whether biological or genetic factors might also play a role in skin cancer, but findings so far are inconclusive, Yang said.

Among the countless novelties we see every day in the world of Information Technology, including entertaining gadgets and more serious devices, there are three of them that deserve particular attention in this end-of-year. This despite the fact that one of them is not yet available to buy, though it should not be long.

These are Microsoft Office 2019, the very latest version of the company celebrated software suite, Cujo’s incredibly smart and affordable firewall and Samsung’s upcoming high-end smartphones, two of them with esoteric foldable screens and one of them “regular”.

MS-Office is largely considered as an indispensable software tool, used by hundreds of millions. It is considered a mature, very stable product by now, and of course a highly efficient one, covering a huge range of needs for computer users, however advanced they may be. Since version 2010 and the ensuing 2013 and 2016, all new versions have brought improvements that range from minor to significant.

The new version 2019, released a couple of months ago, and as explained by Microsoft, has better visual impact, faster translation between languages, “inking” capability, more charting options and nice audio cues to guide you while working.

However, the extra features are not the most interesting aspect of the suite. It is rather the competitive situation between Office 2019 and the company’s online version, Office 365, a situation entirely created by Microsoft itself, of course. The company is strongly pushing Office 365 for it is available based on subscriptions, a system that has proven more lucrative than selling straightforward offline licences. To entice users to go for Office 365 Microsoft is making Office 2019 rather expensive, about $450 for the Pro version. 

In comparison, Office 365 regular annual subscription is $80, plus the advantage of always having the very latest version of Office and a good amount of cloud storage on the way. Whether to buy a regular Office license like 2019 or an Office 365 subscription is a matter of personal choice.

Cujo’s firewall is a very smart little device that can prove very efficient to protect your network at home and therefore all machines connected to it. Firewalls are nothing new. You set up their parameters to allow or deny access, and they protect you from hacking, malware and intrusions. They perfectly complement antivirus software.

The difficulty insofar has been the price and then the complexity of setting firewalls parameters, the latter requiring the intervention of an IT professional. Firewalls made by famous companies like for instance Cisco RE in the $1,000 to $3,000 at initial purchase, plus a yearly subscription costing about $500.

Cujo’s device comes at a humble $100 and is a breeze to set up. It is a huge relief for households and small offices who need a good physical firewall, but were reluctant to buy one because of the price and the difficulty to do the set up. 

Last but not least is the never-ending story of always “new and improved” smartphones. Samsung is cooking its next flagship model Galaxy S10 due in about four months from now. We know little of it, except that it will feature the upcoming ultrafast 5G wireless Internet connectivity. It is not, however, the S10 that is the real novelty but the Galaxy F and the Galaxy X.

These two models are expected to create the revolution everybody has been expecting for a few years now by featuring foldable screens. It is the only way to give the consumer a very large display area without making phones that would not fit in a shirt’s pocket or a lady’s purse anymore. Despite the need for smartphones with very large screens, few people are willing to carry units larger than the current six inch (diagonal) standard.

Carrying phones the size of a tablet or phablet is not doable and folding screens are the only solution. Though there is a lot of information and countless discussions on the web about the Galaxy F and X, no date has yet been set for their actual commercial release, though many expect at least one of these two models to be available in 2019.

A substantial proportion of parents confessed to giving their children antibiotics that had been prescribed for someone else, according to survey results presented by US researchers at the American Academy of Paediatrics conference in Orlando, Florida. 

The practice promotes antibiotic resistance and risks exposing children to dangerous dosages, expired drugs with harmful products of degradation and potential allergens, study leader Tamara Kahan of Northwell Health in Lake Success, New York, told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

“Physicians should emphasise the importance of finishing the entire course of antibiotics so that there are no leftovers, disposing of leftover antibiotics when relevant, and the risks of sharing any type of medication with people for whom it is not prescribed,” Kahan said. 

Kahan and colleagues recruited parents nationwide through Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing online marketplace. Ultimately they evaluated the responses of 496 parents who met their inclusion criteria. Participants were 61 per cent female and 69 per cent white, with an average age of 34.

Overall, 454 parents, or 92 per cent, said they’d had leftover antibiotics in the house. More than one third of those parents (159 or 35 per cent) said they had redistributed the leftovers to others, including children and adults. Antibiotic diversion, as the tactic is called, was more common with drops and liquids than with creams and pills.

Parents sometimes put other family members on the same dosage prescribed to the child who received the prescription. Or they estimated a new dosage according to the age of the family member.

As many as 16 per cent of the survey takers said they gave their children adult medications. 

It is unknown precisely how harmful the practice may be, either to people or through the promotion of antibiotic resistance. Those questions will be studied in the future, Kahan says. 

“The study provides interesting insight into a common problem of ‘leftover’ antibiotics,” said Dr Jordan Taylor, a paediatric surgeon at Stanford University School of Medicine in California who was not involved in the research. 

“The researchers found that liquid or solution-based medications are more frequently stored and diverted; liquid or solution medications are used almost exclusively in paediatric patients as most cannot swallow pills. It would appear that more teaching needs to be provided by the providers or pharmacists on how to handle liquid medications once the prescription is complete,” Dr Taylor said.

A limitation of the study is the researchers’ use of Mechanical Turk to recruit study participants. Dr Taylor believes that a study of people recruited in this manner might not generate findings that apply to the general public.

Also, Taylor said, “It would have been interesting to ask the respondents why they kept the medications or if they had discussed what to do with extra medication with their provider.”