Features

LOS ANGELES — Marvel’s “Black Panther” opened as the most successful film with a primarily non-white cast of all time, industry data showed on Tuesday, raising hopes for a new era of storytelling by filmmakers and actors of colour.

The 18th release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe opened atop the North American box office with a stratospheric $242.2 million take over the four-day President’s Day weekend, said box office monitor Exhibitor Relations.

Its performance overseas brought the global total to $426.8 million, prompting analysts to conclude it had put to bed for good an old Hollywood adage that “black” movies never make the grade outside of North America.

“Black Panther’s international debut [of $184.6 million] forever slams the door on the myth that predominately black films can’t make money overseas,” said Jeff Bock, a senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations.

“From a box office perspective, though, I’m not sure I ever believed that. Even going back to Wesley Snipes’ ‘Blade’ trilogy, that series routinely kept pace with the domestic gross, and actually exceeded North America with the trilogy capper.”

“Black Panther”, directed by African American filmmaker Ryan Coogler (“Creed”), features a star-studded, almost entirely black cast led by Chadwick Boseman as the first non-white superhero to get his own stand-alone movie in the franchise.

Starring alongside Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o, Boseman plays the titular superhero also known as T’Challa, king and protector of the technologically advanced fictional African nation of Wakanda, an affluent, never-colonised utopia.

Domestically, it finished President’s Day with $40.2 million, the largest Monday box office receipts of all time, topping previous record-holder “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($40.1 million).

Glass ceiling

Yet to open in the lucrative Chinese and Japanese markets, its various achievements include the second-largest four-day total, also behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($288.1 million)” and just ahead of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($241.6 million).

Its four-day total also crushes the 2016 President’s Day record of $152.1 million set by Fox’s “Deadpool”, while its three-day opening breaks the highest mark for February and the best for an African American director.

Currently the highest-rated Marvel or superhero film of all time on the Rotten Tomatoes online reviews curator, with 96 per cent approval, Disney said it was expecting “exceptionally strong” word-of-mouth to further boost ticket sales.

The film has been backed to the hilt by Marvel’s parent company Disney, benefiting from a muscular $350 million production, marketing budget and monthslong publicity campaign.

This bucks the trend of US studios only committing modest budgets to black-specific movies, out of a belief that white audiences — particularly in the increasingly important foreign markets — will not be interested. 

The example often cited is the “Madea” movie franchise from Tyler Perry, which has made more than half a billion dollars across eight releases since 2005 — but with only one per cent contributed from overseas markets.

Bock said he hoped all discussion regarding skin colour and box office performance had been put to an end by “Black Panther”, giving way to a new era of inclusiveness.

“Just like ‘Wonder Woman’ shattered the glass ceiling of females not being able to lead a box office charge, ‘Black Panther’ should quell any future arguments that African Americans can’t deliver the box office goods in a tentpole film,” the analyst told AFP.

‘In the zeitgeist’

Film critic Eric Kohn places “Black Panther” on a continuum of influential and increasingly commercial African American movies starting with “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins’s first feature, 2008’s “Medicine for Melancholy”, taking in Justin Simien’s satirical comedy “Dear White People,” then “Moonlight” itself, as well as Oscar nominee “Get Out”. 

“In some ways, what ‘Black Panther’ represents is the culmination of all these different elements of African-American storytelling on a mainstream scale reaching that sort of level,” Kohn said on IndieWire’s Screen Talk podcast.

“It will obviously now lead to all kinds of different sequels and could remain in the zeitgeist for years to come. The question is, what else is there?”

The next big Disney release that could piggyback on the success of “Black Panther” is “A Wrinkle in Time”, directed by Ava DuVernay (“Selma”, “13th”), the first African American woman trusted to helm a $100 million-plus blockbuster.

The principal cast features mainly non-white actors, including Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Storm Reid, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michael Pena.

“That movie is not necessarily being seen as quite the same kind of great stride in terms of representation as something like ‘Black Panther.’ Is there more stuff going to be green-lit outside of this specific event movie that will continue this conversation?” Kohn asked.

“The assumption is yes because obviously it has proven to be profitable but, then again, there is still this disconnect in our industry. If you look beyond the most obvious examples, which are the movies, you have the gatekeepers at the studios and it’s still pretty white.”

LOS ANGELES — Disney-Marvel’s “Black Panther” is heading for a stunning $235 million debut over the four-day President’s Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed on Monday.

“Black Panther”, starring Chadwick Boseman and directed by Ryan Coogler, has blown away its original tracking in less than a month. The film, which carries an estimated $200 million production cost, had been tracking to bring in between an impressive $100 and $120 million when first estimates emerged on January 25.

Since then, “Black Panther” has become far more than just a popular tentpole title. Instead, it has become a must-see event as it veers into record-setting territory. Thursday previews brought in $25.2 million, the largest Thursday night preview gross for a February opener and the second-largest preview gross for a Marvel film. The film has continued to shatter all projections since then.

On Sunday, Disney estimated that “Black Panther” would take in $218 million for Presidents Day weekend, then revised that number upward on Monday morning by an astounding $17 million. The movie finished on Sunday with a $60.1 million — the second best Sunday in industry history, just slightly behind 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” record of $60.6 million.

With 73 per cent of schools closed, “Black Panther” business should decline 45 per cent from Sunday for a $33 million Monday and $235 million four-day debut.

“Black Panther” has also pushed the 2018 year to date domestic gross up 6.9 per cent to $1.65 billion, according to comScore. It is the highest three-day debut ever for a February film and the fifth highest of all time behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $248 million, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” at $220 million, “Jurassic World” at $208.8 million and “The Avengers” at $207.4 million.

“Black Panther” has demolished the record for the largest President’s Day weekend, blowing past “Deadpool’s” 2016 mark of $152 million. Overall North American moviegoing for the four-day period should hit an eye-popping $340 million — far above the $278 million mark in 2016, according to comScore.

Boseman portrays T’Challa, the ruler of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society, who conflicts with Michael B. Jordan’s Eric Killmonger, who intends to take over the throne. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira and Daniel Kaluuya also star.

“Black Panther” should dominate moviegoing for several weeks. Three new films launch next weekend with initial tracking on February 1 showing Warner Bros.’ comedy “Game Night” was projecting an opening in the $15 million to $20 million range on February 23-25, while Paramount’s sci-fi thriller “Annihilation” debuting in the $12 million to $15 million area during the same weekend.

Sony’s second weekend of family comedy “Peter Rabbit” is finishing a distant second with about $23 million at 3,725 sites for an 11-day total of $54 million, followed by Universal’s second session of “Fifty Shades Freed” with $19.4 million at 3,768 venues. The finale of the erotic trilogy has taken in $78.6 million domestically so far.

Sony’s ninth weekend of its action-comedy “Jumanji: Welcome to Jungle” finished fourth with $10 million at 2,800 venues. The 62-day domestic total has hit $380 million, just behind 2005’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” for 32nd spot on the all-time list. “Jumanji” declined only 21 per cent from the eighth weekend and its ninth weekend is the ninth highest of all time.

Clint Eastwood’s thriller “15:17 to Paris” followed in fifth with $9.1 million at 3,042 locations for an 11-day total of nearly $27 million for Warner Bros.

Fox’s ninth weekend of “The Greatest Showman” finished sixth with $6.4 million at 1,936 venues to bring its 64-day domestic take to $156 million. Lionsgate’s stop-motion animation comedy “Early Man” launched quietly in seventh with $4.2 million at 2,494 sites.

Fox’s fourth weekend of “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” slid 58 per cent and took in $3.2 million at 1,892 venues in eighth place for a 25-day total of $54.6 million. Lionsgate-CBS Films’ third weekend of Helen Mirren’s “Winchester” came in ninth with $2.6 million at 1,479 sites for an 18-day take of $22.2 million.

Fox’s ninth weekend of Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” rounded out the top 10 with $2.5 million at 1,050 venues for a total of $77.1 million. That was enough to edge Pure Flix’s launch of its faith-based Biblical story “Samson” with a modest $2.3 million at 1,249 sites.

Fox Searchlight’s 12th weekend of “The Shape of Water” came in 12th place with $2.1 million at 957 locations for an 81-day total of $53.7 million. The Guillermo del Toro fantasy romance scored a leading 13 Academy Award nominations on January 23.

PARIS — A few hours a week of light exercise — walking the dog, puttering about in the garden — lower the risk of death in older men, even if workouts are brief, researchers said on Tuesday.

Their findings, reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, challenge two long-held assumptions about the benefits of physical activity for the elderly.

To improve health and reduce the risk of dying, according to many national health authorities, workouts must be strenuous and more long-lasting.

In Britain, for example, the elderly are advised to do moderate-to-intense exercise at least 150 minutes per week, divided up into segments of no less than 10 minutes.

“UK and US physical activity guidelines don’t mention any benefits of light activity,” lead author Barbara Jefferis, an epidemiologist at University College London, told AFP. 

“When those guidelines were written there wasn’t enough evidence to make a recommendation.”

The study, which tracked 1,200 men without heart disease in their early 70s and late 80s, says such guidelines should be revised. 

“The results suggest that all activities — no matter how modest — are beneficial,” Jefferis said. 

Encouraging older adults to engage in no-sweat exercise also appears to be more realistic. 

Only 16 per cent of the volunteers lived up to current British exercise guidelines in sessions of at least 10 minutes. Two-thirds, however, did hit the weekly, 150-minute quota in shorter snippets of activity.

The research drew on data from the British Regional Heart Study, which began in 1978 with nearly 8,000 participants aged 40 to 59 from a couple dozen towns scattered across Britain.

In 2012, the 3,137 men still living underwent a physical check-up, and answered questions about their lifestyle and sleeping patterns. 

Couch potatoes

The study focused on 1,181 participants who wore an accelerometer — a device that tracks the volume and intensity of physical exercise — for seven days.

“The availability of body-worn activity monitors has enabled us to investigate whether light activity is linked to longevity,” said Jefferis. 

The men, who averaged 78 years old, were monitored for five years, during which time 194 of them died.

The study showed that each additional 30 minutes-a-day of light-intensity exercise was associated with a 17 per cent reduction in the risk of death. 

As expected, a half-an-hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity reduced the risk by even more — 33 per cent.

What counted, however, was the total time spent exercising, not how the time was divided up. 

The men who engaged in brief, sporadic bouts of moderately intense activity — mowing the lawn, swimming, walking briskly — were as likely to avoid the grim reaper as men whose exercise time was parcelled into longer sessions.

For both groups, the chance of dying was 40 per cent lower compared to full-time couch potatoes who hardly moved at all.

The authors cautioned that the structure of the study — the fact that it was observational, and not a clinical trial — made it impossible to describe the results in terms of cause-and-effect.

And in the comparison between older men who exercise — sporadically or regularly — and those who do not, the fact that the participants who volunteers to wear accelerometers were in better health to begin with may have somewhat skewed the results.

It was also not clear whether the findings would apply to older women, though Jefferis said there was little reason to think they do not.

“We didn’t have the necessary data for women,” she said.

A pint-sized brute with prodigious punch, adamant road-holding and feral performance, the compact Audi TT RS is the most powerful and capable iteration of Ingolstadt’s diminutive 2+2 sports coupe to date. An upstart banging vigorously on the supercar club’s doors, the TT RS is based on Audi-Volkswagen’s compact and versatile mass production MQB platform. 

Nevertheless, it virtually gate crashes on far more exclusive cars, and offers better daily drive practicality, efficiency and manoeuvrability, and a potentially more reliable and less worrisome ownership experience than many exotic prima donnas.

Aggressive evolution

Still a moderately popular sight on Jordanian roads, the original Bauhaus-influenced TT first arrived 20 years ago and has informed Audi design since. A seminal design moment for Audi, the original TT’s arced roofline, uncomplicated lines, geometric curves and clean aesthetic have evolved and are immediately identifiable in the contemporary third generation TT circa 2014. Launched globally in 2016, arriving in the Middle East last year and nominated for the Middle East Car of The Year awards, the Audi Sport division TT RS is expected to be available in Jordan either as a special order or in limited quantities. 

Graduating from junior “lifestyle” coupe in first iteration to pocket rocket hot on the heels of supercars, the TT has evolved into a more assertive design for its third iteration, and is distinctly more aggressive in range-topping RS guise. With its brushed aluminium style frame and honeycomb hexagonal grille, the TT RS also receives similarly metallic side mirrors and sharp lower front lip, bigger higher-set rear spoiler, dual oval tailpipes, rear diffuser, and broader more pronounced sills and side intakes and gills.

Fiery five-pots

Resembling a miniaturised version of Audi’s fully-fledged mid-engine R8 supercar in appearance, the front-engine TT RS may not quite challenge it for desirability, performance or ultimate handling, but is not as far behind in performance and ability as one might imagine. Powered by a uprated incarnation of Audi’s mighty direct injection 2.5-litre 5-cylinder engine turbocharged to 2.35-bar pressure, the TT RS develops a beguiling 394BHP at 5850-7000rpm and 354lb/ft at 1700-5850rpm through a finger snap-swift shifting 7-speed automated dual clutch gearbox with escalating response and paddle-shift manual mode settings.

With tenacious four wheel-drive traction clawing at the tarmac and a quick-spooling turbocharged engine, the 1440kg TT RS rockets responsively from standstill to 100k/h in just 3.7-seconds and, with optional speed de-restriction, onto 280km/h, yet returns moderate 8.4l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

With rasping, growling and distinctly burbling 5-pot acoustics, the TT RS pulls cleanly and meaningfully from low-end to haughty redline. Muscularly effortless through its wide and abundant mid-range, the TT RS overtakes with brisk confidence, while power piles on with a seemingly berserker rage and urgency as revs reach its power plateau.

Agility and commitment

Riding on a front-drive derived transverse engine four-wheel-drive platform, the TT RS is however engineered with a slight rear-drive bias, which with its short wheelbase and wide track, translates into agile and sure-footed handling. Turning into a corner with crisp immediacy, stubbornly effective road-holding and superbly taut and firmly flat body control, the TT RS is a sharper and more focused tool than other MQB-based model. 

Considerably more resilient to understeer and oversteer, the TT RS also turns on the proverbial dime through corners, with quick, weighty and exact — if somewhat clinical — steering.

Germanic is its motorway stability, refinement and planted ride, the TT RS’ real talents however lie in how it manages to seemingly unwind a series of corners with its nimble agility and unwavering commitment and grip.

Its tremendous road-holding comes courtesy of its Quattro four-wheel-drive which reallocates power front-to-rear and — with limited slip differential — side-to-side along the rear axle to find traction and translate power to forward motion on low-traction surfaces. Firmly damped and sprung, the TT RS rides with a buttoned down road-hugging quality, and is tautly settled on rebound and resilient to dive, lean and squat.

Dense yet practical packaging

Driven in Dubai on optional 255/30ZR20 tyres, the TT RS was firm, smooth and absorbent enough on most roads, with only jagged sudden speed bumps inconveniencing its comfort. However, for rougher and lumpier Jordanian roads, one would expect the standard 245/35ZR19 to be more suitable and forgiving. Densely packed with plenty of hardware in a small package, the TT RS is however well-packaged and accommodating in front, with generous headroom and good sightlines even for taller and larger drivers. Its hatchback boot is surprisingly accommodating, while small occasional use rear seats, absent from its Porsche Cayman and Mercedes SLC-Class rivals offer additional utility.

Decked with quality leathers, metals and plastics, and soft textures aplenty, the TT RS’ cabin has a pronounced sporting flavour including a well-adjustable and chunky flat-bottom steering wheel, supportive sports seats and a highly adjustable driving position with well-centred steering, pedals and instrument panel. 

Design is uncluttered and fresh, with a stubby gear lever, three round centre vents, user-friendly and advanced infotainment system, and Audi’s configurable Virtual Cockpit digital instrument panel. Well-equipped with standard and optional features, the TT RS is available with lane assistance safety system, reversing sensors and camera, and optional ceramic disc brakes.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2.5-litre, transverse, turbocharged 5-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 82.5 x 92.8mm
• Compression ratio: 10:1
• Boost pressure: 2.35 Bar
• Valve-train: 20-valve, DOHC, direct injection, continuously variable valve timing
• Gearbox: 7-speed automated dual clutch, four-wheel-drive, electronic multi-plate clutch and differential lock
• Ratios: 1st 3.563; 2nd 2.526; 3rd 1.679; 4th 1.022; 5th 0.788; 6th 0.761; 7th 0.635; R 2.789
• Final drive, 1st, 4th, 5th, R/2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th: 4.059:1/3.450:1
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 394.5 (400) [294] @5,850-7,000rpm
• Specific power: 159BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 274BHP/tonne (unladen)
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 354 (480) @1,700-5,850rpm
• Specific torque: 193.5Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 333Nm/tonne (unladen)
• 0-100km/h: 3.7-seconds
• Top speed: 280km/h
• Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 11.4/6.6/8.4-litres/100km 
• CO2 emissions, combined: 192g/km
• Fuel capacity: 55-litres
• Length: 4,191mm
• Width: 1,832mm
• Height: 1,344mm
• Wheelbase: 2,505mm
• Track, F/R: 1,564/1,543mm
• Overhangs, F/R: 893/793mm
• Headroom, F/R: 993/858mm
• Shoulder room, F: 1,362mm
• Loading height: 803mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.32
• Luggage volume, min/max: 305/712-litres
• Unladen/kerb weight: 1440/1515kg
• Steering: Electromechanical variable assistance rack & pinion
• Turning Circle: 10.96-metres
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link, anti-roll bars
• Brakes, F/R: Perforated, ventilated discs, 370 x 34mm/310 x 22mm
• Brake callipers, F/R: 8-/1-piston
• Tyres: 255/30ZR20

By Marian Podoleanu,

Health & Fitness Educator

Backaches are more familiar these days than the common cold. If your job or lifestyle has you stuck sitting for long periods, you probably know all about back pain!

During the simple act of sitting down and standing up, our glutes (the muscles that make up the buttocks) do the job and extend our hip joints. However, as we sit on this muscle for long periods of time, it gets drained of blood and energy. Therefore, when required to perform, it does not do a good job any longer. As a result, the body compensates with smaller muscles and recruits the hamstrings and back extensors to stand and sit. These muscles are built to assist the glutes rather than take over the load as main force producing muscles. This alteration in their function generates tension in the pelvic region and with it the aches people complain about, as the anchor points for the hamstrings and back extensors muscles are in proximity of the sacral region, at the bottom of the spine. To prevent this imbalance, we must prevent the glutes from becoming weak while also strengthening and lengthening the hamstrings and back extensors.

Tips to prevent weakening glutes

1. Walk for 15 minutes every hour. Consider it your thinking break at the office, as it also supplies your body and brain with much-needed oxygen and nutrients.

2. Hydrate. When hydrated, circulation is more efficient and the blood (in its thinnest, most fluid form) reaches the finer blood vessels in the body.

3. Strengthen the glutes with hip bridges (see photo). Perform three to five sets of 15 to 20 repetitions each at a slow pace.

4. Practise a proper squatting technique (see illustration). Perform three to five sets of 15 to 20 repetitions with just the body weight at a slow pace. Use a chair for assistance.

5. Stretch the hips (see illustration). Once you feel tension through the stretch, breathe calmly and hold the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Back to basics

Three muscular structures and one joint are at play in the common backache: 

• The extensors of the spine: muscles that we use when we straighten our backs.

• The glutes, or buttocks muscles: these are large muscles that activate when we stand and extend the thigh at the pelvis.

• The hamstrings muscles: the posterior thigh muscles that also extend the thigh at the pelvis and flex the knee

• The hip joint: the joint of the pelvis and femur or thigh bone.

Getting backup

If you feel pain in the body, you must acknowledge that there may be one or multiple causes at work. Seeking the advice of professionals early will help clarify the cause and needed treatment. Make sure that, during your meeting with a professional, you uncover the event or series of events that led to the pain. It might be the way you sit in your chair, how you sleep or other habits. Be proactive and get expert input early on to prevent the pain from increasing or spreading to other areas. Early treatment will accelerate recovery and get you back on track to enjoy life fully! 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours
magazine

Children who are just a few centimetre shorter than their peers are more likely to suffer a stroke in adulthood, a large Danish study suggests. 

Adult women who were unusually short girls at age seven years were 11 per cent more likely to have what is known as an ischemic stroke, the most common kind, which occurs when a clot blocks an artery carrying blood to the brain. 

Men who were short at age seven were 10 per cent more likely to have an ischemic stroke and 11 per cent more likely to have a haemorrhagic stroke, which happens when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures. 

How much kids grew between age 7 and 13 did not appear to influence their future stroke risk, the study also found. 

“Our study shows that a short height in childhood signals increased risks of stroke decades later in life,” said senior author Jennifer Lyn Baker of the Centre for Clinical Research and Prevention at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital. 

“People with shorter heights should work at changing modifiable risk factors that they can control, including high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol and obesity, so that their risks of stroke can be reduced,” Baker said by e-mail. 

For the study, researchers examined height measurements collected from age seven to 13 for 311,009 school children born between 1930 and 1989. 

Researchers followed half of the participants for at least 31 years, with the duration of follow-up ranging from 25 to 83 years. 

During the study, 10,412 people had an ischemic stroke and 2,546 had a haemorrhagic stroke. 

People who were just two or three inches shorter than average for their age and sex during childhood had an increased stroke risk as adults, researchers report in the journal Stroke. 

While previous data from the first half of the 20th century also linked short stature to an increased risk of stroke, this was thought to be due to factors like poor nutrition or childhood infections that might impact height, said lead study author Dr Line Klingen Gjaerde, also of the Centre for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital. 

“The results of our study challenge this hypothesis,” Gjaerde said by e-mail. 

“Despite an increase in average childhood height during our study period in the second half of the 20th century, which was most likely due to improved nutrition and better childhood living circumstances, the risk of stroke in shorter children did not diminish during this period, as we would have expected if these factors were the underlying cause of the increased risks of stroke,” Gjaerde added. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how short stature might cause increased stroke risk. 

Another limitation of the study is that researchers lacked data on how tall the children ultimately grew as adults, the authors note. 

Parents of short kids should not necessarily panic and assume a stroke is automatically in their child’s future, but they should take steps to tackle other risk factors for stroke, said Dr Steve Roach, a professor of neurology and paediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. 

“While explaining this phenomenon may help us to better understand why some adults experience strokes, height cannot be used to predict whether a given child will have a stroke as an adult,” Roach, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Promoting good diet and exercise during childhood are unlikely to alter that person’s eventual height very much,” Roach added. “But for other reasons, teaching the children good habits that they carry into adulthood is still a good strategy for minimising the risk of subsequent stroke and heart attack.” 

Spouses with uncontrolled drinking problems have a “large and rapid” influence on the likelihood their partner will also be diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder, according to a long-term study of married couples in Sweden. 

After a husband was first diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (AUD), his wife’s risk of a similar diagnosis immediately rose 14-fold compared to women whose husbands did not have that diagnosis, researchers found. But then her risk fell during the next couple of years to about four-fold. Similarly, husbands’ risk shot up nine-fold after a wife’s diagnosis, then declined to about three-fold. 

It is long been known that spouses tend to resemble each other in alcohol consumption and abuse, the study team writes in JAMA Psychiatry, but it has not been clear whether that is because people with similar habits seek each other out, or because partners exert a strong influence on one another. 

When the researchers looked at whether people had alcohol use disorders before their first marriage, and what happened in second and third marriages, they found that one spouse experiencing the disorder strongly influences the other’s current risk. 

“Marriage partners can have a very substantial and causal effect on each other’s risk for AUD. In treating one married individual, you need to take their spouse into account,” lead author Kenneth S. Kendler, a professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

About 15 million adults in the United States age 18 or older have alcohol use disorder, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). An estimated 88,000 people with AUD die from alcohol-related causes annually, including liver damage, certain cancers and car crashes. 

For the new analysis, which is the largest and first to look at risk over time and across multiple marriages, Kendler and his colleagues examined data collected from Swedish medical, criminal and pharmacy registries of residents born between 1960 and 1990. They identified 8,562 couples in first marriages with no history of alcohol use disorder in either partner prior to marriage, and one spouse developing the disorder during the marriage. 

The research team also studied 4,891 individuals with multiple marriages, whose first spouse had no alcohol use disorder and second spouse did, or the reverse. When individuals transitioned from a first marriage to a spouse with an alcohol use disorder to a second marriage to a partner without the disorder, their risk for developing the disorder themselves was halved. 

However, after a first marriage to a spouse without an alcohol use disorder, individuals who married a partner with the disorder raised their own risk seven- to nine-fold. A similar, but weaker risk increase was seen in third marriages with these combinations. 

“The finding that marriage to a non-AUD spouse can be somewhat protective for individuals who subsequently marry spouses with AUD in one spouse and the risk of developing AUD in the other spouse is novel,” Dr Marcia Scott, a project officer in the NIAAA division of epidemiology and prevention research, told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

Scott, who was not involved in the research, also said part of what makes this study unique is the focus on the temporal relationship between the development of AUD in one spouse and the risk of developing AUD in the other spouse. 

Among the study’s limitations is that it is based on registry data and likely reflects a higher proportion of individuals more severely affected by medical and legal problems than other prior studies, the authors note. 

Past research among twins and children of alcoholics has shown that genetic factors do influence alcoholism, they add. The current study indicates, though, that alcohol use disorders shared by married couples are not just a result of people seeking out mates who are similar to them in this regard, the authors write. 

“Additional research can help to illuminate the interplay of social and genetic factors on risk and protective mechanisms of marital status on development of AUD across the lifespan, and the impact of these factors on couples’ children as well,” Scott said.

PARIS — African Matabele ants dress the wounds of comrades injured during hunting raids and nurse them back to health, according to an “astonishing” discovery reported on Wednesday.

After collecting their wounded from the battlefield and carrying them back home, nestmates become medics, massing around patients for “intense licking” of open wounds, according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

This behaviour reduces the fatality rate from about 80 per cent of injured soldiers to a mere 10 per cent, researchers observed.

The study claimed to be the first to show such nursing behaviour in any non-human animal.

“This is not conducted through self-medication, as is known in many animals, but rather through treatment by nestmates which, through intense licking of the wound, are likely able to prevent an infection,” said study co-author Erik Frank.

He contributed to the research when he was at the Julius Maximilian University of Wuerzburg in Germany, and continues his work at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Frank had also taken part in a previous study, published last year, describing the ants’ battleground rescue behaviour.

The new research focused on what happens to the injured back in the nest.

Matabeles, one of the world’s largest ant species, are fierce warriors and attack even humans with their ferocious bite.

Named after Southern Africa’s feared Matabele warrior tribe, the insects hunt termites bigger than themselves, attacking their feeding sites in column formations of 200-600 individuals.

This hunting method causes many ants to get hurt, often having their legs bitten off by termite soldiers.

How do they know?

In the aftermath of fighting, while some of the ants return home with their dead termite prey, others scuttle around the battlefield looking for injured colleagues.

“After the battle, injured ants call for help with pheromones,” a chemical SOS signal produced in a special gland, said Frank.

Rescuers use their strong jaws to pick up the wounded and drag them back to the nest for treatment.

Astoundingly, warriors that are too severely injured — missing five of their six legs, for example — signal rescuers not to bother picking them up.

Unlike peers that are less seriously hurt and lie still to make their saviours’ job easier, terminally-wounded ants lash out and struggle until rescuers give up and move on.

According to Frank, three to five ants from a colony are injured in an average raid — adding up to about 20 casualties a day.

“Since the colony has a relatively small birth rate of only 10-14 ants per day, this high number of injuries per day would be very costly for them if they wouldn’t save the injured,” he told AFP by e-mail.

The discovery raised several questions, said the University of Wuerzburg, hailing the “astonishing discovery” in a press statement.

“How do ants recognise where exactly a mate was injured? How do they know when to stop dressing the wounds? Is treatment purely preventive [to avoid infection] or also therapeutic, after an infection has occurred?”

HONG KONG — As the Chinese zodiac switches into the Year of the Dog later this week, Hong Kong feng shui experts predict anything but a walk in the park for global leaders.

Born in another dog year, 1946, United States president Donald Trump faces a run of bad luck, according to soothsayers, as his zodiac animal clashes with 2018’s canine theme.

Feng shui — literally meaning “wind-water” — is influential in many parts of Asia, where people adjust their lives and carefully position items such as a cup of wine or pieces of crystal in offices and homes to maximise their luck and wealth.

The philosophy says that all events are dictated by the varying balances in the five elements that make up the universe: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

Trump’s birth date makes him a “fire dog”, but 2018 is an “earth dog” year, a mismatch of elements. 

The fire in Trump’s own birth chart will foment and affect his health, says feng shui master Thierry Chow, while his words — the fire element also represents speech — may bring about “real problems” and tangible consequences.

“The elements are too much fire and too much earth, so that’s going to be causing him imbalance in his fortune,” Chow told AFP.

Chow uses the “flying star” system to make her predictions based on constellation positions, foreseeing more tensions between the US and North Korea, which is afflicted by the most malevolent number five star.

She also warned of the risk of crossed wires between Trump and China on the thorny issues of trade and the economy. 

“The seventh star is falling onto the east side — the star affects communication, it causes gossip and misunderstanding,” says Chow.

Feng shui runs through life in Hong Kong, with many people seeking advice from masters before making important life decisions, from picking a wedding date to choosing a new home. 

Major companies also employ their own feng shui consultants to dictate interior designs and give investment advice.

Each year, brokerage firm CLSA comes out with its own Feng Shui Index, predicting what the next 12 months holds for the business world. 

In 2018, it divined that the internet, utilities and technology sectors would perform with flying colours.

All are categorised as “fire-related” industries, and will do particularly well between May and July, feng shui experts said. 

However, with the city’s bourse going through a rollercoaster of highs and lows, the brokerage masters advised a cool head to navigate the earth dog market. 

“The dog represents duty and loyalty and is a sign of defence and protection,” it said in its public predictions.

“Entrepreneurs should stick with their most loyal clients, and investors are advised not to bite off more than they can chew.”

Away from politics and finance, Chow predicted a happy wedding for Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who will tie the knot in May. 

The earth element represents royalty in the Chinese calendar and combined with the image of a candle associated with May in the traditional almanac the elements are aligned for a day of celebration. 

“I think it will be very smooth — it will bring very good things to the country and good energy to the world,” Chow said of the marriage.