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Launched in recent weeks and exclusively for Middle East markets, the Ram 1200 line is expected to greatly expand the former Dodge and now standalone American truck brand’s sales and market share. Complementing Ram’s full-size, heavy duty and lifestyle range of trucks, the 1200 will provide the brand with a presence in the crucial compact pick-up truck segment, which accounts for 90 per cent of total truck sales in the region, which as a whole comprises 13 per cent of new vehicle sales and is set to increase.

Well-proven design

A tough, rugged, affordable and efficient workhorse intended primarily for fleet operators and small businesses, the Ram 1200 is — like its European market Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Fullback cousin — based on the long-running, popular and well-proven Mitsubishi L200 pick-up line. An L200 in all but name and badge, the Ram 1200 is initially pitched at business users rather than a lifestyle or dual private and work vehicle, and features a choice of single or double cabin bodies, rear- or four-wheel-drive, 2.4-litre petrol and 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engines.

Available with 15- or 16-inch steel alloy wheels and visible exterior tie-down rails, the 1200 is a practical and utilitarian pick-up and runs on comparatively narrow 205R16C tyres food for comfort and off-road driving. Its design is futuristic and sporty in aesthetic, with a pod-like cabin, low and angled bonnet and long rear overhang lending it a sense of momentum. Practicality, its low bonnet provides excellent front visibility for one to confidently place it on road while its rising rear overhang allows for a generous departure angle for off-road driving.

Efficient performer

Driven in range-topping and most capable 4x4 double cab guise with 2.5-litre common-rail turbo-diesel 4-cylinder engine, the Ram 1200 produces 134BHP at 4000rpm and 239lb/ft torque at 2000rpm. As headline figures go, this falls short of some rivals more powerful mixed-use or lifestyle oriented range-topping models, which have not yet been added to the 1200 range. However, as an honest, affordable, efficient and rugged work truck, the Ram has all the power it needs to keep up with traffic in terms of acceleration and overtaking, and more importantly for hauling and towing.

Estimated to be capable of 165km/h, the 1200 however returns frugal 7.3l/100km fuel efficiency. Somewhat lagging from idle, the 1200 is best launched off the line by progressively lifting off the clutch to build momentum towards its more generous mid-range. Meanwhile, its 5-speed manual gearbox feels crisp, close and exact by truck standards, and is a pleasure to work to keep revs in the mid-range sweet spot, given the diesel engine’s relatively low rev-limit. Smooth and relatively refined in its flexible mid-range, the 1200’s diesel clatter is more evident at idle top-end engine speeds.

Rugged ability

The 1200’s four-wheel-drive can be engaged for driving over loose and low traction surfaces, while a low gear four-wheel-drive mode can be selected for more extreme off-road driving, where one would need to access maximum power at a crawling pace. With its somewhat narrow dimensions and low-slung bonnet, the 1200 is easily maneuverable off-road. Meanwhile its 200mm ride height and shorter wheelbase to rear overhang length allows for an almost even 24° break-over and 25° departure angles. Its 30° approach and 40° side slope angles are however generous.

At its smoothest and most efficient in rear-wheel-drive mode on road, the Ram 1200 was agile and maneuverable and agile through dusty trails with light user-friendly steering and responsive and effective front disc and rear drum brakes. During test drive it felt confident and settled on highway, and with good stability. Built on a tough ladder frame with independent front double wishbone and durable live axle and leaf spring suspension it took bumps easily, but not carrying a load in its bed, felt slightly bouncy on rebound.

Utilitarian and comfortable

Balanced through corners with some lean, the 1200’s live axle leaf spring rear however does not lend itself to hard acceleration through tight corners. Inside, it offers excellent front and side visibility for its class and good, if not segment-best space or access to the rear seats. Easy to drive and with well-positioned gear lever, the 1200 also offers comfortable seats and an alert driving position with tilt-adjustable steering and big side mirrors. Controls, functions and buttons are clear and user-friendly, while storage spaces are useful.

Utilitarian yet comfortable inside, the Ram 1200’s cabin is un-fussed and intuitive, and features tough hard wearing hard plastics and trim, and fabric upholstery. Standard equipment usefully includes power steering, body coloured bumpers, front skid plate front towing hook, tachometer, rear head restraints and three-point side seatbelts, and other features. Optional and package equipment include heavy duty air conditioning, electronic stability control, hill start assistance, ABS brakes, drive and passenger airbags, electric windows, tyre pressure monitoring, power central locking and 4-speaker audio system, among other equipment.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2.5-litre, in-line, common-rail turbo-diesel, 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 91.1 x 95mm

Compression ratio: 17:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 5-speed manual, four-wheel-drive

Driveline: low gear transfer

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 134 (136) [100] @4000rpm

Specific power: 51BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 74.4BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 239 (324) @2000rpm

Specific torque: 130.8Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 180Mn/litre

Top speed apprx. 165km/h (est.)

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.3-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 75-litres

Length: 5370mm

Width: 1785mm

Height: 1775mm

Wheelbase: 3000mm

Minimum ground clearance: 200mm (est.)

Loading floor height: 845mm

Approach angle: 30°

Break-over angle: 24°

Departure angle: 25°

Side slope angle: 45°

Kerb weight: 1800kg

Gross vehicle weight: 2850kg

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / live axle, leaf springs

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.8-meters

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs / drums

Tyres: 205R16C

The Mercy Seller

Brenda Rickman Vantrease

New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007, 422 pp

This historical novel opens in the year 1410 with a book burning in Prague, Bohemia, a centre for the Lollard movement begun by John Wycliffe in England, who translated the Bible into English and preached against the church’s corruption. “Today, it was only books — only holy words consigned to the flames, not the people who copied them — not flesh and blood and bone. But this was prelude to the greater drama.” (p. 1) 

Drama is never lacking in this sequel to “The Illuminator” (reviewed in “The Jordan Times”, October 24, 2016), as two opposing sides face off against each other. On the one hand is the Lollards who insist on people’s right to read the holy scriptures in their own language, and that forgiveness comes from God and is not to be sold by the church in the form of indulgences. On the other hand is the church hierarchy, which, determined to preserve its wealth and power, is pressuring the state to crack down on the Lollard reformists. As the Archbishop of Canterbury says to the King: “Whenever Lollardy has been preached there have been uprisings. The commoners feel empowered by the reading of the word for themselves. They no longer rely on the church. They say they answer only to Christ himself. Not to the archbishop… Or to the king.” (p. 343)

Author Brenda Rickman Vantrease greatly augments the built-in drama of this tumultuous historical period with her intricate plot and the particular life trajectories of her characters. While “The Illuminator” revolves around two strong protagonists, Finn and Kathryn, who know exactly who they are, “The Mercy Seller” tells the story of Anna and Gabriel who assume different and sometimes conflicting roles, at times disguising their true identities, lying and compromising on their principles. Yet, their respective zig-zags are not due to dishonesty, but to the impossible circumstances in which they find themselves as the conflict between the church and the Lollards escalates. 

Rotating between Bohemia, France and England, “The Mercy Seller” continues the saga, thirty years on, of Finn who illustrated the first Wycliffe Bible, and Kathryn, a noblewoman sympathetic to the Lollard cause. When catastrophe befalls them, Kathryn secludes herself in an abbey in England, while Finn takes refuge in Prague where he raises his orphaned granddaughter, Anna. Once lovers, they do not know what has happened to each other, yet they follow parallel tracks. Under Kathryn’s discrete guidance, the nuns of the abbey copy holy texts, including the forbidden English translations. Finn continues his illuminations, while gathering dissident students to study, translate and copy the banned books in Czech. Anna grows up in a world of equality, faith and books, and acquires her own bookmaking and translation skills which later allow her to make a living, but also expose her to charges of heresy.

When Finn dies, the noose is tightening around the Lollards in Prague, and Anna decides to follow his instructions to seek safety with Sir John Oldcastle in England, not knowing that he too has been targeted for his Lollard activities. She sets out on an eye-opening but perilous journey, initially travelling with a band of Roma and adopting a handicapped but musically talented child who later proves to be her salvation. But most of all, she feels totally alone: “Anna mourned her loss of connectedness in a world that no longer made sense.” (p. 133)

In Rheims, Anna and Gabriel, each pretending to be someone they are not, meet and fall in love, but what will happen when they revert to being themselves?

Gabriel would seem to be on the opposite side. He is a monk who sells indulgences, i.e., the mercy seller, and charged by the archbishop to spy on the Lollards. But Gabriel’s story, like that of many other characters in the book, is not what it seems. He and Anna actually have much in common. Both have been raised as orphans, knowing little of their mothers or their past. While Finn kept secrets from Anna to protect her, Gabriel was the victim of outright deception: A priest falsely claimed to have saved him from his allegedly prostitute mother and raised him in a monastery. 

As the lives of these characters crisscross, converge and collide, there is much fear, suspicion, agonising and divided loyalties as each tries to navigate the perils of the church’s witch hunt. There are also many self-discoveries and reunions with lost loved ones. Quite amazingly, the author ties the many threads of the plot into a coherent whole which gives hope, but not the facile satisfaction of a contrived happy ending.

Questions of faith, the importance of the written word, and the freedom to read and write in one’s mother tongue, are at the heart of the story. The parallel theme is the destructiveness of intolerance, giving this novel current as well as historical relevance. As Vantrease writes in the author’s note: “The Lollard persecutions continued until the Reformation. Many men and women were tortured and executed for religious dissent… Unfortunately, such religious intolerance did not end with the Reformation.” (p. 422)

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook wants to read your mind.

At least, when it comes to what you’d like to say or type.

The social network giant, at its annual developers conference, unveiled on Wednesday projects aimed at allowing users to use their minds to type messages or their skin to hear words.

“Speech is essentially a compression algorithm, and a lousy one at that,” Facebook executive and former DARPA director Regina Dugan told a packed audience at the Silicon Valley event.

“That is why we love great writers and poets, because they are just a little bit better at compressing the fullness of a thought into words. What if we could type directly from our brain into a computer?”

The project grew from being an idea six months ago to being the focus of a team of more than 60 scientists, engineers, and system integrators, according to Dugan, who heads a Building 8 team devoted to coming up with innovative hardware for the social network’s mission of connecting the world.

“We are just getting started,” Dugan said.

“We have a goal of creating a system capable of typing 100 words-per-minute straight from your brain.”

Cutting out implants 

Video played during her presentation showed a woman with an advanced neurodegenerative disease using her mind to move a cursor on a computer screen, slowly typing words.

Such brain-computer interface technology currently involves implanting electrodes, but Facebook wants to use optical imaging to eliminate the need to surgically intrude on brains, according to Dugan.

Facebook is looking at creating “silent-speech interfaces” based on sensors that could be worn, and made in quantity.

“We are not talking about decoding your random thoughts; that is more than many of us want to know,” Dugan quipped.

“We are talking about thoughts you want to share. Words you have decided to send to the speech centre of the brain.”

Such technology could let people fire off text messages or e-mails by thinking, instead of needing to interrupt what they are doing to use smartphone touchscreens, for example.

It would also have the potential to capture concepts and semantics associated with words people are thinking, making language differences irrelevant by enabling sharing of what is in mind, Dugan said.

“Unlike other approaches, ours will be focused on developing a non-invasive system that could one day become a speech prosthetic for people with communication disorders or a new means for input to AR,” Dugan said in a post on her Facebook page, referring to augmented reality. 

“Even something as simple as a ‘yes/no’ brain click, or a ‘brain mouse’ would be transformative.”

Feeling words 

The Building 8 group is also working on sensors that let people “hear” through their skin, with what they feel being converted into words in a variation on how the ear turns vibrations into comprehensible sounds.

“Our brains have the ability to construct language from components,” Dugan said.

“I suggest that one day, not so far away, it may be possible for me to think in Mandarin and for you to feel it instantly in Spanish.”

Such technology remains years away, according to Dugan.

Work under way in Building 8 “will one day allow us to choose to share a thought, just like we do with photos and videos”, Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on his page at the social network.

“Eventually, we want to turn it into a wearable technology that can be manufactured at scale.”

Facebook started the Building 8 group last year, and put it in the hands of Dugan, who had previously led an advanced-technology projects group at Google.

Before joining Google, Dugan ran the Defence Department’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, devoted to developing technology for the US military.

In movies, in the news and in real life, stories about computer hacking abound. Should you worry? What are the chances that you, a private user, experience an actual attack? Are there precautions you can take to avoid or at least to reduce the risk?

Hacking is a very real phenomenon, certainly exceeding the scope of fiction. It is also very common. If only big time hacking permeates out to the media and makes the headlines, less dramatic hacking takes place all the time, everywhere and every day. From Mr Everybody’s email that gets stolen and used to send massive spam messages on his behalf, to more painful credit card fraud and abuse, the trend continues and has gotten virtually beyond control.

Indeed, hacking is far from being limited to the sensational such as alleged vote rigging done by a country to another, or to snatching highly classified defence secrets. It happens at all levels and in all sectors. Two years ago international French TV channel TV5Monde experienced a broadcasting failure that lasted several hours. Investigation showed that it was an inside job and that someone had intentionally pulled out a few network wires from the servers’ main switch.

We all have to worry about being hacked, whoever we may be and whatever our business. Still, the risk is significantly lower for the private consumer than for big organisations, financial institutions, corporations, governments and the military; it is understood.

The size and the complexity of the networks, whether local ones or those going through the Internet, the mind boggling amount of data exchanged all the time over these networks and the density of the traffic, all are elements that make hacking more likely to take place than ever. Preventing it completely is impossible. It’s like expecting a megalopolis like Tokyo, Paris, London, Mexico, New York or Los Angeles to be 100 per cent crime-free.

Using strong, hard to guess or to decipher passwords certainly is a recommended method, whether to log into your computer or to protect your email box and other online services you may be using. By any measure “Tr6@bn#7KBw” is better than “123456”, for example… As unbelievable as it may sound, a large number of consumers do use “123456” as password.

Still, strong passwords have ceased to be an efficient method to protect you against hacking. The criminals have countless ways to circumvent such protection. They can simply steal the password by enticing you with fake emails or advertising to “click here”. A huge number of free software applications that you may first be glad to download and install without paying a penny have no other purpose than to steal your password without you even knowing what is going on. By the time you realise what happened it is usually too late. Just like in real life, it is all about deception.

You can install good anti-virus programmes, you can even go to extremes and install a physical firewall (the ultimate protection as it is known), hackers will still find a way to get into your computer, your data and your files if they really want to. And then again, you have the “inside job” that every corporation fears. To which extend can you trust the IT technician or engineer who has virtually unlimited access to the network?

In the last few years the question of computer and data security has become a speciality in its own right, within the world of Information Technology. Like there are database specialists or web designers, for instance, there are now IT Security specialists.

Hackmageddon, the nicely named Information Security Timelines and Statistics web site, indicates that in November last year, 82.7 per cent of hacking was cybercrime, 9.3 per cent was hacktivism, 4 per cent was cyber espionage, 2.7 per cent cyber warfare and 1.3 per cent was unknown. Hacktivism is a neologism that refers to “…the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose.” (whatis.com).

The site also provides interesting statistics about the sectors that are affected, as hacked targets. Surprisingly it is the industry that is the most severely hit, and by far. Single individuals come in third position (your reason to worry, as private user), whereas the military and social networks come only in ninth and tenth positions on the list, respectively.

All that single individuals can do is to follow the usual recommendations. These consist of using strong passwords and not disclosing them, disregarding and deleting even the slightly suspicious email or web ad, not clicking on anything clickable however glamorous it may look. It is also important to use clean, legitimate and original software, exclusively, not to insert into your computer USB flash drives from unreliable sources and to maintain original and updated copies of anti-virus software.

Avoid saving passwords on web sites during browsing sessions, and don’t let each and every one use your computer. It is called “personal” computer for a reason. If these measures won’t provide absolute protection against hacking, they will at least make hackers life harder.

There may be plenty of room for debate about whether some aspects of everyday life cause cancer — whether it’s drinking too much coffee, eating too much sugar or talking too much on a cellphone.

But the opposite seems to be true regarding the causal link with obesity, according to a scientific review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Fourteen years ago when the IARC, based in Lyon, France, first reviewed relevant studies, its expert panel issued a report finding sufficient evidence that excess body fat increases the risk of certain cancers. Now, the group’s latest reassessment, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, reaffirms those findings — and adds eight more cancers to the list.

“Since 2002 there have been a lot of new studies conducted. We felt like it was the right time to review the literature and maybe confirm the science that has been established,” said Beatrice Lauby-Secretan, lead author of the article and an IARC scientist responsible for the agency’s Handbooks of Cancer Prevention Series. The IARC is part of the World Health Organisation.

A working group of 21 independent international cancer experts reviewed more than 1,000 studies on cancer risk and excess body fat published since the IARC’s 2002 report. That evaluation identified that preventing weight gain can reduce the risk of colon and rectum cancer; a stomach cancer called oesophagus adenocarcinoma; kidney or renal cell carcinoma; postmenopausal breast cancer and cancer in the endometrium of the uterus. This year’s reassessment added to this list gastric cancer, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, ovary and thyroid cancers as well as the blood cancer multiple myeloma and meningioma — cancer that affects the tissue surrounding the brain and spine.

The risks are highest for corpus uteri, a cancer in the uterus, and oesophagus adenocarcinoma.

“The number of cancers that are linked to obesity has increased a lot, which means a much higher proportion of cancer that occurs today is due to obesity,” Lauby-Secretan said. Public health messages should be tailored to raising awareness about this fact, she added.

Results also were consistent for children, adolescents and adults younger than 25.

Overweight adults are defined in the study as those with body mass indexes (BMI) of 25 to 29.9, while obese adults have BMIs above 30. According to the study, an estimated 640 million adults worldwide were obese in 2014, which is six times more than in 1975. Around 110 million children and adolescents were obese in 2013, two times more than in 1980.

Meanwhile, the report also found that an estimated 4.5 million deaths in 2013 were related to overweight and obesity, a number that may increase as more cancers are found to be related to the condition.

“The epidemic of obesity has become a global concern,” Lauby-Secretan said.

Not all cancers have positive correlations with obesity, though. For example, there is only limited evidence of this link for fatal cancer of the prostate, breast cancer in men and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common blood cancer. Evidence is inadequate for cancers of the lung, testis, urinary bladder, brain or spinal cord. While excess fat does lead to higher risks of postmenopausal breast cancer, it does not have the same effect for premenopausal breast cancer.

The reason obesity may increase cancer risks, Lauby-Secretan said, is because excess body fat has been known to trigger chronic inflammation. It also disturbs the regulation of sex hormones. Both are common pathways for the development of cancer cells in the body.

But the awareness about the link can be low especially when Americans are inundated with news about how many substances — coffee or sugar, for instance — may or may not cause cancer. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research’s biennial survey released in February 2015, a little more than half of Americans realise that being overweight can increase cancer risk, a slight increase over prior surveys.

Alice Bender, head of nutrition programmes for AICR, said there will always be studies that disprove or prove links but when you look at the whole body of research, there is a scientific consensus on this particular point. And people can actively reduce cancer risks from excess body fat, Bender said, by eating healthier meals and exercising more.

“Oftentimes people are concerned about exposures in the environment or genetics or things you can’t control,” she said. “Rather than increase fear about this, we can see this as an empowering message: Here is something I can do to help myself lower the risk for many of these cancers... here are some lifestyle changes that I can make.”

Between the two researches, I found myself increasingly following the former one, which claimed that drinking wine before bed would help me lose weight. A study showed that wine and weight loss went hand-in-hand, thanks to a substance called resveratrol, a compound found in red wine that converted “white fat” into “beige fat” which was easier to burn off. Also, late-night sipping of wine curbed snacking that in turn, aided in dropping kilos.

The latter research of course rubbished the assertion of nightly drinking, and insisted I put down my glass at once, because even though the magical component in red wine converted “bad fat” into “good fat”, that was still fat and did not mean it would keep me from gaining calories.

So you see how academics out there contradicted each other? Just when I was rejoicing and beginning to enjoy my nocturnal ritual of gazing at the world through a crimson goblet of full-bodied Shiraz, all the while thinking that I was trimming my waist, out came the facts. A small glass of dry white wine had around 85 calories, medium dry- 95 calories, and sweet about 120. Also, a large (175ml) glass of red wine contained 120 calories.

Right! So I was back to square one. To drink or not to drink was the question. Most women living in Mediterranean countries credited their slender figures to regular wine drinking. They did not eat mindlessly on the sofa throughout the day and their meals were planned events where every mouthful was savoured. It was this discipline of eliminating junk fare like chocolates and crisps and swapping it for wholesome home made food, which they enjoyed with a glass of wine that was relaxing as well as slimming, I realised. 

The motto, as always, was to drink in moderation. People who drank too much had larger bellies because alcohol was a powerful appetite stimulant so the more you drank the more you were tempted to eat. Besides, if you had a lot to drink, the alcohol interfered with your body’s ability to burn fat. “Alcohol blocked the burning of everything else,” said Marc Hellerstein, a professor of human nutrition at the University of California in Berkeley. In other words, if your body was overwhelmed with burning alcohol, your food would be more likely to get stored as fat. Perhaps this was the secret of late-night wine. By drinking it a few hours after dinner, you gave your body a chance to digest it when it would not have to compete with food.

While I was still undecided about the two theories, out came another new one where scientist Dr Gordon Shepherd, from the Yale School of Medicine, discovered that drinking wine gave our brains greater of a workout, than even solving math problems, by engaging more functioning parts of our mind, than any other human activity.

The molecules in wine did not have any taste or flavour, but it stimulated the brain of the wine taster, when they swirled the wine in their mouths, thus creating flavour the same way it created colour, he noted. 

“Aha! Time for a workout,” I announced popping open my favourite wine. 

“So late in the night you going to the gym?” asked my husband. 

“You can say that,” I responded evenly.

“Are you ill?” spouse checked my forehead.

“Never felt better,” I exclaimed swirling the red liquid.

“Salud!” I toasted, when he did not reply.

“Cheers,” he clinked glasses automatically.

Antidepressant use right before and during pregnancy may be linked with a higher risk of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, hints a new analysis of past research.

But pregnant women on antidepressant medications should not stop taking them, because the data that tie their use in pregnancy to ASDs are weak, said the study’s senior author. Additionally, there could be consequences to not treating depression during pregnancy.

“Each prescription should be evaluated individually,” said Dr Florence Gressier, of the Bicetre University Hospital in Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France.

Gressier and colleagues write in JAMA Paediatrics that up to 15 per cent of women have depression during pregnancy. Women with untreated depression are at an increased risk of complications and poor follow up for a number of chronic health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

The use of antidepressants during pregnancy is increasing around the world, write the researchers. The most popular ones, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are linked to a number of risks and some benefits during pregnancy.

The researchers add that other research suggests children exposed to antidepressants in the womb are at an increased risk for ASDs, which the US National Institute of Mental Health says are a group of developmental disorders that may affect communication, social and other skills.

For the new analysis, the researchers combed academic databases for studies that examined the link between antidepressant exposure in the womb and the risk of ASDs. They found 10 studies with mixed results.

When the researchers looked at six studies with 117,737 participants that compared people with autism to people without, they found that children were 81 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with an ASD if they were exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy.

Some of that excess risk, however, could be explained by the mothers’ past history of mental illness. 

The researchers found similar results when they looked at antidepressant exposure during specific trimesters.

There was no link between antidepressant use during pregnancy and ASDs when the researchers looked at two studies that followed 772,331 children over time.

Data from four studies did show 77 per cent higher odds of ASDs among children born to women who used antidepressants before pregnancy, .

“I think this is one of these situations where this gets a lot of attention in the media, but the results are actually pretty challenging to interpret,” said Dr Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, of the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry in New York. “In some ways, the strongest association with preconception exposure and increased risk of ASDs suggests to me at least there is something hidden here.”

Veenstra-VanderWeele, who was not involved with the new analysis, told Reuters Health it is difficult to account for several factors that may also explain the increased risk of ASDs. For example, the researchers cannot control for the severity of the mother’s mental illness and how resistant it is to treatment.

“From my perspective, the data on antidepressant use during pregnancy in relation to autism risk would not prevent me from prescribing these medicines,” he said.

More detailed data are required, Gressier told Reuters Health. For example, researchers should collect data on — among other things — the mothers’ depression during pregnancy, depression severity, if the mothers are taking their medications, the dose of the medication and use of other substances.

Swift, safe, stylish and sophisticated, the Audi S5 is the closest thing to a direct descendent to the iconic original Audi Quattro currently available. With the recently unveiled RS5 high performance iteration of the A5 compact executive coupe soon set to take the mantle of successor to the 1980s Quattro, the S5 nonetheless remains more powerful than any road-legal versions of game-changing and milestone model. Rather than an outright brute, the S5 instead bridges the gap between garden-variety A5 models and the RS5, and is perhaps the most well-rounded and accessible car in its segment.

Stylish and sporty

A more stylish, sleek and lower slung personal luxury sister to Audi’s highly accomplished and high tech A4 compact premium saloon line, the S5 is built on the same basic platform. Incorporating sophisticated five-link suspension in front and rear, the S5 also features a similarly more aluminium intensive lightweight body construction as its four-door sister, and sheds up to 60kg over its predecessor, first introduced in 2007. Utilising more sophisticated design including optimised underbody covers and automatic grille shutters, the A5-line achieves remarkable aerodynamic figures as low as CD0.25 and CD0.29 for the more aggressive S5.

A sexier and more stylish car than its’ predecessor, the new S5 seems flatter, wider and sportier, with longer bonnet and shorter front overhang for a sportier stance. Meanwhile, its fascia features bigger air intakes and a broader hexagonal single-frame grille flanked by more defined and slim headlights with LED elements creating a browed effect.

Crisp, clean and un-fussed, the S5’s body features elegant yet defined ridges and character lines, and a wavy line across the flank to draw attention to its wheels. A level waistline and flowing roofline trail off to a pert boot and sharp rear headlights to complete the S5’s aesthetic clarity.

Fast and frugal

Powered by the latest iteration of Audi’s 3-litre V6 TFSI engine, now with a single twin-scroll turbocharger for enhanced efficiency and in place of its predecessor’s supercharger, the S5 produces 349BHP peaking at a broad 5400-6500rpm top-end. Eager through revs and with its climb to peak power underwritten by a muscular 368lb/ft available throughout a wide 1400-4500rpm mid-range, the S5 is ever-flexible and responsive when on the move.

Overtaking with effortless refinement and with a distant snarl at full throttle and as revs build towards its redline, the S5 was surprisingly efficient during its first media test drive on Middle East roads in Dubai.

Efficient yet swift in real world driving conditions and on long motorway jaunts, the S5 officially returns 7.4l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency with the larger 19-inch alloy wheels, as driven. Shod with 255/35R19 tyres digging into the tarmac, and with a quick-spooling turbocharger and Quattro four-wheel-drive ensuring tenacious traction, the S5 launches smartly from standstill, achieving 100km/h in just 4.7-seconds and capable of an electronically-limited 250km/h top speed.

Meanwhile, its smooth, slick and swift shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox features a broad range of ratios to optimise performance, versatility, refinement and efficiency, and features sportier selectable driving modes for quicker responses and a paddle-shift manual mode for more engagement.

Committed and composed

Lighter than its predecessor and riding on a more sophisticated five-link independent suspension set-up front and rear, the new S5 is one of the most agile and balanced cars using Audi’s traditional driveline configuration. With a front weight biased configuration with the engine positioned in-line and ahead of the front axle, the S5 develops huge levels of traction with no torque steer. Traditionally, the downside to this is a nose-heavy driving dynamic, but this is little evident in the S5. Tidy and composed into corners, the S5 is tidy and responsive to directional changes, and features a self-locking centre differential to manage front-to-rear power distribution and enhance agility.

Developing vast levels of traction and grip, the S5 is committed and thoroughly reassuring in it road-holding through corners, able to carry high speeds with composure. Pushed to the edge of its grip limit, the S5’s instinct is for under-steer, but this is mitigated by easing off the throttle slightly or the electronic stability systems. 

For added agility, grip and handling ability, a limited-slip rear differential is optionally available. And while adaptive dampers are also optionally available, the demo car driven wasn’t so equipped, but was set-up with the right balance for taut body control through corners and comfort over textural imperfections.

Smooth and sophisticated

Riding slightly on the firm side over jagged bumps and cracks, the S5 Coupe is otherwise a smooth, comfortable and buttoned down drive with excellent high speed stability and settled vertical control over dips and crests. Featuring quick and direct steering with meaty feel, the S5 is also manoeuvrable and easy to place on the road. Highly practical and user-friendly whether driving winding roads, fast motorways or in town, the S5 benefits from terrific road visibility, aided by reversing camera and parking sensors and optional assistance systems. Highly adjustable steering and seats allow for an alert, comfortable and supportive driving position, while ambiance is airy and instrumentation clear.

Spacious in front and with useable rear seats, the S5 Coupe notable features a generously accommodating and accessible 465-litre boot with flat floor. Thoroughly well-constructed with quality luxury materials and textures, the S5’s cabin is sophisticated to the eye and touch, and features a thick flat-bottom steering wheel, horizontal all-across vents for a sense of space, and user-friendly and intuitive controls and infotainment system. 

Thoroughly high tech, it features advanced infotainment including wifi hotspot for eight devices and predictive next generation driver-assistance and safety systems and adaptive cruise control, turn assist, traffic jam assistance, collision avoidance, rear cross traffic assistance and host of other driver aids.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 4.714; 2nd 3.143; 3rd 2.106; 4th 1.667; 5th 1285; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.839; 8th 0.667

Reverse/final drive: 3.317/2.848

Drive-line: self-locking centre differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 349 (354) [260] @5400-6400rpm

Specific power: 116.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 206.5BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 368 (500) @1370-4500rpm

Specific torque: 167Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 295.8Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 4.7-seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined:

9.9-/6-/7.4-litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 170g/km

Fuel capacity: 58-litres

Length: 4692mm

Width: 1846mm

Height: 1368mm

Wheelbase: 2765mm

Track, F/R: 1587/1568mm

Overhangs, F/R: 883/1044mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.29

Headroom, F/R: 1005/920mm

Shoulder width, F/R: 1404/1287mm

Luggage volume: 456-litres

Kerb weight: 1690kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.5-metres

Suspension: Multi-link, anti-roll bars

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 255/35R19

Spine surgeons are noticing an increase in patients with neck and upper back pain, likely related to poor posture during prolonged smartphone use, according to a recent report.

Some patients, particularly young patients who shouldn’t yet have back and neck issues, are reporting disk hernias and alignment problems, the study authors write in The Spine Journal.

“In an X-ray, the neck typically curves backward, and what we’re seeing is that the curve is being reversed as people look down at their phones for hours each day,” said study co-author Dr Todd Lanman, a spinal neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. 

“By the time patients get to me, they’re already in bad pain and have disc issues,” he told Reuters Health. “The real concern is that we don’t know what this means down the road for kids today who use phones all day.”

Lanman and co-author Dr Jason Cuellar, an orthopaedic spine surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, write that people often look down when using their smartphones, particularly when texting as compared to browsing online or watching videos. Previous studies have also found that people hold their necks at around 45 degrees, and it becomes even worse as they sit, versus standing, the study team writes. 

The impact on the spine increases at higher flexed postures, they add. While in a neutral position looking forward, the head weighs about 4.5 to 5.5 kilogrammes. At a 15-degree flex, it feels like 12 kilos. The stress on the spine increases by degree, and at 60 degrees, it’s 27 kilos.

“For today’s users, will an 8-year-old need surgery at age 28?” Lanman said. “In kids who have spines that are still growing and not developed, we’re not sure what to expect or if this could change normal anatomies,” he told Reuters Health.

Lanman and Cuellar suggest simple lifestyle changes to relieve the stress from the “text neck” posture. They recommend holding cell phones in front of the face, or near eye level, while texting. They also suggest using two hands and two thumbs to create a more symmetrical and comfortable position for the spine. 

Beyond smartphone use, the spinal surgeons recommend that people who work at computers or on tablets use an elevated monitor stand so it sits at a natural horizontal eye level. With laptops, they recommend a similar adaptation by using a separate keyboard and mouse so the laptop can be at eye level and still create a good ergonomic position while typing.

“It is difficult to recommend a proper posture for smartphone users. If we raise the phone at eye level to avoid the look-down posture, it will add new concerns for the shoulder due to the elevated arm posture,” said Gwanseob Shin of the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology Ergonomics Lab in South Korea, who wasn’t involved with the study.

“A more practical recommendation would be frequent rest breaks or some physical exercise that can strengthen the neck and shoulder muscles,” Shin told Reuters Health by e-mail. “Some apps can give alarming signals to users to avoid prolonged looking-down posture.”

Lanman recommends stretches and basic exercises that focus on posture as well. He tells patients to lie on their beds and hang their heads over the edge, extending the neck backward to restore the normal arc in the neck. While sitting, he recommends aligning the neck and spine by checking that the ears are over the shoulders and the shoulders are over the hips. 

“Ask your friend to take a photo of your upper body when you’re texting, then use the picture as the background image on your phone,” Shin said. “That will remind you to take breaks frequently. Even a short break of a few seconds — called a micro-break — can help our tissues recover.”

PARIS — After training a network of telescopes stretching from Hawaii to Antarctica to Spain at the heart of our galaxy for five nights running, astronomers said on Wednesday they may have snapped the first-ever picture of a black hole.

It will take months to develop the image, but if scientists succeed the results may help peel back mysteries about what the universe is made of and how it came into being.

“Instead of building a telescope so big that it would probably collapse under its own weight, we combined eight observatories like the pieces of a giant mirror,” said Michael Bremer, an astronomer at the International Research Institute for Radio Astronomy (IRAM) and a project manager for the Event Horizon Telescope.

“This gave us a virtual telescope as big as Earth — about 10,000 kilometres in diameter,” he told AFP.

The bigger the telescope, the finer the resolution and level of detail.

The targeted supermassive black hole is hidden in plain sight, lurking in the centre of the Milky Way in a region called the Sagittarius constellation, some 26,000 light years from Earth.

Dubbed Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short), the gravity — and light-sucking monster weighs as much as 4 million Suns.

Theoretical astronomy tells us when a black hole absorbs matter — planets, debris, anything that comes too close — a brief flash of light is visible. 

Black holes also have a boundary, called an event horizon.

The British astronomer Stephen Hawking has famously compared crossing this boundary to going over Niagra Falls in a canoe: if you are above the falls, it is still possible to escape if you paddle hard enough. 

Once you tip over the edge, however, there is no going back.

The Event Horizon Telescope radio-dish network is designed to detect the light cast-off when object disappear across that boundary.

“For the first time in our history, we have the technological capacity to observe black holes in detail,” said Bremer.

The virtual telescope trained on the middle of the Milky Way is powerful enough to spot a golf ball on the Moon, he said.

The 30-metre IRAM telescope, located in the Spanish Sierra Nevada mountains, is the only European observatory taking part in the international effort.

Other telescopes contributing to the project include the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in the desert of northern Chile.

All the data — some 500 terabytes per station — will be collected and flown on jetliners to the MIT Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts, where it will be processed by supercomputers.

“The images will emerge as we combine all the data,” Bremer explained. “But we’re going to have to wait several months for the result.”