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Driving the Audi Q7 as a last-minute replacement for a planned outing with the Ingolstadt-based brand’s beguiling signature RS6 super estate brute, Audi’s large 7-seat SUV may not have delivered the same high performance 552BHP thrills, but certainly no disappointment. In fact, it proved a rare — and happy — occasion of an otherwise understated car so thoroughly and comprehensively exceeding expectations.

Replacing a slightly larger predecessor, the reason the still sizeable second generation Audi Q7 so impressed is it handles, performs, feels and drinks like a smaller car but with large SUV convenience and comfort. Well-rounded, easy to drive, practical and luxurious, it also features an exhaustive, advanced and convenient suite of high-tech driving aids and infotainment systems.

Lower and lighter

Lower, slightly shorter, with massive and aggressive hexagonal grille, more assertive headlights and chiselled, ridged and sculpted bodywork, the new Q7 looks both more deliberate yet less overtly large. Appearing more like an estate-like crossover SUV, Its dynamics and efficiency improvements come courtesy of an extensive weight loss regime for numerous components and intelligent use of frame, body and chassis materials.

With extensive use of lightweight aluminium, the new Q7 sheds up to 325kg off its predecessor’s weight, and includes lower unsprung weight for improver handling and comfort. Stiffer for improved dynamic precision and ride refinement from noise, harshness and vibrations, the new Q7, and efficient CD0.31aerodynamics and a stop/start system also contribute to up to 27 per cent fuel efficiency improvement.

Fitted with large glitzy alloys shod with firm low profile 285/40R21 tyres, the Q7’s ride didn’t suffer from the low profile tyres, with an optional air damped suspension instead providing a generally supple, smooth and stable ride on Dubai streets. A full width clamshell tailgate reveals a wide loading bay, which with optional air suspension, can be lowered for a more convenient loading height.

Effective and efficient

Slung low and just ahead of the front axle for good traction, the Q7 45 TFSI is powered by a 3-litre supercharged V6 engine developing a prodigious 328BHP throughout a broad 5500-6500rpm plateau and 325lb/ft torque peaking at a wide and effortlessly accessible 2900-5300rpm. Mechanically supercharged with no lag associated with a turbo and with tenacious four-wheel drive off-the-line traction, the Q7 sprints through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 6.3 seconds.

As fast as a large SUV reasonably needs to be, the Q7 45 TFSI is smooth, responsive and consistent in delivery from tick-over to redline. With power build-up underwritten by a rich mid-range torque band, the Q7’s versatility and flexibility is enhanced by a slick, succinct and smooth 8-speed gearbox with a broad range of ratios to exploit is output for both brisk performance and frugal fuel efficiency.

Designed to optimise responsiveness, refinement, performance and efficiency, the Q7 45 TFSI utilises both direct and more traditional indirect fuel injection. Located between the cylinder banks for short tubing and quick compression and near-instant boost response, the Q7 45 TFSI’s twin intercooled 0.8-bar supercharger uses an electromagnetic clutch to automatically de-couples and re-engage as required for performance and fuel efficiency, which is rated at 7.9l/100km on combined cycle.

Dynamic duality

Featuring a 100kg lighter design to reduce un-sprung weight, the Q7’s all-round five-link suspension allows for better fine-tuning and versatility of purpose. Processing forces with supple comfort vertically and stiff and sportily horizontally, the Q7 delivers a smooth and forgiving ride, while simultaneously feels tidy, direct, poised and well-controlled through corners — Automatically adaptive air dampers additionally enhance this duality of character.  

Stable and relaxed at speed, comfortable over imperfections, settled on rebound and tidily controlled into and through corners with lowered centre of gravity, the Q7 hides its 2030kg mass well, with only faint dive on heavy braking in comfort mode suggesting otherwise. Its most unexpected and welcome surprise is, however, its size and weight belying agility and manoeuvrability, especially as driven with optional all-wheel steering.

Operating with small degrees of rear-wheel steering in the same direction as the front wheels at speed, the Q7 changes direction and turns in with tidy un-dramatic body weight transfer control and agile eager responsiveness. Between 5-15kmh, the rear wheels instead turn slightly in the opposite direction for a pronounced degree of manoeuvrability when parking or negotiating narrow confines, and a London black cab-like tight 11.4-metre turning circle. 

Classy and confident

With traditional Quattro four-wheel drive all-weather confidence and control, the Q7’s 60 per cent rear biased power split lends a more balanced, agile and sporty drive. Automatically redistributing up to 70 per cent power frontwards and 85 per cent rearwards in low traction situations through a self-locking differential for enhanced and adaptive vice-like grip and agility, the Q7 is tight and tidy into a corner, with resolute road-holding throughout and tenacious traction as it digs in and powers out.

Classy and comfortable inside, the Q7 features rich materials and textures, and a clean, uncluttered design. Cabin access, space and versatility is generous, supportive and well accommodating large occupants, particularly in front and middle rows. Versatile and spacious with sliding and reclining middle row and decent sized flat folding third row seats, the Q7 is also a voluminous cargo carrier, accommodating between 295 to 1995kg, depending on seat configuration. 

Thoroughly well-equipped, the Q7’s sophisticated semi-autonomous systems include night vision, rear cross-traffic, parking and lane change assistance which can nudge the Q7’s electric steering into lane. Adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assistance systems work together to anticipate, and prevent or mitigate collisions, and includes limited self-steering ability. The Q7’s features Audi’s configurable Virtual Cockpit instrumentation, and an extensively capable smartphone integrated infotainment system with voice recognition, touchpad and rear passenger tablets.

SPECIFICATIONS

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

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.8:1

Boost pressure: 0.8-bar

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

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive, self-locking centre differential

Power distribution, F/R, default (maximum): 40/60 per cent (70/85 per cent) 

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 328 (333) [245] @5500-6500rpm

Specific power: 109.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 161.5BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 325 (440) @2900-5300rpm

Specific torque: 146.9Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 216.7Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 6.3 seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.9 litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 183g/km

Fuel capacity: 75 litres

Length: 5052mm

Width: 1968mm

Height: 1740mm

Wheelbase: 2994mm

Track, F/R: 1679/1691mm

Overhangs, F/R: 978/1080mm

Headroom, F/M/R: 1071/1016/917mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1512/1485mm

Loading height: 693mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.31

Luggage volume, behind 3rd / 2nd / 1st row seats: 295-/770-/1995 litres

Unladen weight: 2,030kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion, all-wheel steering

Turning Circle: 11.4 metres*

Suspension: Five-link, adaptive air dampers

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 350/330mm

Tyres: 285/40R21

Price, on-the-road: JD67,000

*With optional all-wheel steering

NEW YORK – Doctors tend to get less aggressive care before death than the average person, a new study finds.

The question of what kind of care doctors themselves would receive is often on patients' and families' minds, the researchers say.

"Family members of critically or terminally ill patients sometimes seek reassurance from the physician that their loved ones are receiving the same care their physicians would receive," said lead author Joel Weissman, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Previous research teams have asked doctors what treatments or services they would choose at the end of their lives, but what care they actually received hasn't been clear, Weissman told Reuters Health.

As reported in JAMA, the researchers compared 2,396 doctors and 665,579 members of the general population, all at least 66 years old, who died in 2004 or 2005 in four US states.

They analysed services received in the last six months of life, including surgery, hospice care, intensive care and whether the person died in a hospital.

Overall, the doctors received less aggressive care. About 28 per cent of them died in a hospital, compared to 32 per cent of the general population. About 25 per cent of doctors had surgery in the last six months of life, compared to about 27 per cent of the general public. And about 26 per cent of doctors were admitted to intensive care units in the last months of life, versus about 28 per cent of the general population.

Doctors were more likely, however, to receive hospice care and to use less costly care before death, but those findings may be due to chance.

"Doctors understand [that] modern medicine can both help and harm people, especially at the end of life, and they understand its limits," said Weissman.

The researchers also compared the doctors to 2,081 similarly aged lawyers who died around the same time, since lawyers and physicians tend to have similar educations and similar social and economic statuses. Other than lawyers being more likely to die in hospitals, the two groups received similar levels of care at the end of life.

"What this says is that there is something about occupation and socioeconomic status that influences end-of-life care, but doctors still tend to receive less intensive end-of-life care," said Weissman.

The similarities between end of life care for the two professions may also be due to the fact that lawyers have helped clients with end-of-life planning, like estate planning and do-not-resuscitate orders, Dr VJ Periyakoil of Stanford School of Medicine in California told Reuters Health.

"We’ve seen what goes terribly wrong when people are not prepared or not sure what people want for themselves," Periyakoil said about doctors. "Whereas with lawyers, the angle would be slightly different."

The new study didn't analyse how satisfied people were with the care they received at the end of their lives, but Weissman said the consensus is that a good death is consistent with a person's goals and preferences.

"I think the big message is to have a conversation with your physician no matter what your age," he said. "And think of this study when thinking about your goals."

Periyakoil, who was not involved with the new study, said her own research shows that about 99 per cent of doctors report barriers in discussing end-of-life care with their patients.

"A conversation with your doctor is really important, but I think it’s equally important that you don’t wait for your doctor" to initiate it, she said.

She has led the creation of the Letter Project, which guides people through writing down their wishes for their doctors.

"We’re hoping once a patient documents it, doctors will take the opportunity to have a very focused discussion," said Periyakoil.

She said people can also talk with their families about their goals and preferences.

NEW YORK – Getting too little sleep during the week can increase some risk factors for diabetes, but sleeping late on weekends might help improve the picture, a small US study suggests.

Researchers conducted a sleep experiment with 19 healthy young men and found just four nights of sleep deprivation were linked to changes in their blood suggesting their bodies weren’t handling sugar as usual. 

But then, when they let the men get extra sleep for the next two nights, their blood tests returned to normal, countering the effect of the short-term sleep deprivation. 

“It gives us some hope that if there is no way to extend sleep during the week, people should try very hard to protect their sleep when they do get an opportunity to sleep in and sleep as much as possible to pay back the sleep debt,” said lead study author Josaine Broussard of the University of Colorado Boulder. 

The study doesn’t prove sleeping late every weekend can counter the ill effects of insufficient rest every other night of the week, Broussard cautioned. 

And it doesn’t prove that catching up on sleep will prevent diabetes.

“We don’t know if people can recover if the behaviour is repeated every week,” Broussard added by e-mail. “It is likely though that if any group of people suffer from sleep loss, getting extra sleep will be beneficial.”

To assess the impact of sleep on diabetes risk, Broussard and colleagues focused on what’s known as insulin sensitivity, or the body’s ability to use the hormone insulin to regulate blood sugar. Impaired insulin sensitivity is one risk factor for type 2 diabetes, which is associated with age and obesity and happens when the body can't properly convert blood sugar into energy. 

The researchers did two brief sleep experiments. On one occasion, the volunteers were permitted just 4.5 hours of rest for four nights, followed by two evenings of extended sleep that amounted to 9.7 hours on average. On another occasion, the same men were allowed to sleep 8.5 hours for four nights. 

After the four nights of sleep deprivation, the volunteers’ insulin sensitivity had fallen by 23 per cent and their bodies had started to produce extra insulin. But when researchers checked again after two nights of extended rest, the men’s insulin sensitivity and the amount of insulin their bodies produced, had returned to normal, mirroring what was seen during the portion of the experiment when the volunteers consistently got a good nights’ rest. 

The volunteers were given a calorie-controlled diet to limit the potential for their food and drink choices to influence the outcomes. In the real world, when people don’t get enough sleep they tend to overeat, which may limit how much results from this lab experiment might happen in reality, the authors note in a report scheduled for publication in the journal Diabetes Care. 

“The results from the present study are unlikely to be fully reflective of what may occur in persons who are older, overweight or obese, or have other potent risk factors for diabetes,” said James Gangwisch, a researcher at Columbia University who wasn’t involved in the study.

Chronically sleep-deprived people are more likely to develop other health problems, though, ranging from obesity to high blood pressure to cognitive deficits, the study authors point out. 

“By catching up on sleep on the weekends, people are reducing average extent and severity of the effects of sleep deprivation,” Gangwisch added by e-mail. “Ideally, we would all get sufficient sleep on a nightly basis.”

PARIS – About 7,200 babies are stillborn every day — some 2.6 million per year — and half of these deaths occur during delivery, according to a quintet of studies published by The Lancet on Tuesday.

The figures for 2015 represented a meagre drop from around 24.7 to 18.4 deaths for every 1,000 total births from 2000 to last year, the medical journal reported. 

The overwhelming majority of stillbirths, about 98 per cent, occur in low- and medium-income countries.

“But the truly horrific figure is 1.3 million stillbirths that occur during delivery, “The Lancet editors Richard Horton and Udani Samarasekera wrote in a comment.

“The idea of a child being alive at the beginning of labour and dying for entirely preventable reasons during the next few hours should be a health scandal of international proportions. Yet it is not.”

For the purposes of the study, stillbirths were counted as foetuses lost during the final three-month trimester, or after 28 weeks of pregnancy. 

Deaths before this cut-off are termed miscarriages.

The series found that prolonged pregnancy — delivery several days beyond the estimated birth date — was the main cause of stillbirths, contributing 14 per cent.

Next in line were maternal health problems.

Nutrition, lifestyle factors such as obesity or smoking, and non-infectious diseases like diabetes, cancers or cardiovascular problems, each accounted for about 10 per cent of stillbirths.

Malaria infection accounted for about 8 per cent of stillbirths and syphilis 7.7 per cent, the analysis showed.

An estimated 6.7 per cent of stillbirths was attributed to the expectant mother being older than 35, and 4.7 per cent to eclampsia — a serious condition of pregnancy that can cause seizure-inducing high blood pressure.

Rich, poor gap

Sub-Saharan Africa had more stillbirths than any other region.

Given the slow rate of improvement, “over 160 years will pass before the average pregnant woman in sub-Saharan Africa has the same chance of her baby being born alive as does a woman nowadays in a high-income country,” the study said.

But the series also highlighted wide gaps between rich and poor people even in high-income countries.

A poor woman in a wealthy country has about double the risk of stillbirth than a rich one.

“Stillbirth rates for women of south Asian and African origin giving birth in Europe or Australia are two-to-three times higher than white women,” said a statement.

The country with the lowest rate, with 1.3 stillbirths per 1,000 total births, was Iceland, and Denmark was next at 1.7 per 1,000.

They were followed by Finland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Portugal and New Zealand.

The worst performer, out of 186 countries measured, was Pakistan with 43.1 stillbirths per 1,000 total births.

The rest of the bottom 10 were Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Djibouti, Central African Republic, Togo and Mali.

In 2014, the World Health Assembly — the world’s highest health policy body — endorsed a target of 10 or fewer stillbirths per 1,000 total births by 2035.

But the Lancet series found the average annual rate of reduction, at two per cent, was far slower than for maternal deaths (3 per cent) or deaths of children under five (4.5 per cent).

The series was comprised of five research papers compiled by more than 200 authors, investigators and advisers from 43 countries.

A Healing Journey to the Lowest Point on Earth: The Dead Sea
Oumeish Youssef Oumeish
2015
Pp. 57

“Driven by historical and religious quests, attracted by its curative secrets, and spell-bound by the sunset touching its surrounding hills with ribbons of fire across its salty waters…” (p.3) Thus, Oumeish Youssef Oumeish invites the reader to join his journey to the Dead Sea. Who could resist such an invitation?

Noting that the Dead Sea has “a historical, geographical and spiritual legacy of its own,” (p. 22) Oumeish approaches the Dead Sea from many angles, combining scientific facts, religious references, elegant descriptive prose and spectacular photographs. 

As a medical doctor and dermatologist, Oumeish is particularly well-qualified to write about the curative qualities of the Dead Sea, which have been known for over 3,000 years. He explains the chemical composition of the water and atmospheric factors that make the Dead Sea ideal for healing psoriasis, eczema, vitiligo and other skin diseases, as well as bronchial asthma, while the Dead Sea’s black mud can relieve arthritis. “The Dead Sea is one of the most famous sites for climatotherapy. It is the lowest point on earth and the world’s saltiest lake, with its natural elements and minerals in addition to the mud present on its shores, as well as the filtered ultraviolet radiation. All these give the sea its curative powers.” (p. 30) 

Geography and geology come into play as Oumeish positions the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley in the context of the Great Rift Valley that extends from East Africa into Syria, and explains their relation to the Huleh Basin, Lake Tiberius, Main and other hot springs nearby. Several pages are devoted to the history of the rock formations present in the area, others to the trees and vegetation typical of the place, and another section outlines the processes involved in the potash industry. 

The narrative also deals with this unique natural environment as the site of ancient history and stories related in religious texts, both the Bible and the Quran, beginning with the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, “the twin cities of sin”. “The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah according to a geotechnical perspective study, was believed to be the consequence of a seismic event…” (p.4) 

Bethany is given even more importance in the book as the site of Jesus’s baptism. “That it occurred on the east bank of the River is an indication that this terrain is an elemental part of the Biblical Holy Lands… one of the three main sites of Christian pilgrimages.” (p. 23)

The book concludes with a page about the climatotherapy available at the Dead Sea Medical Center established at the Spa Hotel in 1990.

The photographs in the book are particularly outstanding, all the more so since many of them show salt and rock formations which are today hard to get a glimpse of, due to the receding of the Dead Sea waters and the transformation of the northeastern shore into a built environment. As Oumeish writes, “The rocks meet [the sea’s] lapping edges, appearing like snow, covered with thick gleaming white deposits that give the area a strange, surreal sense as if of another world. Salt formations along the Dead Sea’s shore with the algae growing on the crumbling rocks, take on the appearance of mushrooms.” (p. 25) Although Oumeish doesn’t mention it--perhaps in his determination to stress the positive qualities of the Dead Sea, it is this “surreal sense of another world” that is being lost in the race for development. 

All in all, Oumeish’s book reaffirms what a great asset the Dead Sea and its environs are to Jordan and humanity overall, in terms of health benefits, tourism, industry, agriculture and sites of historical and religious significance. Let us hope that Jordan’s planners work to preserve all these assets.

It is noteworthy that Oumeish dedicated his book to HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal in recognition of his leadership role in the scientific and humanitarian fields.

London — A sugar tax could be introduced in English hospitals in a move to tackle obesity that the National Health Service (NHS) said Monday could raise up to £40 million a year.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said that the levy on high-sugar drinks and snacks sold in hospital vending machines and cafés could be introduced by 2020, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

It is hoped the scheme would raise between £20 million ($28.5 million, 26.2 million euros) and £40 million.

“We will be consulting on introducing an NHS sugar tax on various beverages and other sugar-added foods across the NHS,” he said.

“By 2020, we’ve either got these practices out of hospitals or we’ve got the equipment of a sugar tax on the back of them,” he added.

NHS England did not say at what rate the tax would be set, but medical groups and health charities want it to be 20 per cent.

The health administrator said that bad diet had now overtaken smoking as the country’s main cause of lifestyle-linked illness.

“Smoking still kills 80,000-plus people a year, smoking is still a huge problem. But it turns out that diet has edged ahead,” he said.

“All of us working in the NHS have a responsibility not just to support those who look after patients but also to draw attention to and make the case for some of the wider changes that will actually improve the health of this country,” he added.

LOS ANGELES — While self-driving cars already are being tested on public roads, newly released safety data support the cautionary view that the technology has many kilometres to go before people can sleep at the wheel.

That doesn’t mean relief is decades away for commute-weary drivers. It’s possible, even likely, that within a few years, mainstream cars will be able to drive themselves reliably — on routes they have mastered, in weather they can handle, and on the premise that a driver will be ready to take over in moments.

Traditional automakers and technology companies such as Google are investing hundreds of millions — probably billions — of dollars in a race to market.

Google was one of seven companies required to disclose to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles the number of times a trained test driver had to seize the wheel either because of a technology failure or because a prototype car was driving unsafely.

The DMV released those reports Tuesday. The data they contain are the most detailed look yet at how safely the prototypes are performing.

Some questions and answers about what the data reveal about the state of the technology:

What became clear this week?

It became clear that even Google, which has done the most testing in California by far, is not on the cusp of perfecting a car that doesn’t need a driver. And that, for now at least, traditional automakers remain far behind.

The data on “disengagements” of the self-driving technology document the gap.

Google reported that, in 678,400km of testing since autumn 2014, its cars needed human help 341 times due to serious safety issues. The leader of its self-driving car project, Chris Urmson, said that while he considers the results encouraging, they show room for improvement. After all, by the company’s own analysis, there were 11 instances in which the car would have had an accident if its driver had not taken over.

Five other companies combined said their prototypes drove about 57,300km in the same time period — and needed human help more than 2,400 times. Those five companies were Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and parts suppliers Bosch and Delphi.

The seventh company, Tesla Motors, reported no problems — but did not report that it drove any test kilometres, either.

Wait, Teslas are perfect?

No. Just go online and you’ll find videos where the “autopilot” feature already in some Tesla sedans drove erratically enough that the driver grabbed the wheel.

The fact that Tesla reported no “disengagements” was puzzling. It could reflect a company interpretation of the reporting requirements.

Tesla isn’t talking. Asked about its problem-free report, spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn said the company was not releasing any details. The California Department of Motor Vehicles said it was still reviewing all reports.

What do other companies have to say about the data?

Google’s report offered the most detail and explanation, by far. Other reports were not nearly as descriptive.

A spokesman for Nissan, which has said it wants to have “commercially viable autonomous drive vehicles” by 2020, said disengagements are an expected part of testing.

“The timing of Nissan’s on-road autonomous vehicle testing sessions was as planned and consistent with our autonomous vehicle development schedule,” company spokesman Steve Yaeger wrote in an e-mail.

Other companies did not respond to requests for comment.

What are the blind spots in the data?

It’s hard to draw direct comparisons between companies. The raw numbers say nothing about the conditions the cars were tested under (one rainy day can mean many more disengagements), or how hard the companies pushed them. If one company ventured to the hilly, hectic streets of San Francisco, its disengagement numbers likely would spike.

That said, Google’s numbers do compare favourably to other companies. The Silicon Valley pioneer has a significant head start — it began testing several years before other companies.

DETROIT –  Tesla’s swift rise to both create and dominate the luxury all-electric car market has stunned Detroit. 

To hold that lead to the next plateau — the self-driving, mass-market electric car widely seen as the future of the auto industry — founder Elon Musk is rapidly staffing up with the best talent he can find: computer programmers.

Rather than look to Detroit for help to build his cars, Musk’s 12 year old company is focused on Silicon Valley to recruit some 1,600 software engineers for the next stage.

They are to help develop Autopilot, Tesla’s autonomous car IT system, with capabilities like the Summon function announced this week that can allow Tesla owners to call the car from the garage to their side at will, like a pet.

In a sign of his determination to beat Detroit at its own game, last November Musk used Twitter to get his message out. 

“We are looking for hardcore software engineers. No prior experience with cars required,” he said, adding “Should mention that I will be interviewing people personally and Autopilot reports directly to me. This is a super high priority.”

Autopilot is crucial if Tesla aims to have a fully self-driving car by 2018, and increase production 10-fold to 500,000 cars a year by 2020.

Ramping up production to that level, supported by Tesla’s own battery plant under construction in Nevada, is crucial to lowering the price of its cars to a more affordable level, perhaps $35,000, for the Tesla Model 3 electric sedan planned for 2017 — around a third of today’s price tag.

Such promises have kept financiers and investors still firmly behind Tesla, even though the Palo Alto, California company has continued to lose money while the big carmakers in Detroit rack up profits on the booming US auto market.

Tough competition 

If it meets its goals, Tesla could remain a player in the industry. But it is surrounded by likewise eager competitors. All of the large Asian, European and US automakers are ramping up their work on electric, driver-less cars. 

Crossing into the field with their substantial resources and tech capabilities are Internet giants like Google, Apple, and Uber.

Also crowding into the race are Tesla-wannabes: start-ups like Chinese-backed Faraday Future, which unveiled its own Batmobile-looking electric in Las Vegas last week, Karma Automotive, Atieva and NexTex.

All of them appear to agree that the future of the industry is in electric cars that can drive themselves. And they are all battling for the best brainpower Silicon Valley has to offer.

Can Tesla still lead? 

Tesla has a march on the competition; the question is whether it can hold on.

Its Model S and new Model X SUV both have Autopilot capabilities which allow hands-off driving in some situations, and it promises incremental expansions of those capabilities.

But rivals loom in the all-electric field that will test Tesla even before autonomous driving gains traction on the roads. Audi’s Q6 e-Tron promises a 500km range without charging by 2018, 50 per cent more than Tesla’s cars currently.

Mercedes-Benz has its GLE hybrid and BMW the X5. Porsche is putting $1 billion into its “Mission E” electric car and Aston Martin has an electric sports car based on its DBX concept targeted for 2019.

“This is going to be very tough for Tesla,” said Jessica Caldwell, an industry analyst at Edmunds.com.

“Porsche is an established name. They have a lot of marketing money, they have a lot of credibility, they have a strong dealer network... You can say the same for Audi.”

At the more affordable end, General Motors is rushing to market the Chevrolet Bolt, to arrive next year as a challenger to Tesla’s Model 3. In the same price range, too, there is already BMW’s mini-electric i3.

Karl Brauer, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book, says Tesla “has the cachet, they have the prestige the competition doesn’t have. Tesla is the Apple of the automotive industry”.

Even so, he warned, to hold its lead, Tesla needs to keep an eye on the calendar as well as innovate. The new Model X was around two years late on its original timeline.

But former GM executive Bob Lutz thinks Tesla, as it bleeds money, is a poor bet to win the race for the car of the future.

“Tesla is still doomed,” he said. “Whatever uniqueness they have it’s disappearing... They have to learn how to make money like other car companies.”

STOCKHOLM – A Swedish-Ugandan study has found that mosquito nets can be used as an inexpensive alternative to costly surgical meshes in fixing common groin hernias, Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute announced Thursday.

“Commercial hernia meshes cost $100 or more, which is too much for the health services and people living in poor countries,” said Jenny Lofgren, a researcher for the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A groin, or inguinal, hernia is a hole in the abdominal wall around the groin, through which intestines and other abdominal organs protrude. 

Without surgery, such hernias usually cause great pain and can lead to complications responsible for some 40,000 deaths a year. 

There are about 20 million operations for the hernia annually for the condition which mostly effects men. 

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute and Makerere University in the Ugandan capital Kampala conducted a randomised surgical trial comparing sterilised mosquito nets, costing as little as $1, with the regular and more expensive mesh usually used in hernia operations. 

Some 300 adult males from rural eastern Uganda were randomly assigned to receive one or the other type of surgical reinforcement by surgeons at the Kamuli Mission Hospital. The participants were then monitored for one year. 

The results showed no significant differences between the groups, and just one patient in the mosquito-net group had a recurrence. 

“These results are of great potential benefit to the many millions of people who lack access to good surgical care for their hernias,” says study project leader and surgeon Andreas Wladis, an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute’s Department of Clinical Science and Education at Stockholm South General Hospital. 

PARIS – E-cigarettes, touted as an aide for giving up tobacco, in fact lower the odds of quitting success, claimed research Thursday that was immediately criticised as flawed.

A research duo from the University of California, San Francisco reviewed the findings of 38 studies conducted across the globe into e-cigarette use, and concluded that smokers who use the devices were 28 per cent less likely to quit smoking tobacco.

Published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine, it claimed to be the largest review of e-cigarettes value as a tool to help smokers kick the habit. 

Looking at the data, it seemed that e-cigarettes in fact hampered attempts at quitting, the team said.

“The irony is that quitting smoking is one of the main reasons both adults and kids use e-cigarettes, but the overall effect is less, not more, quitting,” co-author Stanton Glantz said in a statement issued by the university.

“While there is no question that a puff on an e-cigarette is less dangerous than a puff on a conventional cigarette, the most dangerous thing about e-cigarettes is that they keep people smoking conventional cigarettes.”

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat up a liquid containing nicotine and artificial flavouring. The vapour is inhaled — “vaped” — and exhaled, much like a cigarette.

In the last few years, health experts and watchdogs have been embroiled in debate as to whether the gadgets, often not strictly regulated, are safe.

They can also be used with nicotine-free liquids, but some fear e-cigarettes could be a gateway to “real” cigarettes for teenagers.

Experts who were not involved in the new study were cautious, some scathing in their comments.

Peter Hajek, director of the Queen Mary University of London’s Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, called it “grossly misleading”.

The work, he said, looked only at current smokers who had at some point used an e-cigarette — thus excluding any former smokers who may have used exactly such a device to quit.

Ann McNeill, a King’s College London professor of tobacco addiction, said the review was “not scientific”. It included data from two studies she had co-authored, but used in ways she claimed was “either inaccurate or misleading”.

“I believe the findings should therefore be dismissed.”

Steven Bernstein of the Yale School of Medicine, in a comment carried by The Lancet, said that despite concerns over the data, the study did raise questions about the usefulness of e-cigarettes as quitting aides.