Your heartbeat accelerates, you have butterflies in the stomach, you feel euphoric and a bit silly. It's all part of falling passionately in love -- and scientists now tell us the feeling won't last more than a year.
The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers.
The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships.
But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the 'love molecule' in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.
The Italian researchers, publishing their study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, said it was not clear how falling in love triggers higher levels of NGF, but the molecule clearly has an important role in the "social chemistry" between people at the start of a relationship.
20051130
Longer needles needed for fatter buttocks
Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle, researchers said on Monday.
Standard-sized needles failed to reach the buttock muscle in 23 out of 25 women whose rears were examined after what was supposed to be an intramuscular injection of a drug.
Two-thirds of the 50 patients in the study did not receive the full dosage of the drug, which instead lodged in the fat tissue of their buttocks, researchers from The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin said in a presentation to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Besides patients receiving less than the correct drug dosage, medications that remain lodged in fat can cause infection or irritation, researchers Victoria Chan said.
"There is no question that obesity is the underlying cause. We have identified a new problem related, in part, to the increasing amount of fat in patients' buttocks," Chan said.
"The amount of fat tissue overlying the muscles exceeds the length of the needles commonly used for these injections," she said.
The 25 men and 25 women studied at the Irish hospital ranged in age from 21 to 87.
The buttocks are a good place for intramuscular injections because there are relatively few major blood vessels, nerves and bones that can be damaged by a needle. Plentiful smaller blood vessels found in muscle carry the drug to the rest of the body, while fat tissue contains relatively few blood vessels.
Obesity affects more than 300 million people worldwide and is based on a measure of height versus weight that produces a body mass index above 30. An estimated 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.
Standard-sized needles failed to reach the buttock muscle in 23 out of 25 women whose rears were examined after what was supposed to be an intramuscular injection of a drug.
Two-thirds of the 50 patients in the study did not receive the full dosage of the drug, which instead lodged in the fat tissue of their buttocks, researchers from The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin said in a presentation to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Besides patients receiving less than the correct drug dosage, medications that remain lodged in fat can cause infection or irritation, researchers Victoria Chan said.
"There is no question that obesity is the underlying cause. We have identified a new problem related, in part, to the increasing amount of fat in patients' buttocks," Chan said.
"The amount of fat tissue overlying the muscles exceeds the length of the needles commonly used for these injections," she said.
The 25 men and 25 women studied at the Irish hospital ranged in age from 21 to 87.
The buttocks are a good place for intramuscular injections because there are relatively few major blood vessels, nerves and bones that can be damaged by a needle. Plentiful smaller blood vessels found in muscle carry the drug to the rest of the body, while fat tissue contains relatively few blood vessels.
Obesity affects more than 300 million people worldwide and is based on a measure of height versus weight that produces a body mass index above 30. An estimated 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.
20051128
Armed robbers snatch lion cub from zoo
Armed robbers made off with a lion cub and two Arabic-speaking parrots in a recent raid on Gaza's zoo, Palestinian police chief and newspapers said.
Suod al-Shawwa, the zoo's chairman of the board, told Palestinian newspapers four masked gunmen used blankets to try and snatch a pair of lion cubs, but only managed to capture one.
"They wrapped the lion cub in a blanket and took him away," Shawwa said.
He said the Kalashnikov-toting gang first tied the zoo keeper up in a cafeteria and then made their way to the cages, where they also seized the parrots.
Palestinian police chief Ala Husni said forces were investigating the theft and believed the cub and parrots were being concealed in a Gaza hide-out.
Shawwa promised a $1,000 reward to whoever managed to track the animals down.
The small zoo opened last month in the crowded, poverty-stricken coastal strip and is also home to squirrels, monkeys, an ostrich, and some household pets.
Lawlessness in Gaza has increased since Israel completed its pullout in September, ending 38 years of occupation.
Rival armed groups have been trying to stake a claim to power in Gaza ahead of key parliamentary elections in January.
Suod al-Shawwa, the zoo's chairman of the board, told Palestinian newspapers four masked gunmen used blankets to try and snatch a pair of lion cubs, but only managed to capture one.
"They wrapped the lion cub in a blanket and took him away," Shawwa said.
He said the Kalashnikov-toting gang first tied the zoo keeper up in a cafeteria and then made their way to the cages, where they also seized the parrots.
Palestinian police chief Ala Husni said forces were investigating the theft and believed the cub and parrots were being concealed in a Gaza hide-out.
Shawwa promised a $1,000 reward to whoever managed to track the animals down.
The small zoo opened last month in the crowded, poverty-stricken coastal strip and is also home to squirrels, monkeys, an ostrich, and some household pets.
Lawlessness in Gaza has increased since Israel completed its pullout in September, ending 38 years of occupation.
Rival armed groups have been trying to stake a claim to power in Gaza ahead of key parliamentary elections in January.
20051125
Good news for inmates who aren't already tattooed
Canadian inmates can now get tattoos in prison parlors under a pilot program aimed at cutting down use of unclean needles and the spread of disease.
The Canadian government showed off its tattoo parlor program on Thursday at a prison in Bath, Ontario, where it is being tested.
"The program has advantages in that we can take a practice that already occurs, and make it safer," said Holly Knowles, a spokeswoman for Correctional Services Canada. "We're trying to reduce the amount of make-shift needles."
The government believes secret tattooing contributes to the spread of disease in prisons because of the use of shared needles.
Prison authorities say rates of hepatitis B and C among prisoners are about 30 times higher than outside prison walls. HIV rates are about 10 times higher.
To be eligible for the program, tattoo designs must be approved by prison officials and must not be gang-related, or deemed racist. Participating inmates must have a good prison record.
Prisoners are allowed a one-hour controlled session with an inmate tattoo artist for C$5 (US$4.25).
Officials said that if the pilot project is successful, it may be expanded to more prisons across Canada.
The Canadian government showed off its tattoo parlor program on Thursday at a prison in Bath, Ontario, where it is being tested.
"The program has advantages in that we can take a practice that already occurs, and make it safer," said Holly Knowles, a spokeswoman for Correctional Services Canada. "We're trying to reduce the amount of make-shift needles."
The government believes secret tattooing contributes to the spread of disease in prisons because of the use of shared needles.
Prison authorities say rates of hepatitis B and C among prisoners are about 30 times higher than outside prison walls. HIV rates are about 10 times higher.
To be eligible for the program, tattoo designs must be approved by prison officials and must not be gang-related, or deemed racist. Participating inmates must have a good prison record.
Prisoners are allowed a one-hour controlled session with an inmate tattoo artist for C$5 (US$4.25).
Officials said that if the pilot project is successful, it may be expanded to more prisons across Canada.
20051124
CNN explains 'X' glitch over Cheney's face
CNN apologized on Tuesday and offered a rare explanation from its control booth for a technical glitch many viewers failed to notice -- a large "X" the network flashed over Vice President Dick Cheney's face.
The wayward graphic, which CNN said lasted for about one-seventh of a second, appeared during the network's live coverage of Cheney's speech on Monday addressing critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in
Iraq.
Word of the snafu quickly surfaced on the Internet, including still photos of the image posted by online columnist Matt Drudge, along with a story suggesting that some who saw the momentary "X" thought it might have been deliberate.
CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc., later issued a mea culpa saying an investigation by senior management concluded "this was a technical malfunction, not an issue of operator error" and expressing regret for the incident.
The network followed up with a special on-air segment during its "CNN Live Today" broadcast, in which anchor Daryn Kagan joined the network's technical manager, Steve Alperin, in the control room to offer a fuller explanation.
The "X" image, a place-holding marker used by technicians to cue up graphics, is not supposed to be visible to viewers but was inadvertently projected onto the screen by a malfunction in a "switcher" device, they explained.
"So, for all the conspiracy theories out there," Kagan said, " ... that's not what this is about. It's a computer bug that people deal with everyday. It's just that ours was in front of millions of people."
A spokesman for the vice president said Cheney had no comment on the incident.
The wayward graphic, which CNN said lasted for about one-seventh of a second, appeared during the network's live coverage of Cheney's speech on Monday addressing critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in
Iraq.
Word of the snafu quickly surfaced on the Internet, including still photos of the image posted by online columnist Matt Drudge, along with a story suggesting that some who saw the momentary "X" thought it might have been deliberate.
CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc., later issued a mea culpa saying an investigation by senior management concluded "this was a technical malfunction, not an issue of operator error" and expressing regret for the incident.
The network followed up with a special on-air segment during its "CNN Live Today" broadcast, in which anchor Daryn Kagan joined the network's technical manager, Steve Alperin, in the control room to offer a fuller explanation.
The "X" image, a place-holding marker used by technicians to cue up graphics, is not supposed to be visible to viewers but was inadvertently projected onto the screen by a malfunction in a "switcher" device, they explained.
"So, for all the conspiracy theories out there," Kagan said, " ... that's not what this is about. It's a computer bug that people deal with everyday. It's just that ours was in front of millions of people."
A spokesman for the vice president said Cheney had no comment on the incident.
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