Cannabis use among students can lead to psychotic experiences, according to new research led by the University of Bath.
Using cannabis has been related to psychotic experiences in the general population but few studies have examined this relationship in undergraduate students despite high levels of cannabis use in this group.
Thomas Richardson from the Mental Health Research & Development Unit, along with colleagues in Dublin, asked 334 undergraduate students in the UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand to complete a questionnaire about their use of cannabis as well as a measure of psychotic symptoms.
The researchers found that those currently using cannabis were more likely to have had hallucinations such as hearing voices that other people cannot hear.
Those who used the drug more frequently were at a greater risk still of experiencing such hallucinations, and heavy use also increased the risk of having delusions such as believing that someone was reading their mind.
Thomas said: “The study found that those currently using cannabis had higher levels of hallucinatory experiences that those who were not using cannabis. More frequent use was related to an increased likelihood of hallucinations, and heavy use also increased the risk of experiencing delusions. This suggests that students who move from occasional, perhaps recreational cannabis use to more regular use are more likely to have psychotic experiences.
“I must stress the limitations of this research, but nonetheless these findings are important as undergraduate students as a population have very high levels of cannabis use. This research suggests that those who use cannabis are more likely to have psychotic experiences, which in the long run may increase the risk of developing a serious mental health problem. These results are therefore important for health professionals who work with students.”
312diggsdiggIt's terribly difficult to get reliable statistics, as numberstend to vary drasticallydepending upon whom you ask, but if you're inclined to believe thatAndroidismoppingupApple and RIM's declining mobile mindshare in the US, you'll find nothing but corroboration from Quantcast. The analytics firm reckons a full one-quarter of mobile web traffic stateside comes from devices running Google's OS, though it's important to know that the iOS tallies apparently don't include theweb-friendly iPad. You also might want to note that this is mobilewebtraffic here -- these days, we spend an increasing amount of our internet time in apps -- and since we're on a roll with the disclaimers, let's just add that these numbers have nothing to do with a company's financialsuccess. Nokia can attest to that.
Each week our friends atInhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
Solar power blazed a trail this week as we took a look at several hot new technologies, starting withSkyFuel's SkyTrough, which is being billed as the world's most efficient solar collector. We also saw solar energy take to the skies as designers unveiled plans for a fleet ofhigh-flying solar robots, and we were surprised to learn that common household dyes couldsignificantly increase the efficiency of photovoltaic panelsby optimizing their color absorption spectrum. Speaking of dye, from the realm of wearable tech we also brought you a breakthroughnew technique for dying fabricthat saves water by utilizing fluid CO2. We also saw a prototype for a wired"safe cuddling" suit for kidsthat wards off improper touching by sounding an alarm, and if you're a fan of high-tech footwear, check out thesetricked-out kicks that do double duty as Wii controllers. This week also saw a tremendous green boost for bits and bytes as the University of Leicester switched on itshyper-efficient ALICE supercomputer, which is ten times more powerful than its predecessor and stands to reduce yearly CO2 emissions by 800 tons. Meanwhile, researchers at UC San Diego revealed work on anew mobile phone chipthat harnesses "dark silicon" to boost smartphone battery life by a factor of eleven. We also showcased several efficient autos as Southern California rolled out a fleet ofall electric buses that can recharge in 10 minutes flat, and thehyper-miling Avion carembarked on a trip from Canada to Mexico with just 14 gallons of gas. And if you'll be doing some traveling of your own back to school this fall, you wont want to missthis chance to pick up an awesome solar-powered Sakku satchel. Finally, with Labor Day on its way why not upgrade your BBQ with an adorablealtoids tin mini grill- it's curiously
The Conservative party's director of communications, Andy Coulson, was editor of the News of the World when the hacking scandal first surfaced. Photograph: PA
John Prescott tonight demanded the Metropolitan police reopen its investigation into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal as theObserver revealed that Scotland Yard holds News International documents suggesting that he was a target when deputy prime minister.
Two invoices held by the Met mention Prescott by name. They appear to show that News International, owner of the NoW, paid Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the heart of the scandal, for his help on stories relating to the deputy PM. Lord Prescott spoke of his anger that the information, spelled out in a letter from the Yard's legal services directorate, emerged only after he was given a series of personal reassurances by detectives at the highest level that there was "no evidence" his phone may have been hacked.
The invoices are both dated May 2006, at a time when Prescott was the subject of intense media scrutiny following revelations that he had had an affair with his secretary, Tracey Temple. There is also a piece of paper obtained from Mulcaire on which the name "John Prescott" is written. The only other legible word on this document is "Hull".
The name "Prescott" appears on two "self-billing tax invoices" from News International Supply Company Ltd to Mulcaire's company, Nine Consultancy.
The Yard's letter, obtained by the Observer, states: "One appears to be for a single payment of £250 on 7/5/2006 labelled 'Story: other Prescott Assist -txt.' The second, also for £250, on 21/5/2006 contains the words 'Story: Other Prescott Assist -txt urgent'."
The legal services directorate adds: "We do not know what this means or what it is referring to."
In a statement to the Observer, Prescott said he formed the impression that the police were more intent on withholding information relating directly to him. "I have been far from satisfied with the Metropolitan police's procedure in dealing with my requests to uncover the truth about this case," he said.
"It seemed more about providing the least possible amount of information. I only discovered from the Metropolitan police that News International and Mulcaire were targeting me after repeated requests and in the end it came from their legal department, not the investigating officers."
Prescott said the letter showed there was "a compelling argument to reopen the police investigation and fully report on the findings to the public".
He added that he was pressing for full disclosure of all documents – including the invoices – and was prepared to seek their release through a judicial review. "We need far greater transparency to ensure not only that justice is done but that it is seen to be done."
Prescott's intervention follows a week in which the phone-hacking row was reignited by investigations carried out by the New York Times which raised questions about Scotland Yard's enthusiasm for pursuing the inquiry. The row has intensified the pressure on Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications, who was editor of the NoW at the time of the scandal.
Peter Mandelson also became embroiled in the row last night with theIndependent on Sunday revealing his mobile phone details were among lists of private data seized by police investigating illegal activity by News of the World reporters.
With MPs due to return to Westminster tomorrow, Labour leadership contenders Ed Balls and Ed Miliband said the allegations threw Cameron's judgment into question.
Balls called for the home secretary, Theresa May, to make an immediate statement about the phone-hacking affair to the Commons. He said: "This goes to the integrity of the criminal law, proper investigation and government communication, and there will be questions over David Cameron's judgment if he doesn't see the seriousness of this now.
"We need to know that this is going to be properly investigated. It does go to the heart of the integrity of communications in government. When there are now serious and new allegations and questions over Andy Coulson's integrity, that's something which has to be sorted out quickly and I hope David Cameron will do so. You can't just dismiss this as a piece of politics."
Miliband later said: "Instead of sending out a junior minister to just dismiss the allegations and not even engage with them, we need to hear from David Cameron and senior people in the Conservative party about what Andy Coulson's response is to these clear and detailed allegations. Until that happens, a cloud will hang over Andy Coulson, and indeed the government, because this is the man in charge of the government's media machine. He is not some junior office boy – this is someone at the highest level of government."
Prescott has placed intense pressure on the Met to reveal what material it has on him. Last September, the Met's assistant commissioner, John Yates, assured him there was no evidence to suggest his phone had been hacked. But Naz Saleh, the Met's assistant director of legal services, then admitted, following a further search, that it held information suggesting that Prescott had been a "person of interest to Mr Mulcaire".
The international development minister, Alan Duncan, said: "The Labour party – in a concerted campaign through Ed Miliband, Lord Prescott and Alan Johnson – have piled in to attack Andy Coulson about something that happened years ago in order to try to attack the government."
In a statement released yesterday, the News of the World said: "TheNew York Times story contains no new evidence – it relies on unsubstantiated allegations from unnamed sources or claims from disgruntled former employees that should be treated with extreme scepticism given the reasons for their departures from this newspaper."
A spokeswoman for News International declined to comment on information appearing to show it paid Mulcaire for help relating to stories about Prescott. However, NI sources said it often paid for help during its many investigations and the invoices – if genuine – were no proof of illegality.
The Met said no new evidence had emerged and "consequently the investigation remains closed".
YOUNEWSLEAK: How to Buy a Netbook: "Netbook makers are including more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts. We walk you through the latest trends and tell ..."
On this day in 1972, at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, a group of Palestinian terrorists storms the Olympic Village apartment of the Israeli athletes, killing two and taking nine others hostage. The terrorists, known as Black September, demanded that Israel release over 230 Arab prisoners being held in Israeli jails and two German terrorists. In an ensuing shootout at the Munich airport, the nine Israeli hostages were killed along with five terrorists and one West German policeman. Olympic competition was suspended for 24 hours to hold memorial services for the slain athletes. After being founded in 776 B.C. in ancient Greece, the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, with 13 countries and 311 athletes competing. The games were meant to foster peace and bring people together. Germany had hoped that the 1972 Olympics would be a celebration of peace, as it was the first time it had hosted the games since 1936, when Adolf Hitler, who used the games to promote his Aryan master race theory, was in power. The Munich Olympics opened on August 26, 1972, with 195 events and 7,173 athletes representing 121 countries. On the morning of September 5, Palestinian terrorists in ski masks ambushed the Israeli team. After negotiations to free the nine Israelis broke down, the terrorists took the hostages to the Munich airport. Once there, German police opened fire from rooftops and killed three of the terrorists. A gun battle erupted and left the hostages, two more Palestinians and a policeman dead. After a memorial service was held for the athletes at the main Olympic stadium, International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage ordered that the games continue, to show that the terrorists hadn't won. Although the tragedy deeply marred the games, there were numerous moments of spectacular athletic achievement, including American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven gold medals and teenage Russian gymnast Olga Korbut's two dramatic gold-medal victories. In the aftermath of the murders at the '72 Olympics, the Israeli government, headed by Golda Meir, hired a group of Mossad agents to track down and kill the Black September assassins. In 2005, Steven Spielberg made a movie, Munich, about these events.
YOUNEWSLEAK: How to Buy a Netbook: "Netbook makers are including more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts. We walk you through the latest trends and tell ..."
Netbook makers are including more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts. We walk you through the latest trends and tell you what features really matter in a netbook.
The first batch of netbook to hit the scene was greeted with awe and surprise. That tiny laptops, which were once sold at a premium, could be had for half the price of a typical system seemed incredible. Since then, the stakes have risen and the competition grown fiercer. Netbook makers are including more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts—all while slashing prices like a Walmart special. These devices, which are popping up in more and more households, are also becoming increasingly popular among small business professionals and college students who are about to head back to school.
The choices, meanwhile, are mind boggling, as netbooks are coming from all sorts of household names, like ASUS, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. As a category, netbooks are such a diverse group that it's hard to come up with a single, all-encompassing definition. The best indicators that you're dealing with a netbook are a low price, light weight, and low-powered components. Likely the system will have a screen on the smaller side and a basic feature set. Still, netbooks vary in screen size, typing experience, and specialty features. And now the the war is heating up between Intel and AMD at the component level. Despite all the look-alikes, there are certainly differences that warrant further explanation. Luckily, this netbook buying guide does just that.
Larger Screens, Bigger Keyboards
It's generally easy enough to tell a netbook from other laptops, but to distinguish between systems, you'll need to do a little homework. In the past, screen sizes defaulted to 10-inches with 1,024-by-600 resolutions on almost every single netbook. These days, netbooks are breaking away from this trend. Oversized netbooks like the HP Mini 311 and Lenovo ThinkPad X100e are sold with 11.6-inch widescreens, while the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Ion) and the Asus EeePC 1215N [[link]] are shipping with 12-inch ones. And their resolutions, as a result, are upped to HD-capable ones (1,366-by-768).
Once upon a time, full-sized keyboards were few and far between, but now they exist in netbooks as small as 10-inches. Case in point: The Toshiba mini NB305-N410, Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, and Acer Aspire One AO521-3782 squeezed one in to their 10-inch frames. The vast majority of netbooks still have cramped typing experiences (they usually range from 89 to 93 percent of a full-size keyboard), but expect that to change very quickly.
Usual Array of Features, Some Exceptions
You will find an abundance of USB ports, Webcams, card readers, and built-in Wi-Fi. Netbooks don't include optical drives—or at least not yet. Some, like the Lenovo S12 (Ion) and Dell Inspiron Mini 10s (HD), even have bonuses like ExpressCard slots and TV tuners. Bluetooth is a frequently seen feature in netbooks, while embedded 3G modems, which can use cellular signals to acquire broadband speeds, can be found in the HP Mini 5102, Toshiba NB305-N410, and Nokia Booklet 3G.
Atom Platform, Mostly
You'll also find the Intel Atom platform, made up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and memory (usually 1GB) in almost every netbook. Although the Intel Atom processor is the most energy-efficient netbook processor out there, it's not the fastest. AMD processors are making a name for themselves in the netbook genre, and they can already be found in netbooks like the Acer AO521-3782, the Lenovo X100e, and Dell Inspiron M101z. While speedier, the Athlon Neo—the AMD netbook variant—isn't as battery efficient, so there are tradeoffs.
Intel is already into its fourth generation of Atom processors, the most recent of which are the Atom N455 (1.66GHz) and the N475 (1.83GHz). These are single-core processors that have been updated with DDR3 memory support. The dual-core version—the Atom N550 (1.5GHz)—is anticipated to hit netbooks later this year, improving performance by up to 20% without impacting battery life. Along with the Athlon Neos, these new netbook processors are arriving just in time for the back to school and holiday season.
What to Consider
Standard netbook batteries start with 3-cell (less than 30 Wh) units, but many netbooks are now standardizing on 6-cell batteries. Our battery tests have shown that the smaller batteries will get you anywhere from 2 to 3 hours of battery life on a single charge, while the bigger ones range between 8 to 11 hours. If your activities include trips abroad and all-day classes, consider looking for netbooks that ship with 6-cell options.
You'll also find two hard drive choices, solid-state drives (SSDs) and spinning hard drives. The consensus is that spinning drives offer the best gigabyte-per-dollar ratio, and most of them start with at least 250GB of storage space. While SSDs have faster transfer speeds, are durable, and have longer life spans, they command much higher premiums than their spinning counterparts. In an extreme case, upgrading to a 128GB SSD in the HP 5102 will cost you an additional $450, more than the entire price of our review system.
Many of these netbooks will run fine on 1GB of memory. Some are even shipping with 2GB (AMD models) or at least can be upgraded to 2GB, provided you can make this simple upgrade yourself. (Microsoft has limited manufacturers to 1GB of memory on systems with Windows XP Home Edition and Windows 7 Starter Edition, and a lot of today's netbooks are running these operating systems.) Several of these netbooks are built around Nvidia's ION platform or use ATI's Mobility Radeon graphics cards, which benefits light 3D gaming and full 1080p high definition video playback.
What You Can Do With Them
Don't underestimate the capabilities of these machines. Netbooks are not just limited to Web surfing, compiling spreadsheets, or word processing. You can offload your photos from a digital camera and edit them using a program like Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. With lots of patience, you can transcode video to another format using Windows Media Encoder 9 or edit video footage using Adobe Premiere Elements 7, or run your entire music library off of a program like Apple iTunes. A netbook can play video from sites like YouTube or a movie from an external USB drive, unmarred by distortions and lag. Businesses, too, are considering these pint-size laptops because you can run various e-mail clients, put them on a network, install a VPN client, and secure them with antivirus and antispyware suites.
At the price points we're seeing in the netbook market—namely $300 to $500—sex appeal isn't off limits either on a netbook. The HP 5102 has a sleek-looking aluminum frame, while the Toshiba NB305-N410 uses colors and textures in its favor. As for the future of netbooks: As long as manufacturers can keep the price down, the sky is the limit.
Check out our reviews of the latest netbooks on the market in our Netbook product guide.
They are reddish-brown, smaller than an apple seed, have a taste for human blood and when they bite they itch like hell. And now the onward march of the common bedbug has extended into cyberspace.
The search engine giant Google confirmed today that its 9th Avenue offices in Manhattan have been infested with the bugs. Parts of the headquarters, a futuristic space renowned for having a Lego room and scooters for staff to move around, have been found to be harbouring the parasites, prompting the wags at Gawker media group to wonder whether its possible for them to spread via the internet.
Google is the latest victim of an epidemic that has been rampaging through New York over the summer and has the city that normally prides itself on its permanent state of cool in a veritable panic: the blood suckers have wreaked havoc everywhere from the Empire State building to hospital wards, the prosecutor's office in Brooklyn and Time Warner's Manhattan headquarters.
Nobody is immune to the threat, from theatre-goers to dwellers in posh Manhattan condominiums and shoppers. Hollister, the teen clothing store, had to close its flagship outlet in SoHo after employees complained they were being bitten.
The outbreak at Google was disclosed by one of its marketing staff who posted the news on her Twitter feed. "Jeepers, I am not immune to the bedbug panic. Bedbugs have been found at work."
The feed has now been taken down.
Across the city, there has been a two-thirds increase in the number of bedbug cases reported over the past two years, with almost 13,000 calls to the city's helpline over the past 12 months. Last year, a survey suggested one in 15 New Yorkers had become victims, a proportion that is likely to have risen since. Experts put the spread down to the decline in use of the chemical DDT, which was banned in 1972. The US environmental protection agency warned last month of an "alarming resurgence" of bed bugs that was overwhelming public health authorities.The agency has promised to search for a new generation of safe pesticides strong enough to eradicate them
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KABUL, Afghanistan — In a bid to fend off the threat of a nationwidefinancial crisis, the Afghan government scrambled to come up with the funds to bail out Afghanistan’s largest bank on Saturday after lines of frantic depositors mobbed the bank for a third day.
Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »
Details of the deal were still being worked out on Saturday by the Central Bank of Afghanistan with technical assistance from the United States Treasury Department, Afghan and American officials said. But American officials said no United States funds were involved in the bailout.
The planned injection of cash into the beleaguered Kabul Bank is meant to slow the run on the bank by its customers, who have withdrawn more than $200 million in the past few days amid fears of a wider economic collapse.
But on Saturday, thousands of nervous Afghan depositors, unaware of the bailout and unconvinced of the bank’s solvency, stormed the bank’s central branch in Kabul to withdraw their savings.
Hundreds of men pushed and shoved their way to the front, while others waited behind them for hours in the saunalike atmosphere of the lobby, making it impossible to discern where the lines ended and began. Furious customers shouted angry complaints. An elderly woman in a black dress cried out in distress.
But the teller drawers were largely empty and most customers left empty-handed. “What should I give you when I have nothing to give?” a teller told one agitated customer.
Similar scenes were reported at branches in other cities.
The panic began last week when the Central Bank ousted the chairman and the chief executive officer of Kabul Bank, after discovering that the bank had acted recklessly, lending tens of millions of dollars to allies of President Hamid Karzai and pouring money into risky real estate investments in Dubai.
The crisis threatened to undermine confidence in Afghanistan’s fledgling financial system, which was built under American guidance after the collapse of the Taliban government in 2001. Among the clients of the bank is the government, which pays about 250,000 public employees through the bank, including those of security officials and the military.
Top officials at Kabul Bank and a senior leader at the Central Bank declined to comment publicly on the proposed bailout, which was still being negotiated Saturday. However, a manager at the Central Bank and a senior American official confirmed that there would be what the American official called an “intervention.”
The Afghan government has withdrawn roughly $300 million of its own reserve funds held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as well as Afghan funds held by central banks outside the United States, a senior Obama administration official said.
But the United States is not contributing any American money to the rescue.
“No American taxpayer funds will be used to support Kabul Bank,” said Jenni LeCompte, a Treasury Department spokeswoman.
The Treasury Department is advising the Afghan government on how to manage the crisis, and has sent a team of experts to Kabul. While the Afghan Central Bank has intervened, the official said, it has not yet taken over Kabul Bank, an option it still has should the panic continue.
The official at the Afghan Central Bank, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said that the bank’s risk management department was preparing to take over operations at Kabul Bank, and that Kabul’s existing management would be purged.
Other officials did not confirm those plans.
A major shareholder in the bank, Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, said Saturday that he was unaware of a bailout. He said such intervention would be unnecessary considering that the bank still retained half of its $600 million in assets.
The bailout comes several days after President Karzai and other top government officials pledged that they would guarantee deposits. The government has blamed the international and local news media for inciting fears.
Mahmoud Karzai said that the government “will absolutely guarantee” the salaries of public servants. He said the government was transferring money to Kabul Bank each day and that half of the bank’s assets were still solvent.
But those assurances failed to curtail the rush of withdrawals.
Officials at Kabul Bank said they had not yet calculated how much money customers withdrew on Saturday, but that they believed that the figure was less than in previous days. On Thursday, one of the bank’s principal owners said depositors had withdrawn $180 million in the previous two days.
Khalilullah Frozi, one of the two largest shareholders of Kabul Bank, said the bank retrieved $17 million in loans from borrowers on Saturday.
