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Green tea cuts cardiovascular disease risk

London, Sept 9 (ANI): Two mugs of green tea every day can significantly reduce the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, claims a new study. To reach the conclusion, researchers from Okayama University tracked the health of more than 12,000 elderly people living in Japan. The men and women were aged between 65 and 84. In the study, the volunteers were asked to fill out questionnaires on lifestyle factors including details of diet, smoking and alcohol intake, reports The Daily Express. During the following seven years more than 1,200 of the volunteers died. However, when all questionnaires were analysed, scientists found that the more green tea the participants had drunk, the less likely they were to have died. This, especially, was true of cardiovascular disease. Those drinking between 420ml and 560ml a day were up to 75 per cent less likely to have died of heart or circulatory-disease than those who drank less than one cup each day. The study has been published in the Annals of ...

World's safest banks

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According to New York-based Global Finance's latest rankings of the world's top 50 safest banks, Germany's KfW Bankengruppe is at the first place, followed by France's Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) and Netherlands' Bank Nederlands Gemeenten (BNG). The "World's 50 Safest Banks" are selected annually through a comparison of long-term credit ratings and total assets of the 500 largest banks around the world. This time, the 18th annual ranking compares the 500 largest banks around the world. Credit ratings from Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch were used for this compilation. The magazine also published a mid-year update for the first time in March this year, due to the global financial crisis. All the major banks of Canada earned a spot on the list. Among them the Royal Bank of Canada earned the highest safety score, taking 10th place among the international banks. The only major Canadian bank not present in the list was the Nat...

6 volunteers' 105-day stay in small steel tins to help scientists prepare for Mars mission

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London, March 29 (ANI): Six volunteers will be locked up in small steel tins off a parking lot in Moscow for 105 days, as scientists simulate a space rocket ride to Mars. The cramped metal capsules will be connected by cables and corrugated metal pipes in a hanger at the back of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) in the Russian capital on Tuesday. The objective behind this experiment is to recreate as closely as possible the atmosphere of a spacecraft racing through the solar system, bombarded by cosmic radiation. The volunteers will include four Russians, a French airline pilot and a German army engineer. They will stay under constant camera surveillance so that the physical and psychological impact of their time in the isolation chamber can be recorded. The subjects will eat packaged rations, wash with damp tissues, and spend several hours each day conducting experiments, just as astronauts would on a real space flight. They will be using the same kind of toil...

Best 50 Websites of 2009

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Washington, Aug 27 (ANI): The hottest thing on the Internet is not social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, but Flickr-the popular photo-sharing portal - and the proof is: it has topped TIME's list of the best 50 websites this year. One of the noticeable trends in this year's list, which was released this week, was on-demand video services, like YouTube, Vimeo and US services Hulu and Netflix. However, the top two in the list were related to photographs, with California Coastline following Flickr at the second spot. Third in the list was bookmark website Delicious, while community weblog Metafilter stood at the fourth place. Popurls, the mashup of the web's most visited social news sites and portals, grabbed the fifth spot in the list. Twitter ranked sixth and Facebook came 31st in the list, while YouTube and Hulu came at 12th and 14th place in the list. TIME's list of 50 Best Websites of 2009 is:. Flickr 2. California Coastline 3. Delicious...

'Open source software is gaining momentum'

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Kim Polese shot to fame as the brand manager at Sun Microsystems, when she devised the name Java for the firm's computer programming language. Currently, the CEO of SpikeSource, she spoke to Rahul Sachitanand on a recent visit to India. Excerpts: Why are so many companies suddenly interested in open source software? The current slowdown has slashed most companies' IT budgets and they now need to manage their IT requirements with smaller budgets. Open source software allows them a lower cost of ownership and more freedom to customise their infrastructure. PC can be your partner Year's biggest data breach But aren't people more familiar with Microsoft and other closed software? Yes, but I think mixed source is the future. We have seen many companies opt for Linux to run their mission-critical applications, but the end-users' familiarity with Microsoft Office, for example, means it will not go away soon. However, open source software has become much more interoperable...

Marriage 'cuts men's risk of health problems'

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London, Aug 23 (ANI): No matter how much you bicker after marriage, but walking down the aisle is actually good for health, especially for men, say scientists. In the University of Arizona study, boffins reviewed blood samples from 1,715 volunteers aged 57 to 85 to measure the level of C-reactive protein (CRP), which is produced by the liver in response to inflammation. Women like to target men who are already in relationships CRP has been linked in previous studies to heart disease, depression and even stroke. From the analyses, the research team found that a long marriage lowers a man's chance of developing serious health problems. In fact, the union is more effective than giving up smoking when guarding against potentially fatal diseases, the researchers said. The study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine journal, found that married men had the lowest CRP levels of any group: an average of 1.16 milligrams per litre of blood compared to 2.72 for unmarried men, reports The Dai...

Travel Picks: World's tallest, coldest, greenest hotels

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1. World's Tallest Hotel: Burj Al Arab - Dubai Currently the tallest operating hotel in the world until it is surpassed by Dubai's Rose Tower later this year, the Burj Al Arab stands 321 metres (1,050 feet) high. A self-rated 7 star hotel built on a man-made island 280 metres from shore, Burj Al Arab also boasts its own Rolls Royce fleet, Versace bedspreads, and private shopper and helicopter landing platform. 2. World's Largest Hotel (by no. of rooms): The Palazzo Resort Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, USA The Palazzo Resort Hotel & Casino, which operates under the same license as The Venetian hotel next door, has 8,108 rooms combined. The hotel is like a mini city, with a large selection of restaurants, fashion stores, its own casino, and seven pools. 3. World's Oldest Hotel: Hoshi Ryokan - Komatsu, Japan The Hoshi Ryokan has been in operation for over 1,300 years. The 100-room hotel has been run by the same family for 46 generations. 4. Wo...