WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015 HEALTH & SCIENCE Maternal hormonal imbalance linked to child autism

STOCKHOLM: Children born to mothers ASD represents a range of neurode- early in life-from mothers with PCOS PCOS. The researchers conducted a pop- between maternal PCOS and ASD in the with a hormonal imbalance run a much velopmental disorders in children. “We who are producing excessive amounts of ulation-based nationwide study of all children were not fully explored in this higher risk of developing autism, accord- found that a maternal diagnosis of PCOS androgens-can play a role in the devel- children born in Sweden from 1984 to epidemiological study. Further studies ing to a new study released by Sweden’s increased the risk of ASD in the offspring opment of autism in children. “The risk 2007. They identified around 24,000 ASD are necessary to fully explain the find- Karolinska Institutet yesterday. The find- by 59 percent”, said Kyriaki Kosidou, lead was further increased among mothers cases. ASD is about four times more ings, according to researchers. “It is too ings, published in the journal Molecular researcher at Karolinska’s Department of with both PCOS and obesity,” Kosidou common in boys than girls, but there early to make specific recommendations Psychiatry, link an imbalance called poly- Public Health Sciences. The causes are said in the press release. were no observed differences in risks to clinicians in terms of care for pregnant cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to autism not entirely clear, but evidence suggests Between 5 and 15 percent of women between boys and girls in the study. The women with PCOS”, said Renee Gardner, spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. that exposure to certain sex hormones of child-bearing age are affected by mechanisms that explain the link senior investigator on the study. — AFP

Peruvian farmer takes climate change fight to Europe courts

HUARAZ: The soft murmur of water unrelated third parties. Germanwatch trickling from a glacier in the Peruvian said this is the first time a private indi- Andes into the pale blue lake below is vidual affected by climate change has broken by the roar of a chunk of ice sued a company for damages. breaking off. Saul Luciano Lliuya, who Luciano’s lawsuit also highlights the grew up in these mountains, has spent tough questions besetting the negotia- his whole life watching climate change tions in Paris, where there are deep divi- break the glaciers apart. Now the 34- sions between wealthy countries that year-old Peruvian farmer and mountain developed their economies for more guide is suing one of Europe’s largest than a century with little concern for energy companies, RWE of Germany, for pollution and poor countries demand- what he says is its role in causing global ing financial help to do it more sustain- warming-and putting his hometown ably. It remains to be seen what the and his farm at risk. courts will make of Luciano’s lawsuit. Luciano looks out his window, which What is clear is that the melting of the boasts a view of Churup, a 5,400-meter glaciers is creating new lakes and rais- (17,700-foot) peak. He still remembers ing the water level in existing ones, put- when it was covered in snow. Today its ting communities like Luciano’s at risk. summit looks like the head of a bald old The volume of water in the Palcacocha BEIJING, China : Pedestrians wearing face masks walk along an elevated walkway amid heavy air pollution in Beijing man, sparsely covered with tufts of lake is 34 times higher today than in yesterday. — AFP photos white hair. “It’s a shame the glaciers 1970. aren’t the same anymore. We’re losing The US Agency for International them to global warming,” Luciano said. Development (USAID) said in a report “Someone caused this, and those peo- last year that the lake is so swollen it Blanket of humid air ple have to be held responsible. It’s not has become a permanent threat. The right to remain silent. The world lake’s last major flood was in 1941, belongs to all of us, not just the pol- when it burst its shores and killed 5,000 luters.” people in the regional capital, Huaraz- traps smog in Beijing Luciano lives with his wife and two today a city of 100,000 people. Luciano kids, farming potatoes, corn, quinoa, wants RWE to help pay for a series of barley and wheat in the northern projects to prevent floods, including Vehicles taken off roads, schools told to close region of Ancash as his family has done building a dam. “This is a precedent,” for generations. The mountains that said Germanwatch lawyer Roda line the horizon are part of the Verheyen. “RWE releases significant BEIJING: A blanket of humid air trap- growth and car ownership over the 12, ThePaper.cn, a state-backed news first and foremost, that the Beijing Huascaran National Park, a UNESCO emissions, principally through its coal- ping smog brought Beijing’s first pol- past decade or more have led to high website, reported. Smog has been a authorities are taking air quality, and lution “red alert” yesterday although levels of pollution in major urban public health concern in Beijing for related health issues, very seriously”. World Heritage Site that has lost 30 fired power plants, which makes global many residents ignored warnings to areas and Chinese researches have years but the government’s response The Beijing City Emergency Office said percent of its snow cover in the past temperatures rise, causes glaciers to limit time outdoors and authorities identified the problem as a major has come under extra scrutiny in the “still weather, reduced cold tempera- four decades, according to the melt and leads to an acute threat to my said the pollution would last several source of unrest. Certain weather con- past week because it faced heavy criti- tures and an increase in humidity” Peruvian government. Luciano blames client’s property. We request that the more days. Hundreds of people, ditions can exacerbate the problem. cism for not issuing a red alert during prompted the alert, the Xinhua state carbon-emitting industries for that. A court declare RWE liable.” including toddlers, packed Tiananmen Environment Minister Chen Jining an earlier episode of hazardous smog. news agency reported. In the north- year ago, at a United Nations climate Square to watch a daily flag-raising called a special meeting late on A red alert means nearly half of vehi- ern city of Taiyuan, six people were conference in Peru-the precursor to Climate change tourism ceremony while China’s state radio Monday to urge greater vigilance cles are ordered off the roads, heavy killed and four injured in a 33-vehicle high-stakes talks currently being held Global warming has forced the gov- said some motorists were ignoring a against pollution in Beijing and near- vehicles banned, schools advised to pileup on a highway cloaked in smog, in Paris-he met up with activists from ernment to come up with a new ban on vehicles bearing odd-num- by cities and he increased the number cancel classes, businesses recom- the Xinhua said. Some people in the German environmental group tourism concept at nearby Pastoruri bered licence plates. Rapid industrial of environmental inspection teams to mended to allow flexible working Beijing tried to dodge the restrictions. Germanwatch, who helped him come mountain, which had alpine ski trails hours and all “large-scale, outdoor State media showed a policeman up with a novel answer to the problem. until the early 2000s but now has bare- activities” should be stopped. removing paper stuck over the last, With Germanwatch’s help, Luciano is ly any snow. “We launched a new proj- “This measure reflects that the odd, digit of a car’s license plate. suing RWE, Germany’s number two ect last year: Pastoruri, the climate government, at least, has the courage By late afternoon, the US energy producer and what the environ- change tour,” said Ricardo Gomez, head to face this problem,” said Ma Jun, embassy’s monitoring station mental group calls the “single-greatest of the national park. The day-long hike director of the Institute of Public and recorded “hazardous” air quality. CO2 emitter in Europe.” takes visitors to seven stops where they Environmental Affairs, a Chinese envi- Many city residents donned industri- can see melting glaciers, swelling lakes ronmental group, referring to the red al-strength face masks. “I feel like I’m The 20,000 euro question and disappearing snow cover. The 720 alert. “Before, they were more or less engaged in chemical warfare,” one Germanwatch announced the law- square kilometers of glaciers that cov- somewhat reluctant to acknowledge commuter said on social media. Still, suit late last month. RWE did not imme- ered the national park in the 1970s the problem. Now there’s a willing- the ruling Communist Party’s official diately respond, telling AFP it had only have been reduced to 527, according ness to face this problem directly.” The People’s Daily, without a hint of learned of the case through the media. to park officials. At that rate, those red alert has been imposed until irony, praised China’s contribution to Luciano is seeking a relatively modest below 4,500 meters of altitude risk dis- tomorrow. Environmental group fighting climate change in a com- 20,000 euros in the German courts-his appearing in the next 25 years, they Greenpeace called it “a welcome sign mentary written to coincide with cli- calculation of RWE’s rightful share in the warn. “The most immediate fear is that of a different attitude from the Beijing mate talks in Paris. “People every- cost of protecting his community from the snow caps will disappear, and with government”. where are looking forward to China’s floods caused by melting snow and gla- them our fresh water,” said Luciano. continuous progress on the road to ciers. It is a creative approach to dealing “That would be a catastrophe. And ‘Feels like chemical warfare’ green development, acting as a with the question of what economists when the rivers fed by the glacial melt Bernhard Schwartl‰nder, the model for the world to tackle the call “externalities,” the consequences of swell, that problem is going to be felt BEIJING, China : A bird flies over the grounds of the Temple of Heaven World Health Organisation’s represen- challenge of climate change,” the an economic activity experienced by all the way to the coast.”— AFP amid heavy air pollution in Beijing. tative in China, said the alert “means, newspaper said. — Reuters Tree by tree, Africa pledges ’s specialists exhibit skills at expo to restore natural forests : Specialists in the fading partially clothed model was cov- profession of preparing bodies for ered with a Japanese-style robe to JOHANNESBURG: Tree by tree, more than a Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Natural and in Japan hide exposed skin, the favored way dozen African governments pledged to restore Resources. gave a rare glimpse of their skills at of dressing the dead to maintain the continent’s natural forests at the United “With forest landscape restoration we’ve seen the Tuesday opening of a Tokyo modesty when family members are Nations climate talks. The earth has lost more agricultural yields rise and farmers in our rural exhibition focused on the business watching. than half its forests over the course of human his- communities diversify their livelihoods and of death and dying. Practitioners of The competition was part of the tory, according to the World Resources Institute. improve their well-being. Forest landscape “nokan”-translated as “encoffin- inaugural Life Ending Industry The deforestation of the world’s tropical forests restoration is not just an environmental strategy, ment”-took part in what organizers Expo, which attracted more than has contributed to climate change by producing it is an economic and social development strate- said was Japan’s first ever contest 200 companies in the business of up to 15 percent of global carbon emissions, the gy as well.” Among the pledging countries is to demonstrate their techniques, as death. The craft of the specialists, organization said. Madagascar, where the island forests are home to a pianist and a guitarist played who are known as “nokanshi”, is The AFR100 initiative is a pledge by African some of the world’s most unique plants and ani- peaceful, relaxing music. declining in Japan’s bigger cities nations to restore 100 million hectares (about mals, all under threat from deforestation. Satellite The contestants demonstrated but remains fairly common in the 386,000 square miles) of forest by 2030, accord- images of the island show forests that have been their skill over the course of 15 min- country’s rural areas. The work ing to the organization. “As the world forges a cli- slashed and burned, according to the World utes in dressing live models who overlaps somewhat with that of mate agreement in Paris, African countries - Wildlife Foundation. laid still on Japanese-style futons, morticians in Western countries, which bear the least historic responsibility for cli- To astronauts observing from space, or floor mattresses. Sayuri though in Japan of mate change - are showing leadership with ambi- Madagascar seems like an island bleeding into Takahashi knelt gracefully before a bodies is rare and wakes and funer- tious pledges to restore land,” said Andrew Steer, the ocean as its rich red soil, eroded by decades motionless female figure on the als are still sometimes held in the president and CEO of the World Resources of unregulated logging, runs into the ocean, floor, gently maneuvering the arms family home. It came to worldwide TOKYO, Japan : Twenty-seven-year-old Sayuri Takahashi (top) per- Institute. leaving behind cratered land unfit for farming, and legs to dress her in a shirt, attention in 2009 when the forms her skills in “nokan” — translated as “encoffinment”, or the Wanjira Mathai, daughter of the late Kenyan according to the foundation. Some of the coun- slacks and socks, the light of artifi- Japanese film “Departures” won the preparation dead bodies before cremation, during a contest at the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, tries that are home to the Congo Basin, which cial candles flickering behind. The Oscar for best foreign language Life Ending Industry EXPO 2015 in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP photos described the AFR100 forest restoration project conservationists call the earth’s second set of as unprecedented. “I have seen restoration in lungs, after the Amazon Basin, have also signed film for its depiction of an out of and a former advisor to the lead communities both large and small across Africa, up to the project. The Democratic Republic of work cellist who becomes a nokan- actor in “Departures”, said. but the promise of a continent-wide movement Congo has pledged 8 million hectares (20 million shi in smalltown Japan. “We want to do our best for the is truly inspiring,” said Mathai, chairwoman of the acres) to the restoration project. But these “We wanted the public to know final departure of the deceased,” Green Belt Movement founded by her mother. pledges may face challenges from the global more about nokanshi as there said Kimura, who has 30 years of “Restoring landscapes will empower and enrich timber industry, exacerbated by illegal logging, weren’t enough specialists after the experience as a nokanshi. “So it rural communities while providing downstream which is the biggest cause of deforestation, 2011 disaster,” said competition should not be mechanical.” benefits to those in cities. Everybody wins.” according to environmental protection group organizer Koki Kimura, referring to Takahashi, the 27-year-old winner During the Global Landscapes Forum at the Greenpeace. Despite laws to prevent this, it is has the devastating earthquake off who was awarded a trophy and an UN climate talks, the World Bank and the German never been easier to illegally chop down trees in Japan’s northeastern coast and undisclosed sum, said she started government and other partners, set aside more the Congo Basin, the group said.Corruption in subsequent tsunami on March 11 her job three years ago after learn- than $1 billion in development funding and $540 the Congo Basin region has undermined reforms of that year in which more than ing about the profession following million in private funding for the African refor- to the timber industry, especially in the 15,000 people died. A panel of a death in her own family where estation. More than a dozen African countries, Democratic Republic of Congo, where protected three judges examined not only the body was attended to by a including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and wildlife areas are increasingly disturbed, accord- how well the models were dressed nokanshi. “My relative’s face looked Rwanda, have pledged millions of acres to the ing to a Greenpeace report published earlier this but also how gracefully the nokan- peaceful,” she said after the contest, project. West African nations along the Sahara year. If this initiative succeeds, it would improve shi completed the whole process. adding that the Oscar-winning desert have also pledged to plant more trees to the lives of people living around forests and to “The kindness and politeness movie also inspired her choice. “I’m stop the ever encroaching desert from destroying the ecosystem as a whole, said Victorine Che towards the family of the deceased most happy when the family of the more arable land. “Restoring our landscapes Thoener, leader of Greenpeace’s Congo Basin TOKYO, Japan : A hearse decorated with a traditional Japanese shrine combined with efficiency are key,” deceased tell me they’re grateful brings prosperity, security and opportunity,” said project. — AP is displayed at the Life Ending Industry EXPO 2015. Shinji Kimura, one of the judges for what I did.” — AFP