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Experts suspect that the hormone progesterone plays some part and studies are underway to test whether giving women more of this hormone during pregnancy cuts the risk of a preterm birth.
The latest work by researchers at University College London and King's College London, suggests monitoring progesterone levels in saliva could provide a cheap and convenient early marker for the condition.
link: BBC NEWS | Health | Saliva test for early birth risk
Ben Parr writes:
Google Wave will either succeed spectacularly or completely bomb. There is no middle ground for a tool that is supposed to be as omniscient as email. If all of your friends aren’t using it, then Wave isn’t as useful as email, which kills its purpose. But the opposite is also true: if your friends switch over to wave communication and email dies off, you have no choice but to get an account as well.
Is the world ready for Google Wave? The final answer to that question could change the very foundation of the web.
One more thing: if you want to be in on the action, you better sign up for an account soon.
link: Google Wave: Is the World Ready?
Howard Seftel and Megan Finnerty write:
Looking past the current economic downturn, optimistic restaurateurs believe downtown Phoenix is poised to compete in the next few years with Scottsdale as a dining destination.
The momentum has been jump-started by a group of independent chefs and entrepreneurs who believe in the area's potential. They, in turn, have inspired a fresh wave of high-profile names with big plans to rush in and stake a downtown claim.
New arrivals say downtown Phoenix has reached a tipping point, energized in part by light rail and the Arizona State University campus.
But some warn that the Valley has seen this sort of hopeful restaurant hype fail to live up to its promise before, pointing to troubles on Mill Avenue in Tempe and developments such as downtown Phoenix's Arizona Center and the Mercado that never flourished. Others think downtown's residential core is still not strong enough to support a restaurant community.
link: A growing appetite for downtown Phoenix dining
Accidental Mysteries writes:
THE NEXT TIME YOUR WIFE ASKS YOU TO PICK UP SOME HAND SOAP, order these creepy beauties from a site I found on Etsy.com. The fact that they are “baby-sized” would definitely turn off a lot of people, but not in our house. We might not set them out when we are expecting a visit from our minister—but we don’t have much worry about that. These “hand soaps”are are completely “hand-made,” so each set is slightly different with different hand-shapes & skin tones. The soaps range from about 1/2” to 2 1/4” tall. According to the site, you get at least 10 hands (at least/about 100 grams of soap). The soap is natural vegetable glycerin & has a very light scent. Order here, on Etsy, where artists and craftsmen sell their work.
link: accidental mysteries: Hand Soaps
Solar eclipse is seen in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, at 8:33 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. Photograph: Wang Peng/AP
link: Asia swathed in darkness with the longest total eclipse of the century | World news | guardian.co.uk
Jason Sheehan writes:
What are the odds that your next restaurant meal will be prepared by someone on drugs? Very high. An ex-chef and former addict on why cooks and coke go together like salt and pepper.
link: Chefs on Drugs - Page 1 - The Daily Beast
Riot police clashed with hundreds of pro-reform protesters in Tehran and arrested dozens of them yesterday, a witness said, in the latest unrest over last month's disputed election.
Demonstrators were chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government, including: "Ahmadinejad – resign, resign" and "Death to dictators".
The witness said police beat protesters who had gathered in Haft-e Tir square in central Tehran, in defiance of a ban on such demonstrations put in place after the 12 June election, which the opposition says was rigged in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad.
"Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they are taking them away," the witness said. "There are hundreds of riot police and plain clothes [security forces], beating people who gathered to support [opposition leader Mirhossein] Mousavi."
The clash erupted four days after similar confrontations between police and protesters for the first time in weeks on Friday after the former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis and said there were doubts about the election result. The authorities reject opposition charges of vote-rigging.
link: Police 'beat' pro-Mousavi protesters - Middle East, World - The Independent
