Saturday, October 31, 2009 DUBLIN: Scientists in Ireland have found eating Indian food can help prevent esophageal cancer. Cancer cells studied in a laboratory started to die within 24 hours of exposure to curcumin, a chemical in the tumeric spice widely used in curry dishes to give it that bright yellow color, revealed the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland. The study on esophageal cancer was published in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday. “The cells also began to digest themselves. The results additionally showed that curcumin kills cells by triggering lethal cell death signals,” Cork’s Web site states. Suicide to cancer cells.Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year, reports Reuters.In the US, esophageal cancer will kill 14,530 people in 2009, reads the National Cancer Institute site. These numbers aren’t staggering when you compare them to the 69,078 people every year who die of lung cancer, or the 41,116 deaths of breast cancer victims, but this does create a glimmer of hope for treatments of all cancers.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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