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“These findings just add another reason to have a healthy diet with fruits and vegetables. Vitamin A from plant sources is safe,” said Eunyoung Cho, an associate professor at Brown University in the US.

Intake of vitamin A may be associated with a lower risk of a common type of skin cancer, a study claims.

The study of about 125,000 Americans found that people with the highest intake of vitamin A lowered their risk of squamous cell skin cancer by around 15 per cent.

Most of the vitamin A they consumed came from foods, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

“These findings just add another reason to have a healthy diet with fruits and vegetables. Vitamin A from plant sources is safe,” said Eunyoung Cho, an associate professor at Brown University in the US.

Healthy food sources of vitamin A include sweet potato, cantaloupe, carrots, black-eyed peas, sweet red peppers, broccoli, spinach, dairy foods, fish and meat, especially liver, according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. That means it can collect in the fat cells.

However, when taken in large amounts — like those in supplements — people can potentially reach an unsafe level of vitamin A, according to the NIH.

Adults shouldn’t consume more than 10,000 international units (IU) of preformed vitamin A daily, the NIH said.

Cho said too much preformed vitamin A — typically from supplements and some animal foods — increases the risk of osteoporosis and hip fractures.

Squamous cell carcinoma is a common type of skin cancer. Over a lifetime, as many as 11 per cent of Americans will have squamous cell skin cancer, the researchers said.

It tends to occur in areas exposed to a lot of sunlight, such as the face and head.

The study included data from more than 75,000 women who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study and almost 50,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Participants’ average age was in the early 50s.

Study volunteers provided information on their average diet and supplement use.

Nearly 4,000 people ended up with squamous cell skin cancer during more than 25 years of follow-up, the findings showed.

Average daily vitamin A intake was around 7,000 IU daily for the lowest group in both studies.

The highest group in both studies had more than 21,000 IU daily. Most of this came from dietary sources, the researchers said.

They noted that increasing use of vitamin A supplements didn’t appear to lower the risk of squamous cell skin cancer.

Vitamin A seemed to be even more protective for people with numerous moles and those who had a blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence.

The study wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect link, but Cho said that vitamin A works to keep skin cells healthy, and that may be why it’s linked to a lower risk of squamous cell cancers.

However, she added, even if people have a healthy diet full of vitamin A, they still need sunscreen when they are outside.

In addition, vitamin A didn’t prevent squamous cell skin cancers entirely, she noted.

The study also didn’t look at vitamin A’s effect on other forms of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma and melanoma.

Jammu: Drass, India’s coldest inhabited place in Kargil district of Ladakh Union Territory (UT), has recorded this winter’s lowest temperature so far.

The minimum temperature plummeted to -27.7°C while maximum temperature was recorded at -13°C. Drass, the second coldest place after Siberia (Russia) on earth is witnessing daily drop in temperature as December is progressing.

Leh shivers at -18°C

The minimum temperature plummeted to -27.7°C while maximum temperature was recorded at -13°C. Drass, the second coldest place after Siberia (Russia) on earth is witnessing daily drop in temperature as December is progressing.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Ladakh UT is facing cold wave conditions and temperature is likely to dip further. In Leh, the minimum temperature was recorded at -18°C while the maximum temperature was recorded at 0°C.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Ladakh is facing cold wave conditions and temperature is likely to dip further. In Leh, minimum temperature was recorded at -18°C while maximum temperature was recorded at 0°C.

The inhospitable place of India is very strategic town along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and its nearly 15,000 residents have been living in the area for centuries. Adapted to the harsh climate but the residents are mostly deprived of modern amenities, especially during winter months. Successive government’s in erstwhile J&K had also failed to resolve even basic issues of the people. Power supply is also erratic during the winters.

When contacted, Director IMD, Srinagar, Dr Sonum Lotus said, “It is likely to plummet further till mid January next year but -27.7 degrees was lowest so far recorded by our station. Overall cold conditions will intensify further”.

Lowest recorded temperature in the area was witnessed at -60°C on January 9, 1995.

“A majority of the people face lot of hardships as there is very poor health infrastructure. -30 to -35°C is common during the winters. The area needs focused development”, said Shazeya from Drass who is studying in Jammu.

For about seven months many hamlets in sparsely inhabited region remain cut off from rest of the world with the administration making stocking of fuel, food grains during the brief summer months.

NEW DELHI: India has to be prepared for escalation in the situation along the Line of Control with Pakistan, said Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday, even as the Pakistan army continues to attempt BAT (border action team) operations as well as indulge in heavy cross-border firing after J&K’s special status was abrogated in August.

“The situation along the LoC can escalate any time. We have to be prepared for the spiraling of the escalatory matrix,” said General Rawat. The Army is maintaining a high level of operational readiness, with detailed plans chalked out to cater for different contingencies.

The statement comes barely a couple of days after the Army thwarted yet another BAT operation by the Pakistan Army in the Sunderbani sector along the LoC but lost a soldier while another one was injured in the heavy exchange of firing on Monday. “Pakistan is attempting BAT actions almost every third day. We keep on foiling them and taking retaliatory action,” said a source.
This has been a particularly violent year along the 778-km LoC, with as many as 2,900 ceasefire violations (CFVs) also being recorded till now to break all annual records since 2003. The number of CFVs was 971 in 2017 and 1,629 in 2018.

The intensity of the cross-border firings, with both sides often deploying heavy mortars, anti-tank guided missiles and artillery guns, first registered a major spike after IAF fighters conducted the pre-dawn air strikes on the major Jaish-e-Mohammed facility at Balakot in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on February 26.

Pakistan had retaliated on February 27 by sending a “strike package” of 24 fighters, including F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage-5 attack jets, to target Indian military installations in the Nowshera sector across the LoC, which included a brigade headquarters and an ammunition dump.

Though the IAF had foiled the attempt, it lost the MiG-21 being flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. “If the Pakistani fighters had managed to hit an important target like an ammunition dump, we would have definitely taken strong retaliatory action. We were prepared for escalation,” said the source.

The research looked at beauty blender products – hugely popular make-up sponges used to blend foundation and contouring on the face.

The vast majority of in-use make-up products such as beauty blenders, mascara and lip gloss are contaminated with potentially life threatening superbugs, researchers have warned.

“Make-up products used every day by millions of people in the UK are contaminated with potentially deadly bugs, such as E.coli and Staphylococci, because most are not being cleaned and are used far beyond their expiry dates,” said study lead author Amreen Bashir from Aston University in the US.

According to the study published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, bacteria that can cause illnesses ranging from skin infections to blood poisoning if used near eyes, mouth or cuts or grazes were found in nine out of ten of the products.

This risk is amplified in immunocompromised people who are more likely to contract infections from opportunistic bacteria.

The relatively new beauty blenders – sponges used to apply skin foundation products – were found to have the highest levels of potentially harmful bacteria – with the vast majority (93 per cent) not having ever been cleaned, despite more than two thirds (64 per cent) being dropped on the floor at some point during use.

The research looked at beauty blender products – hugely popular make-up sponges used to blend foundation and contouring on the face.

Often endorsed by celebrities, these sponges are estimated to have sold over 6.5 million worldwide.

The researchers found these products are particularly susceptible to contamination as they are often left damp after use, which creates an ideal breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

“Consumers’ poor hygiene practices when it comes to using make-up, especially beauty blenders, is very worrying when you consider that we found bacteria such as E.coli – which is linked with faecal contamination – breeding on the products we tested,” Bashir said.

The findings reveal that consumers are unwittingly putting themselves at risk, and that manufacturers and regulatory bodies should do more to protect their customers by making expiry dates and cleaning requirements more prominent on packaging.

EU guidance holds make-up brands to strict hygiene standards of manufacture and states that E.coli in particular should not be found in any concentration in new cosmetic products.

However, there is currently limited consumer protection around the risks of contaminating products while in use.

According to the study, post-Brexit, UK consumers could be at even greater risk as they will no longer be protected by EU regulations and could find themselves purchasing more beauty products from the US – for example – where there are no regulatory requirements to put expiry dates on make-up packaging at all.

SRINAGAR – The Kashmir econo­my suffered loss to the tune of Rs 17,878 crore in four months of re­strictions and shutdown in the val­ley following abrogation of Article 370 and creation of two union ter­ritories out of Jammu and Kashmir, a trade body said on Tuesday.

Releasing a comprehensive sector-wise report on losses due to disturbance after the August 5 announcement by Home Minister Amit Shah, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said the losses have been assessed based on Jammu and Kashmir’s gross domestic product of 2017-18.

“The study has focused on the 10 districts of Kashmir Valley compris­ing 55 per cent of the total popu­lation of Jammu and Kashmir. A time span of 120 days has been as­sumed for the calculations. As per this method, Kashmir’s economy has suffered a loss of Rs 17,878.18 crores,” the report said.

An assessment based on actual number of unit holders and per­sons engaged in each sector, job and financial losses suffered by them was undertaken, it said.

“For example, the tourism sector has been broken into its various sub-sectors like tour operators (inbound and outbound), house boats, hotels, tourist transport, shikaras, ad­venture sports and other allied sectors.