Leonardo da Vinci's bones to be dug up by Italian scientists

For past few days I have searching for story of the life of great painter of the ancient history. I was curious about this news and even reacted for it badly. Below is the news that I have read form the internet. It was stated where scientists seeking permission to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci plan to reconstruct his face to discover whether his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is a disguised self-portrait.

Here is some of the information in the news stated:

A team from Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage, a leading association of scientists and art historians, has asked to open the tomb in which the Renaissance painter and polymath is believed to lie at Amboise castle, in the Loire valley, where he died in 1519, aged 67.Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist, said the project could throw new light on Leonardo’s most famous work. “If we manage to find his skull, we could rebuild Leonardo’s face and compare it with the Mona Lisa,” he said. The identity of the Mona Lisa has been debated for centuries, with speculation ranging from Leonardo’s mother to Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine merchant. Some scholars have suggested that Leonardo’s presumed homosexuality and love of riddles led him to paint himself as a woman. Recreating Leonardo’s face could test the theory of Lillian Schwartz, an American expert who drew on computer studies to highlight apparent similarities between the features of the Mona Lisa and those of a self-portrait by the artist. Talks about the exhumation with French cultural officials and the owners of the chateau have resulted in an agreement in principle, according to the Italian team, and the project could receive formal permission this summer. The church in which Leonardo was buried was destroyed after the French revolution of 1789. The remains were reburied in the castle’s smaller chapel of Saint-Hubert in 1874, beneath an inscription that describes them as “presumed” to be the master’s. Silvano Vincenti, head of the Italian team, said its first step would be to verify that the remains are Leonardo’s. They will use carbon dating and compare DNA samples from the bones and teeth to those of several male descendants buried in Bologna, central Italy. “There aren’t any clues in the history books, but we’ll be able to find out if Leonardo died of a disease such as syphilis or tuberculosis, because that shows up in the bones. Syphilis was seen as a form of plague at the time: some 20m people died of it in the first quarter of the 16th century,” Vincenti said. Bone tests could also establish whether Leonardo suffered from lead poisoning, as did many fellow-painters of the time, because they were exposed to toxic pigments. However, the plans have provoked criticism from Leonardo scholars who regard the notion of a self-portrait as a myth and who believe his remains should be left alone. Nicholas Turner, a former curator of drawings at the Getty Museum, said: “It sounds a bit fanciful, slightly mad, as if the Leonardo bug has taken hold too firmly in the minds of these people. We know that Mona Lisa was a specific person, she existed and it’s her portrait. If Leonardo heard about all this, he’d have a good chuckle.”

As what have Nicholas turner have said where Mona Lisa is a specific person and Leonardo's portrait and what does scientist exclaimed is impossible. Yet those scientist in their long lab coat would dug up his body for there study to prove something that is quite impossible. But other than that we can know more about the life of that great painter. It will not leave as clueless from his past. In the contrary of Leonardo's scholar the scientist must discontinue the research for what they exclaimed was just a myth and just let the remains of the great painter be left alone.

Afternoon Siesta is Healthful Nap

Do you usually feel the uncontrollable drowsiness after lunch? Some may think it is because they have been suffering from sleep deprivation. But do not worry, feeling sleepy after a finishing lunch is but normal due to the natural drop in body temperature. More over, scientists in their long lab coats have recently discovered a protein that significantly affects drowsiness. It’s called hypocretin or orexin produced by the brain, and it helps keep a person awake.

Hypocretin works differently than leptin, the body chemical telling the brain that we are full or have eaten enough. With the full stomach and more leptin, hypocretin level lowers. Why? It is because leptin inhibits the production of hypocretin. To cut it short, the more leptin there is in the brain, the lesser the hypocretin and the greater the feeling of drowsiness. This is why some organizations suggest their members not to eat much during lunch time, just so they won’t dose off.

While one cannot let himself dose off cannot in some important events, a recent study, brings midday nap one big step up. According to the study researcher Matthew Walker, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley, it helps with learning an in long-term memory consolidation. In countries, where people are allowed to take a siesta or sleep a little after lunch during workdays, are actually getting commercial benefit without knowing it.

More that commercial advantage, an afternoon siesta is definitely a healthful nap. While many experts believe that the ideal pattern is one long stretch of sleep every 24 hours, at an average of 8 to 10 hours, healthful nap still makes big difference. A short, midday nap of about 15 to 30 minutes may help restore alertness during the afternoon slump without throwing your longer sleep cycles out of rhythm. For people who suffer from sleep deprivation, a nap isn’t enough. Visit a person in scrubs and uniforms and ask for medical advice or necessary medical attention.

Electronic Cigs to Swap Traditional Cigarettes

Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, MD, MPH, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco consortium utter concern that people who do not smoke, including children and young adults, may start with electronic cigarette thinking it is safe. As we all know, nicotine is a potent drug that fosters addiction, and unfortunately is what e-cigarettes contain. It simply cloaks in a liquid form and when heated becomes vapor that enables inhalation.

What was just mentioned is the very basic reality behind electronic cigarettes. However, like the legality of the traditional cigarettes which contain higher nicotine level, the authorities have ruled in favor of e-cigs. The FDA cannot regulate electronic cigarettes until litigation is over, unlike in the case of patch, lozenge, and the gum. District Court Judge of the District of Columbia Richard J Leon, on Sunday, January 14, 2010 ruled that there is no basis for FDA to regulate electronic cigarettes as they are merely an alternative to traditional cigarettes.

If the more nicotine-packed traditional cigarettes are legal, why not the e-cigarettes which according to a study show much lesser increase of nicotine content in the blood? The e-cigs seem to show that they are much safer than the traditional cigarettes. Now, the question is whether you will go for electronic cigs? What does the people in medical scrubs say about it? Is the government going to listen to health concerns and safety or listen to them only a little, reasoning that e-cigarettes actually help people cut on their smoking as well as reduce nicotine cravings?

"These devices may not be marketed for cessation, but anecdotally, that's what the public is using them for," said Thomas P Houston, MD, chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians' tobacco cessation advisory committee. And as the liquid nicotine refill for e-cigarettes is sold in bottles containing some 500 mg, there is a very big possibility or misuse and abuse, going over the standard one drop refill. In a sense, e-cigarettes may lead greater nicotine addiction problems.

In effect, nicotine vapor in electronic cigarettes is like the more portent drug methamphetamine including in a candy. The person may not notice how much candies he or she has been consuming. Unknowingly, then, instead of being able to quit smoking, the person is brought back to the same room of addiction but through another door.