Tuesday, August 5, 2014 James Brady, former White House Press Secretary for the Ronald Reagan US presidential administration and advocate for gun control, died yesterday at age 73 in an Alexandria, Virginia retirement community. The family released a statement saying, “We are heartbroken to share the news that our beloved Jim ‘Bear’ Brady has passed away after a series of health issues”. Brady was a few weeks shy of his 74th birthday. Brady was serving as President Reagan’s press secretary when he was the most seriously wounded out of four, in a assassination attempt on Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. on March 30, 1981. Brady was shot in the head…

Saturday, March 5, 2005Simply massaging low birth weight babies with sunflower seed oil can protect them from potentially fatal infections. Infections and complications from preterm birth cause more than half of all neonatal deaths, and very low birth weight babies are particularly vulnerable. Preterm babies have immature skin that lacks a protective film called vernix that has antimicrobial properties. In some countries, such as India, newborns are routinely massaged with mustard oil. But mustard oil, says Gary Darmstadt of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, can delay recovery of the skin barrier and have a toxic effect on skin. Seeking an alternative low-cost product, Darmstadt and colleagues experimented with sunflower…

Monday, November 28, 2005 Legendary musician Sir Paul McCartney has boycotted China in response to a preview of BBC news footage that was filmed undercover at a fur market in Guangzhou, China. The footage, some of which is to air during BBC’s Six O’Clock News at 18:00 GMT on November 28, 2005, shows animals (particularly dogs and cats) being thrown from the top of buses and being dropped into boiling water. McCartney’s wife, Heather, also watched the footage and alleged that some footage she had seen clearly showed that the animals were alive when they were skinned. The footage, which was filmed by an investigator connected to the animal rights…