Mexican Lion

The owner in Mexico was tired of thugs breaking into his shop so he came up with this idea. Shaving his Lil Bebee to make it look like a Lion..

Scientists pinpoint fats danger

Scientists have identified a genetic mechanism which appears to determine which fatty deposits in the arteries have the potential to kill us.

Most of these plaques pose no risk to health, but a minority burst, forming blood clots, which can cause heart attacks or strokes.

A Columbia University team pinpointed a gene which seems to make plaques more vulnerable to rupture.

The American study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Fatty deposits begin to form in the arteries of most people in their teens, but the vast majority are harmless.

However, it is thought that around 2% of plaques have the potential to burst.

This can lead to the development of a clot, which can restrict blood supply to the heart or brain, with potentially grave consequences.

Scientists believe one of the key factors determining whether a plaque will burst is the make up of its inner core.

The inner core of plaques vulnerable to rupture often contains a lot of dead cells.

These cells release substances that can weaken the surface cap of the plaque, making rupture more likely.

The Columbia team identified a gene thought to play a key role in the build up of these dead cells.

The researchers bred mice prone to develop plaques, and fed them a high-fat diet for 10 weeks.

The animals which lacked the key gene tended to produce smaller plaques, and to show markedly lower levels of cell death and plaque degradation.

The gene in question produces a protein which plays a central role in a mechanism used by the body to kill off cells that are damaged and unhealthy.

This mechanism key to ensuring our tissues remain in good working order.

But there is some evidence to suggest that the process may sometimes become too aggressive, and may lead to problems such as neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes.

And the latest study suggests it may also turn benign plaques potentially deadly.

Lead researcher Dr Ira Tabas said that previous research had suggested that this mechanism might be involved in plaque rupture, but the magnitude of the effect uncovered in the latest study was a surprise.

He said: "The fact that we were able to isolate one gene encoding one protein with such a profound effect on plaque necrosis (death) was a big surprise."

Dr Tabas said the finding raised hopes of new drugs which could act on the key gene, or the associated mechanism, to cut the risk of dangerous plaques.

"Just about everybody in our society has atherosclerosis (thickening of the arteries) by the time we reach 20," he said.

"So the wave of the future in treating atherosclerosis will be in preventing harmless lesions in young people from becoming dangerous ones, or soothing dangerous plaques so they don't rupture as we age."

Alasdair Little, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This is a very interesting biological study to identify why some plaques that cause coronary artery disease may lead to a heart attack and others do not.

"However, many more years of investigation and study will be needed before it informs clinical practice for the treatment of heart disease."

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Starbucks Logo & The Egyptian National TV

Valerie O'Neil, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said that the logo is an image of a "twin-tailed siren" (the siren of Greek mythology). The logo has been significantly streamlined over the years. In the first version, which was based on a 16th century Norse woodcut, the Starbucks siren was topless and had a fully visible double fish tail. The image also had a rough visual texture. The siren has been likened to a Melusine. In the second version, which was used from 1987-92, her breasts were covered by her flowing hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly. In the current version, used since 1992, her navel and breasts are not visible at all, and only vestiges remain of the fish tails. The original "woodcut" logo can still be seen on the Starbucks store in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and on both the House Blend and Decaf House Blend packaging.

At the beginning of September 2006 and then again in early 2008, Starbucks temporarily reintroduced its original brown logo on paper hot drink cups. Starbucks has stated that this was done to show the company's heritage from the Pacific Northwest and to celebrate 35 years of business. The vintage logo sparked some controversy due in part to the siren's bare breasts, but the temporary switch garnered little attention from the media. Starbucks had drawn similar criticism when they reintroduced the vintage logo in 2006. The logo was altered when Starbucks entered the Saudi Arabian market in 2000 to remove the mermaid, leaving only her crown, as reported in a Pulitzer Prize-winning column by Colbert I. King in the Washington Post in 2002. The company announced 3 months later that it would be using the international logo in Saudi Arabia.

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Splendid Work In The Skies!!!