.
NZ sun too strong for vitamin D advice
By FINBARR BUNTING – Sunday, 15 February 2009
SUNSHINE GIRLS: Vanessa Cailleretz and Delphine Nicolet enjoy the sun at Takapuna beach. .
UK health campaigner Oliver Gillie has even called for the scrapping of the UK's Sunsmart campaign (similar to the New Zealand campaign of the same name), calling for public health bodies to encourage sunbathing.
New research from England's Bristol University has lent weight to the argument of campaigners in the UK who say vitamin D deficiency – which is often caused by inadequate sun exposure – may be a danger that outweighs the risk of skin cancer.
She says New Zealand's unique conditions, with UV levels up to 40 percent higher than those recorded in the UK and some of the highest rates of melanoma in the world, means the Sunsmart message is an important one.
But Dr Judith Galtry of the Cancer Society says there is no need for New Zealand to change its official stance on sun protection.
The difference was attributed to the elevation of vitamin D levels in mothers during the longer, brighter summer days.
The Bristol study showed children born to women whose pregnancy spanned summer months were taller and had thicker bones than children who were gestated through winter.
However, the Cancer Society does recommend some sun exposure for vitamin D synthesis.
Vitamin D deficiency has previously been linked to prostate cancer, tuberculosis, breast cancer, diabetes and even multiple sclerosis by some researchers, although Galtry says there is still debate over whether vitamin D deficiency is a contributor to poor health, or simply a marker of it. During winter, sun protection is advised only around snow or water.
It advises only that New Zealanders protect themselves during the sunny months from September and March, and only between 11 and 4pm.
He says our vitamin D deficiency levels are comparable with that of the UK and higher than North America.
But Professor Robert Scragg of the School for Population Health at the University of Auckland says too much focus is put on people staying out of the sun.
.
He says people should aim for short regular bursts of sunlight, without sunscreen, rather than prolonged exposure, which is more damaging to the body
.
Bibles reaching captive audience
Saturday, 24 January 2009
The word of God was originally delivered from on high and a Christchurch woman is attempting to take it back there.
Redcliffs architect Ria Wayne is trying to put Bibles into every Department of Conservation hut in New Zealand.
The idea first came to her after meeting four Australians at French Ridge Hut below Mt Aspiring who had been trapped by the weather for four days.
Since she began her mission eight years ago, forming charitable trust Seek Freedom, she and trust volunteers have put Bibles into 375 of DOC's 950 huts. .
"I realised then this was a captive audience," she told the Salvation Army's magazine, War Cry."
But not all the reaction to the Bibles has been positive with some destroyed by trampers.
"It really is the most powerful place to get life into perspective.
DOC recreation senior technical officer Brian Dobbie said permission had been sought and granted to put Bibles in huts.
"People have emailed to express their disapproval and have told me that they will work to remove as many Bibles as they possibly can," she told the magazine. "We're quite happy to have Bibles put in huts.
"It was a minor policy issue," he said.
"You'd be grateful for both especially if you got stuck with nothing to read for two days while you waited for the weather to clear."
Dobbie said the only other literature distributed to huts was a collection of New Zealand short stories.
Grant Piper, a former Canterbury/Westland Alpine Club president, said it was good to have any sort of reading material in the huts."
Dobbie said he had had no feedback on the Bibles.
And they could definitely come in handy.
"I don't think anyone really cares either way, so good on them," he said."
.
"Given the option of a ropey old Reader's Digest I would rather use a page from a Bible to start a fire
.
Maori ‘embassy’ opens on Sunshine Coast
Thursday, 15 January 2009
A Maori "embassy" has been set up in a house on Australia's Sunshine Coast.
The upmarket home's occupants have put up trespass notices signed by the "Maori ambassador to Australia".
The diplomatic headquarters have been established under the Maori Land Act of 1993, the home's occupants claim. The signs warn that if the representatives of the Australian or Queensland governments – or members of a long list of other "fraudulently created entities" – set foot on the property they risk imprisonment and fines, the Noosa Journal reported. .
Neighbours contacted by the Noosa Journal were baffled. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Consulate-General said the office wasn't aware of its Sunshine Coast counterpart.
The paper tried to contact the house's owners – who were in New Zealand – as well as the "ambassador" Joe, who didn't return phone calls.
.
Front-facing buggies may stunt babies’ brains
By – Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Babies who face away from their parents in buggies might have their brain development compromised, research has found.
The author of the British research said the practice could leave children "emotionally isolated and language poor".
The Dundee University study observed more than 2700 parent-child pairs throughout Britain. The lack of stimulation talking, laughing and interacting with a parent could also undermine brain development.
Babies were more likely to laugh in a face-to-face buggy. It found that:
25 per cent of parents using face-to-face buggies talked to their baby, compared with 11% of parents using an away-facing buggy.
52% of babies in face-to-face buggies slept, compared with 27% in away-facing buggies.
The heart rates of babies in face-to-face buggies were slightly lower, indicating less stress.
"Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful.
Research author Dr Suzanne Zeedyk said a lowered heart rate or sleeping indicated reduced stress levels in babies.
"If babies are spending significant amounts of time in a baby buggy that undermines their ability to communicate easily with their parent, at an age when the brain is developing more than it will ever again in life, then this has to impact negatively on their development. Stressed babies grow into anxious adults," she said.
"Children learn to talk by being talked to, so the more children are talked to, the more language they will learn."
Paediatric Society of New Zealand president Dr Rosemary Marks said the effect on development would depend on the amount of time babies spent in a buggy and whether parents took other opportunities to interact with them."
Mothers at Plunket's Papanui parenting course favoured having their babies facing them, but said it was difficult to find buggies that made it possible. Any opportunities parents have for talking to their children is good.
"I read about the benefits of having them face you, but it's quite funny, because that's not what's on the market," she said.
Micayela Hunter liked being able to talk or sing to five-week-old Zara, but said it would be hard to find a suitable buggy when her daughter grew. .
"It's just the accepted thing that they all do face the other way.
.
Wartime lovebirds refuse to be parted
– Friday, 21 November 2008
/
ROMANCE A WINNER: Methven’s Alan and Vera Hepburn got together in difficult circumstances during the war years – and now they’ve had to fight a battle to stay in their hometown together.
Two Methven lovebirds united by war have won a fight to stay together despite a bid to place one of the pair in a rest home kilometres away.
Octogenarians Alan and Vera Hepburn met by chance when he was in a German prison camp in the mid-1940s and she was in a close toby Czechoslovakian town.
Vera Hepburn, 86, was hospitalised in late October after falling from bed.
They returned to New Zealand after the war and had lived in Methven since, raising three children.
Alan Hepburn, 85, said he was devastated to hear he would be separated from his wife by an hour-long car drive and decided to fight the move. .
"It was quite a blow to us when the doctor sent her to Ashburton."
Hepburn said his family rallied together and approached the hospital, demanding a meeting and reconsideration of Vera's placement. There was no way I could travel the hour-round trip every day but there was no way we should be separated.
One of the Hepburns' three adult children, Kareen, said splitting up her parents would have had dire consequences.
It was a success, with a rest home in Methven offering to house Vera and allow the long-married lovebirds to stay in their home town. They would die of pining for each other since they have barely been apart since they were married.
"It would have killed them."
The couple's romance began during the final months of World War 2."
The couple's romance began during the final months of World War 2.
He bribed the prison guard with tobacco to begin stopping at the hotel, and during these visits courted the young Czech.
Hepburn said he oftenly saw a beautiful woman examining out the window of her father's hotel on the road to work. She has moved to a rest home in the town.
Hepburn said he was overjoyed by the U-turn by the "pen pushers" to allow his wife to remain in Methven.
.
Kayaker finds body, thought to be missing man
By – Thursday, 13 November 2008
A teenager kayaking in the Avon-Heathcote Estuary has discovered a body believed to be that of missing ocean-outfall worker Tony Utteridge.
Christchurch police last night confirmed a 15-year-old kayaker had found a body in the estuary, about 100m off Redcliffs' Beachville Road, about 4.50pm yesterday.
Police said the male body was wearing clothing similar to that worn by Utteridge when he went missing 16 days ago.
The body has not been formally identified.
Campbell's body was recovered from the sea the following day.
The Lyttelton man and co-worker Jody Campbell from the ocean-outfall project off South New Brighton were last seen on an inflatable boat off the Lyttelton Heads on Tuesday, October 28. .
They were called by police to last night's discovery.
Coastguard units had responded to several potential sightings in the past two weeks.
His mother, Helen, said at the time it was not good that her son's body remained missing.
Utteridge's family farewelled him at a memorial service last Friday.
Coastguard southern regional manager Cheryl Moffat said she hoped the discovery would bring a sense of closure for the family.
The Utteridge family has been advised that a body has been recovered.
Inspector John Doherty said the case had been referred to the coroner.
Inspector John Doherty said the case had been referred to the coroner.
.
$2000 headache after big night out
By JONATHON HOWE – Manawatu Standard Friday, 31 October 2008
Supplied
HAVE A DRINK MATE: Surveillance camera footage shows a man pouring a drink into a money machine in Palmerston North. The attack cost TSB Bank $2000.
Surveillance video from Palmerston North's TSB Bank shows an unidentified man pouring four portions of a mystery bottled beverage into the machine's card slot.
A bank machine's big night on the booze has left its owner with a $2000 hangover. .
The attack, which took place at 12.
"This guy's just walked by and decided to swig a few drinks into it.
Branch manager Graham Clarke was puzzled by the seemingly random vandalism."
Fifteen cards were swallowed by the damaged machine before it was finally repaired, leaving Mr Clarke to deal with some unhappy customers. It wasn't like he was angry at it because it had eaten his card. One of them was on an overseas business trip.
"A couple of them were out-of- town people, so their weekends were kind of over."
This was the first assault on the bank's money machine but at weekends the TSB windows were often smothered with remnants of late night feasts, Mr Clarke said.
"I guess these things are to be expected but not tolerated.
"The businesses near the city centre [the Square, Rangitikei Street and Broadway Avenue] do get a bit of a hard time at weekends.
Constable Cathryn Clark said the liquid appeared to be beer, Coke or a pre-mixed alcoholic drink. If people know Big Brother is watching, maybe they'll think twice.
"We want to identify him so we can put him in front of the court and hopefully get him to pay for some of it.
The male offender has dark hair and is in his late teens or early 20s."
The video footage shows pedestrians walking past during the incident but police are unsure if these individuals were connected to the offender.
Anyone with information can call the police crimeline: 0800-808-585.
He was wearing dark jeans, white shoes and a black and white checked shirt.
.
Orca saved after beaching in Papamoa (+pics)
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Photo 5 of 5
An orca whale that stranded on Papamoa Beach early yesterday morning was refloated after a massive rescue attempt by locals and marine experts.
The adult male whale – nicknamed Nobby – was last seen swimming towards Taumaihi Island, apparently none the worse for his 10-hour ordeal.
Nobby was spotted by fishermen shortly before 6am yesterday.
"I was in the water with him and he was swimming especially strongly," said orca expert Dr Ingrid Visser, who jumped into a surf boat and followed Nobby for about 15 minutes as he made his way out to sea. A digger was used to remove sand from around the whale, while volunteers poured water on him and gave him fresh water. A team of people, including Visser, Project Jonah and Department of Conservation staff, spent the morning trying to refloat him.
Visser said Nobby, who is well-known among New Zealand marine experts, was probably chasing a stingray in shallow waters when he became stranded. More than a thousand people flocked to Papamoa Beach to watch the rescue mission unfold. Once we managed to get him turned around and pointed out to the ocean he was very keen to swim away.
"He was probably so focused on the ray that he just made a mistake.
"We can follow him that way and see where he goes."
Visser is keen to keep track of Nobby and is urging anyone who spots a whale to ring 0800 SEE ORCA."