The mystery of America’s ‘virgin births’

The mystery of America’s ‘virgin births’
Sultan grants audience to Kelantan CM
Microsoft expects to name new chief early in 2014
Pfizer reaches settlement with Teva on generic Viagra
Bomb scare forces Harvard to evacuate, cancel exams
Chinese man’s leg proves handy solution after arm severed

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 05:57 PM PST

One in every 200 young American women says she became pregnant while still a virgin.

That is the eye-popping figure reported on Tuesday by US researchers who trawled through a long-term study into reproductive health among young Americans.

Out of 7,870 women who took part in the confidential research, 45 — 0.5 percent — said they had conceived yet had not had vaginal intercourse.

None said they had used in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to become pregnant, according to the paper, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Out of the 45, "there were some miscarriages and other pregnancy losses," said the authors.

The study was based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which ran from 1995 to 2009, spanning life between adolescence and adulthood. It is deemed reliable and representative of US social and ethnic backgrounds.

The young women reported their history of vaginal intercourse and pregnancy and their knowledge of birth control methods.

Over 14 years, they responded to regular questionnaires, logging their answers on a laptop rather than in eye-contact interviews, although a helper was also present in the room in case the volunteer needed aid.

Their age and commitment to a religion were also recorded, their parents were asked to say how much they had talked about sex or birth control and their school's director was asked to say what part sex education had in the curriculum.

Nearly a third — 31 percent — of the "virgin pregnancy" group said they had made a chastity pledge, a vow often promoted by conservative Christian church groups which argue sex should only take place in the context of marriage.

In "non-virgins" who had become pregnant, 15 percent had made the chastity pledge. Among those who said they were still a virgin, the proportion of chastity pledgers was 21 percent.

"Virgin mothers" were also more than two years younger, being 19.3 years on average when they gave birth, compared to "non-virgin" mothers whose average age at parenthood was 21.7 years.

Lead author Amy Herring, a professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the volunteers "weren't asked a question 'have you had a virgin pregnancy?', it was put together from a series of questions about pregnancy history and vaginal intercourse history."

The findings raise intriguing questions about sexual education and awareness but also about the difficulties of getting accurate data about sex lives, she said in a phone interview with AFP.

"Even though we thought that the questions were quite clear, there's still the possibility that some women misunderstood or misinterpreted them, such as simply giving the wrong year, or for whatever reason that they did not want to admit that they had had intercourse," Herring said.

"Even though we used technology to try to enhance the candour of respondents, we still see responses that are unrealistic," she said.

"In fact we went back a few weeks ago to see if this was a phenomenon that was confined only to the women, and we actually found a few virgin fathers as well — which is a little harder to get your head around."-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Sultan grants audience to Kelantan CM

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:17 PM PST

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalarn yesterday afternoon consented to receive in audience Ustaz Dato' Ahmad bin Yakob, the Chief Minister of the State of Kelantan, Malaysia, who is in the country for a five-day visit, Borneo Bulletin reported.

Also present during the audience were Dato' Haji Mohd Nassuruddin bin Haji Daud, the Committee Chairman of the Islamic Development, Propagation, Information and Public Relations of the State of Kelantan; Dr Mohamed Fadzli bin Dato' Haji Hassan, the Committee Chairman of Human Development, Education and Higher Education of Kelantan; Dato' Dr Haji Zainuddin bin Haji Ibrahim, the State Secretary of the Government of Kelantan; Dato' Haji Mohamad Shukri bin Mohamad, the Mufti of Kelantan and Dato' Aria D'Raja Haji Daud bin Muhamad, the Chief Syariah judge of Kelantan.

Also at the audience ceremony were Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar, Acting Minister of Religious Affairs; Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned. the State Mufti; and Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Yahya bin Haji Ibrahim, the Chief Syariah Judge.

The ceremony took place at the Istana Nurul Iman.

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Microsoft expects to name new chief early in 2014

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:53 PM PST

Microsoft on Tuesday said the hunt for a new chief executive to lead the aging technology titan in the mobile Internet age should be over by early 2014.

"We identified over 100 possible candidates talked with several dozen and then focused our energy intensely on a group of about 20 individuals," Microsoft board member John Thompson said in an update posted online.

"As you would expect, this group has narrowed," he continued. "We're moving ahead well, and I expect we?ll complete our work in the early part of 2014."

Outgoing Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer last month said the computer giant had to reinvent itself as the company struggles to keep up in the mobile devices sector.

"Unless you're constantly inventing something new, you're old and tired," Ballmer said at a conference in Rome. "Today we're having to remake ourselves."

Ballmer was a classmate and friend of Bill Gates from their days at Harvard University in the 1970s.

He took over from Gates in 2000 but earlier this year said he will step down by August 2014.

When Ballmer took over, Microsoft was the undisputed tech sector leader, and the world's largest company in market value. But in recent years it has struggled as consumers began to move from desktop and laptop PCs to mobile devices.

"Microsoft has had only two CEOs in its 38-year history," Thompson said.

"We are determined and confident that the company's third CEO will lead Microsoft to renewed and continued success."-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Pfizer reaches settlement with Teva on generic Viagra

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:52 PM PST

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Tuesday announced that it settled patent litigation against Teva Pharmaceuticals over the sale of a generic version of blockbuster drug Viagra in the United States.

The settlement means Israel-based Teva "will be allowed to launch a generic version of Viagra in the US on December 11, 2017 or earlier under certain circumstances," Pfizer said in a statement.

"Teva will pay Pfizer a royalty for a license to produce its generic version," Pfizer said.

Other terms of the agreement were confidential.

Patents for Viagra, which treats erectile dysfunction, expire in April 2020, Pfizer said.

In June 2010, Pfizer lost its patent in Brazil to exclusively sell the drug. Pfizer's patent for Viagra has also expired in Europe and Japan.

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted tentative approval for Teva's generic version of Viagra, said Teva, which is the world's biggest generic drug maker.-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Bomb scare forces Harvard to evacuate, cancel exams

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:38 PM PST

NEW YORK: A bomb scare forced Harvard University to evacuate four buildings, call in police and disrupt final exams at the elite US university in the northeastern town of Cambridge on Monday.

Harvard tweeted that there had been "NO reports of explosions" but police were immediately scrambled to the sprawling, snowy campus where witnesses tweeted of helicopters circling overhead.

The university ordered the evacuations at 9:02am at the Science Center, the Thayer dormitory, the Sever classroom and lecture hall and the Emerson building, home to the philosophy department.

But five hours and 42 minutes after the alert, the university said the last of the four buildings, the Science Center, was clear and that students could return.

No bombs were discovered, despite an email to police at around 8:40am claiming that explosive devices may have been hidden at the four sites, the university said later.

"I am relieved to report that no suspicious devices were found," said Harvard executive vice president Katie Lapp.

Lapp said that police, local, state and federal agencies were investigating who may have been responsible for the apparent hoax.

The Ivy League school is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. It has about 21,000 students and dominates the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, near Boston.

Harvard said that all but three exams scheduled Monday afternoon went ahead as planned. Two others were moved to different locations.

Any student who feels unable to take an exam, including for anxiety issues, can be graded on their coursework without incurring any penalty toward their degree, it said.

Sam Weinstock, incoming president of student newspaper the Harvard Crimson, told CNN that final exams scheduled on Monday morning in three of the affected buildings were canceled.

"Students were removed from those exams, taken to the freshman dining hall, where they were told that exams would be canceled," he said.

University of Massachusetts Boston also announced a brief evacuation of one building over reports of a possible gunman. The alert was declared false within minutes.

US schools and colleges take all security threats very seriously.

Boston was hit by two bomb attacks in April at its marathon, killing three people and wounding 260 in the first major terror attack on US soil since September 11, 2001.

On Friday, a schoolboy armed with a shotgun opened fire and wounded two fellow students before killing himself at a high school in Colorado.

Monday's scares came less than a month after Harvard's great rival Yale went on a four-hour lockdown after a hoax caller claimed his roommate was planning to shoot people on campus. — AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Chinese man’s leg proves handy solution after arm severed

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:38 PM PST

BEIJING: Doctors in China kept a man's severed hand alive for a month by attaching it to his leg, before restoring it to its usual position, a report said yesterday.

The 25-year-old, identified by his nickname Xiao Wei, had his right hand sawn off by a drilling machine at work last month in Changde, in the central province of Hunan, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald said.

The damage was too severe to re-attach the hand immediately, so surgeons in the provincial capital Changsha grafted it onto his lower leg, just above his Achilles tendon, to keep it alive while the healing process began.

Severed limbs can be saved if their blood supply is restored within several hours of their amputation, depending on the circumstances.

Earlier this month, doctors removed the hand and successfully reattached it to Xiao Wei's arm in a nine-hour operation, said the newspaper.

He will have to go through several further operations and rehabilitation therapy to restore the limb's function, it added.

"It's just like building a house," the paper quoted Tang Juyu, Xiao Wei's primary doctor, as saying. "Currently the main body is established. There will have to be interior decorations in the future." — AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.