Latest news with #UniversityofPorto
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Madeleine McCann search: Abandoned buildings examined as ground radar may be deployed
Day two in the search in Portugal's Algarve region for clues to where Madeleine McCann is - and there are pockets of police activity dotted around the vast scrubland. From where I'm standing, I can see three searches under way, all in abandoned buildings. To our right, police are using chainsaws to cut down a tree that's grown inside a derelict barn. Latest updates from the search Ahead of us, officers in white hard hats empty rubble from inside another dilapidated building. To the left, a team of three lift stones through the window of an old stone hut. It's thought that ground radar equipment may then be used to scan the floors. As we walk through the brush, the ground is dry and hard. 'Nothing has been found' Digging here is hot, exhausting work - but so far, there is no news. Police are trying to keep the press back - but the area is too large. I ask one officer for an update: "Nothing has been found," he tells me, before heading off to the tents that are the base for the 30 or so German police running this operation. Many people question just what could possibly be found here 18 years after the three-year-old British girl went missing from her family's nearby holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. Professor of Criminology at the University of Porto, Fernando Teixeira, told me that the search will have been meticulously planned. He says: "They use identification work if any bone fragment appears, and this is done in the laboratory unit." He adds: "In the field, through equipment supported by engineering, it is possible to detect whether there are in fact bone fragments that will have been deposited in the geographic areas." What do locals think about the search? Around a mile or so from the search site, we stand outside the Ocean Club Holiday Resort where the McCanns were staying. The feeling towards press in the village is not warm - it took years for the resort to recover, and even now, mention Praia da Luz and you think of Madeleine. Taryn Brown runs a beauty spa just 30 metres from the apartment. She tells me this fresh search has upset locals. She says: "It keeps dragging down Praia da Luz. All I've ever heard about is how badly everyone was affected. It took a long, long time to recover so this keeps dragging it all up again." The McCanns aren't commenting on this latest operation - they, of course, have been here before - and are used to the heartbreak of nothing being found. There are two days left to search this land - to uncover something, somewhere that might just lead to a clue as to where their daughter is.
Mint
5 days ago
- Health
- Mint
How much coffee is too much?
HUMANITY DRINKS around 2bn cups of coffee every day. The good news for those who contribute to that figure is that regularly consuming moderate amounts does not appear to be harmful. There may even be health benefits. Experiments conducted in vitro and in animals have long shown that key components of coffee, including cafestol, kahweol, caffeine and chlorogenic acids, can reduce inflammation as well as cell damage caused by a chemical process known as oxidation. When a team led by Marzieh Moeenfard of the University of Porto looked more closely, they found that the potential benefits ran deeper. She reported in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry in 2016 that cafestol and kahweol (which tend to be more prevalent in unfiltered than in filtered coffee) arrested tumour growth by making it less likely that new blood vessels would form around tumour cells, and that chlorogenic acids inhibited the formation of carcinogens within the body. This suggested coffee might be good for fending off cancer. One follow-up study led by Jin-Kyoung Oh of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm reported in the International Journal of Cancer that post-menopausal women who claimed to drink three or four cups of coffee per day were significantly less likely to develop breast cancer than women who said they drank up to two cups. Similar work in Japan suggested that those who said they drank three or more cups of coffee every day was associated with a reduced risk of developing liver cancer. Because caffeine is a stimulant that improves mood, enhances vigilance and combats tiredness, its presence in coffee has prompted some labs to test whether it reduces the risk of a person developing psychiatric and neurological diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and depression. Some have found beneficial effects. For example, Hong Chien-Tai of Taipei Medical University reported in Nutrients in 2020 that patients with Parkinson's who consumed caffeine regularly had their disease progress more slowly than those who abstained. Other findings, whether on cancer or mental health, have yielded mixed results. The uncertainty may well come down to the multitudes that coffee contains. Beans are sourced from different species, roasted in different fashions and served up in a variety of drinks of different sizes and strengths. Still, moderate consumption seems, at worst, harmless. Overindulgence has clearer-cut consequences. Ingesting more than 400 milligrams of caffeine daily (an espresso contains around 60) has been found to lead to headaches, nervousness, irritability, muscle tremors and insomnia. It is also associated with mental-health conditions such as anxiety, and can make chronic health problems, like heart disease, worse by increasing blood pressure. The effects of overdosing on coffee's other active ingredients are unclear. But these are not the only risks associated with drinking coffee. Many lace their cup with additives like milk, sugar, cream and syrup, chronic overconsumption of which can also have negative impacts on the body. Though the amount included in coffee is unlikely to be harmful on its own, sugar and syrup can predispose people to metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes, for example, while whole milk and cream raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart attack. To maximise the chance of feeling any potential benefits, don't overdo the cups and take it as black—and as bitter—as you like.© 2025, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Time of India
Portuguese student turns lifeguard at Dudhsagar during varsity break
Panaji: Picnickers jumping into the Dudhsagar falls over the last weekend would have noticed a young European intently watching over them. Vasco Preto , a 23-year-old student from the University of Porto, makes for an odd lifeguard in Goa's hinterland, particularly in a Drishti Marine jersey. But for the Porto resident, this is how he likes to explore the world—volunteering as a lifeguard. 'I first heard about Goa during a history class in school, especially through the story of Vasco da Gama. The name always stood out to me—maybe because we share it! I never thought I'd follow in his footsteps quite so literally,' he says. Preto has worked as a professional lifeguard for the past six years, protecting swimmers on beaches in Portugal, Costa Rica, and now India. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in management at the University of Porto. He says that being a lifeguard taught him discipline, quick thinking, and the value of working as a team. 'I never actually asked my parents about the origin of my name, but I do find it very interesting that it's similar to Vasco da Gama's name. I'm the first member of my family to ever visit India. I never thought Goa would be my first state. But I do feel this is a really nice place. People are very hospitable,' said Preto. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Scarlett Johansson, 40, Shows Off Her Real Size In A New Vacation Photos 33 Bridges Undo He said that he came to India looking for a new challenge, something that would push him out of his comfort zone. Protecting swimmers at Dudhsagar was certainly a unique experience for him. 'It was actually my first time ever volunteering at a waterfall. I do understand how risky it is. It's very slippery, and it has some different pools on different levels. So I think that the number of lifeguards that are now working there, it's quite adequate for how demanding the job is,' said Preto. Back home in Portugal, he served as a lifeguard on the mainland and in Madeira and the Azores, where the Atlantic is colder, rougher, and often unpredictable. While Costa Rica had strong currents, in Goa, the sea is generally calmer, but the large number of beachgoers requires constant vigilance, he said.
