Cell Phones & High Blood Pressure

The highlight of the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension this week was a study suggesting that mobile phone calls may raise your blood pressure. The study, conducted at Northern Italy’s Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, found that subjects talking on their telefonini had a significant rise in blood pressure, from 121/77 to 129/82. Frankly, we wonder if BP rose because subjects were irritated when their phone calls were interrupted by blood pressure tests.

More:

“New research shows what raises and lowers blood pressure: Cell phones, salt and saying om,” EurekaAlert

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Image (“Cell Phones & Blood Pressure, after Adriaen Brouwer”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Berlusconi Big House Bound?

A Milan appeals court upheld the October tax fraud conviction of former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, which carries a four year prison sentence. Wednesday’s appellate court ruling also upheld the lower court’s decision barring Mr. Berlusconi from public office for five years and from management  of any company for three years.

A Pope From Argentina? Practically Italian.

The Papal conclave has elected Pope Francis. He’s from Argentina, and since 217 of the previous 265 pontiffs have been Italian, this is a big deal, right?

Not as much as you might think. The new Holy Father, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the son of Italian immigrants. He is italo-argentino, like 60 percent of Argentina’s population.

More:

“Pope Francis feted in Italian ancestral village,” Antonella Ciancio, Reuters

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Berlusconi Big House Bound?

Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire septuagenarian, football team owner, former Italian Prime Minister, Bunga-Bunga Party host, and one-time cruise ship crooner, was convicted in a wiretap leak trial and sentenced to a year in prison. Actually, under Italian law, old farts don’t have to serve sentences of under two years in prison. His 63-year-old kid brother Paolo, editor of Il Giornale, may not be so lucky; he was sentenced to two years and three months.

Italy: Send in the Clowns

In the midst of an economic and social crisis that could ruin their country and all of Europe, Italians voted for professional comedian Beppe Grillo and aged laughing stock Silvio Berlusconi.

Roman Cat Fight

“Who knows why the Rome edition of the left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica decided to pick on the cat ladies …?”

– “A Roman Cat Fight,” Massimo Gatto, New York Review of Books blog

The press campaign seems ill-considered after a Roman feline discovered a kittycatacomb.

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Venice: Surf’s Up!

New Yorkers learned about Storm Surge last month after a visit from Hurricane Sandy. But with climate change causing rising sea levels, Tidal Surge will be a more frequent threat to coastal cities. If you want to see New York’s future, look at Venice.

Cat Discovers Ancient Roman Tomb

Mirko Curti’s cat was still pussyfooting around his Rome neighborhood at 10:00 PM. Mr. Curti and a friend ran down Via di Pietralata after it and followed kitty into a grotto, where they found a 2,000-year-old tomb piled with bones. Good thing the pet wasn’t a bone-chewing puppy. The tomb is said to date from between the 1st century BC and 2nd centuries AD.

More:

“Cat discovers 2,000-year-old Roman catacomb,” Tom Kington, The Guardian

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Berlusconi: Big House Bound?

Italy’s billionaire ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.The sentence was later reduced to one year because he is rich old a TV station owner  powerful Milanese sexy a soccer team owner entitled to this under some inexplicable but very Italian law. Martyn McLaughlin says Mr. B. wants to serve his time in a women’s prison, but the Washington Post‘s Max Fisher thinks he’ll avoid the pokey. Again.

The sentence includes a 10 million Euro fine and a prohibition on serving in public office. Mr. Berlusconi can well afford the fine, and had already announced that he won’t run for PM again. [Expressive Italian shrug goes here].

More:

“Processo Mediaset, 4 anni a Berlusconi Replica in tv : ‘Giudici da paese incivile,’” Antonio Castaldo, Courierre della Serra

“Frode fiscale sui diritti tv Mediaset Berlusconi condannato a 4 anni interdizione dai pubblici uffici per 5,” La Stampa

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Mona Lisa Identified?

Investigators excavating the site of Sant’Orsola convent in Florence have found a skeleton they believe might be that of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, subject of the most famous portrait in the world, DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Of course, they found one at that site last year that turned out to be someone else.