Tuesday 04-10-12

Where do they get these idiots from? The zoo maybe.

‘Scalding’ reply at JFK

She should switch to decaf.

A TSA screener was arrested at JFK Airport for hurling a cup of hot coffee at an American Airlines pilot who told her and some colleagues to tone down a profanity- laced conversation in a terminal, sources said yesterday.

The dust-up occurred at about 5 a.m. on March 28, when airman Steven Trivett, 54, who was off-duty, was exiting Terminal 8 and overheard the banter, according to Port Authority police sources.

Trivett, of Butler, Tenn., told them they should “conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,” a source explained.

One screener told him to “mind his own business” and cursed him out.

Trivett then identified himself as a “TSA officer” who is an armed pilot.

When he tried to grab at the ID tags of screener Lateisha El, 30, she pushed him and tossed a “full cup” of hot coffee on him, police say.

Trivett was not seriously injured. El, of Brooklyn’s East New York, was given a desk-appearance ticket on harassment and misdemeanor-assault charges.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/scalding_reply_at_jfk_1MPVUvXcIMbxUzbYoH5HGP#ixzz1rZ07zQmE

Being 'Born-Again' Linked to More Brain Atrophy: Study

Older adults who say they've had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds.

According to the study, people who said they were a "born-again" Protestant or Catholic, or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or "atrophy") compared to people who identified themselves as Protestants, but not born-again.

The study is published online in PLoS ONE.

As people age, a certain amount of brain atrophy is expected. Shrinkage of the hippocampus is also associated with depression, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

In the study, researchers asked 268 people aged 58 to 84 about their religious affiliation, spiritual practices and life-changing religious experiences. Over the course of two to eight years, changes to the hippocampus were monitored using MRI scans.

The researchers suggested that stress over holding religious beliefs that fall outside of the mainstream may help explain the findings.

"One interpretation of our finding -- that members of majority religious groups seem to have less atrophy compared with minority religious groups -- is that when you feel your beliefs and values are somewhat at odds with those of society as a whole, it may contribute to long-term stress that could have implications for the brain," Amy Owen, lead author of the study and a research associate at Duke University Medical Center, said in a Duke news release.

The study authors also suggested that life-changing religious experiences could challenge a person's established religious beliefs, triggering stress.

"Other studies have led us to think that whether a new experience you consider spiritual is interpreted as comforting or stressful may depend on whether or not it fits in with your existing religious beliefs and those of the people around you," David Hayward, research associate at Duke University Medical Center, added. "Especially for older adults, these unexpected new experiences may lead to doubts about long-held religious beliefs, or to disagreements with friends and family."

The researchers noted other factors related to hippocampal atrophy, such as age, depression or brain size, as well as other religious factors such as prayer or meditation, could not explain the study's findings.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke provides details on brain atrophy.

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas

SOURCE: Duke University, news release, May 19, 2011

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/132456883.html#ixzz1rXzXwvkV