Washington. Oct 28 : A breakthrough study has found that by wearing masks and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, people can successfully avert the spread of flu symptoms by as much as 50 percent.

The study by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, is the first-of-its-kind to deal with the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions in controlling the spread of the flu virus in communities

In the study, the researchers studied more than 1,000 student subjects from seven U-M residence halls during last year''s flu season. 

Washington, October 28 : Scientists have found that a treatment with Valproic Acid (VPA) in the early stages of Alzheimer''s disease can reverse memory deficit.

Lead researcher Weihong Song, the Jack Brown and Family Professor and Chair in Alzheimer''s Disease at UBC, has found that VPA works by inhibiting the activity of an enzyme that produces a neurotoxic protein called beta Amyloid, in turn discontinuing plaque formation.

Writing about the new findings in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the research team highlighted the fact that amyloid beta-proteins are the central component of neurotoxic plaques in AD. 

Washington, Oct 28 : Online shopping can turn out to be more fun when you can try on new clothes on your own computerised image, all thanks to a new program that creates an accurate computerized image of a person''s body even when the subject is clothed.

Developed by Brown computer scientists, the new technology could be put to use in fashion, film, forensics, sports medicine, and video gaming.

The program can accurately estimate the human body''s shape from digital images or video.

"If you see a person wearing clothing, can the computer figure out what they look like underneath?" asked Michael Black, professor of the computer science at Brown.

Frankfurt  - Shares in German software giant SAP AG fell more than 13 per cent Tuesday after it joined the growing list of European companies cutting their business forecasts in the wake of the world financial crisis.

Walldorf-based SAP said its third-quarter net profit fell 5 per cent to 408 million euros (510 million dollars) from 388 million euros in the same period last year.

This was despite a 14-per-cent increase in total revenue from 2.43 billion euros to 2.76 billion euros. However, SAP's key software license sales growth slowed to 7 per cent from 11 per cent a year earlier, the group said.

Jerusalem  - Israeli Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik was scheduled to convene the leaders of parliamentary factions Tuesday afternoon to debate the date for early elections.

The most likely date was February 10, but some lawmakers wanted to hold the poll sooner, while others were trying to buy time, Israeli media reported.

Israeli President Shimon Peres formally notified the speaker Monday that his nominee, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, was unable to form a government.

Under Israeli law, a majority of lawmakers now have 21 days to present another nominee, but if this does not happen, as is likely, new elections will be held on the last Tuesday within 90 days of the end of those three weeks, or on February 10.

Windhoek, Namibia  - Namibia's second legal auction of stockpiled ivory tusks to Chinese and Japanese bidders began behind closed doors in the capital Windhoek on Tuesday morning.

The event, held under the auspices of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), was closed to all media and observers due to what ministry officials termed the "sensitive nature" of the first of four ivory auctions to take place in southern Africa in the coming weeks.

Local papers had expressed dismay at not being allowed to cover the event, which has raised the hackles of animal rights activists, who claim any sale of ivory stimulates black market trade in the so- called white gold.