Tehran Holds Intl. Islamic Awakening and Cinema Confab

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Iran has held the International Congress on Islamic Awakening and Cinema, hosting cultural representatives from different countries in Tehran.
Iran's Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and the Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad Hosseini attended the opening ceremony along with a number of international critics and cinema cineastes on February 4, 2012.
About 400 international representatives from Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Kuwait, Egypt and the UK attended the congress held at IRIB's conference hall.
A number of cultural attachés, foreign ambassadors and representatives of different news agencies also participated in the event.
The forum discussed effects of cinema on Arab uprisings and will present the findings in the form of a declaration during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Fajr International Film Festival.
“Islamic Awakening is a movement of self-confidence among Muslim nations,” said Ali Larijani during the opening ceremony.
The Islamic revolutions should be considered the most outstanding developments in the region, he added.
Larijani also emphasized that western countries were trying to highlight the freedom-seeking spirit of the movements and diminish the glory of its Islamic nature.
The one-day International Congress on 'Islamic Awakening and Cinema' was on the sidelines of the 2012 Fajr International Film Festival.


Tehran Gallery Hosting Exhibit on Gustav Mahler

TEHRAN (MNA) -- An exhibition of photos and biography of the late Romantic Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911) is currently underway at the Momayyez Gallery.
On Tuesday,several artists and officials attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, which is being held at the Iranian Artists Forum.
At the ceremony, the Austrian ambassador to Tehran Thomas M. Buchsbaum expressed his happiness over holding such an exhibition at the gallery saying that it is a good opportunity for introducing Mahler in Iran.
“Under new management, we have tried our best to increase our cooperation with other countries. The forum hosted a Japanese cultural week recently… and we are happy to expand relations,” the head of the forum Majid Sarsangi mentioned.
He also welcomed the Austrian ambassador at the exhibition and expressed his happiness over further cooperation with other artists from that country.
Afterward, university professor Mehrdad Pakbaz made a brief speech on Mahler’s career for the audience saying that Mahler included Romanticism and modernity in his works.
He said that one cannot consider Mahler’s compositions mere subconscious creations, since it is obvious by the contrasts within them that he had a strong element of religious philosophy in his works but was also strongly influenced by Nietzsche as well.
Gustav Mahler was one of the leading conductor of his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century.
While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, but his own music gained wide popularity only after a period of relative neglect which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era.
After 1945, the music was discovered and championed by a new generation of listeners. Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.


Lifestyle Changes Can Help Prevent 30% of Cancers: WHO

NEW YORK (AFP) -- More than 30 percent of cancers can be prevented by lifestyle changes, the World Health Organization said Friday, on the eve of World Cancer Day.
Among key risk factors for cancer are tobacco and alcohol consumption, a diet low in fruit and vegetable intake and lack of physical activity.
"Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22 percent of global cancer deaths and 71 percent of global lung cancer deaths," the UN health agency said.
Halting tobacco use, for instance, could therefore help cut cancer mortality rates.
According to latest available figures dating to 2008, cancer caused 7.6 million deaths worldwide during the year, making up about 13 percent of global mortality.
Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancers caused the most fatalities.
About 70 percent of all cancer deaths in 2008 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
The WHO projected that deaths from cancer will continue rising, and will hit an estimated 13.1 million in 2030.


Women Who Dine Together Copy Each Other

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Researchers say women who dine together tend to eat at the same pace, meaning people on a diet should not eat out with friends who eat too much.
A team of Dutch researchers found that women who dine with companions are likely to eat a similar amount and at the same pace as they do.
Researchers brought together 70 pairs of normal-weight young women including a participant and an actor for a meal together and measured the length of time they took between bites.
They found that the two women immediately began mimicking each other in the number and timing of their mouthfuls and took a bite within five seconds of the other person took one.
Women were three times more likely to do this at the beginning of the meeting, possibly in order to ingratiate themselves with each other.
“We found a really strong correlation between how many bites the young women took. When the other person ate a lot they also did, and when the other person ate less they followed them too,” said Lead author Roel Hermans of Radboud University.
Previous findings said men also copied each other's eating to an extent, but were less concerned about the social norms surrounding food, researchers wrote in the journal PLoS ONE.
“As long as such important influences on intake are not wholeheartedly acknowledged, it will be difficult to make healthy food choices and maintain a healthy diet, [when] people are often exposed to the eating behavior of others,” they added.
Hermans and colleagues suggested further studies be conducted to see whether the mimicking effect is stronger or weaker for a family member or friend compared with a new companion.


Eating Fish Reduces Colon Polyp Risk in Women

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Vanderbilt University researchers say women who consume at least three servings of fish every week are at a lower risk of having colon polyps.
Colon polyps are common mushroom-shaped growths that occur on the inside lining of the large intestine. All colon polyps are not dangerous but some forms called adenomatous polyps can become malignant and turn into colon cancer.
Preventing adenomas or screening and removing them before becoming cancerous are markedly important in reducing colon malignancies risk.
Scientists surveyed the diet of more than 5,300 people had visited for a colonoscopy.
The team then focused on the diet of 1,400 participants who were women without colon polyps and compared them with 456 counterparts who were diagnosed with adenomas during the investigations.
Results showed that women with adenomas were more likely to be among the less seafood eaters, authors wrote in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Women who ate the most were at a 33 percent lower risk of having a polyp than those who ate less than a serving a week.
Although the study couldn't show that eating fish directly prevented polyps, it provided more evidence suggesting the positive effects of eating seafood, said Dr. Harvey Murff and colleagues.
He noted that the omega-3 fats in fish might have an anti-inflammatory effect, similar to aspirin that could prevent development of colon polyps.
Scientists cannot say why male fish eaters didn't show significant reduction in their risk of polyps but suggest that they may be less sensitive to the omega-3s in fish and need to eat more to get the benefit.