News Ireland update Friday as told by Donie

Man’s Body recovered from the River Corrib near Galway city

   

The Spanish Arch Galway city & The long walk where the man’s body was found

The body of a missing city man recovered by the RNLI this afternoon has been named locally as James O'Donoghue.

Gardai have confirmed that the 47 year old man's body was discovered by a RNLI lifeboat shortly after 1pm today Friday near where he was last spotted.

The man has been identified by gardai and family members are currently being notified.

Search efforts are also continuing today in a bid to locate a 19-year-old male who entered the river last Saturday.

Ireland has the lowest number of over 55′s people in the European Union

  

Ireland had the lowest share of people aged over 55 in the European Union, new Eurostat figures show.

51% of Irish people aged over 55 still consider themselves young

According to new Eurostat figures, Ireland had the lowest share of people aged over 55 in the European Union.

21.4% of Irish people were over the age of 55 in 2010, compared to just under 33% in Germany and Italy. The figure also compared to an EU average of 29.6%.

Eurostat says that the share of persons aged 55 and over increased in the ten year period between 1990 and 2010 in all member states of the European Union. The number of people aged 55 plus rose from 24.5% in 1990 to 29.6% in 2010.

The share of people aged over 55 in Ireland also increased but at a slower rate, from 19.3% in 1990 to 21.4% in 2010.

The employment rate of people aged 65 and over in Ireland was 8.6%, which is well above the EU average of 4.7% but well below countries like Portugal (16.5%), Romania (13%) and Cyprus (12.9%) .

Another study from the European Union today shows that 74% of Irish people surveyed are in favour of allowing work after 65. 57% are also against any compulsory retirement age.

The study, which was carried out to mark the start of the 2012 European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity of Generations, shows that Irish people are third most likely to see themselves as young at 51% compared to an EU average of 40%.

Only people living in Cyprus (58%), Greece (54%) and Iceland (53%) were more likely to consider themselves as young. In contrast only 27% of Germans think of themselves as young.

A New study Pattern show’s: 

That Problem Drinkers Get Bigger Endorphin Kick’s

  

Drinking alcohol causes a pleasant feeling because it releases endorphins, the brain’s natural opioids. But a new study has found that problem drinkers differ from social drinkers in the way alcohol affects one part of the brain. The report appeared Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.

RESEARCHERS PERFORMED PET IMAGING ON 13 HEAVY DRINKERS AND 12 SOCIAL DRINKERS AFTER EACH HAD HAD A STANDARDIZED AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL. THE SCIENTISTS TRACED THE RELEASE OF ENDORPHINS IN TWO REGIONS OF THE BRAIN — THE NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS AND THE ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX — AND RECORDED THE VOLUNTEERS’ SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS OF INTOXICATION.

All subjects reported feelings of intoxication as the researchers observed changes in opioid release in the nucleus accumbens. There was no difference between heavy drinkers and the control group when it came to changes in blood alcohol levels over time.

But with the heavy drinkers, unlike with the healthy controls, there was a positive correlation between the release of Endorphins in the orbito-frontal cortex and the subject’s subjective feeling of drunkenness

This phenomenon, the authors write, may contribute to an increased perception of pleasure and to excessive alcohol consumption in these drinkers.

This phenomenon, the authors write, may contribute to an increased perception of pleasure and to excessive alcohol consumption in these drinkers.

The lead author, Jennifer M. Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that her aim is to find better ways to treat alcoholism. “There’s an interesting relationship between endorphin release and problem drinking,” she said. “By understanding where the endorphin release occurs, and which receptors it binds to, we can make a better drug.”

Ryanair Management blames 25% per flight ‘looney eco- tax’ for their fare increases

  

RYANAIR PASSENGERS will have to pay an additional 25 cent per flight from next Tuesday to cover the cost of a new eco-tax, the airline said yesterday.

The EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) involves a tax, whereby airlines are given a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted.

Within this cap, companies receive emission allowances which they can sell to or buy from one another as needed. Describing the tax as an “eco-looney tax”, Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said the new tax would cost its passengers between €15 million and €20 million this year.

“Ryanair does not believe that European aviation should be included in the ETS scheme since it accounts for less than 2 per cent of the EU’s CO2 emissions,” he said. “This latest EU stealth tax will damage traffic, tourism, European competitiveness and jobs at a time when no other economic bloc is including aviation in their ETS schemes.”

He said the ETS tax was the latest in a long line of cost increases imposed on Europe’s air passengers by the EU.

But MEP for Ireland North West Jim Higgins criticised the 25 cent fare increase, describing it as a “complete joke”. He predicted that Ryanair would also introduce an EU safety charge, as the EU has imposed certain safety standards which all airlines have to meet. “I wonder is Mr [Michael] O’Leary suggesting that airlines should have no regulation at all by the EU?” he asked.

The 25 cent charge comes one month after Ryanair announced an increase in baggage charges for peak travel periods.

Those who choose to book and pay for their checked bags through the Ryanair call centre or at the airport will see the fee rise significantly, with at least €100 being charged for the first bag during high season.

Passengers who book and pay for their checked bags when they book online will face a hike of €5, to €25 during peak times. According to Ryanair, the peak times for travel are June, July, August, September and Christmas 2012. The fee for baggage for passengers travelling at off-peak times remains at €15 a bag booked online.

From next Monday, those who fail to print their own boarding card will be charged €60 to have the card reissued, compared to the current rate of €40.

“Another Russian rocket coming your way”  Spacecraft falling to Earth soon

  

Phobos-Ground probe going up and coming down soon

A CRIPPLED RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT IS LIKELY TO CRASH TO EARTH SOMETIME ON SUNDAY AT AN UNSPECIFIED LOCATION.

But experts say the impact poses little danger because the spacecraft’s 11 tonnes of toxic rocket fuel is likely to burn up as it passes through the upper atmosphere.

The aluminium fuel tanks of the Phobos-Ground probe will heat up and melt at the temperatures experienced by the spacecraft as it hurtles back to Earth. This will ensure that the fuel is either burned up or dispersed, Professor Richard Crowther, chief engineer of the UK Space Agency, said.

The spacecraft, which failed to be fired out of its low-Earth orbit after a problematic launch in November from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was designed to land on Phobos, one of the two Martian moons. But it is now destined to break apart somewhere between 51.4 degrees north – encompassing southern England – and 51.4 degrees south.

Professor Crowther said it is unlikely that the Russian space authorities have retained any control over Phobos-Ground, which is about the size of a mini-bus and weighs 13 tonnes.

Lack of heart failure awareness is causing 

‘A needless waste of lives’

      

Just one in seven people can accurately identify the symptoms of heart failure (HF), even though it is one of Ireland’s deadliest conditions – having a worse five year survival rate than many forms of cancer.

Would you know the symptoms of heart failure? Chances are you don’t know

Well over 80% of Irish people would not know the symptoms of heart failure, according to a new survey conducted by the Irish Heart Foundation.

The survey, carried out by Ipsos/MRBI, found that almost everyone – or 93 per cent – was familiar with the term “heart failure”.

However, despite the fact that approximately 400 people every week in Ireland are admitted to hospital with heart failure, only 14 per cent of Irish people know how to recognise the symptoms.

So what are they?                                                                                                                            Well, swollen ankles, severe tiredness and unexplained breathlessness are all a factor when it comes to determining the press of heart failure, but chest pain is not (although more than 50 per cent of respondents to the survey believed it was…)

While 60 per cent of heart failure sufferers die within five years, many people with the condition, which is defined as an inefficiency of the heart’s function of pumping blood around the body, are able to contain it and live quite normal lives.

Dr Angie Brown, the Irish Heart Foundation’s medical director, said, “There is no doubt that low awareness of heart failure is responsible for high levels of avoidable death and suffering in communities throughout the country.

“Because so few people understand how common and life threatening the condition is, they are not seeking the prompt medical assistance that can save their lives.”

When it comes to minimising the risk of developing heart failure in the future, what’s the best course of action? Back to Angie: “Regular exercise, a healthy diet, stopping smoking and reducing alcohol intake”, she said, while also advocating the treatment of high blood pressure and cholesterol.