Children traditionally break their bones falling out of trees, but a scientist says
branches hold clues to a particular type of childhood fracture.
The “greenstick fracture” happens when the bone splits lengthwise, rather than
cleanly at right angles.
Dr Roland Ennos, from Manchester University, thinks similarities between crystals in
young bone and cells in young wood could explain this.
His research is published in the scientific journal Proceedings B.
The way bone structure develops in children and young adults is still not fully
understood by scientists.
However, “greenstick fractures” are known to be more common around puberty, when
bones are growing quickly.
Dr Ennos suggests that, like the cells in young wood, the bone crystals being
deposited in fast-growing young bone are arranged lengthways, before being
remodelled so that the crystals point in different directions.
The lengthways arrangement could make them more likely to break along those lines,
just as they do in growing sticks of wood, he said.
“Bones are remodelled to stop cracks from developing – the crystals dissolve and are
relaid in those places. Children’s bones have not had time to do that.”
He said that orthopaedic experts might be able to look into the idea further.
Professor Jonathan Tobias, a researcher in child bone health from the University of
Bristol, said that the observation was an “interesting concept”, although unlikely
to have a direct impact on clinical practice.
“People have been looking at the relationship between bone structure and strength
for some time, and this looks at it from another direction.
“We are certainly aware that there is an issue between growing bones at puberty and
this type of fracture.”

Having sex at an early age has been linked with double the risk of developing
cervical cancer.
An investigation into why poorer women have a higher risk of the disease found they
tended to have sex around four years earlier than more affluent women.
It had been thought that the disparity was due to low screening uptake in poorer
areas, but the study found this was not the most important factor.
The latest findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Although the difference in cervical cancer incidence between rich and poor – across
the world – had been noted for many years, it was not clear why this is the case.
Especially as rates of infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) – the sexually
transmitted infection linked with the vast majority of cervical cancers – seemed to
be similar across all groups.
The study, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, of nearly 20,000
women, confirmed that the higher rates of cervical cancer were not linked to higher
HPV levels.
But what it did reveal is that the two-fold increased risk was largely explained by
women from poorer backgrounds starting to have sex at a younger age.
The age at which a woman had her first baby was also an important factor.
Screening was found to have some effect on the level of risk.
But the number of sexual partners a woman has and smoking did not account for any of
the difference.
Study leader, Dr Silvia Franceschi, said the findings were not restricted to
adolescence and the risk of cervical cancer was also higher in women who had their
first sexual intercourse at 20 rather than 25 years.
“In our study, poorer women had become sexually active on average four years
earlier.
“So they may have also been infected with HPV earlier, giving the virus more time to
produce the long sequence of events that are needed for cancer development.”
Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said the
study raised some interesting questions.
“Although women can be infected by HPV at any age, infections at a very young age
may be especially dangerous as they have more time to cause damage that eventually
leads to cancer.
“Importantly, the results back up the need for the HPV vaccination to be given in
schools at an age before they start having sex, especially among girls in deprived
areas.”

A bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court is due to hear appeals from politicians after it
lifted an amnesty for politicians facing graft charges.
The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will hear the
appeals.
Senior figures, including interior and defence ministers, are among those affected
by the Supreme Court ruling.
The controversial law granting senior politicians amnesty was brought in by former
President Pervez Musharraf.
The court’s move last week opened the way for possible prosecution for President
Asif Zardari’s political allies, although he is still protected by presidential
immunity.
Pakistan’s government has said it will not resign following the court ruling.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government had no intention of bowing to
opposition demands to stand down.
Mr Malik is one of around 250 officials whose corruption and criminal cases have
been re-opened – he has received a summons to appear before an anti-corruption court
since that amnesty was overturned.
President Zardari has been holding crisis talks with party leaders.
Correspondents say that while the government officials affected, including President
Zardari himself, are legally able to remain in power, the question over whether they
should morally stay there with the cloud of corruption hanging over them is not
going away.
The amnesty was introduced by Mr Musharraf in order to allow Mr Zardari’s late wife,
Benazir Bhutto, to return to the country and stand for office, with the aim of a
possible power-sharing deal with Mr Musharraf.
She returned to Pakistan from abroad after the so-called National Reconciliation
Ordinance was signed into law, but was assassinated soon after.

A meeting convened by the Government of India to discuss the creation of an
independent state in the hills of Darjeeling tea production has begun.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) demand for a separate state and fairer treatment
for Darjeeling area of Nepal’s Gorkha community.
The move is a boost after the Indian government announced a new Telangana state
earlier this month.
Gorkha Volunteer quickly ended a protest against the negotiations.
This followed a complaint by the Federal Interior Minister, P Chidambaram.
We have responded to the complaint, in order to create the proper atmosphere for
talks, GJM Secretary Roshan Giri.
The Indian government is represented by the house of the national secretary of the P
Pillai and the government of West Bengal, through the head of the Secretariat Asok
Mohan Chakrabarti in three conversations.
We only discuss how to separate Gorkha state can be created. Nothing more. Ours is
as old as the demand for Telangana, and this is our last battle, said Giri.
But there is no evidence to suppose that any government of India or West Bengal, the
demand for a separate state for Gorkha.
All of these controversial issues can be resolved through dialogue. Deferment, but
no one should try to impose their agenda on the other, Indian Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee said.
A separate statement is not really helping the Gurkhas . West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadev Bhattacharya said the government is willing to greater autonomy for
Darjeeling.
However, a separate Rheinisch the question is, he said.
Thousands of GJM supporters thronged the venue of the talks in Darjeeling in the
prayers at local temples and monasteries.
Police and paramilitary forces deployed by the limitations, if the talks fail.
The Gurkhas of Darjeeling had a great campaign for an independent state in the 1980s
but later settled for a wide autonomy.
The last three new states in India, established in 2000 – Corfu created in eastern
Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal was the mountainous areas in northern Uttar Pradesh has
been created and Ilia carved into the southern regions of Bihar.

A group of indigenous people in Australia has finally seized the last tract of land
half a century earlier.
The land is registered in Maralinga, for use in British nuclear tests.
The strain has now taken possession of 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles)
of ancestral lands.
England has exploded the first atomic bomb in the red desert at Maralinga in 1956
and is seeking half a dozen similar explosion in the next ten years.
In an official ceremony at Maralinga village was the last stage of the nuclear
installation and test again by the Governor of South Australia, cons-Admiral Kevin
Scarce, who said it was a sad chapter in the history is now closed.
In the struggle, the ability of Britain to develop a nuclear weapon, the area
declared off limits for traditional owners, and had to leave. Most of them were
moved to the coastal countries of gray sand to Yalata, a part do not link words, he
said.
The website, 400, as is known, was contaminated by radiation and hazardous
chemicals.
The disinfected the Australian government has taken five years for the region.
Despite objections from some locals that still bear the older country Maralinga
Keith Peters celebrated a triumphant day.
Our people have struggled so badly fought back in the country of return in the last
80 years, and eventually he said.
Aboriginal South Australia, the British Minister Jay Weatherill urged that nuclear
testing had with little regard for indigenous populations that were unthinkable
conducted a test .
Mr Weatherill said it was the history of Maralinga, one will be suffering and loss,
return to the Holy Land to heal some wounds of the past.

Actress Brittany Murphy, who has starred in films such as Just Married, Clueless, 8 Mile, died at 32.
The actor died Sunday morning, confirmed the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near Beverly Hills, a spokesman for the hospital did.
The Los Angeles Times said Murphy had a cardiac arrest, but hospital sources are not free to determine the cause of death.
Murphy has married British screenwriter Simon Monjack. The couple lived in Los Angeles.
The reports said the LA Fire Department responded to a call of a medical home Murphy’s in West Hollywood at 0800 local time (1600 GMT).
Two hours later she was dead at hospital.
Murphy grew up in New Jersey, but moved to Los Angeles with her mother an actress.
It began in sleeper hit Clueless, and also became famous rapper Eminem in 8 Mile.
Reduce your screen roles in recent years, but Murphy said the signs of a series on American television success, the king of the hill, and the animated film Happy Feet.
They began to appear in the Sylvester Stallone film, the Consumable, from next year.
Murphy again Ashton Kutcher, who co-starred with her in 2003 romantic comedy Just Married .
Kutcher tweeted Sunday morning for the death of Murphy: 2 days the world has lost a little sun. My deepest condolences go 2 family of Brittany, her husband and a wonderful mother, Sharon, cry.