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Riyadh: An obese Saudi Arabian man, weighing a staggering 610 kgs, has shed 320 kgs after a concerned Saudi king ordered him hospitalised months ago.

King Abdullah had ordered Khalid Mohsen Al-Shaeri to undergo treatment in Riyadh in August.

Suffering from extreme obesity, Shaeri from Jazan was successful in cutting down his weight from 610 kg to 290 kg following specialised treatment at the King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh.

Losing 320 kgs in four months is a record, Arab News quoted medical experts as saying.

Shaeri's treatment has now reached an advanced stage, Dr Ayed Al-Qahtani, consultant, laparoscopic surgery and obesity at KFMC was quoted as saying.

His heart and lungs are functioning properly and the medical team treating him has reported considerable improvement in his muscle power and ability to move his legs.

"We have also manufactured a custom-made huge wheelchair for him. This again is a record in that it is the largest medical chair in the world," Mr Qahtani was quoted as saying.

Twenty-one consultants and 15 nurses besides his mother have been taking care of Shaeri.

In the first three months of treatment, he lost 150 kg. A surgical operation of the abdomen helped him lose a further 170 kg.

"We have been providing him with special food imported from the US," Al-Qahtani said.

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Obese Saudi man sheds 320 kgs under order from King

By simulating the environment when corn was first exploited by people and then domesticated, Smithsonian scientists discovered that corn's ancestor, a wild grass called teosinte, may have looked very different then than it does today. The fact that it looks more like corn under these conditions may help to explain how teosinte came to be selected by early farmers who turned it into one of the most important staple crops in the world.

The vegetative and flowering structures of modern teosinte are very different from those of corn. These and other differences led to a century-long dispute as to whether teosinte could really be the ancestor of corn.

"We grew teosinte in the conditions that it encountered 10,000 years ago during the early Holocene period: temperatures 2-3 degrees Celsius cooler than today's with atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at around 260 parts per million," said Dolores Piperno, senior scientist and curator of archaeobotany and South American archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, who led the project. "Intriguingly, the teosinte plants grown under past conditions exhibit characteristics more like corn: a single main stem topped by a single tassel, a few, very short branches tipped by female ears and synchronous seed maturation.

After the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide rose to today's 405 parts per million, the level in the control chamber where teosinte plants look like plants in the wild today -- tall, with many long branches tipped by tassels and seed maturation taking place over a period of a few months. Co-author Klaus Winter usually studies the effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on tropical plants as a senior staff scientist at STRI. Piperno and Winter devised a scheme to essentially travel back in time by comparing plants grown in modern conditions with plants grown in the early Holocene chamber.

"Now it appears to be an open question when in the Holocene teosinte became the plant very distinctive from maize in vegetative architecture and inflorescence sexuality that we see today and use as the baseline for research on maize domestication," said Piperno. "When humans first began to cultivate teosinte about 10,000 years ago, it was probably more maize-like -- naturally exhibiting some characteristics previously thought to result from human selection and domestication. The environment may have played a significant, if serendipitous, role in the transition through inducing phenotypic plasticity that gave early farmers a head start."

Phenotypic plasticity is an organism's ability to change in response to the environment, causing genetically identical organisms to look very different when they live in different conditions. As they formulate a "new modern evolutionary synthesis," in part with concepts that Darwin could not have known of, evolutionary biologists continue to debate the importance of the environment and plasticity on evolutionary change and the origins of the diverse forms of life on Earth today. However, new evidence shows that these environmental-phenotypic interactions are in a growing number of organisms. This is one of the first studies to examine the influence of these processes on plant domestication.

"Extending these concepts to domestication research allows anthropologists to become more fully engaged in modern evolutionary theory and practice," Piperno said.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Greenhouse 'time machine' sheds light on corn domestication

Terraria Multiplayer: Back to Remodeling Our House (Episode 23)
Hello, everyone! I #39;m playing Terraria with Young Cheezy. Come join us on our adventure. I hope you enjoy these Terraria gameplay videos! Please, don #39;t forget...

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Terraria Multiplayer: Back to Remodeling Our House (Episode 23) - Video

With the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics just four days away, IOC President Thomas Bach has defended Russia's ability to prodive a safe Games.

A PEST control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years says it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, said his company is involved in what he described as the "catching and disposing" of dogs. Mr Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take the carcasses.

Thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, Mr Sorokin said, and some of them are "biting children".

Mr Sorokin said he attended a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

"A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away," he said. "God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country."

A stray dog walks through Olympic Park ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Stray dogs are not uncommon in Sochi and the surrounding area, and many tend to gather near construction sites where they are likely to get food and shelter from workers. They have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park.

Mr Sorokin's company operates in the Krasnodar region, which encompasses Sochi and the neighbouring area. Mr Sorokin refused to say how many dogs they kill a year, calling it "a commercial secret".

Sergei Krivonosov, a lawmaker from the Krasnodar region, last year supported the dog culling.

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Stray dogs 'threaten' Sochi

By Nataliya Vasilyeva

A pest control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years told The Associated Press on Monday that it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, said his company is involved in what he described as the "catching and disposing" of dogs. Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take the carcasses.

Thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, Sorokin said, and some of them are "biting children."

Sorokin said he attended a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

"A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away," he said. "God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country."

Stray dogs are not uncommon in Sochi and the surrounding area, and many tend to gather near construction sites where they are likely to get food and shelter from workers. They have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park.

Sorokin's company operates in the Krasnodar region, which encompasses Sochi and the neighbouring area. Sorokin refused to say how many dogs they kill a year, calling it "a commercial secret."

Sergei Krivonosov, a lawmaker from the Krasnodar region, last year supported the dog culling.

Krivonosov said taking the dogs off the street was Russia's "responsibility to the international community and that their elimination is the quickest way to solve this problem." He conceded, however, that this is "not the most humane way" of dealing with the problem and said that authorities should encourage dog shelters.

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Stray dogs to be killed in Sochi

Pest Control Company Refuses To Specify How The Animals Are Eliminated February 3, 2014 12:41 PM

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SOCHI, Russia (CBSNewYork/AP) A pest control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years told The Associated Press on Monday that it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, said his company is involved in what he described as the catching and disposing of dogs. Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take the carcasses.

Thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, Sorokin said, and some of them are biting children.

Sorokin said he attended a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away, he said. God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country.

Stray dogs are not uncommon in Sochi and the surrounding area, and many tend to gather near construction sites where they are likely to get food and shelter from workers. They have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park.

Sorokins company operates in the Krasnodar region, which encompasses Sochi and the neighboring area. Sorokin refused to say how many dogs they kill a year, calling it a commercial secret.

Sergei Krivonosov, a lawmaker from the Krasnodar region, last year supported the dog culling.

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With Games Fast Approaching, Sochi City Hall Orders Killing Of All Stray Dogs

SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- A pest control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years told The Associated Press on Monday that it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, said his company is involved in what he described as the "catching and disposing" of dogs. Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take the carcasses.

Thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, Sorokin said, and some of them are "biting children."

Sorokin said he attended a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

"A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away," he said. "God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country."

Stray dogs are not uncommon in Sochi and the surrounding area, and many tend to gather near construction sites where they are likely to get food and shelter from workers. They have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park.

Sorokin's company operates in the Krasnodar region, which encompasses Sochi and the neighboring area. Sorokin refused to say how many dogs they kill a year, calling it "a commercial secret."

Sergei Krivonosov, a lawmaker from the Krasnodar region, last year supported the dog culling.

Krivonosov said taking the dogs off the street was Russia's "responsibility to the international community and that their elimination is the quickest way to solve this problem." He conceded, however, that this is "not the most humane way" of dealing with the problem and said that authorities should encourage dog shelters.

Sochi city hall last year announced a contract "to catch and dispose" of stray dogs in Sochi but animal activists vehemently protested the move. Authorities pledged to give up the practice and build animal shelters for stray dogs instead.

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Sochi orders: Kill stray dogs

What #39;s Your Winter Pest Control Plan? - Columbia Pest Control nc
http://www.columbiapestcontrol.com - Do you have a pest control plan?

By: Columbia Pest Control

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What's Your Winter Pest Control Plan? - Columbia Pest Control nc - Video

Pest control called 21 times to University of Bolton over mice, ants and pigeons

11:45am Monday 3rd February 2014 in News By Dale Haslam, Reporter

MICE, ants and pigeons were all spotted at the University of Bolton last year.

Pest control workers were called out 21 times to the universitys main campus in Deane Road, Bolton, throughout the year, to get rid of rodents, set fly traps and repair pigeon nets.

The data was provided to The Bolton News under the Freedom of Information Act and university chiefs have said they were happy to reveal it to show how robust their complaints response system is.

A university spokesman said: The university is one of the biggest buildings in the town centre area.

We take very seriously the issue of pest control and deal swiftly with any such incident, however reported.

This, together with preventative precautions, helps us keep our incidence of infestation low.

Seven of the calls were described as routine service visits from staff at Tyldesley-based Pest Solutions.

In April, a complaint was made about mouse droppings found in C block, so staff laid bait and traps.

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Pest control called 21 times to University of Bolton over mice, ants and pigeons

Two stray dogs stand in front of the Main Media Center for the Sochi Winter Olympics, Jan. 8, 2014. Getty

SOCHI, Russia -- A pest control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years says it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, says his company is involved in what he described as "catching and disposing" of dogs. Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take their corpses.

Sorokin says his company is doing an important job because thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, some of them "biting children."

Sochi city hall pledged last year to build shelters for stray dogs.

Authorities across Russia have been rejecting calls to sterilize dogs instead of killing them as a humane way of dealing with the issue.

2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Russia "disposing" of Sochi stray dogs during Olympics