Sophia Loren, 89, is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a bad fall at her home in Geneva

By Charlotte Dean For Mailonline

Published: 03:18 EDT, 25 September 2023 | Updated: 03:22 EDT, 25 September 2023

By James Cohen For Mailonline

Published: 12:01 EDT, 20 September 2023 | Updated: 15:39 EDT, 20 September 2023

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• Images of ‘ideal’ bodies and faces can contribute to eating disorders in women
• The researchers said filters allowed features to be enhanced to unrealistic levels 

By Mail Foreign Service

Published: 17:00 EDT, 17 September 2023 | Updated: 21:01 EDT, 17 September 2023

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You’ve blamed sleeping on your head funny, the heat, the humidity, and your new shampoo — but bad hair days all come down to our genes, according to a new study.

The flow and shape that your hair takes are dictated by ‘whorls,’ a patch growing in a circular pattern typically near the crown of your head. And scientists have now discovered four genetic variants that alter the whorls’ direction and appearance.

The whorl’s point is dictated by the orientation of hair follicles, and the whorls are easily identifiable from person to person.

Patterns are usually defined by the whorl number, single crown or double crown, as well as by the whorl direction, clockwise, counterclockwise or even diffuse.

Some people with double crowns worry they are going bald, and diffuse whorl motion can be hard to keep in line, but the new research had more serious medical interests in mind than the DNA behind a perfectly coifed hairdo.

Atypical whorl patterns have been spotted in patients with abnormal neurological development — leading medical doctors and geneticists to take a look at if there might be an actual hereditary connection between the two. 

Genetic variants 7p21.3, 5q33.2, 7q33 and 14q32,13 were found to influence the hair whorl direction by shifting the shape of the hair follicles.

But early life developmental changes, including cranial neural tube closure and nervous system growth during the formation of the fetus, will also play a key role, according to the new research undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

‘We know very little about why we look like we do,’ said the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Sijia Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health.

‘Our group has been looking for the genes underlying various interesting traits of physical appearance, including fingerprint patterns, eyebrow thickness, earlobe shape and hair curliness,’ Dr. Wang said.

‘Hair whorl is one of the traits that we were curious about. The prevailing opinion was that hair whorl direction is controlled by a single gene, exhibiting Mendelian inheritance.’

Dr. Wang and the academy’s team of researchers studied the whorls and full genomes of 2,149 Chinese people, and then another 1,950 Chinese nationals to replicate their own results for their study, published today in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

The results showed a strong correlation between the four genetic variants and certain whorl behaviors. 

But no less importantly, the study found some suggestive but preliminary evidence which discounted the idea that unusual hair whorls and developmental brain issues might be linked. 

‘Our results demonstrate that hair whorl direction is influenced by the cumulative effects of multiple genes, suggesting a polygenic inheritance,’ Dr. Wang said.

‘Previous work proposed the hypothesis of associations between hair whorl patterns and abnormal neurological development,’ he noted. 

‘No significant genetic associations were observed between hair whorl direction and behavioral, cognitive, or neurological phenotypes,’ according to he and his co-researchers’ large genetic study.

‘Although we still know very little about why we look like we do,’ Dr. Wang said, ‘we are confident that curiosity will eventually drive us to the answers.’

A Florida woman who has been taking a weight-loss injection for nearly a decade is urging Americans to stop taking these drugs solely for weight loss. 

Danielle Payton, 33, is thought to be one of the longest-serving patients on a GLP-1 agonist, which was first approved in 2010. 

These drugs are at the center of concerns about long-term safety risks, already being linked to severe vomiting and suicidal thoughts.

Ms Payton – a publicist – began taking the once-daily injection Victoza – a precursor to Ozempic and Wegovy – in 2014 to stave off type 2 diabetes.

She weighed 209 pounds at the time and was prediabetic. She was told by her doctor if she didn’t lose weight, she would have to add diabetes to her long list of chronic illnesses.

Ms Payton originally went to her doctor for a breast reduction. She was a size 38F at the time. 

‘[The doctor] wouldn’t put me on the operating table, and he said I had to lose weight,’ Ms Payton told DailyMail.com.

She had to get down to 165 pounds before the doctor would perform the surgery.

Doctors said that taking the medication could help her lose a bit of weight, though the drug is not approved for weight loss.

‘I never thought it would go this route of losing so much weight because of an injection that ended up being not to lose weight,’ Ms Payton said. 

‘I was given a shot and told, “This is going to stop you from getting diabetes. The side effect is you might lose a little weight.”‘

Now, nine years later, Ms Payton is down to 120 to 130 pounds. 

‘I was not told, nor did I even think, that I could lose between 80 and 90 pounds. Ever,’ she said. 

Victoza was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010 to treat type 2 diabetes in adults.

Similar to popular injections Ozempic and Wegovy, the drug binds to the GLP-1 receptor, which triggers hormones in the brain to slow digestion and keep the stomach full. This reduces cravings and the risk of overeating. 

Unlike these, which use the active ingredient semaglutide, Victoza uses liraglutide. While the drugs are largely similar, some studies suggest semaglutide is more effective for weight loss. 

A study published last year in JAMA, for example, found that participants who took semaglutide had a 16 percent weight change compared to liraglutide participants who saw a 6.4 percent difference. 

However, there’s little long-term data on GLP-1 agonists. And, neither Ozempic nor Victoza are FDA approved for weight loss.  

Despite surging across the US, there have been widespread fears about Ozempic, which has been linked to detrimental side effects like severe vomiting and suicidal thoughts. 

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, manufacturers of Ozempic and sister drug Wegovy, have also come under fire in a lawsuit over claims the drugs cause gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis. 

On Victoza, Ms Payton’s weight loss was gradual.  

‘It doesn’t come off immediately. You start seeing results after a couple months,’ she said. ‘It really took me like seven months to go from like 209 to 175.’

She estimates that it took about seven years total to get down to her current weight.  

She also didn’t intentionally change her diet. However, she found herself choosing odd combinations. ‘Your taste buds change,’ Ms Payton said. 

‘When I first went on the injection, I thought I was like a pregnant, hormonal woman. All I wanted was pickles, green juices, and like the weirdest things that I had never craved before in my life.’

‘It’s not that I changed my diet, per se…it’s that the shot actually changes how you look at food, what food becomes attractive to you, at least in my experience.’ 

‘It’s a mind game.’ 

Victoza also slashed Ms Payton’s appetite, which is a common side effect. 

When she first started taking it, she would go to the grocery store and stock up on a fridge full of healthy foods.

However, ‘I would look at it and say, “None of this looks appetizing.” I couldn’t eat it anymore.’

She also experienced constipation and bouts of nausea and vomiting, which have since subsided.

Ms Payton has since nixed the weird cravings, but they have left her with more sustainable habits. 

Instead of giving into temptation and snacking too much, she now only eats when she’s hungry.

‘The shots basically taught me to do that,’ she said. 

However, Victoza has left a lasting impact on her social life and mental health.

Friends have shamed her at group dinners for not being hungry, even when those friends have gone on to take Victoza and similar drugs for weight loss rather than diabetes. 

‘There’s a lot of shame that comes with taking the shot,’ Ms Payton said. 

Losing so much weight has led to judgment.

‘It’s a stark difference for your friends,’ she said. 

‘Unfortunately, friendships have been lost over taking medications like this. People have been like “You’re too thin.” And I’m like “You don’t get it. This is not a choice.”‘

Doctors have told Ms Payton that she will likely have to remain on Victoza for the rest of her life to keep from developing diabetes. 

She takes about a dozen other medications every day for multiple chronic illnesses and said that staying on Victoza is well worth not having to deal with diabetes. 

‘If I don’t have to get diabetes and go on multiple other medications, to me, that’s a win,’ she said.

‘[Victoza] is part of my daily routine, and my daily routine is what keeps me from getting progressively sicker, so as much as it sucks, it’s also what keeps me going.’

Staying on the medication long-term has been difficult as Victoza, much like Ozempic and Wegovy, has been affected by shortages from it becoming more and more popular.

Last December, she had to go off the shot for several months, leading her to gain back 15 pounds. 

‘I was freaking out. I was like, “You guys don’t need it. You’re just doing this to get thin, and I’m doing this so I don’t get diabetes,”‘ she said. 

‘It is a vicious, vicious game.’ 

Despite her mental health and social struggles, Ms Payton still considers the medication a healthy option for prediabetics and diabetics.

‘Just don’t listen to the background chatter and do it for yourself so that you can lead a healthy life going forward…so you’re not stuck with diabetes,’ she said. 

However, she encourages those taking diabetes shots for weight loss to seek out other options.  

‘Really take into consideration that people actually need this medicine and that there are other ways that those people can lose weight,’ she said. 

‘Please stop taking the supply that’s left in this country because it is dwindling by the day. And we don’t know whether we’ll be able to get the next script.’ 

It’s fair to say it’s been a somewhat topsy-turvy British summer.

Last month’s heatwave brought with it temperatures in excess of 86F (30C) and made it the UK’s warmest June on record. But as July arrived, so did the rain.

Worse still, forecasters now expect this dreary weather to continue for much of August, dashing hopes of a warm end to the summer holidays.

That is in stark contrast to the extreme heat experienced by most of Europe, as back-to-back heatwaves ushered in record-breaking temperatures and wildfires across the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu.

So why has Britain had rain while the continent has sweltered in unbearable heat? The answer, Met Office experts and scientists have told MailOnline, lies in the arrival of a series of low pressure systems above the UK which have been held in place by a ‘blocked weather pattern’.

Essentially, this low pressure is what is ‘in charge of weather right now in the UK’, according to the Met Office.

It has been pushed in from the Atlantic because of the position of the jet stream – a fast moving strip of air high up in the atmosphere that’s responsible for steering weather systems towards Britain.

Normally it is to the north of the country during the summer and to the south in winter, but for July it has staunchly remained to the south, bringing with it miserable weather.

‘In recent weeks, the jet stream has been locked in quite a rigid pattern, to the south of the UK,’ said Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon.

‘For us, on the northern side of the jet stream, what it has meant is for low pressure systems to move off the Atlantic towards the UK, bringing us periods of wet and windy weather that you wouldn’t typically associated with summer.’

He added that this was also responsible for allowing high pressure to dominate in Europe, causing the extreme heat which has been commonplace this month. 

The bad news, however, is that we likely won’t be seeing such high pressure any time soon. 

Forecasters don’t anticipate the hot weather returning to the UK until towards the end of August at the earliest.

‘When the jet stream is to the north of the UK – as it often is in the summer – this is when there’s a higher likelihood of warmer, more settled weather, though that isn’t in the forecast for this week,’ Mr Dixon said.

‘There are some signals for more settled interludes of weather later in August, with more dry weather, though this is uncertain at present. 

‘There are no signals for prolonged or excessive heat at the moment, though more settled weather is likely later in the month.’

According to scientists, another reason we have endured such wet weather while Europe has been blanketed by heat is because of what is known as a ‘blocked weather pattern’. 

Professor Richard Allan, an expert in climate science at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that atmospheric Rossby waves – or planetary waves – created by the Earth’s rotation were partly responsible for the two extremes.

‘When giant, planetary waves in the atmosphere become blocked they can cause relentless heat to build in some regions, like we’ve seen in parts of North America, southern Europe and areas of Asia,’ he said.

‘But also intense rainfall and flooding in others, or just persistent cool and showery conditions like the UK is currently experiencing.’

Professor Nigel Arnell, of the University of Reading’s Meteorology Department, agreed.

‘It’s the blocking which has made the European heatwave so extreme, so there is a connection between the hot conditions in Europe and the windy/cool conditions in the UK.’

But it’s not just planetary waves that get blocked – the jet stream can also stall weather patterns. 

If this flow of winds is rushing quickly in a straight line from west to east then the weather often changes day to day.

When it weakens and becomes bendy or wavy, however, that’s when we get stuck with certain conditions for longer.

At the moment that’s cooler and wetter weather, but in June it was hot. In fact, most of this year has seen conditions persist for many weeks.

For instance, January began unsettled but February was the driest in the UK since 1993, before March was Britain’s wettest March on record.

April and May were largely cooler than normal before the heat stepped up a notch in June.

Why are weather patterns persisting for longer then? Climate change is a distinct possibility, according to some experts.

There are studies which suggest that global warming might be making blocked weathers patterns more common.

The problem in relation to the jet stream however is that it naturally has waves, so just how much impact, if any, climate change is having is unclear.

But Professor Allan added that ‘it would be surprising if the unprecedented ocean warming patterns due to human-caused climate change were not disrupting the planetary waves and jet streams of air many kilometres above our head that affect our weather patterns’.

With the Arctic region warming more quickly than areas further south there is certainly an argument to be made that climate change is interfering with the jet stream.

That is because the flow of atmospheric winds is driven by the contrast in temperatures north-to-south, meaning that if this lessens the jet stream could weaken longer term and become wavy more frequently, sparking a prolonged type of weather.

What is more certain, Professor Allan said, is that global warming is ‘intensifying the heatwaves, droughts and deluges where and when they occur’.

‘Without rapid cuts in the climate warming greenhouse gases we’re emitting, these extremes of weather across the world will continue to worsen,’ he added.

Professor Arnell said climate change ‘has two big effects’.

‘The first is to raise temperatures in general, so when blocking conditions arise then the resulting heatwave is more intense. 

‘The second effect is on what we call the dynamics of weather – the features such as cyclones, anticyclones, jet streams and blocking patterns. 

‘This is effect is much more complicated to unravel, but it’s fair to say that climate change has disrupted these dynamic systems because it alters the temperature gradients between equator and pole and it has led to warmer sea surface temperatures. 

‘So whilst we can’t say yet that what is happening now is totally due to climate change, we can say that it is consistent with what we expect the effects of climate change to be.’

He added: ‘We’re poking the climate system by adding greenhouse gases, and we therefore can no longer expect to get “normal” weather.’

Whether climate change is making blocked weather patterns more likely or not, it is certainly intensifying the extremes when they do get locked in for longer in a certain region.

At the moment that’s a cold spell for the UK. Last month it was a heatwave. The question is what will follow next month and beyond.

RUTH SUNDERLAND: Curse of the bad bankers

 

By Ruth Sunderland for the Daily Mail

Updated: 17:01 EDT, 30 July 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Shares in Lloyds fell after it revealed a fresh £662million charge for bad loans and missed the City’s profit forecasts.

As crisis engulfed arch-rival NatWest, the banking giant said more than 200,000 mortgage customers have taken a hit from rising interest rates.

As a result, its provision for bad loan losses reached £662million for the first half of 2023, a 76 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier.

The group, which owns the mortgage lender Halifax, reported profits of £3.87billion for the first six months of 2023.

That was 23 per cent higher than a year earlier but slightly below the £4billion analysts had expected. Shares fell 1.7 per cent, or 0.76p, to 45.33p.

Banks have come under pressure to pass on higher interest rates to savers as well as borrowers. Lloyds said its net interest margin – the difference between what it charges borrowers and pays out to depositors – stood at 3.18 per cent for the first half of 2023.

That was up from 2.77 per cent during the same period a year ago. But analysts have warned further increases may be limited if interest rates are close to their peak.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.19pc, or 14.91 points, to 7676.89, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.19pc, or 36.66 points, to 19,186.54. 

Ocado shot to the top of the blue-chip leaderboard with a jump of 24.8pc, or 191p, to 960.4p – its highest level since April last year but still down 66pc from its 2020 peak.

The shares have nearly tripled since early last month, driven by takeover speculation and signs of a turnaround.

Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser cashed in on sales of Air Wick fragrances, Nurofen painkillers and Strepsils soothers, as its hygiene and health divisions helped sales rise 8.1pc to £7.45bn in the six months to the end of June – but the shares fell 1.1pc, or 64p, to 5878p.

The new boss of British American Tobacco cheered a bright start to his tenure as sales increased by 4.4pc to £13.4bn in the first half of 2023.

Tadeu Marroco, who has led the smoking giant for ten weeks, said it will look to focus on improving its performance in the US. It dipped 0.1pc, or 1.5p, to 2632.5p.

An unlikely buyer has emerged as the white knight that provided a lifeline for a London newspaper.

Matt Moulding’s nutrition and beauty empire THG bought City AM, which is on the verge of falling into administration, according to Sky News. THG rose 3.8pc, or 3.73p, to 102.75p.

Rio Tinto slid 3.1pc, or 165p, to 5229p leading a sell-off among miners after lower half-year profits following a slump in iron ore prices. It cut its dividend by 34pc.

The cost of living crisis has forced younger people who are ‘struggling financially’ to cut back on nights out, according to Revolution Bars. 

This was the main reason why the bar and pub chain said its sales in the year to July 2 were 8.9pc below the same period before the pandemic. Shares fell 0.9pc, or 0.05p, to 5.8p.

There was better news for Marston’s as warmer weather pulled in customers and pushed the pub operator’s sales in the 16 weeks to July 22 10.9pc ahead of the same period a year ago. Shares rose 1.3pc, or 0.4p, to 32.25p.

Former Homeserve finance boss David Bower has agreed to take up the same role at Robert Walters – down 7pc, or 31p, to 410p – on September 4, once Alan Bannatyne steps down.

Wandisco interim boss Stephen Kelly has landed the gig on a full-time basis. His appointment, which came a day after the software company’s shares returned to trading following a four-month suspension, was one of several board changes. Shares jumped 50.6pc, or 24.8p, to 73.8p.

Leonardo D-AI Vinci? Nifty AI tool turns your bad sketches into artwork in seconds – and it DOESN’T need the internet

• Qualcomm has unveiled a new model that turns text and images into AI artwork 
• ControlNet doesn’t upload data to ‘the cloud’ and doesn’t need internet to work
• Bad sketches can be transformed into masterpieces in just under 12 seconds  

By Lauren Haughey

Updated: 15:16 EDT, 21 June 2023