Shocking Treatment Helps Erectile Dysfunction

If you experience impotence, instead of a little blue pill maybe you want to apply shockwaves to your privates instead.

Experiments now suggest directing shockwaves at penises can help treat erectile dysfunction.

"We can really reverse erectile problems with this," researcher Yoram Vardi, head of the neuro-urology department at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, told LiveScience.

"While patients with erectile dysfunction can function with Viagra or Cialis, this is not a cure — when they stop the medication, they cannot function," he added. "This is only a preliminary study, but here with shockwaves, we can do something biological for the problem — after treatments, these patients can function without the need for medication."

In animal studies, low-intensity shockwaves have been proven to trigger growth of new blood vessels from existing ones. Vardi and his colleagues therefore speculated that shockwave therapy could help men whose erectile dysfunction stems from reduced blood flow to their penises.

"Cardiovascular problems are responsible for approximately 80 percent of patients with erectile dysfunction, so that's a huge amount of patients," Vardi explained.

Volunteers shocked

The researchers treated 20 volunteers with an average age of 56 years old who had mild or moderate erectile dysfunction for roughly three years.

At each session, a device that resembles a computer mouse applied shockwaves at five different sites on their penises.

"These are very, very low energy shock waves," Vardi said. Each shockwave applied roughly 100 bar of pressure — some 20 times the air pressure in a bottle of champagne, but less than the pressure exerted by a woman in stiletto heels who weighs 132 lbs. (60 kg).

"This sort of energy is completely different from what you would get in a massage, although everyone can do what they want," Vardi said.

Each site on the penis received some 300 shockwaves over the course of three minutes. The men underwent two weekly sessions for three weeks, and then repeated this course of therapy after three weeks of rest.

Significant improvement was seen in 15 of 20 men. "We didn't find any side effects, and it didn't hurt," Vardi noted.

Even if further studies bear out these results, this is not a cure for everyone, Vardi cautioned. The researchers chose men whose problems were apparently due to blood flow, as opposed to nerve, muscle or other issues.

Expanding tests

The researchers are now expanding their research with placebo groups and more patients.

"This is only the beginning — we need to understand much better what is happening," Vardi said. "We also want to see how long this response will stand — is it forever, one year, two years, six months? We know that at three months, it stays the same."

Vardi and his colleagues detailed their findings November 17 at the European Society for Sexual Medicine meeting in Lyon, France.

A Romp Around the Clock Stops Time in Sydney

The identity of a couple caught making love in a clock tower in central Sydney on Friday remains a mystery, but their intimate moment won’t be forgotten after passers-by captured it on video and mobile phone cameras.

The couple was in full view of the busy street below, with people at a bus stop laughing and pointing at the twosome.

German traveler Dirk Gensler, who was staying at an adjacent backpacker hostel, was gobsmacked by what he saw when he peered out his window.

"I was amazed by it, it was the middle of the day and so many people could see it," he said.

"I thought it was pretty cool."

Management of UniLodge, the student residential building housing the clock tower directly across the road from a major shopping center, insisted that there was no way the pair could be residents.

UniLodge assistant manager Ravi Krishna said that while the rooftop was accessible to those who live in the building, it was impossible to scale the wall that led to the clock tower.

Renewed Hope for an AIDS Vaccine

The long search for an AIDS vaccine has produced countless false starts and repeated failed trials, casting once bright hopes into shadows of disenchantment. The now familiar swings appeared in high relief this past fall, with news of the most recent, phase III trial in Thailand. Initial fanfare for a protective outcome gave way to disappointment after reanalysis showed that the protection could be attributed only to chance. But rather than dashing all hopes for an AIDS vaccine, the trial has heartened some researchers, who see new clues in the battle against the fatal illness.

Costing $105 million and enrolling more than 16,000 subjects, the Thai clinical trial was the largest AIDS vaccine test to date. It began in 2003, and early results released in September showed a slim but statistically sound benefit from the vaccine (a series of inoculations with drugs known as ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX B/E). But in October the full report, with various statistical analyses, was released in a Paris meeting to greater skepticism. Specifically, 74 people who had received the placebo became infected with HIV in the trial period, compared with the 51 people who became infected after receiving the vaccine, which makes for a protective effect of 31.2 percent. By including, however, the seven people who turned out to have had HIV at the start of the trial (two in the placebo group and five in the vaccine group), the effectiveness drops to 26.4 percent.

"There are still a huge number of uncertainties surrounding this trial," says Dennis Burton, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. The subjects were in low- and moderate-risk groups, such as heterosexuals in monogamous relationships, rather than higher-risk groups such as intravenous drug users. "The numbers involved are small," he adds, noting that statistically the protective effects could be the result of mere chance.

Still, many researchers are convinced that the trial has provided plenty of data to run with. "This contributes more evidence that an AIDS vaccine may be possible," says Jerome Kim of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and co-author of the Thai trial study (which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in October). "We’ve taken a very small step," Kim says. "It's not a home run, but it opens the door to future work." Vaccine proponents also point to the lessons learned from the failed Merck STEP trial. That vaccine test, halted in 2007, got only as far as phase II, but even so it did not leave researchers back at square one. It suggested, he notes, how some HIV strains could be blocked from infecting cells and offered data that could help in the interpretation of the Thai results. And a new analysis of the stopped STEP trial, published online Monday in Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences, provides a warning that the very vectors (adenoviruses, which are also employed in other vaccine development) used to distribute the inactive HIV strains can actually prime the immune system to be infected by recruiting susceptible T cells to mucous membranes, where they are more likely to be infected during sexual activity.

Finding a vaccine has become an increasingly urgent undertaking. Despite advances in therapies, HIV/AIDS is still incurable. Some 7,000 people worldwide contract HIV every day, and in the U.S. about 66,000 new cases are reported every year. Preventing people from getting the virus would save millions of lives as well as greatly reduce health care costs associated with treatment. "It’s really the only optimal method of control for this dreadful pandemic," Raphael Dolin, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who also wrote an editorial accompanying the October paper, says of a vaccine.

Vaccines work by priming the immune system to recognize the target pathogen and attack it when detected. To fend off HIV, researchers introduced one vaccine (ALVAC-HIV) to induce a T cell response—thereby alerting the immune system—and another (AIDSVAX B/E) later to spur an antibody response. In a previous phase III trial in intravenous drug users, AIDSVAX did not work. ALVAC, from Sanofi Pasteur, had not been tested alone.

Using these two drugs together raised eyebrows in the vaccine community. Burton, along with 21 other researchers, co-authored a 2004 paper in Science criticizing the choice to proceed to phase III with two vaccines that had never demonstrated any effectiveness alone. The trial collaborators, however, based their decision on previous research that a combined approach can boost helper T cell response better than a single vaccine.

Despite his earlier doubts, Burton has been inspired by the trial results. "I feel more optimistic than I have in some time," he says. Researchers are now embarking on a host of new experiments to put the Thai findings to work. Volunteers from the trial will now be examined for immune responses—particularly neutralizing antibodies as well as cellular immunity in T cells—and some will get subsequent booster shots to see if protection can be sustained. In the lab, researchers will try to re-create the Thai results in monkeys to validate a new animal using multiple low doses. Other recent research has shown that the number of antibodies needed to provide protection is lower than previously believed, possibly making a vaccine easier to create.

Indeed, entirely new and promising candidates are now in animal trials, including those by the U.S. military to address subtypes A, C and E (rather than the Thai subtype B). Other organizations—including the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the Karolinska Institute and the Swiss nonprofit EuroVacc—and manufacturers also have other vaccines in the works. "The science is really moving," says Seth Berkley, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and who is also president of IAVI. All those confronting the epidemic hope that the momentum leads to a payoff sooner rather than later.

Apakah Xenia 1000 cc Akan Dilengkapi Gearbox Automatic?

Toyota dengan agresif bakal membuat versi matik di semua varian Avanza-nya. Dimulai dari Avanza tipe S 1.500cc yang sudah ada sejak 2005, kemudian ada Avanza G 1.300cc yang baru diluncukan beberapa waktu lalu dan yang terendah Avanza E 1.300cc matik yang akan diluncurkan tahun depan.

Meski angka penjualan mobil matik tidak terlalu tinggi namun bicara trend, angkanya terus meningkat.

“Bila melihat trend di Eropa, komposisi pasar mobil matik dan manual sudah 50:50. Saya rasa Indonesia juga akan mengikuti perkembangan tersebut,” prediksi Jhonny Darmawan, Presiden Director PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) disela sela peluncuran Avanza G 1.300cc matik.

Lalu bagaimana dengan Daihatsu Xenia, sama-sama memiliki tiga varian apakah berniat untuk melakukan hal serupa? Berarti dua varian bermesin EJ-VE DOHC VVTi 1000cc nya juga akan dipasangi gearbox automatic. Apa jadinya bila mesin 1000cc bertenaga 63 ps dan torsi 9,2 kg-m ini dikombinasikan dengan transmisi automatic.

“Sepertinya tidak, kita belum lakukan pengujian karena untuk membuat varian tertentu harus melalui riset panjang,” buka Sudirman MR, Vice President PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM).

“Xenia ini adalah kendaraan 7 seater, rasanya mesin 1000cc performanya kurang bagus bila jadi matik,” lanjutnya.

Untuk mesin 1.300cc saja, meski memiliki gear box dengan ratio gigi yang sama dengan mesin 1.500cc namun final gearnya dibuat sangat ringan agar tetap kuat berakselerasi saat membawa beban berat. Gimana yang 1000cc?

Beda Avanza dan Xenia Matik

Satu kandungan tapi tak sama. Kalimat itulah yang saat ini cocok untuk Avanza 1.300 cc G matik dan Daihatsu 1.300 cc Xi matik. Nah, apa saja sih perbedaan kedua produk tersebut meski lahir dalam satu rahim. Apakah ada yang pantas dibanggakan. Sebelum mobil tersebut sampai ke tangan Anda sebaiknya Anda simak ulasan yang satu ini.

PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) memang meluncurkan Xenia 1.300 cc standar yang dibanderol sekitar Rp 138-139 juta.

Namun bila Anda merogoh kocek sejumlah Rp 5,9 juta, Anda sudah bisa menikmati Xenia 1.300 cc Xi matik dengan aksesoris lengkap, seperti velg alloy 14 inci, palang air pada sisi mobil, electric mirror, front grille yang sudah full chrome dan fog lamp serta logo deluxe pada sisi kanan dan kiri sehingga membuat tampilan luar Xenia lebih bergaya.

Dengan kelengkapan itu Daihatsu Xenia 1.300 cc Xi matik dibandrol seharga Rp145,6 juta. Setelah detikOto pantau Xenia full aksesoris, tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada bagian eksterior kedua produk tersebut. Yang membembedakan hanya letak emblem. Dimana tipe yang terdapat pada produk Toyota terletak pada kanan belakang mobil, sedangkan tipe Daihatsu sebaliknya.

Secara keseluruhan bagian eksterior hampir sama, sebut saja mengadobsi chrome pada grill serta fog lamp yang diaplikasikan pada sudut yang sama di bagian bumper mobil. Sedangkan stop lamp sama persis posisi dan bentuknya.

"Over all bagian luar semua sama antara kedua produk tersebut. Sampai panjang, lebar, tinggi pun sama," ungkap Product Development PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM), Pradipto S. kepada detikOto, Rabu (18/11/2009).

"Kalau diganti emblemnya orang tidak banyak tahu kalau itu Xenia atau Avanza," tambahnya.

Sedangkan untuk bagian interior kedua produk terutama headunit tidak ada perbedaan secara menyeluruh sebut saja aliran AC, letak pengatur AC, serta tempat menyimpan kartu, letaknya hampir sama. Terlebih posisi tuas transmisi.

Tidak hanya itu bagian sama, bentuk doortrim pun sama persis dengan sang kakak. "Ya iya lah wong satu cetakan," ucapnya.

Namun ada berbeda yakni GPS pada Xenia. Fitur itu diakui Pradipto memang menjadi fitur optional dari Astra International khusus untuk Daihatsu Xenia matik.

Tidak hanya itu, setelah mengamati keseluruhan bentuk interior Xenia, tenyata ada sisi yang membedakannya pula. Dimana Avanza 1.300 cc G matik menggunakan double blower sedangkan Xenia 1.300 cc Xi matik tidak mengaplikasi alat pendingin itu.

Ketidaksamaan itu ternyata cukup membuat pertanyaan. Mengapa sih tidak disematkan saja ?

Dalam hal itu, Direktur Marketing PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) Amelia Tjandra mengatakan ketidaksamaan itu sengaja karena kedua perusahaan mempunyai segmen berbeda. Oleh karena itu PT ADM pun tidak berniat menyamakan sang kakak untuk meraup pangsa di tanah air.

"Kita semua menyediakan pilihan. Kita tidak ingin win dan lose. Ada yang menang ada yang kalah. Kita maunya win dan win, dan bekerjasama," tandas Amelia.

Nah, sudah cukup jelas kan. Daihatsu Xenia 1.300 cc Xi matik dibandrol seharga Rp 145,6 juta plus full aksesoris sedangkan Toyota Avanza 1.300 cc G matik dibadrol Rp 156,55 juta, dan sebaiknya Anda jangan salah pilih ya.

Scientists Find New Drug That Can Destroy Leukaemia Cells

People diagnosed with the most common form of leukaemia were given new hope yesterday after a team of Irish researchers announced a breakthrough in treatment of the disease.

A new drug is capable of killing leukaemia cells including those in patients who have a poor prognosis and have shown resistance to current therapies.

The discovery -- developed in a partnership between Trinity College Dublin and the University of Sienna in Italy -- showed the drug PBOX-15 is specifically active in cancerous cells and works by interfering with the structure or architecture of the cancer cell.

There are 114 new cases of the disease diagnosed here every year and it will take another three to four years before the treatment is developed by pharmaceutical companies and available for patients with the disease.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL), a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow, is the most common leukaemia in the west and normally progresses more slowly than other forms of the disease.

Professor Mark Lawler, of the School of Medicine in Trinity and lead investigator, said the study showed that PBOX-15 "activates key targets in leukaemia cells that triggers the cells to die. Cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy by evading or avoiding cell death. The TCD researchers demonstrated that PBOX-15 can overcome this resistance and kill these cancer cells."

The research, published in the renowned international journal 'Cancer Research', was conducted using CLL cells isolated from 55 CLL patients. PBOX-15 was more effective than the front-line therapy, fludarabine, in killing CLL cells.

"The most exciting result was that PBOX-15 also killed CLL cells that were resistant to the existing treatment. The ability of PBOX-15 to kill leukaemia cells while sparing normal blood cells suggests that the PBOX drug may pave the way for new approaches for the treatment of this incurable cancer," Prof Lawler added.

"Its activity in malignant cells isolated from patients with this common form of leukaemia emphasises the potential of this approach," said Dr Elizabeth Vandenberghe, a consultant haematologist at St James's Hospital who collaborated in the study.

Potential

John McCormack, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society, which donated €400,000 towards the research, said the findings emphasised the potential for basic science discoveries to translate to clinical benefit.

"These findings now need to be brought from the laboratory to the bedside so that they will ultimately benefit patients with this common form of leukaemia." Funding was also provided by Enterprise Ireland and the Higher Education Authorities Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI).

Stealth Jet to Go from Deep Blue to Wild Blue

Lockheed Martin is now testing Cormorant, a stealthy autonomous spy jet that starts and ends its mission 150 feet under water. Launched from Ohio-class submarines, the four-ton aircraft is designed with folding wings that allow it to fit inside a Trident missile tube, which is about 48 feet long but just 7 feet wide.

The stealthy drone quietly floats to the surface and goes about its business of putting the hurt on those who hate America, and then when all the killing is done, slips back under the waves to be retrieved by a sneaky robotic underwater vehicle.

Testing should be done by September, when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will decide if it will commission a flying prototype. So it's not real yet, but even so, this has to be one of the coolest-looking airplane drawings ever, which was done, incidentally, by John MacNeill Illustration.

Avanza Matik Tipe E Segera Menyusul

PT Toyota-Astra Motor (TAM) tidak puas dengan hanya meluncurkan Toyota Avanza 1.300 cc matik varian G saja, PT TAM pun berencana bakal merilis tipe yang lebih rendah yakni tipe E

"Setelah Avanza 1.300 cc G matik, kita juga akan mengeluarkan Avanza 1.300 cc E matik," kata Presiden Direktur PT TAM Johnny Darmawan disela-sela peluncuran Toyota Avanza 1.300 c G Matik di Ballroom Hotel Four Seasons, Jalan HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan, Jakarta, Selasa (17/11/2009).

Namun, Johnny belum bisa mengungkapkan kapan akan meluncurkan versi tipe di bawah Avanza 1.300 cc G matik itu. "Tunggu saja pasti akan kita beri tahu dan akan kita undang," ujarnya.

Dan mengenai harganya, Avanza 1.300 cc E matik diperkirakan akan naik Rp 10 juta seperti yang terjadi pada Toyota Avanza 1.300 c G Matik terhadap Toyota Avanza 1.300 c G manual.

Saat ini Avanza 1.300 cc E manual dibandrol Rp 132,1 juta berarti harga Avanza 1.300 cc E Matik nantinya akan dihargai sekitar Rp 142,1 juta.

"Dengan adanya Avanza E matik maka nanti varian Avanza bertransmisi otomatik akan semakin lengkap sesuai dengan tren tranmisi otomatis yang terjadi diluar negeri. Dan kemungkinan di Indonesia akan coba kita kembangkan," ungkapnya.

Menikmati Pizza Pinggir Jalan

Di antara hiruk pikuk restoran dan kafe yang menyajikan hidangan ala Italia berupa pizza dan pasta, Warung Pizza Zull yang berdiri sejak tahun 1989 tetap setia melayani para pelanggannya.

Saat ini kondisinya memang tidak seramai saat pertama kali buka di Jalan Wijaya IX, Jakarta Selatan. Namun warung kaki lima tersebut tetap bertahan untuk memuaskan para pelanggannya yang masih setia.

"Memang sih tidak seramai dulu. Apalagi saya perhatikan anak muda zaman sekarang kurang suka nongkrong di luar. Mereka lebih senang berlama-lama di depan komputer," kata Zulkifli Lubis (50), pemilik Warung Pizza Zull, yang ditemui di Taman Wijaya, Jakarta Selatan, pada akhir pekan lalu.

Zulkifli menuturkan, para pelanggan lama kebanyakan kini sudah berkeluarga. Dulu mereka masih sekolah dan suka kongko di seputar taman di Jalan Wijaya, Kebayoran Baru. Maklumlah di kawasan tersebut ada sekolah PSKD dan SMPN 56 yang kini pindah ke Jerukpurut, Jakarta Selatan.

Kala itu bisa dibilang unik ketika makanan sekelas pizza, fettucini, spaghetti, dan makaroni panggang, bisa masuk area pedagang kaki lima. Tapi pengunjung tidak bisa memilih isian atau topping-nya, hanya yang ditawarkan di menu saja.

Hidangan dari Itali buatan Zulkifli — yang akrab disapa Bang Zul — dibuat dengan ukuran minimalis atau ukuran personal. Pizzanya hanya berdiameter kurang lebih 15 sentimeter.

Topping-nya hanya berupa cacahan daging sapi, daging ayam, dan potongan sosis, serta tidak lupa keju. Hanya saja yang dipakai bukan jenis mozarella tapi hanya cheddar.

Satu porsi pizza bisa dipotong menjadi enam bagian atau potongan kecil-kecil. Cukup mengenyangkan untuk dimakan berdua. Tapi kalau sedang kelaparan, satu porsi pizza pasti bisa dihabiskan sendiri.

Bang Zul menuturkan bahwa dia sengaja membuat sendiri roti pizzanya, meskipun di pasaran sudah ada yang menjual. Setiap tiga hari sekali, dia membuat dasar roti itu untuk persediaan. Dasar roti tersebut bisa disimpan di dalam kulkas, jadi tidak harus dimasak sekaligus. Begitu juga dengan lasagna, dibuat sendiri oleh Zul, tidak memakai buatan pabrik.

Untuk menu fettucini campurannya terdiri dari jamur, daging asap, dan susu. Sedangkan spagheti diberi saus bolognese (saus daging cincang). Kalau soal rasa memang relatif, kembali ke selera masing-masing. Namun bagi sebagian orang mungkin agak kurang bumbu dan kurang kental.

Selain pizza yang harus dipanggang dalam oven, ada juga makaroni panggang (macaroni schotel) dalam ukuran personal. Untuk menyajikan makanan-makanan yang harus dipanggang itu tidak memakan waktu lama, hanya 10 menit.

Pasalnya, seluruh makan tersebut sudah disiapkan di rumah sehingga tiba di warung tinggal dipanggang sebentar secara dadakan saat konsumen memesan. Oven untuk membakarnya pun sederhana, hanya yang menggunakan bahan gas saja.

Warung pizza ini sangat sederhana, hanya berupa warung tenda dengan dua jajaran meja panjang dan empat kursi panjang dari kayu. Kalau sedang penuh, pengunjung harus berbagi meja panjang dengan orang lain.

Alat yang digunakan untuk menyajikan berupa piring styrofoam sebagai alas, dengan sendok dan garpu dari plastik. Sedangkan spaghetti dan fettucini disajikan dalam mangkuk. Adapun untuk makan spaghetti disediakan sumpit, seperti melahap mi ayam. "Kalau penggunaan sumpit itu karena permintaan konsumen. Jadi kami adakan saja," ujar Zul.

Selain makanan Italia, Zul juga menyajikan masakan lokal seperti nasi goreng sosis dan nasi goreng ayam. Semua menu harganya dipatok Rp 15.000 per porsi.

Langgar Belok Kiri Didenda Rp 500.000 (Alpa Menyalakan Lampu Rp 100.000)

Pengguna kendaraan bermotor di Jakarta kini harus ekstra hari-hati dan memperhatikan seksama rambu larangan belok kiri langsung. Jika melanggar akan dikenakan denda hingga Rp 500.000.

Oleh karena itu, Selasa (17/11), Polda Metro Jaya dan Pemprov DKI melakukan sosialisasi UU Nomor 22 tahun 2009 tentang Lalu Lintas dan Angkutan Jalan di Balai Kota Jakarta, Selasa (17/11), termasuk larangan belok kiri langsung dan aturan menyalakan lampu utama motor pada siang hari.

"Bagi yang tidak menyalakan lampu siang hari dikenai denda maksimal Rp 100.000. Jika persimpangan yang ada traffic light belok kiri dilanggar dendanya Rp 500.000 dan maksimal Rp 1 juta," ujar Kombes Pol Condro Kirono, Direktur Lalu Lintas Polda Metro Jaya, Selasa (17/11).

Pelanggaran lalu lintas di Jakarta, menurut Condro, dalam sehari bisa mencapai 4.500–5.000 kasus dengan pelanggaran paling tinggi adalah pelanggaran terhadap rambu.

“Seperti ngetem di jalan, menerobos lampu merah, dan berhenti sembarangan,” katanya. Ia berharap pada 2010, infrastruktur maupun komponen penindakan seperti tilang siap dilakukan.

Kepala Dinas Perhubungan DKI Jakarta, Muhammad Tauchid, mengatakan, dengan sarana dan prasarana yang sudah lebih baik ketimbang provinsi lain, siap menerapkan Undang-Undang No 22 Tahun 2009 tentang Lalu Lintas dan Angkutan Jalan.

Di samping itu, hampir seluruh ketentuan pun telah dilakukan, termasuk uji kelaikan kendaraan serta sosialisasi larangan belok kiri langsung.

Kepala Dinas Perhubungan DKI Jakarta Muhammad Tauchid mengatakan, salah satu amanah dalam menerapkan undang-undang adalah memperhatikan kondisi infrastruktur jalan. Namun demikian, pihaknya akan mengupayakan semaksimal mungkin kelengkapan pendukung peraturan tersebut.

"Kami akan menyesuaikan diri dengan peraturan baru yang menuntut para pengendara mobil atau motor tidak boleh belok kiri langsung," ujarnya usai sosialisasi UU No. 22 Tahun 2009 di Balaikota, Jakarta, Selasa (17/11).

Namun demikian, diakuinya, tidak semua perempatan diberlakukan aturan tersebut. Menurutnya, setelah dikaji ternyata ada beberapa persimpangan yang setelah dianalisasi secara teknis memungkinkan untuk belok kiri langsung. “Pada persimpangan tersebut, kami akan melengkapinya dengan rambu-rambu baru,” ujarnya.

Saat ini, lanjut Tauchid, yang perlu dilakukan adalah sosialisasi agar masyarakat tahu adanya aturan baru itu. Apalagi, denda yang diberikan kepada pelanggarnya maksimal Rp 500.000, sehingga diharapkan dengan sosialisasi ini dapat meminimalisasi jumlah pelanggaran kendaraan bermotor di jalan-jalan di Jakarta.

Wakil Gubernur DKI Prijanto menambahkan, Pemprov DKI terus melakukan uji kelaikan kendaraan berkala. "Mobil tua, yang gas buangnya jelek dan tidak laik jalan, sudah seharusnya dikandangkan," tutur Prijanto.

Prijanto mengatakan, sepeda motor serta mobil pribadi tidak wajib uji emisi. Namun, salah satu pasal lain menyebutkan bahwa semua kendaraan harus memenuhi syarat termasuk emisi.

"Semua kendaraan tetap harus laik jalan. Di Jakarta sudah ada 338 bengkel uji emisi. Kami berharap, seluruh warga dapat bertanggungjawab bila ingin lingkungan ini bersih," ujar Prijanto.

Harimau Langka Itu Mati di Kandang Ayam

Seekor harimau sumatera (Panthera tigris sumatrae) ditemukan mati di kandang ayam milik M Rajab (45), warga Desa Silolo Kecamatan Pasie Raja, Kabupaten Aceh Selatan.

"Harimau berjenis kelamin betina itu ditemukan mati di dalam kandang ayam sekitar pukul 08.00 WIB. Warga menguburkan satwa dilindungi itu," kata Camat Pasie Raja H Rustam di Tapak Tuan, Senin (16/11).

Sebelum dikubur, satwa langka ini lebih dulu dibungkus kain putih. Penguburan tersebut juga disaksikan Kepala Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam (KSDA) Safwan, petugas Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser (TNGL), dan Kepala Polsek Pasie Raja Kabupaten Aceh Selatan.

Diperkirakan, harimau yang memiliki panjang sekitar 99 cm, tinggi 62 cm, dan panjang ekor 52 cm itu masuk ke kandang ayam yang berada di belakang rumah M Rajab sekitar pukul 20.00.

Hewan yang hampir punah tersebut diduga tewas akibat kehabisan napas karena terlilit tali yang terdapat di dalam kandang ayam milik warga yang sehari-hari berprofesi sebagai petani itu.

"Untuk mencegah kemungkinan yang tidak diinginkan, harimau yang masih berusia muda itu dikubur di halaman rumah M Rajab," katanya.

Kepala KSDA Aceh Selatan Safwan mengatakan bahwa harimau itu tewas akibat kehabisan napas. Pihaknya telah melaporkan kejadian tersebut ke BKSDA Provinsi Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

"Kami sudah melaporkan kejadian ini ke BKSDA provinsi dan diperkirakan masih ada satu harimau lagi yang berkeliaran di pinggiran Desa Silolo itu," katanya.

Selama dua bulan terakhir, gangguan harimau di daerah penghasil pala itu meningkat. Puluhan ternak telah dimangsa raja hutan.

Selain Desa Silolo, Kecamatan Pasie Raja, sejumlah desa lainnya, seperti Jambo Apha, Kecamatan Tapak Tuan, dan Desa Jambo Papeun, Kecamatan Meukek, harimau juga sempat turun ke permukiman.

Kepala Desa Jamboe Papeun Sasmin (44) mengatakan bahwa harimau telah memangsa lima kambing milik Tgk Syahabuddin, Tgk Anshari, dan M Nasir Nas, serta 39 ayam dan itik milik masyarakat lainnya.

"Warga melihat harimau di ladang ubi yang berada di dusun Kuta Batee yang berjarak sekitar satu kilometer dari permukiman penduduk. Sebenarnya warga sangat takut dan cemas untuk berkebun. Namum, aktivitas itu harus tetap dilaksanakan guna memenuhi kebutuhan sehari-hari," kata Sasmin.

Digital Tattoo Interface Turns Your Skin Into A Display

There are implants which are purely aesthetic, and then there's the Digital Tattoo Interface concept. It's a blood-powered electronic interface which is embedded under skin to mimic a tattoo, display videos, or act as a phone or computer.

As great as it seems, this concept is seriously creepy because it powers itself by converting the glucose and oxygen found in blood into electricity. Though somehow getting your blood sucked by a gadget is worth it for the endless potential applications.

The NSA to Store a YOTTABYTE of Your Phone Calls, Emails and Other Big Brothery Stuff

In Utah, the National Security Agency is building a $2 billion storage facility that will house and analyze all forms of electronic communication...a potential yottabyte of everyone's (formerly) personal data. So how big is a yottabyte? CrunchGear puts it well:

There are a thousand gigabytes in a terabyte, a thousand terabytes in a petabyte, a thousand petabytes in an exabyte, a thousand exabytes in a zettabyte, and a thousand zettabytes in a yottabyte. In other words, a yottabyte is 1,000,000,000,000,000GB.

In terms of data on current human scales, a yottabyte is nearly infinite (though we’re sure the NSA will manage to fill the thing in like 2 weeks, and iPods will come with yottabytes in just a few months).

To be fair, the yottabyte figure is just one estimate generated by a Pentagon think tank. The facility could hold a mere hundreds of petabytes. But either way, the prospect is as unsustainable as it is frightening. This one facility will burn through as much electricity as the entirety of Salt Lake City.

All of this data comes from the book The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency by Matthew M. Aid.

Calon Motor Baru Yamaha

Akhir 2009 berlanjut 2010, PT Yamaha Motor Kencana Indonesia (YMKI) bakal meluncurkan 7 varian barunya. Mulai dari jenis bebek, skutik sampai sport. Sinyal ini disampaikan Presiden Direktur YMKI Yoshiteru Takahashi kepada tim MOTOR Plus.

Untuk kategori bebek, Yamaha bakal menampilkan Jupiter MX 135LC dan Jupiter-Z terbaru dengan kapasitas 115 cc. Berarti, produk ini akan bersaing sama Honda Blade yang dilaunching awal 2009 dengan menggelembungkan kapasitas mesin dari 100 cc menjadi 110 cc. Juga sama Suzuki New Smash.

Masih dikategori bebek, tapi kelas terendah, Yamaha punya New Vega-ZR yang katanya akan diluncurkan dua versi, yakni pelek palang dan jari-jari. Desain bodinya mirip Honda Supra X125 denngan ciri sein terletak di pinggir sayap.

Sementara di kelas skutik, ada produk baru yang sudah dilengkapi dengan sistem pendingin air (radiator). Seperti dapur pacu Yamaha Nouvo Elegance 135 versi Thailand, tapi punya Yamaha diperkirakan berkapasitas 125 cc dan akan berhadapan sama Suzuki Spin, Skywave dan Skydrive yang bermesin 125 cc juga.

Untuk kategori sport, ATPM Yamaha Indonesia mengusung model streetfighter. Salah satu indikasinya tampak pada tangki yang besar, lampu utama futuristik dengan desain kotak. Begitu juga knalpot dirancang lebih besar, termasuk juga telapak ban.

Sex Classes for Every Pupil at 15

SEX education is to be compulsory for all pupils at the age of 15, schools chiefs announced last night.

Church schools will now have to teach youngsters about contraception and homosexuality - even if it goes against their beliefs.

Until now, parents had a legal right to withdraw children from the lessons. But Education Secretary Ed Balls stepped in to change the rules.

Kids of five will also be taught the "differences" between the sexes under the new Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum.

This is already done in most schools, but will now officially become part of the syllabus.

Compulsory sex and relationship lessons at 15 are a bid to cut the number of teen pregnancies.

Faith schools will not be able to opt out, but can teach topics within the "tenets of their religion".

Mr Balls said: "You can teach the promotion of marriage, you can teach that you shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, what you can't do is deny young people information about contraception outside of marriage."

The Terrence Higgins Trust said: "We often see the results of ignorance and poor education so we are glad the Government is tackling this issue."

But the Family Education Trust accused Mr Balls of "imposing his own agenda" on parents.