Cholesterol may not be as mean as we tend to believe it is. A new study says they might actually provide a benefit.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered that combined with exercise, cholesterol appears to play a role in contributing to muscle gain.

During the study conducted on 55 men and women, aged 60-69 were made to perform several exercises three days a week for 12 weeks. The researchers found that there was a significant association of dietary cholesterol and change in strength. In general, those with higher cholesterol intake also had the highest muscle strength gain.

Cholesterol circulating in the blood also appeared to have contributed to greater muscle gain in the participants.

“As you exercise, your muscles can become sore because they are rebuilding muscle mass. More cholesterol may result in a more robust inflammatory response. We know that inflammation in some areas, such as near the heart, is not good, but for building muscles it may be beneficial, and cholesterol appears to aid in this process,” lead investigator Steven Riechman said.

Riechman said that subjects who were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs while participating in the study showed lower muscle gain totals than those who were not.

Lessons in etiquette

A private British college is starting compulsory etiquette classes for 13- to 14-year-olds to sharpen up their comportment in a world of ill-mannered informality.

Brighton College in the UK will drill pupils on how to iron a shirt properly, dance the waltz, when to take off a jacket or go to the toilet, who to talk to during which courses at the dinner table and other finer points of etiquette.

Headmaster Richard Cairns decided it was time his pupils were taught a few lessons in good manners after learning that employers were dismayed by the numbers of undergraduates who were not equipped for the business world.

Each Thursday, pupils will be invited to dine at Cairns’ house, where they will be taught how to deal with food they do not like, how to use the right cutlery and how to talk to fellow guests, among other tips.

Obesity vs productivity

A recent study has revealed that people who are moderately to extremely obese have lower productivity at the work place compared to overweight or mildly obese workers.

The study led by Donna M Gates, University of Cincinnati, suggest that the workers with moderate to extreme obesity had the greatest health-related limitations at work, or “presenteeism”.

Men prefer tear-jerkers

Women prefer stories that seem to be true, while men enjoy fictionalised tear-jerkers where protagonists overcome challenges through sacrifice and bravery, a new study says.

The study, findings of which have been published in the latest issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, found there is a significant difference in the way men and women react to dramatic entertainment that elicits deep emotional reactions.

Providing explicit information that the story is make-believe may have enabled low empathisers (males in this case) to relax emotion norms and become more involved in the story, in turn resulting in more favourable evaluations of the entertainment, says the study.

Oldest gamma ray found

Astronomers have detected the traces of a cosmic explosion known as a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) from further back in time than ever before, specifically 7.4 billion years ago.

“This discovery dramatically moves back the time at which we know short GRBs were exploding. The short burst is almost twice as far as the previous confirmed record holder,” said John Graham of the Johns Hopkins University.

GRBs are among the most powerful explosions in the universe, releasing enormous amounts of energy in the form of X-rays and gamma rays. Most bursts fall in one of two categories: long bursts and short bursts, depending on whether they last longer or shorter than three seconds.