US teen dies after drinking too much caffeine
Washington: A healthy 16-year-old high school boy in the US has died after consuming excessive amount of caffeine-laced drinks, according to a county coroner who has warned that these beverages may be life threatening.
Davis Allen Cripe died from a caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia, said Gary Watts, Richland County Coroner.
During an arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, the heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body, and lack of blood flow affects the brain, heart and other organs. Cripe had consumed three caffeine-laced drinks – a cafe latte, large diet soft drink and an energy drink – in a two- hour period before collapsing in his classroom at Spring Hill High School in South Carolina on April 26, Watts said.
Cripe’s autopsy showed no undiagnosed heart conditions and that he was healthy and had no conditions that could have triggered by the caffeine intake.
Also, no other drugs or alcohol were found in the boy’s system, Watts said. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that adolescents, age 12 to 18, should not consume more than 100 milligrammes of caffeine per day.
An intake of caffeine greater than that has been associated with elevated blood pressure in adolescents, Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, nutrition specialist at the University of California in the US was quoted as saying by ‘CNN’.
“Our purpose here today is to let people know, especially our young kids in school, that these drinks can be dangerous, and be very careful with how you use them, and how many you drink on a daily basis,” Watts said. (PTI)
Afghan woman seeks to become youngest to make solo flight
Montreal: n Afghan pilot hoping to become the youngest woman in history to complete a solo round-the- world flight was preparing Monday to start the Transatlantic leg of her journey.
Shaesta Waiz, 29, was born in a refugee camp at the end of the Soviet war in Afghanistan before immigrating with her family to the United States in 1987.
There, she discovered a passion for flying and obtained her pilot’s license — becoming the youngest certified civilian female pilot from Afghanistan.
Now she wants to share that sense of freedom of soaring high above ground with other young women.
“When I found my passion — flying — that’s when I started to challenge myself. I started to read. I started to do better in maths. I started to look at the world differently, the sky differently,” Waiz said as she made a stopover in Montreal.
“What’s important is finding your passion and going after it.”
Waiz took off from Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday and has mapped out a route that will take her aboard her Beechcraft Bonanza A36 aircraft approximately 25,800 kilometers to more than 18 countries, including Spain, Egypt, India, Singapore and Australia, before ending the trip back in Florida in August.
During her 30 stopovers, the engineering graduate and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is backing her trip, will host events to try to get schoolchildren interested in science — notably aeronautics.
“If you really break it down into science, technology, engineering and math and explore what those career fields offer, it’s very exciting,” Waiz said. (AFP)
Priest stabbed in neck at mass in Mexico’s cathedral
Mexico City: A knife-wielding assailant stabbed the neck of a priest as he said mass in Mexico City’s cathedral, then tried to flee but was caught in the church, officials said.
“We are united in prayer for Father Machorro who just was gored in the neck in the cathedral,” fellow priest Jose Aguilar said on Twitter.
Dozens of worshipers were on hand at the Mexico City cathedral, Latin America’s largest and a popular tourist draw on the landmark Zocalo square, when the assailant stabbed the priest.
The priest was rushed to hospital for treatment of neck wounds, police said. They declined to give the identity of the assailant, who was turned over to prosecuting authorities. (AFP)
