Fisher responds at European Open

England’s Ross Fisher goes into the fourth and final day of the European Open at Ash in Kent with a three-shot lead over Graeme McDowell.

Fisher shot a 69, 16-under for the tournament, whilst McDowell hit a 71 to end the penultimate day three shots off the pace.

McDowell had started the better of the two, making birdies on the fifth, seventh and eighth to be out in 34 and move to 14-under-par overall.

Fisher was three behind at one point, after struggling with winds of 50 kms.
The big-hitting Englishman hit bogeys at the second and seventh before birdies at the eighth and ninth took him to the turn in 36 to move back to 13-under.

It was a different story for the pair on the back nine, however.

An eagle on 15 and a birdie on 18 gave Fisher a score of 69 for the day, whilst, though McDowell also eagled 15, he bogeyed 11, 16 and 18 to end the day on 71.

Fisher's birdie on the 18th was the first at the hole on the day, and he admitted that his aggressive attitude helped him.

"It's a great finishing hole from a spectator's point of view, but a bit of a pain from a player's point of view," said Fisher.

"When I hit my drive I was just thinking 'please carry the water, carry the water' and you could probably see the huge relief. I think mine may have caused Graeme to take a more aggressive line."

South African David Frost is in third place on 10-under following a 69. His bogey at the last prevented his recording the only blemish free round of the day.

Joint fourth on eight under are Ireland's Paul McGinley, Dane Soren Hansen and Swede Michael Jonzon.

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Ross Fisher responded to the gauntlet thrown down by Graeme McDowell to draw level with the Ulsterman in the second round of the European Open.

McDowell carded a 67 with six birdies and a bogey to reach 12-under at halfway.

But the overnight leader, Fisher, who began his second round on nine-under, picked up birdies at the third, fifth and eighth holes to draw level with fellow Ryder Cup hopeful McDowell.

"My job was to keep the foot on the pedal and keep it going," McDowell said.

"I'll take 12-under at halfway every week, whether it leads or not, and I fully expect to be in the mix come Sunday afternoon."

Sergio Garcia, in the same group as McDowell, made up for a modest opening round of 71 with a scintillating 64 to reach nine-under and hold third place.

The highlight of the Spaniard’s round was an eagle-three at the eighth to compliment six birdies and a bogey at the London Golf Club.

Paul McGinley [68] trailed the leaders by five shots after recovering from a bad start to keep his hopes alive of qualifying for the Open.

The Irishman, who dropped three strokes in the last two holes on Thursday, three-putted the 11th but retrieved the situation with five birdies.

48-year-old David Frost [72] dropped a shot at the last as the South African also reached seven-under.

Things were not so bright though for Justin Rose [73] who double-bogeyed the 18th to sit a distant 10 shots off the pace.

Fountain of youth? Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age

Fountain of youth? Red wine gives up secrets
A compound in red wine may ward off a variety of medical conditions related to aging, providing heart benefits, stronger bones and preventing eye cataracts, researchers said on Thursday.

The study, involving mice fed a diet supplemented with resveratrol starting in their equivalent of middle age, is the latest to raise hope that the compound or drugs based on it may improve the health of people.

Most of mice given resveratrol did not live longer than other mice but were far more healthy in several important measures, according to the study published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

"The good news is we can increase health. I think that's more important than increasing life span," David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, who led the study along with Rafael de Cabo of the U.S. government's National Institute on Aging, said in a telephone interview.

The mice in the study that were fed a high-calorie diet supplemented with resveratrol outlived those getting a high-calorie diet without the compound, the researchers said.

"Resveratrol wiped out the negative effect of the high fat," de Cabo said in a telephone interview.

Resveratrol, found in abundance in grapes and in red wine, has drawn a lot of interest from scientists and some companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, which this year paid $720 million to buy Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc, a company developing drugs that mimic the effects of resveratrol.

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A key compound in red wine known as resveratrol appears to protect against many of the health ravages associated with growing old, new animal research reveals.

"It's very hard to extrapolate from this finding to comment on the benefits of red wine directly, because red wine has many other compounds besides resveratrol, including ethanol, which have very active biological effects," noted study author Rafael de Cabo, unit chief of the laboratory of experimental gerontology at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore.

"But red wine is a good source of resveratrol," he added. "And, in this mouse study, we have shown that this particular compound has very strong positive effects on preventing cardiovascular disease, reducing heart inflammation, keeping bone health in terms of structure and function, and maintaining loco-motor and balance activity. So, if these effects translate into humans, it will have a very good impact on the standard of human health."

De Cabo conducted the research with David A. Sinclair, of Harvard Medical School. Their team is publishing its findings in the July 3 online issue ofCell Metabolism.

Daily consumption of the compound -- also found in the skin of grapes and the crust of peanuts and walnuts -- broadly improved the long-term quality of life of middle-aged mice, although most mice did not end up living longer.

Nevertheless, the age-defying health benefits of resveratrol closely mimicked those previously associated with rigorous calorie-restricted diets -- raising hopes for simpler and easier means by which to help fight off age-related decline.

The authors noted that prior research has touted the healthy benefits associated with daily caloric restriction of between 30 percent and 50 percent below average, as well as with fasting every other day. Such diets have been linked to a reduction in the risk for age-associated disease and stress, alongside a slowing of age-related functional decline.

Interior Lifestyle 2008, that took place from 11 – 13 June 2008 in Tokyo,{Lifestyle Awards}

Interior Lifestyle closes with record breaking visitors
Interior Lifestyle 2008, that took place from 11 – 13 June 2008 in Tokyo, attracted the highest number of visitors ever in its history. The halls were packed and bustling, especially on the last day when over 9,200 buyers crowded into the fair, bringing the overall total to a record-breaking 27,390. The atmosphere was lively and feedback from participants was generally excellent.

With 652 exhibitors (419 domestic, 233 overseas) from 31 countries and regions filled four halls of West Hall at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. The fair delivered a wide-ranging selection of high-quality products for cooking, living, furnishing and decorating as well as kitchen/tablewares, home accessories and home textiles.

Positive feedback from exhibitors:
For the 652 exhibitors, the fair was a great opportunity to start up business or to strengthen existing business in the high-end consumer goods sector. Many of the exhibitors gave positive feedback. Mr. Marco Fontao, sales manager of Dicame, S.A. said, “The purpose of our participation in the fair was to introduce the collection of our brand to the Japanese market and to find a distributor in Japan.

Among the visitors were importers and buyers from trading and commercial companies. It was the first time that we exhibited at a Japanese trade fair. Our products are known for their high-quality and are made of the finest raw materials. I believe that our products are suitable for the Japanese market, where high-quality is required.

After three days exhibiting at Interior Lifestyle, I am even more confident about our success in the Japanese market. Japanese buyers seemed to accept our products. Interior Lifestyle was very lively with many visitors over the three days. From the moment the doors opened in the morning until they closed in the evening, there was a lot of visitor traffic. It was nice to take part in such a growing fair.”

Special presentation for the latest interior trends:
One of the distinctive features of Interior Lifestyle is its series of special showcases and presentations highlighting international products and trends in design. With new attractions “NORDIC LIFESTYLE”, two Trend Cafes and the young designer presentation area, “neON”, the 2008 fair was more informative and inspiring than ever before.

Mr. Toji Sakamoto, sales manager of Product Marketing Service Co Ltd, Remarked with a positive statement, “Just on the first day, we had more than 400 contacts and more than 700 packages of promotional material were taken by visitors. We met many retailer. The first encounter with Interior Lifestyle was last year when I came as a visitor to the fair. Before that I was sceptical about the benefits of trade fairs from a cost-effectiveness point of view.

But after having visited the previous Interior Lifestyle, I made up my mind to take part in the fair. Interior Lifestyle is known for its high-sense exhibition style, so exhibiting at the fair seemed to be a big advantage for our branding strategy. I am very happy about being able to exhibit in the special exhibition zone, “NORDIC LIFESTYLE”.

As an agent that promotes the Norwegian furniture, “Rybo”, we were very lucky to make our first debut at the fair in the
very year when the Nordic lifestyle was being highlighted. I would like to come back in 2009!”

Interior Lifestyle Awards:
The Interior Lifestyle Awards are given to products that deserve special recognition for design innovation or their popularity. Products at the 2008 fair were judged by a panel of opinion leaders, including representatives from the Japan Interior Designers Association (JID), the Japan Design Consultants Association (JDCA), the chief editor of Mono Magazine, the chief editor of Nikkei Design, and Mr. Kohei Takata, a concept planning director of the fair. As there were many exhibitors with well designed products, competition for the awards was intense. Five exhibitors won awards and a presentation ceremony was held on the evening of the first day. The winning companies were:

• JID Design Award: IOTC Inc.
• JDCA Design Management Award: YOnoBI
• Mono Magazine Award: foodesign guzzini
• NIKKEI DESIGN Award: Onao Co., Ltd.
• Interior Lifestyle Young Designer Award: sora design works

A furniture designer of sora design works, a winner of the Interior Lifestyle Young Designer Award was delighted at the news that she had been nominated to take part in the ‘talents’ showcase at the Ambiente 2009 – the world’s largest and most prestigious consumer goods fair held annually in Frankfurt am Main.

“When I visited a friend’s booth at the fair in 2007, I thought that I would like to participate in the fair. neon is a brilliant project to give our young designers a chance to promote ourselves to business enterprises! I met all kinds of visitors from many different industries and got some offers for collaborative work with several companies. In the beginning, I was worried not to be chosen as one of the designers to take part in this project. So, I was very happy to be able to exhibit at neon. I never expected to be honoured with such a special award. I cannot wait to go to Frankfurt next February!

The next Interior Lifestyle is scheduled to take place from 3 - 5 June 2009 at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. Please also check out the new trade fair showcasing a wide-range of interior products; IFFT/interiorlifestyle living” which will be held from 19 – 22 November 2008 for the first time.