First Giraffe Born At The Maryland Zoo In More Than 20 Years

BALTIMORE (WJZ) – The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore says the first giraffe calf born there in more than 20 years was delivered by 4-year-old Juma on Monday, Feb. 6.

Eleven-year-old Caesar is the female calf’s father.

“We couldn’t be happier to welcome this beautiful calf to the Zoo family,” said Don Hutchinson, president/CEO of the Zoo. “She will bring a lot of excitement to the Giraffe House and make a wonderful addition to the herd.”

Juma went into labor at approximately 3 p.m. that day and the calf was born at 4:35 p.m.

“Standing is one of the first major milestones for a newborn giraffe, and she was able to fully stand on her own in just 50 minutes,” said Erin Cantwell, mammal collection and conservation manager. “It’s safe to say that we were all silently cheering her on and were very excited to see her up on four legs.”

“Juma is an amazing mother,” according to Cantwell. “Her instincts are on target. She is very attentive and has been very patient with the calf as she learns to nurse. Mother and calf are bonding well and appear to be settling into their new routine with ease. All the other giraffes are curious about this new addition — it’s fun to watch them watching the calf.”

During her first veterinary exam, the calf was measured at 6-foot-1 and weighed approximately 125 pounds.

“Health-wise everything looks pretty perfect so far,” says Samantha Sander, associate veterinarian. “All signs so far indicate we have a very healthy and strong female calf, and certainly an excellent mom.”

Juma and the calf will not be immediately visible to Zoo guests.

“We want to observe them and their interactions with the rest of the herd in a quiet setting for a little while longer,” concluded Cantwell. “Juma is a first-time mother and we want to ensure that we introduce her calf to the public in a way that keeps everyone comfortable and at ease.”

Isaiah Thomas ‘Confident’ He Can Lead the NBA in Scoring

Isaiah Thomas believes he can leapfrog Russell Westbrook (31.1 PPG) and lead the NBA in scoring.

Thomas, the No. 2 scorer in the L at the moment at 29.9 PPG, says it’s his goal to win the scoring title this season.

The All-Star point guard tied a Boston Celtics team record Wednesday night by notching his 40th consecutive 20-plus point game.

Per the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

Catching Westbrook isn’t out of the question for Thomas. […] “That’s the goal,” Thomas said. “I think I can. I’m confident I can.”

Even if the 5-foot-9 Thomas doesn’t end up leading the NBA in scoring, he could still finish with the highest scoring average in Celtics history. Larry Bird owns the franchise record by averaging 29.93 points in the 1987-88 season. Bird scored 44 in his regular-season finale, but still fell five points shy of averaging 30. Thomas, who is averaging 29.88 points, is six shy of averaging 30.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it,” Thomas said. “It would mean a lot, especially with such great players that played before me, but I mean I’m not aiming for it. It’s just if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I’ll be all right.”

A Bit More Vitamin D Might Help Prevent Colds And Flu

It's long been known that vitamin D helps protect our bones, but the question of whether taking vitamin D supplements helps guard immunity has been more controversial. An analysis published Wednesday suggests the sunshine vitamin can help reduce the risk of respiratory infections, including colds and flu — especially among people who don't get enough of the vitamin from diet or exposure to sunlight.

Researchers pooled data from 25 studies that including more than 10,000 participants. The studies looked at whether vitamin D supplements cut the number of infections.

"We found that overall there was a modest protective effect," says Dr. Adrian Martineau, a clinical professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London who led the research team. Overall, he says, vitamin D supplements seemed to reduce the risk of infection about 10 percent.

People who had been vitamin D deficient when they enrolled in the studies saw more benefit. Their risk of infection was cut in half, according to the findings.

"What we found is that those with the lowest vitamin D levels experienced the greatest benefit from supplementation," Martineau says.

Acute respiratory infections are responsible for millions of emergency department visits in the United States each year, says Carlos Camargo, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and a senior author of the study. He says their findings support the notion that more foods should be fortified with vitamin D.

The U.S. has long fortified foods with vitamin D, including milk and other dairy products. Many food companies supplement orange juice products and cereals, too. And certain foods like sardines and other oily fish naturally contain significant levels of vitamin D. For instance, a serving of salmon can have almost a whole day's worth of vitamin D. And the body produces its own vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

So not everyone is convinced that this study should lead us all to the supplement aisle.

According to recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, most adults need about 600 IU (International Units) of vitamin D per day. Adults 70 years old and older are advised to increase their intake to 800 IUs per day.

Many Americans don't routinely get this amount from their diets, so a multivitamin can help make up the shortfall. "The standard multivitamin has about 400 IUs," says Steven Abrams, a professor of pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine panel that wrote the vitamin D recommendations for children and adults.

Abrams says the guidelines, issued in 2010, were based on evidence that vitamin D helps protect bone health. "Now the controversy is whether there's enough evidence about other diseases to make [new] recommendations."

Over the last 10 years, a number of studies have suggested that the sunshine vitamin can help prevent disease. That has led people to think that higher doses of supplements are better. But Abrams says he's not convinced there's a benefit of taking a supplement for people who are not deficient. "It needs further studies to confirm."

Abrams says the importance of the new study is that it's a summary of 25 controlled trials. "And it shows that people with very low vitamin D [levels] do better when they're given supplements." He says this is not too surprising. "If you're deficient, getting an adequate amount will make a difference."

In other words, if you're getting the recommended 600 IUs of vitamin D from your diet, a supplement may not lead to any further benefit. But the growing interest in vitamin D has lots of people curious about their levels.

"Many of our patients come in and say: I want to be tested for vitamin D," says Monique Tello, a primary care doctor at Massachusetts General in Boston who has written about vitamin D levels. A lot of people suspect they're deficient, but she says determining the right level can be tricky.

The IOM report estimated that a vitamin D blood level of 20 ng/mL or higher was adequate for good bone health, and that anything below that was deficient.

Go inside Trump's vacation house, Mar-a-Lago

It's been just days since President Donald Trump left his Palm Beach, Fla. resort, Mar-a-Lago, but he's already planning a return trip this Friday through Monday, the Palm Beach Post reports.
This will be the third weekend in a row that Trump stays at his private club, which has been dubbed the "Winter White House."

Over the weekend, he and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his wife, Akie Abe. A paying member of the club put photos of the meeting on Facebook.

The Federal Aviation Administration has already issued flight restrictions for Feb. 1 through the 20th, with the posting to be removed Feb. 21.

Trump was critical of President Obama when he took vacations or was photographed playing golf. He also told the media that he didn't anticipate taking much time off while in office.
"There's just so much to be done," Trump said just before taking office. "So I don't think we'll be very big on vacations, no."

Politico reported that one of Trump's weekends at Mar-a-Lago "could saddle taxpayers with a bill upward of $3 million."

About Mar-a-Lago

The resort is a historic Florida property, which was designed in 1927 by American architect Marion Sims Wyeth, who was also commissioned to build the Florida governor's mansion in Tallahassee.
The original owner, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, donated the property to the U.S. government in 1973.

Trump purchased the property, and its antiques, in 1985. He made some improvements, including adding a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, including his signature gold finishes throughout, and debuted it as a private club.

WHITE HOUSE SPECULATION: Will Donald Trump's White House be as opulent as his Manhattan penthouse?

The President contends that his presidency does not pose a conflict of interests with his businesses. Although some critics have pointed out that Mar-a-Lago's membership fees doubled after Trump's
November victory. The inauguration fee spike doubled, from $100,000 to $200,000.

"I have 24 acres in Palm Beach and nobody has anything like that," Trump told Town & Country magazine in 2014. "A big house is on one acre. I have 24. It's the great estate of Palm Beach."

Selena Gomez returns to music with Kygo's new single

Selena Gomez is returning to music with the release of her first new song since 2015.

The single, “It Ain’t Me,” is by Norwegian DJ Kygo and features Gomez, who sings perhaps her most mature tune to date.

The singer, 24, took to Twitter to share the song with fans, writing, “It’s finally here!”

The “Hands to Myself” singer teased a previous snippet of the song in early February on her Insta stories. The lyrics: “I had a dream / we were back to 17 / summer nights and liberties / never growing up,” also featured a half profile of Gomez with a black X over her mouth.


The song narrates the story of a love destroyed over alcoholism above strummed guitar chords and Kygo’s pulsing piano.

This is Gomez’s first musical endeavor since her 2015 album Revival. The singer-actress has been keeping busy as executive producer of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, an adaptation of the best-selling young adult novel, which hits the streaming service March 31.

What Is Sleeping Beauty Syndrome?

A young woman in Minnesota has been diagnosed with a rare sleeping disorder that can cause her to sleep for weeks at a time. Afflicted with Kleine-Levin syndrome, also known as Sleeping Beauty syndrome, Delanie Weyer can suddenly feel tired and then sleep for two to five weeks.

The 23-year-old first experienced an episode in her late teens when she was on a school trip. “When I was 18, [I had] my first episode, is what they call it,” Weyer told CBS Minnesota. “I was sleeping a lot. When I was awake, I was delusional.” She said that she barely remembers the episode, and a similar thing has happened four times each year since then.

“I sleep anywhere from 15 to 20 hours a day” during an episode, she said. “When I am awake, I’m very spacey, delusional, just not in touch with reality. I just have no motivation to do anything, very depressed feeling, really frustrated because I don’t know what’s going on.” When she’s suffering from an episode, Weyer says, she only gets up to eat, drink, and use the bathroom — and the last time this happened, it went on for five weeks.

“I’ve missed major life events, I’ve missed a Thanksgiving, I’ve missed Easter,” Weyer said. “I missed my grandpa’s 85th birthday. I missed my 21st birthday because I was in [an] episode.”

At one point, her mom, Jean Weyer, had to fly to Wyoming to bring her home because she wasn’t awake enough to get herself home.

Weyer’s mom says that she couldn’t understand why her daughter was sleeping all the time: “I’m the typical mom that would make her, force her to get up, and she’s very irritable and again the blank stare, and I question was she lying to me, was she being lazy, was she taking some kind of drug,” she said. After seeing multiple therapists and doctors, Delanie was finally diagnosed by a sleep disorders specialist.

Sleeping Beauty syndrome is extremely rare. “It’s one in a million — literally,” sleep medicine doctor and neurologist W. Christopher Winter, MD, of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and author of the upcoming book The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It, tells Yahoo Beauty. Winter says that the condition is “so rare, it’s difficult to study.”

According to the Kleine-Levin Syndrome Foundation, the condition is a “rare and complex neurological disorder characterized by recurring periods of excessive amounts of sleep, altered behavior, and a reduced understanding of the world.” Sufferers are usually teenagers, but the condition can also occur in children and adults, the organization says. During episodes, people are not able to care for themselves, or go to school or work. “In between episodes, those with KLS appear to be in perfect health with no evidence of behavioral or physical dysfunction,” the organization says, noting that episodes can go on for 10 years or more.

Sanjeev Kothare, MD, professor of neurology at the NYU Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center—Sleep Center who regularly treats people with Sleeping Beauty syndrome, tells Yahoo Beauty that it’s “completely debilitating. … It usually happens in boys, and they have episodes where they wake up one fine morning and then sleep for up to 20 hours a day, lasting anywhere from one week to four weeks,” he says. “All they do is wake up, eat, and go back to sleep.” They can also be hypersexual when they’re awake.

Experts aren’t completely sure what causes the condition, but Winter says it may have a viral origin. “Most people think that some sort of virus happens that’s affecting the part of the brain stem that’s responsible for arousal and sleep,” he explains. “It could be that you get the flu, that triggers some sort of autoimmune response on a part of the brain responsible for wakefulness, and you end up with Sleeping Beauty syndrome.”

NFL Combine 2017: 10 biggest snubs from list of invites

Every year, 330 NFL draft prospects are invited to Indianapolis to be tested mentally, physically and athletically in front of every NFL decision maker, plus most NFL scouting and coaching personnel.

However, even with 330 players invited, 15 percent of players drafted each year on average will have not been in attendance at the NFL Scouting Combine.

This year, the NFL opted not to invite eligible prospects who had previously been convicted of violent crimes, which excludes a handful of top players, most notably Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly.

This list of 2017 Combine "snubs" does not include those players, but rather players who were overlooked as draft-worthy prospects. Here are the 10 biggest snubs, organized by position.

Zach Terrell, QB, Western Michigan

The best quarterback at the East-West Shrine Game, Terrell was snubbed from the Combine in favor of Minnesota’s Mitch Leidner and Texas A&M’s Trevor Knight. While those two have better NFL size and arm strength, neither has shown the efficiency or ball placement to warrant draft consideration like Terrell has.

Terrell is likely a career NFL backup but could be a great one at that. And in today’s NFL, where effective backups are set to cost teams upwards of $6 million a year, Terrell and a Day 3 draft pick’s salary should be pretty appealing to NFL teams.

I’Tavius Mathers, RB, Middle Tennessee State

Mathers is a former Ole Miss transfer who emerged as a dual-value running back this season in his first year as a full-time starter. He's one of the better receiving backs in the 2017 NFL Draft class.

He offers explosiveness and top-end speed, and he’ll likely be a sub-4.50 40 talent at his eventual Pro Day. While it’s a loaded running back class and we could see upwards of 30 running backs drafted this year (most since 2000), Mathers will have to re-assert himself in that grouping.

Chad Williams, WR, Grambling State

A late Senior Bowl addition after he impressed at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, Williams showcased why he was a productive senior at Grambling State this year. He offers great body control and coordination, and the Combine could have done wonders to show NFL teams his vertical speed. 

Even in a strong receiver class, Williams is highly likely to be a draft pick. He reminds of a lesser version of Brandon Marshall.

Taylor McNamara, TE, USC

One of the biggest “winners” from the East-West Shrine Game, the athletic tight end from USC was a shocking omission from the official invite list. McNamara offers awesome seam positioning and finishing ability with strength in traffic, and he proved as much during Shrine Game practices.

Still, as a non-Combine invite, McNamara might have an uphill battle to secure a draft position. As talented as the running back class is, this might be the deepest tight end class in recent history, and McNamara will have to continue to win over teams during the process, most notably at his Pro Day.

Jylan Ware, OT, Alabama State

Despite being a 6-8 offensive tackle with remarkable balance and lateral control in a relatively weak class, Ware continues to be overlooked for major all-star games and now the Combine.

Ware will likely have 20-plus NFL teams at his Pro Day now after being snubbed from the Combine, and he’ll be a sleeper offensive tackle to note who has legitimate left tackle potential.

DeAngelo Brown, DT, Louisville

Nose tackles are always valued highly by NFL teams because there simply aren’t enough defensive tackles capable (and big enough) to play the position. Brown was arguably Louisville’s most important defender this year, and his capability as a nose tackle should make him a strong choice to be a drafted.

His Combine testing numbers shouldn’t matter much, outside of his explosive testing and bench reps. Louisville will see good NFL team representation at his Pro Day to make up for it.

Jimmie Gilbert, OLB, Colorado

Maybe the most glaring and surprising omission from the Combine, Gilbert has been a productive, versatile and consistent edge rusher for the last two years. He was a big reason for Colorado’s surprising success this year.

As is the case with all edge rushers, the Combine testing numbers will be essential to his draft grade. Colorado is loaded with NFL talent this year, so he’ll have every NFL team in attendance when he finally gets to test. But he might be the most glaring missing player at this year’s Combine.

Jordan Herdman, LB, Simon Fraser

One of the most productive small school linebackers in the country, Herdman was a late Senior Bowl call-up due to injuries at the position, and he emerged as a quality 3-4 inside linebacker prospect.

While he’s a bit stiff and wouldn’t have tested overly well in quickness-based drills, his explosiveness and power testing could have helped earn him a draft pick. After impressing in his ideal role at the Senior Bowl, Herdman is still a small school name to remember as the draft nears.

Elijah Lee, LB, Kansas State

After a 110-tackle season and offering plus size for the position, the declared junior had a lot to prove at the Combine in terms of his lateral quickness and fluidity as a coverage linebacker and pass rusher. He's an effective 3-4 inside linebacker or 4-3 strong side linebacker, and his production proved as much.

But Lee's lack of great coverage range or sack production may limit the teams interested in him as a mid-round draft choice. If he can't produce impressive numbers at his Pro Day, Lee may end up seriously regretting his decision to enter the draft early.

Cornerback: Aarion Penton, Missouri

After a strong Shrine Game performance, Penton got “called up” to the Senior Bowl and impressed as one of the best nickel cornerbacks. He proved his value against the top slot receivers in the draft class, and his impressive and efficient slot coverage ability will continued to be valued highly by NFL teams.

Only one Missouri player was invited to the Combine (defensive end Charles Harris), so there should be a heavy NFL contingent at their Pro Day for Penton to show off hopefully sub-4.5 speed. If he does, he should secure a draft choice.