Beyoncé and Jay-Z expecting twins

On the first day of Black History Month, pop superstar Beyoncé dropped a bombshell on the photo-sharing application Instagram: She and her husband, Jay-Z, are expecting twins.

“We would like to share our love and happiness. We’ve been blessed two times over, and we are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes,” wrote the recording artist, who proudly displayed her baby bump in a whimsical accompanying photo. Her firstborn, Blue Ivy, was born in 2012.

Less than 20 minutes after the photo was uploaded, “Beyoncé” was already the trending topic on another social networking site, Twitter. And as of press time, the American singer-songwriter’s Instagram post has amassed 6.8 million likes, breaking the previous record held by Selena Gomez, whose advertorial post for a beverage brand got 6.3 million likes.

Rumors about Queen Bey’s pregnancy surfaced only a few days ago, when a campaign video—that has since been deleted—for her clothing line Ivy Park showed her having a noticeable bump.

Adam Levine’s star

Recording artist Adam Levine will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Feb. 10, in recognition of his contribution to the music scene.

The Maroon 5 lead vocalist’s star—the 2,601st overall—is located on 6752 Hollywood Boulevard, fittingly in front of the Musicians Institute, where the likes of music icon Jeff Buckley once studied.

“Adam Levine fans have been patiently waiting for this day… They’ve been constantly checking with us, asking when… Now is the time,” Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez wrote in a statement posted on the organization’s official website. “Join us and enjoy Levine’s ‘moves like Jagger!’”

Administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Finance, it also honors personalities in the fields of film, radio, television and theater. The celebrity trail, which remains one of today’s most popular tourist attractions in the world, stretches 15 blocks on Hollywood Boulevard and three on Vine Street.

Gaga’s Super Bowl secrets

While some fans are more concerned about whether or not Lady Gaga would be using her half-time show at tomorrow’s NFL Super Bowl LI to speak out against US President Trump, others are still more interested about what sort of tricks the pop star has up her sleeve for her much-anticipated performance.

She was not keen on giving too many details during an interview with the radio show, “Karson and Kennedy,” but she did hint that she may end up being suspended in the air. She was also asked about rumors that Tony Bennett would join her onstage, but said she “did not want to give out anything specific.”

“I do not want to ruin the surprise for everyone else,” she said.“But it is going to be fantastic.”— ALLAN POLICARPIO

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Study shows higher cancer risk among twins, siblings

MIAMI, Florida - Twins share the same genes, and when one gets cancer, the other faces a higher risk of getting sick too, according to a study Tuesday that included 200,000 people.

But just because one twin falls ill does not mean that the other is certain to get the same cancer, or any cancer at all, according the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

In fact, the amount of increased risk of cancer was just 14 percent higher in identical pairs in which one twin was diagnosed with cancer.

Identical twins develop from the same egg and share the exact same genetic material.

Among fraternal twins, which develop from two eggs and are as genetically similar as typical biological siblings, the risk of cancer in a twin whose co-twin was infected was five percent higher.

The twins in the study hailed from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway—all countries that maintain detailed health registries—and were followed between 1943 and 2010.

When researchers looked at the group as a whole, they found that about one in three individuals developed cancer (32 percent).

Therefore, the risk of cancer in an identical twin whose twin was diagnosed was calculated to be 46 percent.

In fraternal twins it amounted to a 37 percent risk of developing cancer if a co-twin was diagnosed.

The exact same cancer was diagnosed in 38 percent of identical twins and 26 percent of fraternal pairs.

The cancers that were most likely to be shared among twins were skin melanoma (58 percent), prostate (57 percent), non melanoma skin (43 percent), ovary (39 percent), kidney (38 percent), breast (31 percent), uterine cancer (27 percent).

"Because of this study's size and long follow-up, we can now see key genetic effects for many cancers," said Jacob Hjelmborg, from the University of Southern Denmark and co-lead author of the study.

Researchers said the findings may help patients and doctors understand more about the hereditary risks of cancer, a disease that kills eight million people around the world each year. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com