Latest news with #breathalyzer
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Washington Post
Miss Manners: Guest refuses a free ride home after failing a breathalyzer
Dear Miss Manners: To prevent party guests from driving impaired, I came up with a fun game using a $21 breathalyzer I bought online. I call it 'Have I Had Too Many?' Guests who are at, or even close to, the legal limit get a prize — a free ride home! Everything was going great until one guest tested at well over twice the legal limit, but then refused the free ride. He used some pretty strong language, shoved me aside and was almost out the door with his equally impaired plus-one when I said, 'Don't drive or I will be forced to call the cops!' Well, he did, I did, and he was arrested. Needless to say, it ruined the evening. A couple of guests left saying that I overreacted, as he is an adult and appeared fine. Miss Manners, what should I have said or done differently? My guests know that I take this seriously, as I was the victim of a head-on crash by an impaired driver. The crash caused me to undergo many surgeries. I know many people must face this challenge — guests who insist on driving when they really shouldn't. Interesting approach. And Miss Manners is using 'interesting' in the same off-dictionary way you appear to use 'fun.' Whatever you wanted people to think, your game framed drunk driving as a joke. And if you have an explanation about why that was not your intent, remember that it would have to be understood by people you know to be alcohol-impaired. In future, let's exercise better judgment: You could limit the amount of alcohol you serve. If you see a guest who worries you, you could involve another guest who lives nearby to help get the impaired one home safely. (And that person will be far more helpful if they are not distracted by worrying about what you are going to do next.) And of course, if this is a truly unmanageable problem in your circle of friends, you should not be serving alcohol at all. Dear Miss Manners: I like unusual people — eccentrics, scapegoats, difficult people. I always have. In the rare event that someone mistreats me, I distance myself; otherwise, I remain friends with almost everyone, despite our differences. I will not take part in the bullying culture of, 'I don't like that person, therefore you shouldn't, either.' Some people have asked me, 'Why are you still friends with her?' Not only can love not always be explained, but my friendships are my business alone. How can I politely respond to these people without explaining or justifying those friendships? (Ironically, some of them happen to be members of that loose, unliked group.) I do not want to alienate anyone. By not explaining or justifying the friendship. The first three times you answer, 'Because I like her,' do it with a shrug and a disarming smile. If that is not enough to bore your questioner into dropping it, the next three repetitions can be said with gradually mounting irritation. New Miss Manners columns are posted Monday through Saturday on You can send questions to Miss Manners at her website, You can also follow her @RealMissManners. © 2025 Judith Martin
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New 'breathalyzer' could detect signs of disease in human breath, scientists say
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A new breathalyzer-like system could one day detect illnesses by spotting biological markers in the air we exhale, researchers report. The hope is that this could simplify medical diagnoses by making health monitoring as simple as breathing into a device, the scientists say. Their prototype device, called the airborne biomarker localization engine (ABLE), condensates airborne molecules into concentrated liquid droplets. The droplets ABLE generates are compatible with existing tech, including simple test strips, making the "platform both highly accessible and very low-cost," study co-author Bozhi Tian, a professor at the University of Chicago, told Live Science in an email. The scientists described ABLE in a report published May 21 in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering. "As a researcher working on biosensing and bioelectronics, I am very excited to see this work," said Jinghua Li, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, who was not involved in the study. "Airborne biomarker detection has long attracted significant interest, though achieving the required sensitivity has remained a challenge," Li told Live Science in an email. Once the technology is validated, "users could simply exhale onto a test strip and receive a health assessment within minutes in the future," she said. Many diagnostic tests require blood draws, saliva swabs or urine samples — but collecting such samples can introduce risk, inconvenience, or both to patients. Sampling breath could help sidestep these problems. Related: People can be identified by their breathing patterns with 97% accuracy The body emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — small organic molecules that are typically gaseous at room temperature — and these can be found in human breath. Studies suggest that specific chemicals can be tied to medical conditions, making them a potential tool for diagnosis. Several scientists recently compiled a database of 327 different breathborne VOCs that have also been tentatively linked to diseases, including asthma, diabetes and lung cancer. However, there's a difficulty in using VOCs for diagnostics: they are present at incredibly low concentrations, sometimes numbering as few as 1 in a trillion particles of exhaled air. This makes monitoring these compounds challenging. Now, ABLE can suck in exhaled air through a pump, add water vapor via a humidifier, and cool the mixture to cause condensation. This changes the airborne compounds into concentrated droplets that slide into a collection reservoir, ready for testing. The prototype device measures 4 by 8 inches (10 by 20 centimeters) and costs less than $200 to build, according to Tian. It can collect about 1 milliliter of condensate in 10 minutes, providing enough sample for existing liquid-detection methods to analyze. As proof of concept, the researchers tested ABLE's ability to collect several airborne chemicals. One experiment looked for glucose in exhaled human breath, confirming that the samples were not too dilute and could be accurately tied to blood-sugar concentrations in the blood. "The high sensitivity of ABLE allows the usage of glucose test strips as the downstream sensors," the researchers reported. The team also ran experiments with "humanized" lab mice imbued with microbes from human infants, who were born either preterm or full-term. They compared the concentrations of glycosphingolipids — known regulators of inflammation — in the breath of the two sets of mice, finding higher levels in the "preterm" group. They also used the device to collect airborne pollen allergens, as well as aerosolized E. coli, which could be found in the air near recently flushed toilets, for instance. These tests could potentially justify ABLE's use as a monitor of ambient air quality, the researchers think. These experiments suggest ABLE could be useful for tracking chemicals in breath and ambient air, but a problem remains to be solved: because airborne VOCs have been difficult to analyze, scientists yet don't have a comprehensive understanding of which compounds relate to what disease, the researchers noted. RELATED STORIES —Simple blood tests could be the future of cancer diagnosis —Why can't you suffocate by holding your breath? —Why don't we breathe equally out of both nostrils? Further study is needed to catalog potential biomarkers and confirm their usefulness in clinical settings. The team is starting by collaborating with doctors who treat inflammatory bowel disease to try to identify breathborne markers of inflammation, Tian told Live Science in an email. The team is also working to make the device smaller, so it can be turned into a wearable, and are working with collaborators to move toward commercialization. This could get ABLE into more medical institutions to enable additional research into the medical relevance of VOCs.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- News.com.au
Socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell's shock call after assaulting police officer
A Sydney socialite told police words to the effect of 'well at least I didn't kill anyone' after crashing her Range Rover, refusing a breath test and then assaulting a police officer. Vanessa Jacobs Fennell, 54, refused a breath test and then crashed her luxe Range Rover into a parked Tesla before assaulting a police officer in Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east on March 21. She was charged with refusing to submit to breath analysis, assault police officer in the execution of duty, not give particulars to owner of damaged property, and negligent driving. Fennell – who was previously short-listed to appear on the second season of controversial reality show Real Housewives of Sydney in 2023 – pleaded guilty last month to all four charges, but is seeking to have the matters dealt with under mental health provisions of the law. She did not appear in Waverley Local Court on Monday where her matter was briefly mentioned. Her lawyer Helen Christinson asked the court for a further date for a report to be prepared. Court documents seen by NewsWire revealed bystanders called police shortly after Fennell was stopped by a good Samaritan on a road in Bellevue Hill who informed her that her car was 'severely damaged' and had two flat tyres. When police arrived, Fennell was 'uncooperative', and initially denied being the driver of the damaged Range Rover. While being arrested, the socialite became 'highly agitated', before slapping the police officer and resisting arrest, the documents state. After being informed she had assaulted a police officer, she laughed and showed 'no remorse for her actions', police said in the documents. While police were speaking with her the socialite then said words to the effect of: 'well at least I didn't kill anyone', court documents said. The assault was captured on police body cam footage. In a police interview, Fennell admitted to driving while under the influence of alcohol. The stay at home mum also failed to give her required particulars 'within the required time' to the driver of the other car. The mother of two was previously married to private equity investor Tom Fennell, with reports the couple called it quits about five years ago. She's also regularly been snapped at charity luncheons and events across the Harbour City. She will return to Waverley Local Court again on August 12. Her bail is to continue.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Washington Post
Asking Eric: Brother's drunken phone calls have become a burden
Dear Eric: My younger brother 'Mick' has been a heavy beer drinker for at least three decades with a high-stress career. When he retired, his drinking escalated. He received a DUI which resulted in court-ordered mandatory visits at a local AA meeting for one year. The court also had a blow-and-go breathalyzer installed in his truck for three years.
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kate Ritchie's footy star ex-husband is charged with refusing breath test following string of drink driving offences
Kate Ritchie 's ex-husband and former NRL player Stuart Webb has been charged with refusing a breath test. The 44-year-old former Sydney Roosters hooker was pulled over in Sydney by Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command at 11.10pm on May 5. Webb was charged with refusing to submit a breath analysis and driving an unregistered vehicle. He was listed to appear at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday and the hearing was adjourned to be heard again at Downing Local Court on July 9. Mr Webb has previously been caught drink driving by police on five occasions. He was most recently charged with drink driving in 2019, with court documents stating that it was his 'fifth PCA (prescribed contention of alcohol) offence since 1999.' Two of those incidents are understood to have taken place in 2012 and 2017, while he was married to Ms Ritchie. He was handed a six-month driving ban in 2019 and an interlock device was fitted to his car for 24 months. A magistrate had told Mr Webb he was 'lucky he hasn't been sent to jail' noting that his driving record was 'appalling'. The former Sydney Roosters star was placed on a conditional release order for two years. In 2003, Mr Webb was signed by the Sydney Roosters and made his debut for the club later that year. After two seasons at Moore Park, he'd hop over to rivals, South Sydney. A year later, he'd move again, joining up with St George, where he would make 19 appearances across the 2008-2009 season, before stepping away from NRL football. After hanging up his footy boots Mr Webb would pursued a career as a chef. At the end of that season, Mr Webb proposed to radio personality Ritchie during a European getaway. The pair are understood to have begun dating in 2008. They subsequently tied the knot at a countryside outdoor ceremony at Quamby Estate in Tasmania in 2010, but after nearly 10 years of marriage, they chose to part ways in 2020. They would also have a baby girl, Mae, in 2014. Rumours had swirled that their marriage was on the rocks in 2019, with Mr Webb subsequently being hit with an apprehended violence order (AVO) in 2019. The order was made for the Home and Away star's protection. It came as a NSW Police spokesperson confirmed officers were 'investigating an incident at a home in Randwick' where it was understood the couple had lived, but no charges were laid. Conditions of the AVO state that Mr Webb was 'not to approach or be in the company of Katherine Leigh Ritchie for at least 12 hours after drinking alcohol or taking illicit drugs.' He was also required not to threaten, stalk or harass the TV star. Despite that, Ms Ritchie and her ex-husband have reunited on several occasions, most notably to attend their daughter Mae's football matches. Ms Ritchie, who had gone public with new boyfriend Will Skelton, and Mr Webb cut friendly figures as they shared a happy chat on the field. They had also reunited to celebrate their daughter's 10th birthday last year.
