TONIGHT! Oprah's Next Chapter: Robyn "Rihanna" Fenty

SNEAK PEAK: Rihanna Opens Up To Oprah!

Oprah travels to Barbados for a no-holds-barred conversation with Rihanna.

Rhi-Rhi drove Oprah to visit her neighborhood, she is seen interacting with her Bajans folks. Oprah got to experience the real "Robyn" and not the super-star we all know as "Rihanna".

Oprah said: "I thought she would have been kind of a bad-ass kind of a rocker hard-edge woman ... nothing could have been farther from the truth" 

The interview airs on OWN, Sunday 19th, August, at 9 p.m. 

During the interview, Rihanna talks about her struggle with fame, and surprisingly still got emotional when asked about her relationship with R&B singer Chris Brown.

Rihanna admitted "It was embarrassing. It was humiliating" saying after the split: "I was resentful. I held a grudge. I was dark" "I lost my best friend."

Brown, pleaded guilty to physically assaulting her in 2009. It has been rumored on many occasions, that the two are still in love and sees each other secretly.

Many all over the world are disappointed that Rihanna even speaks to Chris, let alone sees him.
I guess we will find out if this is so, on Sunday. 

Alzheimer's breakthrough as scientists find rare gene that protects brain from the disease

The genetic mutation stops damaging plaques forming in the brain

A protein that protects against Alzheimer's disease has been discovered, opening the door to a new treatment. Scientists screened the DNA of almost two thousand people and found those with a mutated form of the gene were less likely to develop dementia.

Mimicking this variant with a drug could stop Alzheimer's in its tracks, say neurologists. The gene in question is known as APP (amyloid precursor protein) and makes a chemical called amyloid-beta which sticks together in the brain and blocks neurons from communicating with each other.
 

The onset of the disease has been linked to such clumps which form when fragments of the protein gather together and cause the classic symptoms such as memory loss and speech problems.
Dr Kari Stefansson, chief executive of Icelandic company deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, and colleagues said the rare mutation results in a 40 percent reduction in the formation of these harmful 'plaques'.
 

The researchers whose findings are published in Nature also found dementia free elderly people with the variant have better cognitive function between the age of 80 and 100 than those with the normal version. Mutations in the APP gene have already been implicated in early-onset Alzheimer's that runs in families, but had not been linked to the common form of the disease that occurs in later life.  

Dr Stefansson said the research supports previous ideas that interfering with the gene, which can be achieved with existing drugs, may prevent dementia.

Despite almost forty years of research, scientists have made little progress in developing drugs that inhibit interactions between proteins.
 

This is, in part, because the drug molecules are many times smaller than the proteins, so even if they can attach themselves to the larger molecules they are too small to prevent other proteins binding elsewhere.

Dr Kari Stefansson said: 'The prevalence of dementia in the Western world in people over the age of 60 has been estimated to be greater than five per cent, about two thirds of which are due to Alzheimer's disease.

'The age-specific prevalence of Alzheimer's disease nearly doubles every five years after age 65, leading to a prevalence of greater than 25 per cent in those over the age of 90.

'We found a coding mutation in the APP gene that protects against Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline in the elderly without Alzheimer's disease.'  More...

Rhianna seen smoking...

Rihanna in Barbados!  More Info

...to attend her Grandmother's funeral

24-year-old Rihanna, suffered a personal tragedy earlier this month, revealing her sorrow via Twitter that her beloved grandmother Dolly had died following a long battle with cancer.  

During her latest trip back to her home- Barbados she was photographed by paparazzi on her native island smoking a “suspicious” cigarette that the gossip columns have concluded was a “blunt.”

“Dressed in a pink bikini, the make-up free Grammy-winner was seen smiling as she tilted her head back and let out a natural laugh, it is  said. “She was also seen smoking as she relaxed on an outdoor balcony, wearing a navy bucket hat à la Nineties Britpop style.”

There were shots of her shrouded in smoke and clutching the “suspicious roll-up cigarette,” we are told “Rihanna has made no secret of her affections for marijuana in the past, tweeting earlier this year: ‘Kush rolled, glass full…I prefer the better things.’ Kush refers to a type of cannabis found mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.”

It is also said; the villa where she was staying costs about $6,300 per night and of course there was a shot of her on her ever-present phone. She sent the following tweet: 

“#grangranDOLLY‬

I know you smiling down on me brightly, I could feel it in the sunshine #1Love‬ forever”

Check out Rihanna's "Talk That Talk" 2011 Album here --->