Drink less and watch your diet, Russians told
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Russians must ease back on the bottle, cut down on smoking, watch their diet and lead healthier lives if they are to reverse population decline and maintain economic growth, the World Bank said on Thursday.
In a report, the Bank said the population crisis in Russia - which is losing around 750,000 people a year - was affecting every aspect of national life and could negate improvements in living standards.
Tourists unfazed by bird flu in Asia
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The spread of bird flu in Asia does not appear to be putting off tourists but local officials are nervous, fearing a repeat of the SARS outbreak two years ago, which made parts of the region no-go areas.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu has killed 69 people in Asia since late 2003 and several countries in the region regularly report more suspected cases in people and outbreaks in poultry.
Creativity tied to sexual “success”
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Artists may indeed have a more active love life than most of us—and part of the reason may be their tendency toward a certain schizophrenia-linked personality trait, a study suggests.
In a survey of 425 British adults, researchers found that serious poets and visual artists generally had more sexual partners than those who were either not artistic or only dabbled in the arts.
High-intensity ultrasound waves heats and destroys uterine fibroids
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A totally noninvasive procedure using high-intensity ultrasound waves to heat and destroy uterine fibroid tissue significantly relieves fibroid-related symptoms in women, according to the results of a multicenter clinical trial.
Magnetic resonance-guided, focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) allows radiologists to precisely target fibroids without harming healthy surrounding tissue.
Genetic testing for Parkinson disease, is there a point?
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Should we start being genetically tested for Parkinson’s disease (PD)? According to research just published in the December issue of the “journal Movement Disorders” this might be a possibility in the future if you belong to a family affected by G2019S, a genetic mutation responsible for some PD cases.
Parkinson disease results from the death or loss of function of the nervous cells (neurons) in a brain area called substancia nigra, which is involved in the regulation of movement. Neurons within this region produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that acts as messenger between the substancia nigra (the control centre) and other neurons around the body, leading to a correct regulation of the body movements. If the substancia nigra degenerates, like it happens in PD, dopamine is no longer properly produced and the individual starts presenting the typical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as slowed movements, tremors, loss of movement control and rigidity.
Short-term use of painkiller drugs does not increase the risk of heart attack
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Short-term use of painkiller drugs in the same family as ibuprofen does not increase the risk of having a heart attack.
The results of a large study, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, confirm that taking traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the recommended dose for less than a year does not increase the risk of having a heart attack. When taken regularly for more than one year, however, some traditional NSAIDs can slightly increase the risk of non-fatal heart attack. This does not apply to ibuprofen or naproxen, two of the most widely-used NSAIDs.
Very young children may not get enough sleep
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Young children are getting about nine hours of sleep a night, substantially less than the 12- to15- hours of shut-eye experts recommend, a new study shows.
While it’s not clear that children actually need a dozen hours of nightly sleep, Dr. Christine Acebo of the Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Research Laboratory in Providence, Rhode Island told Reuters Health, the findings do raise the possibility that some young children may be sleep-deprived.
Risedronate prevents bone loss and periodontal disease
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Drugs that reverse and prevent bone loss due to osteoporosis also significantly ward off periodontal disease, according to a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine who reports in the current Menopause journal article, “Periodontal Assessments of Postmenopausal Women Receiving Risedronate.”
Leena Bahl Palomo, D.D.S and M.S.D., is the lead author on the study with Nabil Bissada, chair and professor of Case’s department of periodontology; and James Liu, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology of University Hospitals of Cleveland.
Dutch “suicide consultant” is jailed for a year
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A Dutch court sentenced a man calling himself a “suicide consultant” to a year in jail on Wednesday for helping a mentally ill woman end her life.
Jan Hilarius, the 73-year-old founder of Dutch suicide consultancy De Einder, was found guilty of helping a 25-year-old woman acquire medicines to kill herself 2003.
A court in the northern town of Alkmaar said in a statement Hilarius had corresponded with the woman and given her information about the deadly doses and combinations of medicines available online.
Parts of Africa have no bird flu defences
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Some countries in Africa have no defences at all against the possible arrival of deadly bird flu, the world animal health body said on Wednesday
Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), said countries like Namibia, Botswana and South Africa had services able to deal with the deadly H5N1 virus, but others like Somalia had no systems in place.
Kids of overweight mothers have higher obesity risk
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The children of mothers who are obese before pregnancy or who smoke during pregnancy, have a higher risk of becoming overweight at a very young age, a study in the journal Pediatrics reports. The condition can be perpetuated as the children get older.
“One of the questions we wanted to explore was whether the development of early childhood overweight was associated with maternal behaviors,” said Dr. Pamela J. Salsberry of Ohio State University in Columbus. “We were interested in how pre-pregnancy weight and smoking affect a child’s risk, but also in how the risk develops over time.”
Sleep apnea tied to higher risk of stroke
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People with sleep apnea are at a higher risk of having a stroke than those without the condition, Canadian and US researchers report.
Senior investigator Dr. T. Douglas Bradley of Toronto General Hospital, said that “evidence going back to the early 1970s suggests that sleep apnea, strokes and heart attacks often happen together, but that doesn’t mean that there is a cause/effect relationship.”
Anxiety may lead to stomach upsets
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Anxiety induced under experimental conditions alters gastric function and nerve sensations, Belgian and UK researchers report, and this may give rise to some gastric disorders.
“Our data suggest that anxiety status should be taken into account when dealing with patients with long-standing stomach symptoms without readily identifiable organic cause,” Dr. Jan Tack told Reuters Health.
Choosing the Best Kidney for Transplantation
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Organ transplantation is subject to the law of supply and demand – in which demand for organs far outweighs supply from both living and deceased donors.
But results from a new, nationwide Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) study led by University of Michigan Health System researchers may offer new hope to some patients with end-stage renal disease waiting for a kidney transplant.
Pneumonia Hospitalization Rates on the Rise for Older Adults
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Hospitalization rates for pneumonia have increased substantially for U.S. adults 65 to 84 years of age, according to a study in the December 7 issue of JAMA.
Pneumonia is among the top 10 causes of death in the United States and is a significant cause of outpatient visits and hospitalizations, according to background information in the article. Factors that increase the risk for pneumonia include the presence of underlying medical conditions, advanced age, functional disability, and residency in long-term care facilities.
