Don't suppress anger, couples told

Do not suppress anger, express it, advises a new study in the US to married couple.

The key is for both spouses to be comfortable while expressing anger, University of Michigan researchers have suggested after examining 192 married couples for 17 years.

When researchers began their study, the husbands and wives were asked to imagine being yelled at by their spouse or a policeman about something that wasn't their fault.

In 14 percent of the couples, both spouses suppressed anger. Their death rate was almost twice as high during the study, compared to other couples, reported the online edition of health magazine WebMD.

Researcher Ernest Harburg said: "If you bury your anger, and you brood on it ... and you don't try to resolve the problem, then you're in trouble."

Coffee bad for diabetics: Study

Diabetics, please note -- it's time that you cut down on coffee, otherwise you might never be able to control your blood sugar levels.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that diabetics who drink coffee daily increase their blood sugar levels as well as undermine efforts to bring their condition under control.

"Coffee is such a common drink in our society that we forget that it contains a very powerful drug -- caffeine. Our study suggests that one way to lower blood sugar is to simply quit drinking coffee or any other caffeinated beverages," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted lead researcher James Lane as saying.

Lane of the Duke University Medical Centre in Durham and his fellow researchers came to the conclusion after they tracked the blood sugar levels of ten patients with diabetes.

All the participants were fitted with a tiny monitor which continuously tracked their glucose levels over a 72-hour period. The team gave them pills containing caffeine equal to around four cups of coffee on one day, and identical capsules containing a placebo on another.

All were free to eat whatever they liked. They found that when the participants consumed caffeine, their average daily sugar levels went up by eight per cent.

Caffeine also exaggerated the rise in glucose after meals, increasing by nine per cent after breakfast, 15 per cent after lunch and 26 per cent after dinner, the researchers found -- the results of which have been published in the 'Diabetes Care' journal.

"If further studies corroborate the results, there would be a case for doctors to instruct patients with diabetes to banish caffeine from their diets altogether," Lane was quoted as saying.

Hidden salt in food - a health risk to children

Parents are risking the health of their kids by inadvertently feeding them with foods containing high salt content, a new study has found.

According to the study, carried out by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health in Britain, the parents are actually not aware of the hidden salt content in popular foods and the dangers of eating them.

The researchers have found that foods regularly eaten by children, such as some pizzas and burgers, contain over one gm of salt per serving -- almost a third of the recommended daily limit for four to six-year-olds.

The study has also revealed that many sweet foods have high salt content, but few parents are aware of this.

"Keeping children's salt consumption below the recommended maximum limits is vital. Research shows that children who eat higher salt diets have higher blood pressure than children who eat less salt.

"It's also well established that blood pressure tracks into adulthood, with the risk of developing heart disease as well as stroke.

"Too much salt is also linked with stomach cancer, osteoporosis and can aggravate the symptoms of asthma," the British media quoted Chairman of the Consensus Action on Salt and Health Graham MacGregor as saying.

Chocolate linked to weak bones

Women who eat chocolate daily may end up with weaker bones and could be more prone to fracture, a new study in Australia suggests.

Cocoa used in chocolate has been known to provide a range of health benefits including benefits to the heart.

But after monitoring the amount of chocolate eaten over several weeks by 1,001 women aged between 70 and 85, scientists said that women who ate chocolate every day were found to have lower bone density than those who ate it less than once a week.

The low bone density was found in the hips, neck, tibia and heel bones of the women surveyed, reported the online edition of Daily Mail.

The researchers led by Jonathan Hodgson at the University of Western Australia believe that the findings may be because chocolate contains oxalate, a poisonous acid, which can reduce the calcium absorption and sugar, linked to calcium excretion.

Calcium is vital for maintaining healthy bones. The findings of the latest study appeared in the latest issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition less than a month after British medical journal The Lancet warned against considering chocolate as a healthy food.

The Lancet article said consumers were generally unaware that chocolate manufacturers often remove a healthy element called the flavanols, an antioxidant, because of their bitter taste.

Pollution may trigger diabetes

Environmental pollution may trigger diabetes, scientists suspect in the US.

In the commentary published in the recent edition of the Lancet, Cambridge scientists Oliver Jones and Julian Griffin highlight the need to research the possible link between certain pollutants and diabetes.

In their commentary, Jones and Griffin cite peer reviewed research including that of Dr D Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type-2 diabetes.

Past research had found individuals are more at risk of diabetes if they are thin with high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their blood than if they are overweight but with low levels of POPs, scientists said.

POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods and are considered as toxic to humans and wildlife. The POPs came into prominence as effective pesticides with the introduction of Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) one of the best-known synthetic pesticides in the 1940s.

Many of these chemicals, including DDT, fell out of favour after they were blamed for the declining number of wild birds and other animals and the possible negative human health effects, according to a report posted in the Cambridge University website.

Genetic roots of obesity

A discovery by Queen's biologists and their students sheds new light on the genetic roots of obesity a condition that is increasing dramatically in North America and has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

The new findings may also help to unlock the mystery of how our nervous systems control obesity.

Published on-line this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was partially funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Professors William Bendena and Ian Chin-Sang teamed up to work with tiny, transparent worms that have similar neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit nerve impulses) as humans. They discovered that when a specific nerve receptor is deleted, the worms lose interest in foraging for food, become slow-moving and accumulate fat at a much higher rate than normal, non-modified, worms.

"Although there is a wealth of scientific data currently being collected regarding classic brain neurotransmitters, it's still uncertain how neuron connections may be either stimulatory or inhibitory in various organisms," notes Dr. Bendena. "Our breakthrough came when Dr. Chin-Sang localized the worm's receptor to one specific connecting nerve cell."

The worms that had their receptor deleted showed no difference in behaviour from other, non-altered worms - until placed directly on food. Then they stopped their normal foraging behaviour, dramatically slowing their movements, and gained fat more quickly than worms with their receptors intact.

When extra copies of the receptor were added to the mutant worms, they became hyperactive and traveled large distances away from their food.

Drs. Bendena and Chin-Sang conclude that this type of receptor is an inhibitory switch within one connecting cell, and that worms defective in the receptor will gain fat. "Such clearly affected behaviour and physiological changes have never been seen nor understood until this discovery," says Dr. Bendena. "We hope that this will provide a basis for further research to unlock the mystery of the long-awaited nervous system connection to obesity."

Seasonal weight changes linked to metabolic syndrome

Seasonal changes in weight increase the risk for metabolic syndrome, a group of scientists from National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland, reports in a study published in the January 23 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

This finding was based on analysis of 8,028 individuals, representative of the general population aged over 30, who attended a nationwide health examination survey.

According to the current study, individuals with metabolic syndrome have more seasonal changes in their mood and behavior. The study concludes that the seasonal changes in weight in particular are linked to metabolic syndrome.

People having winter blues the risk of metabolic syndrome is heightened by 56 per cent. The negative effect of the seasonal changes equals to the protective effect against metabolic syndrome gained with regular physical exercise.

Because of easy assessment the scoring of seasonal changes in weight might be taken as a routine part of health status examination in persons being at risk of or currently having metabolic syndrome. If there were these changes, treatment options including scheduled exposures to light and regular physical exercise need to be considered.

"Disruption of circadian rhythms has been implicated in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders. Our results give support to the hypothesized links between the metabolic and circadian cycles generated and guided by the circadian clock", says Timo Partonen, MD, academy research fellow of the group. "Our findings herein now extend these links to include relationships between the metabolic and seasonal fluctuations."

The current findings now suggest that abnormalities in the circadian clockwork predispose to seasonal changes in weight and to metabolic syndrome. This means that the circadian clockwork may well be a key to public health.

Obesity is an increasing problem concerning public health. High caloric intake or low physical exercise for example may lead not only to obesity but also to hypertension, insulin resistance and abnormal circulating lipid levels. These abnormalities tend to coincide and contribute to the term metabolic syndrome.

India facing a bird flu disaster

According to a health official in India, the country's latest outbreak of bird flu could be disastrous.

West Bengal's animal resources minister, Anisur Rahaman says unless authorities are able to cull all poultry in the affected districts within three or four days, the state will face a disaster.

Five people reportedly quarantined with symptoms of the virus after handling affected poultry have returned negative results but authorities are becoming exasperated because dead birds are being sold at markets with poor locals apparently "feasting" on cheap poultry they cannot usually afford to buy.

They now have appealed to other states to help with the cull as to date only about 300,000 birds have been culled.

So far eight districts in the eastern state of West Bengal have been hit by the virus and more than 100,000 bird deaths have been reported; health teams are struggling to cull two million chickens and ducks.

The country has suffered three outbreaks of bird flu since 2006 and had the tests on the five been positive, they would have been India's first case of human infection.

India is home to 1.1 billion people, many of them poor and chickens and other birds roam around freely in backyards and fields.

To make matters worse there have been instances of poultry being smuggled out of affected ares before culling teams arrive and chicken shops have appeared overnight along the main highways with people queuing for the cheap meat.

The problem is also exacerbated because many people are poor and illiterate and reluctant to give up their poultry.

Farmers too are sometimes ignorant regarding basic hygiene and dead birds have been dumped in village wells and ponds because people are unaware of the risks from the H5N1 virus.

This turn of events is a huge concern to the authorities as it is by handling infected poultry that the disease is transmitted to humans.

There is also the worry that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans triggering a pandemic.

Experts believe that is more likely to happen in poor countries such as India with very large populations.

To date the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003 and billions of birds have died or been culled because of it, with migratory birds the culprit for the global spread of the disease.

Next door neighbour Nepal, which has banned poultry imports from India since 2006, has placed all its border posts on high alert, while another neighbour Bangladesh, is also battling with its own serious outbreak and experts there are also warning that the situation is far more serious than the government admits.

Government officials say the disease now affects seven of the 19 districts in West Bengal, a combined population figure of 24 million people.

A major outbreak of bird flu in the north-eastern state of Manipur last year was contained as were outbreaks in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Pfizer Boosts Caution On Anti-Smoking Drug

If the quitting treatment makes you want to kill yourself, why not just keep on smoking?
Pfizer said on Friday that it has beefed up its warning on Chantix, a popular anti-smoking treatment, to include language cautioning users about the potential for depression and suicidal behavior. The pharmaceutical maker has recently come under pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as patients have reported erratic behavior and mood disorders while taking Chantix. The FDA is currently reviewing the drug's safety.
The new label includes a warning that patients who are attempting to quit smoking by taking Chantix should be observed by a physician for serious neuropsychiatric symptoms like changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior. Pfizer noted that a causal relationship between Chantix and those neuropsychiatric symptoms has not been established. However, in some instances a relationship could not be ruled out.
It is especially difficult to evaluate the cause of these negative symptoms, as they could be attributed to the nicotine withdrawal rather than Chantix. Yet, some patients who had pre-existing psychiatric illnesses experienced a worsening of their condition while taking Chantix.
"By putting this information in a more prominent location we're hoping it will be included in the dialog between patients and physicians," said Pfizer Vice President Ponni Subbiah. Pfizer plans to send letters regarding the updated warning to doctors as well as adding the information to its advertisements.
Chantix was approved in May of 2006 and has since been prescribed more than 4.0 million times in the U.S. alone. Jotham Coe, the inventor of Chantix, was originally assigned to Pfizer's anti-smoking project in 1995. The goal was to create a drug that could gently hug nicotinic receptors, easing cravings without getting the smoker high. After eight years of clinical trials in 5,000 patients, Chantix hit the market with a bang before reports of serious psychological side effects began trickling in.
Perhaps the most famous cases against Chantix is the death of folk-rock musician Carter Albrecht, former member of the groups Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. Albrecht was shot to death in Dallas after a night of strange and uncharacteristically violent behavior. His father says his son was a happy-go-lucky session man, but in the week after he started taking Chantix he became combative over what used to be minor business details. In addition to having taken Chantix, Albrecht was drinking heavily the night he was shot; his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit for driving.

Depression can double chances of heart ailments

Linking matters of the mind with matters of the heart, researchers in Canada have found that major anxiety and depression can double a coronary artery disease patient's chances of repeated heart ailments.
"We found that both major depression and generalised anxiety disorder were more common in cardiac patients than in the general community," said Nancy Frasure-Smith, the lead investigator of the study by McGill University and Universit de Montral.
"On average, cardiac patients without these disorders had about a 13 percent chance of a repeated cardiac event over two years, compared to 26 percent of those with either major depression or anxiety," said Frasure-Smith, a professor at McGill's Department of Psychiatry and a researcher at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universit de Montral (CHUM) and Montreal Heart Institute.
The study found that major anxiety and depression can double a coronary artery disease patient's chances of repeated heart ailments, the ScienceDaily online reported.
This is one of the first studies to focus on patients with stable coronary artery disease -- not those who were hospitalised for events such as a heart attack.

Mobile phone radiation disrupts sleep, causes headaches

SYDNEY: Researchers from the US and Sweden have found in a study, funded by some of the world's biggest phone makers, that radiations emitting from mobile phones cause headaches and interrupt vital sleep patterns. The researchers -- from Wayne State University in the US and Sweden's Karolinska Institute -- say that participants who were exposed to mobile radiation during the study were found to experience headaches, change of moods, confusion, and trouble in sleeping. Reporting their findings in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), they said that the symptoms of mobile phone radiation were observed in 38 of the 71 study participants. "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep, believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear, are adversely affected," news.com.au quoted them as saying in the article. "Moreover, participants that otherwise have no self-reported symptoms related to mobile phone use appear to have more headaches during the actual radiofrequency exposure as compared to sham exposure," they added. The researchers said that mobile phone radiation extended the period of time it took for participants to fall asleep. "Under the (radiofrequency) exposure condition, participants exhibited a longer latency to deep sleep," they said. The study had been funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), which is made up of industry giants like Nokia and Motorola. A spokesperson for the forum told British newspaper The Independent that the "results were inconclusive", and that "the researchers did not claim that exposure caused sleep disturbance". On the other hand, lead researcher Bengt Arnetz said that mobile phone radiation decreased participants' ability to wind down and fall asleep. "We did find an effect from mobile phones from exposure scenarios that were realistic," Professor Arnetz was quoted as telling the newspaper.