The flu and upper respiratory tract infectious diseases cases, registered in Vilnius, Kaunas and Visaginas regions last week, have reached epidemic level, vz.lt/LETA reports.

In the capital of Lithuania 104.9 cases of the mentioned disease were registered per 10,000 inhabitants, in Kaunas the statistics is a bit lower - 103.1 case per 10,000 people, but the highest level was registered in Visaginas numbering 116.4. In Varena and Prienu districts the number of patients is close to epidemic level.

The report is based on data from the Center of Conveyable Diseases and AIDS of Lithuania.

German authorities ordered 140 pigs slaughtered Tuesday after tests showed high levels of a cancer-causing chemical for the first time in swine, as the nation's dioxin scandal widened beyond poultry and eggs.

The top agriculture official in northern Germany's Lower Saxony state demanded the cull after tests found illegal levels of dioxin in swine at a farm near Verden that purchased tainted feed from the company believed to be responsible for the scandal.

German firm Harles & Jentzsch GmbH, which produced fat used in the tainted feed pellets, is being investigated over allegations it did not alert authorities to the tainted product for months. Tests have shown that fat samples contained more than 70 times the permitted amount of dioxin.

British Medical Journal study links ibuprofen to highest risk of stroke over long term

Commonly used painkillers increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes when taken at high doses or over the long term, according to research.

Experts analysed more than 30 clinical trials on more than 116,000 patients to examine the effects of painkillers on people's health.

The fears relate to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as well as newer anti-inflammatory drugs known as Cox-2 inhibitors.

Doctors regularly prescribe such drugs to treat painful conditions, including osteoarthritis.

They are given at much higher doses than those found in over-the-counter remedies, which are used for occasional headaches, aches and pains.

Energy-saving light bulbs are so dangerous that everyone must leave the room for at least 15 minutes if one falls to the floor and breaks, a Government department warned yesterday.

The startling alert came as health experts also warned that toxic mercury inside the bulbs can aggravate a range of problems including migraines and dizziness.

And a leading dermatologist said tens of thousands of people with skin complaints will find it hard to tolerate being near the bulbs as they cause conditions such as eczema to flare up.

The Department for Environment warned shards of glass from broken bulbs should not be vacuumed up but instead swept away by someone wearing rubber gloves to protect them from the bulb's mercury content.

In addition, it said care should be taken not to inhale any dust and the broken pieces should be put in a sealed plastic bag for disposal at a council dump, not a normal household bin.

None of this advice, however, is printed on the packaging the new-style bulbs are sold in. There are also worries over how the bulbs will be disposed of.

A new study connects food and mood, finding that a diet high in processed foods makes depression more likely.

A new study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry makes a strong case that processed junk food can trigger or contribute to depression, while eating whole and healthy food seems protective.

The Details:

British and French epidemiologists analyzed food and mood data from 3,486 men and women (average age 55) in the Whitehall II study on London-based office staff. Each participant answered a food frequency questionnaire in which they were asked how often they had eaten a designated portion size of a food during the previous year (set responses ranged from "never" to "six or more times per day"). That data was then converted to a daily intake and two dietary patterns were identified: the "whole food pattern" (defined by a high daily intake of vegetables, fruits, and fish) and the "processed food pattern" (characterized by high consumption of sweetened desserts, chocolates, fried food, processed meat, pies, refined grains, high-fat dairy products, and condiments). Five years later, all the participants answered a short questionnaire designed to measure symptoms of depression in the general population.

After adjusting for variables such as age and sex, the scientists found that high consumption of processed food was associated with increased likelihood of depression, whereas those who had the highest consumption of whole foods were least likely to be depressed, and even less likely than those in the whole food pattern who ate fewer whole foods.

In February, the Minister of Environment of India, Jairam Ramesh, put a moratorium on Bt. Brinjal. He is now pushing trials of GM rubber on Kerala which is a GMO free State. The Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and Kerala Agriculture Minister, Mullakkara Ratnakaran have both reiterated their commitment to keep Kerala GMO free.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh has stated that GM rubber is not transgenic i.e., it does not have genes from unrelated species. This is totally false. While the gene MnSOD comes from the rubber, the MnSOD construct is transgenic. It contains CaMV35S, a virus used as a promoter, an antibiotic resistance marker npt II (Kanamycin) and a CUS reporter gene from bacteria (E.Coli.). Putting viruses and bacteria into a plant is a transgenic transformation. The Environment Minister should not be misleading the nation on the issue of GMOs which has far reaching consequences.

The GM rubber is being developed to spread rubber cultivation to regions beyond Kerala by making it drought resistant. However, engineering drought resistance is linked to "pleiotropic effect". Pleiotropy is the ability of a single genetic change to cause unintended physiological effects throughout a plant.

For centuries green tea has held on strong to its reputation as an effective and trustworthy beverage packed with health benefits.

Now, NewCastle University researchers have found new evidence that green tea can shield the brain against Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

In addition, the golden liquid the Chinese drink in copious amounts has also been credited with lowering the risk of certain cancers.

Although previous studies suggest that chemicals found in green tea can prevent a wide variety of ailments, the new study focused on whether the protective properties were still active after the beverage was digested.

Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.

Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.

Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.

Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.

"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."

In a preceding article, I opined that we have to look for alternatives in the fight against cancer considering the limitations of chemotherapy.

The overall success (or failure) rate with chemotherapy is summed up in a landmark study published in 2004.

Three oncologists co-authored a large-scale review of all studies done on the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments in Australia and the US.

They studied the number of cancer patients who survived more than five years following diagnosis and treatment and found that overall, chemotherapy contributed just over 2% to improved survival in the cancer patients.

The authors strongly questioned the continued use of chemotherapy [Clinical Oncology (2004)16:549-560].

Since evidence-based medicine shows that the success rate with chemotherapy is so poor, any nutritional or non-conventional (ie. not yet generally accepted by mainstream medical practice) or complementary therapies that can give 2% or better success rates should be considered, especially if they are safer and less expensive.

A few years ago, on a tour of a small village in Vietnam, we were taken to a small farm compound, where the residents manufactured rice paper wrappers for spring rolls and raised a few farm animals for food. There were chickens clucking around and a few friendly, waddling ducks. There was also an enormous pig housed in a small, concrete enclosure.

As our group approached, the pig rose up on her hind legs, placed her front legs on the ledge of her pen, and looked us all straight in the eyes with a completely charming mixture of intelligence and humor. Without a doubt, that pig was posing. The pen was small, but clean. The pig appeared to have plenty of freedom of movement. The pig was whole, no cropped tail, no sores, nothing amiss. I can't pretend to know if that pig was a happy pig. But from my limited human perspective, she looked contented.

Every time I think about how we raise animals for food, I think about that expressive pig. That pig represents both my deep ambivalence about eating animals and also what I think of as the ideal way to raise animals for food.

For those of us who do eat meat, who don't raise our own animals, one at a time, or who cannot afford to pay top dollar to buy direct from a very small farm, that ideal is pretty near unattainable.

For conscious omnivores, who eat meat sparingly and thoughtfully, who avoid meat raised under conditions that we call "factory farming," what is a reasonable level of animal welfare in farming? And how accurate are our perceptions of what constitutes "good farming"? Farming is a struggle for farmers. There is a delicate balance between the scale and methods that will allow the farmer to stay in business and earn a living, and letting the animals experience life as naturally as possible.