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Consumption of Fruits May Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Apples, bananas, and oranges are the most common fruits in both Western and Asian diets, and are important sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A new study in the Journal of Food Science explores the additional health benefits of these fruits and reveals they also protect against neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease.

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Creative and noncreative problem solvers exhibit different patterns of brain activity, study reveals

Why do some people solve problems more creatively than others? Are people who think creatively somehow different from those who tend to think in a more methodical fashion?

These questions are part of a long-standing debate, with some researchers arguing that what we call "creative thought" and "noncreative thought" are not basically different. If this is the case, then people who are thought of as creative do not really think in a fundamentally different way from those who are thought of as noncreative. On the other side of this debate, some researchers have argued that creative thought is fundamentally different from other forms of thought. If this is true, then those who tend to think creatively really are somehow different.

A new study led by John Kounios, professor of psychology at Drexel University and Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern University addresses these questions by comparing the brain activity of creative and noncreative problem solvers. The study published in the journal Neuropsychologia, reveals a distinct pattern of brain activity, even at rest, in people who tend to solve problems with a sudden creative insight -- an "Aha! Moment" - compared to people who tend to solve problems more methodically.

Health

Allergic Disease Linked to Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Adults with allergy symptoms report a high incidence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), suggesting a link between atopic disorders and IBS according to a study published this month in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology,the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

In a study of 125 adults, Rush University Medical Center's Dr. Mary C. Tobin and colleagues found the likelihood of IBS was significantly higher in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis (2.67 times), patients with allergic eczema (3.85 times), and patients with depression (2.56 times).

Health

Indonesia's death toll from bird flu tops 100

A 32 year-old man died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in Jakarta on Wednesday, bringing Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 101, the Jakarta Post newspaper said.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the death is the third in the past three days as a 23 year-old woman and a nine-year-old boy died in hospital on Sunday.

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Free Will and Cheating; Destined To Cheat? New Research Finds Free Will Can Keep Us Honest

Minneapolis, MN. - With the start of the new year, millions of Americans have resolved to lie less, cheat less, put the holiday hangovers behind them, or otherwise better their lives. Some will moderate their bad habits; others may make significant changes and become shining examples of integrity. But most of those well-intended New Year's resolutions are destined to fail. In an age where cheating scandals plague elite universities and major corporations are brought down by unethical actions, the debate about the origins and nature of our decisions plays into a larger debate about genetic determinism and free will.

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Snoring May Increase Chronic Bronchitis Risk

Snoring may significantly increase susceptibility to chronic bronchitis, investigators here have found.

Regular snoring was associated with a 25% to 68% increased frequency of new-onset chronic bronchitis compared with those who never snored, Chol Shin, M.D., Ph.D., of Korea University Ansan Hospital, and colleagues reported today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The combination of smoking and snoring almost tripled the likelihood of chronic bronchitis compared with those who did not smoke or snore.

People

Flashback Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior - A Book Review

Christopher Boehm, Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior, Harvard University Press, 1999

All men seek to rule, but if they cannot rule they prefer to be equal.
Harold Schneider, 1979.


All animal societies can be placed on a continuum from despotic to egalitarian and this placement reflects the social rigidity or level of control that dominant individuals can express over subordinates. In societies resting closer to the despotic end of the spectrum, the alpha-animal usually has access to the most resources and is able to bully other societal members. In contrast, societies residing closer to the egalitarian end of the spectrum have societal members that control the resource exploitation of dominant animals through the formation of coalitions. In this way, egalitarian social structures resemble what we can call a reverse hierarchy, as it is a system where coalitions of individuals suppress (i.e. dominate) the domineering tendencies of would-be dominant animals.

Heart

Australian girl's "miracle" immune switch

An Australian teenage girl has become the world's first known transplant patient to change blood groups and take on the immune system of her organ donor, say doctors.

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Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

©AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
The hand of a woman is covered in mud as she makes mud cookies on the roof of Fort Dimanche, once a prison, in Port-au-Prince, Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies, made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.

Health

Doctors Told to Stop Giving Antibiotics for Colds

Doctors in Britain will soon be told to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs, colds and sore throats. Overuse of the drugs is fuelling the spread of deadly antibiotic-resistant super bugs. A new government program aims to diminish the use of the drugs.

Most colds, coughs and flu are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated with antibiotics since antibiotics only work on bacteria.

Overuse of antibiotics has been blamed for the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis. If antibiotic use is not curbed, doctors could run out of effective treatment for some diseases.
Sources:

* The Telegraph January 9, 2008