Health & WellnessS


People

TAU Researchers Examine "Great Expectations" in the Workplace

A study finds that managers who expect more from their employees get more from them, too.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that employee performance in the workplace, like students' grades at school, is greatly influenced by managers' expectations of that performance.

An analysis of results from twenty-five years' worth of experimental research conducted at banks, schools, the Israel Defense Forces -- and even summer camp -- shows unequivocal results: when a leader expects subordinates to perform well, they do.

People

India's Mumbai tries paying girls to go to school

Girls attending state-run schools in India's financial capital of Mumbai are ending the school year a little richer than they began it.

For each day a girl showed up in classes, city authorities are paying her 1 rupee -- about 2 U.S. cents. Boys continue to take nothing home besides their homework.

The scheme has two aims. One is to improve unimpressive school-attendance rates. The other is part of a broader central government goal of empowering girls and women.

Evil Rays

400-volt shocks applied to brain for 'well-being'

According to a leading doctor, thousands of Irish psychiatric patients experiencing psychological distress have had electric shocks of up to 400 volts administered to their brains, frequently against their will.

This controversial treatment, known as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), works by artificially inducing epileptic fits.

Those who endorse it believe that the seizure triggers a surge of "well-being" which soothes the symptoms of the psychological distress being targeted, such as depression, schizophrenia, mania, obsessive convulsive disorders and anorexia.

Evil Rays

Heart attacks? Cancer? No, the West's greatest health problem is anxiety



Patricia Pearson
©Clay Stang
'I try to separate my worries from myself and look at my anxiety as if it was the flu,' says Pearson

The writer Patricia Pearson talks about the fears that devoured her life.

Patricia Pearson, author of A Brief History of Anxiety... Yours and Mine, worries a lot. "I fret about everything and nothing. After 9/11, a friend died and that combination had the effect of turning me into a hypochondriac. I would lie awake at night listening to a gurgling sound in my abdomen convinced I had cancer." On another occasion, she ordered 12 containers of freeze-dried vegetables after an American report warned of a possible flu epidemic and advised stockpiling food.

As well as inflicting a bizarre set of phobias, anxiety has brought Pearson's life to a complete halt three times: dropping out of university, resigning from a job, and winding up addicted to anti-depressants.

No Entry

Eating tomatoes is the best way to avoid sunburn and wrinkles



Tomatoes
© AP
Scientists believe the antioxidant that makes tomatoes red can protect the skin against burning

Eating pizza topped with tomato paste can help prevent sunburn and premature wrinkles, new research suggests. A study found that volunteers who ate helpings of ordinary tomato paste over a 12-week period developed skin that was less likely to burn in the sun.

Researchers at the University of Manchester found that the test subjects were 33 per cent more protected against sunlight than another group who were not given tomato paste. The effect of eating tomatoes was equivalent to slapping on a factor 1.3 sunscreen. Changes were also seen within the skin of the volunteers that counteract the appearance of ageing.

Health

Cause and Affect: Emotions can be unconsciously and subliminally evoked

Most people agree that emotions can be caused by a specific event and that the person experiencing it is aware of the cause, such as a child's excitement at the sound of an ice cream truck. But recent research suggests emotions also can be unconsciously evoked and manipulated.

Heart

Tough job: Volunteers needed for chocolate study



Cacao beans
©REUTERS/Daniel LeClair
A farmer shows cocoa beans at his farm outside Punta Gorda, Belize, May 31, 2007. British researchers recruiting volunteers willing to eat a bar of chocolate daily for a year, guilt-free and all in the name of science. The trial starting in June will explore whether

London - Calling all chocoholics: British researchers recruiting volunteers willing to eat a bar of chocolate daily for a year, guilt-free and all in the name of science.

The trial starting in June will explore whether compounds called flavonoids found in chocolate and other foods can reduce the risk of heart disease for menopausal women with type 2 diabetes, the researchers said on Monday.

Wolf

Hair of the dog keeps children's allergies at bay



Shar Pei puppies
©REUTERS/Ivan Milutinovic
A owner holds two Shar Pei puppies during an international dog show in Belgrade February 10, 2008.

London - Having a dog in the house reduces the risk that young children will develop allergies, German researchers said on Tuesday.

The finding, based on a six-year study of 9,000 children, lends weight to the theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever.

Just why this should be is unclear but scientists believe youngsters may get beneficial early exposure to germs carried into the house on the animal's fur, which helps their immune systems develop.

Health

US, California: Hepatitis Outbreak Widens



Chipotle Mexican Grill
©Scott Olson/Getty Images

San Diego - County health officials said Friday they have identified two new cases of Hepatitis A that may be linked to a Chipotle restaurant in La Mesa.

That brings the total number of cases of the disease to 14, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency. Those sickened include six women and eight men, ranging in age from 23 to 55.

Hourglass

The Enduring Mystery of Suicide

Thomas Szasz, a Hungarian psychiatrist prominent in the anti-psychiatry movement, once called suicide "a fundamental human right." He did not mean that killing oneself is morally desirable. "It only means," he wrote, "that society does not have the moral right to interfere."

Szasz didn't say whether his icy dictum applies to children and adolescents, who continue to kill themselves by the dozen in Canada. Among the sobering body count is Nadia Kajouji, the 18-year-old Carleton University student. Her apparent suicide has triggered a debate over privacy and whether Carleton did all it could to prevent her death, and has also shone a light on the chilling phenomenon of young people snuffing out their own short lives.