Health & WellnessS


Stop

Croatia to ban smoking in all public places by end of 2008

In July 2006. Renato Mittermayer, from the Croatian Ministry of Health and Social care, stated there would be changes in the law to ban smoking from all public places in Croatia, including restaurants, night clubs and bars; according to EU regulation.

"It is unacceptable for the assistant minister to make public statements on behalf of the ministry, especially when he is telling lies and conveying his personal opinions. Next time he should keep his private thoughts for himself!" - Prime Minister Sanader reacted at the time. He also adding that "cabinet is not considering any legal measures against smoking."

Light Saber

Let's have a niceness revolution



©McKinsey
McKinsey's "dirty dozen" of abusive workplace behaviours

"Nice?" the guy in the car ad once said to the sweet old couple sitting at a table on the pavement. "Nice?" His voice dripped with contempt for a word that conveys so little, and yet so much.

Beer

One drink a day for a longer life: study

LONDON - Drinking is healthy, exercise is healthy, and doing a little of both is even healthier, Danish researchers reported on Wednesday.

People who neither drink nor exercise have a 30 to 49 percent higher risk of heart disease than people who do one or both of the activities, the researchers said in the European Heart Journal.

Question

Report: Dozens of passengers aboard Tel Aviv-Toronto flight quarantined

More than 75 of 201 passengers aboard Air Canada flight 085 from Tel Aviv to Toronto placed in quarantine at Pearson Airport after a number of travelers fall ill with flu-like symptoms.

More than 75 of the 201 passengers aboard Air Canada flight 085 from Tel Aviv to Toronto were placed in quarantine immediately upon their arrival at Pearson Airport Tuesday night after a number of travelers fell ill, the Toronto Star reported.

"They didn't tell us anything," said passenger of the ordeal. "They totally kept us in the dark."

Air Canada representative Angela Mah was quoted by the Star as saying that during the flight, three people traveling with an organized group fell ill with flu-like symptoms.

"It is our standard operating procedure to have health officials meet the aircraft on arrival in cases like this," said Mah.

However, passenger Matt Coleman Coleman told the newspaper that health officials did not meet the travelers until they reached customs. "They did not separate the sick people from the ones who weren't sick. We were all just put in a room, given 'bunny suits' and told to stay put," he was quoted as saying.

Pills

Americans pay the most for prescription drugs and still don't take them

An international study of dialysis patients shows that although U.S. residents have the highest out-of-pocket drug costs, even those who can afford their prescription drugs are far less likely to take them than patients in other countries.

Health

France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking

France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

Heart

Lack Of Vitamin D May Increase Heart Disease Risk

The same vitamin D deficiency that can result in weak bones now has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Framingham Heart Study researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, above and beyond established cardiovascular risk factors," said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "The higher risk associated with vitamin D deficiency was particularly evident among individuals with high blood pressure."

In a study of 1,739 offspring from Framingham Heart Study participants (average age 59, all Caucasian), researchers found that those with blood levels of vitamin D below15 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) had twice the risk of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, heart failure or stroke in the next five years compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D.

Pills

Big Pharma Spends More On Advertising Than Research And Development, Study Finds



©iStockphoto/Marcelo Wain

A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry's claim.

Wine

Resveratrol-like drug works in humans-Sirtris

A drug that exploits the benefits of a component in wine proved safe and showed signs that it might improve blood sugar control in people with the most common form of diabetes, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday.

The results come from the first human study of a drug that targets a family of genes called sirtuins that control the aging process in humans.

Bulb

More sun is healthy, despite skin cancer risk, study says



©REUTERS/Ruben Sprich
File photo shows athletes running up the moraine of the Eiger glacier during the Jungfrau-Marathon near Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Alps September 8, 2007.

A little more sunshine might help you live longer, according to a study published on Monday suggesting that for some people health benefits from the sun outweigh the risk of skin cancer.