~ News Flash ~

Smoking Pot,May increase risk of gum disease

WASHINGTON – Smoking marijuana, much like smoking tobacco, may increase a person's risk for gum disease that can lead to tooth loss, researchers said on Tuesday. A study of 903 New Zealanders found that people who smoked marijuana frequently had triple the risk for severe gum disease and a 60 percent higher risk for a milder form of it compared to people who did not smoke the drug, also called cannabis.

Scientists create three-parent embryos

Advertisement LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists have created human embryos with three parents in a development they hope could lead to effective treatments for a range of serious hereditary diseases within five years. Researchers from Newcastle University, in northern England, presented their findings at a medical conference at the weekend, a university spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Japanese study clears mobiles of brain cancer risk

LONDON (Reuters) – Using a mobile phone does not increase your risk of brain cancer, according to a new Japanese study that is the first to consider the effects of radiation on different parts of the brain. The finding adds to the growing body of evidence that mobile phones are safe.

Chronic pain seen altering how brain works
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Brain scans of people in chronic pain show a state of constant activity in areas that should be at rest, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, a finding that could help explain why pain patients have higher rates of depression, anxiety and other disorders. They said chronic pain seems to alter the way people process information that is unrelated to pain.

Activists may have poisoned China dumplings:
TOKYO (Reuters) – Activists opposed to Chinese government ties with Japan may have contaminated Chinese-made dumplings that caused 10 people in Japan to fall ill, Japanese media quoted a senior Chinese food safety official as saying on Wednesday. The discovery of pesticide on the dumplings has received widespread media coverage in Japan, prompted health queries from nearly 4,000 people and led the importer of the dumplings, Japan Tobacco Inc (2914.T), and rival Nissin Food Products Co Ltd (2897.T) to call off the planned merger of their frozen food operations.

Study finds popular music awash in booze, drugs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – They have lyrics such as “Tequila makes her clothes fall off” and “Breakin down the good weed, rollin' the blunt/Ghetto pimp tight girls say I'm the man.” U.S. popular music is awash with lyrics about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Medical researchers have reviewed the words of the 279 top songs of 2005 to estimate just how common they are.

MMR vaccine not seen causing autism

LONDON (Reuters) – A vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella does not cause autism, according to the largest study yet showing there is no evidence linking the childhood shot to the development disorder. The study, published on Tuesday in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, found no evidence of any abnormal biological response from the shot that could point to a link between the vaccine and autism.

Persistent depression after heart trouble harmful

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Persistent depression is associated with worse physical health a year after heart attack or severe chest pain – known by the umbrella term “acute coronary syndrome” (ACS), researchers from Canada report. Dr. Brett D. Thombs, from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and colleagues investigated whether symptoms of depression during and after hospitalization for ACS predict physical health status 12 months after ACS in a study of 425 patients.

Bush seeks increase in funding for FDA food safety
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration on Monday proposed boosting funding to better protect the food supply, including opening an office in China. In its fiscal 2009 budget, the White House proposed raising expenditures for food programs at the Food and Drug Administration to $543 million from an estimated $510 million in the prior year.