Bad Habits Asserting Themselves How a Mild Virus Might Turn
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Bad Habits Asserting Themselves 3 How a Mild Virus Might Turn Vicious 5 At Last, Facing Down Bullies (and Their Enablers) 7 Is This a Pandemic? Define ‘Pandemic’ 9 Letting the Patient Call the Shots 12 Rotavirus: Every Child Should Be Vaccinated Against Diarrheal Disease, W.H.O. Says 15 1984 thoughtcrime? Does it matter that George Orwell pinched the plot? 16 Diabetes warning signs detected 18 Rogue protein 'spreads in brain' 20 Oily fish 'can halt eye disease' 22 Australia wind farm gets go-ahead 24 Chimps mentally map fruit trees 26 Mobile scanner could detect guns 28 Girls 'hampered by failure fears' 31 Animal Mating Choices More Complex Than Once Thought 33 Hundreds Of Cell-surface Proteins Can Be Simultaneously Studied With New Technique 35 Self-regulation Game Predicts Kindergarten Achievement 38 Prehistoric Complex Including Two 6,000-year-old Tombs Discovered In Britain 39 Fat In Mammalian Cells May Help Explain How Toxin Harms Farm Animals 41 Is Rural Land Use Too Important To Be Left To Farmers? 42 Drinking Water From Air Humidity 43 Cantabrian Cornice Has Experienced Seven Cooling Phases Over Past 41,000 Years 44 Prehistoric Whale Discovered On The West Coast Of Sweden 46 Nanoscale Zipper Cavity Responds To Single Photons Of Light 47 Television Watching Before Bedtime Can Lead To Sleep Debt 50 'Warrior Gene' Linked To Gang Membership, Weapon Use 51 Basket Weaving May Have Taught Humans To Count 53 Archaeologists Locate Confederate Cannons, Naval Yard 55 Flexible Solar Power Shingles Transform Roofs From Wasted Space To Energy Source 57 Fatty Foods -- Not Empty Stomach -- Fire Up Hunger Hormone 59 Skin Lesion Leads To More Cancer Types Than Once Believed 61 Scientists Uncover Mode Of Action Of Enzyme Linked With Several Types Of Cancer 63 Confusion Reigns Over Whole-grain Claims In School Lunches 64 Family Obligation In Chinese Homes Lowers Teenage Depression Symptoms 65 Guy Talk 66 The Road Home 68 Telling the Tale 70 Pop and Rococo Meet and Greet 73 Putting ‘Primitive’ to Rest 75 Sexual Partner Status Affects A Woman's, But Not A Man's, Interest In The Opposite Sex 77 Commonly Used Medications May Produce Cognitive Impairment In Older Adults 78 Easier Access To Media By Children Increases Risk On Numerous Health Issues 80 Electronic Memory Chips That Can Bend And Twist 82 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Feeling Close To A Friend Increases Progesterone, Boosts Well-being 84 Leptin's Role In Brain Neurocircuitry Clarified 86 Scientists Create Metal That Pumps Liquid Uphill 87 Lightweight Wings For A High-flying Kite 89 Ancient Mammals Shifted Diets As Climate Changed 91 High-energy Particles From Space Used To Probe Thunderstorms 93 Suffer Stroke Symptoms? Second Strokes Often Follow Within Hours 95 When Evolution Is Not So Slow And Gradual 96 Minimally Invasive Stroke Treatment Produces Better Patient Outcomes Than Surgical 98 Modern Dance and Art Bring a Burst of Color to a Gray City 99 Is Slam in Danger of Going Soft? 101 Most Efficient Spectrograph To Shoot The Southern Skies 103 Six New Genome Sequences And Fundamental Insights To The Candida Fungus Family 106 Magnetic Tornadoes Could Liberate Mercury's Tenuous Atmosphere 108 Tai Chi Improves Pain In Arthritis Sufferers 110 New Hominid 12 Million Years Old Found In Spain, With 'Modern' Facial Features 111 Endless Original Music: Computer Program Creates Music Based On Emotions 113 NASA Scientists Find Evidence For Liquid Water On A Frozen Early Mars 115 Benefit Of Aspirin For Healthy People Is Uncertain 117 Teaching Computers To Recognize Objects 119 Silver Nanoparticles Show 'Immense Potential' In Prevention Of Blood Clots 121 Long-distance Brain Waves Focus Attention 122 Can You Run a Government With Prediction Markets? 124 The Marriage of Mozart and Mindfulness 127 Space May Be the Final Frontier for Some Renewables 130 Graphene May Have Advantages Over Copper For IC Interconnects At The Nanoscale 132 New Class Of Dim Supernovae 134 Another Revolution In Computing Technology? 136 Geography And History Shape Genetic Differences In Humans 138 Breast Cancer Gene Can Be Blocked By Blood Pressure Drug 140 Students Who Get Stuck Look For Computer Malfunctions 142 Waist Size And Body Mass Index Are Risk Factors For Sleep Disordered In Children 145 'Improved' test for Alzheimer's 146 Way to stop cancers seed in brain 150 Snake slips show slither secret 152 Online push in California schools 156 Child carers 'without a voice' 157 Apes and humans share a common laughing ancestor 160 Muscle Atrophy: When The Body Cannibalizes Itself 161 Insomnia With Objective Short Sleep Duration In Men Is Associated With Mortality 163 Concussion Experts: For Kids -- No Sports, No Schoolwork, No Text Messages 164 Discovery Raises New Doubts About Dinosaur-bird Links 165 Thinnest Superconducting Metal Ever Created 167 Relationship Found Between Napping, Hyperactivity, Depression And Anxiety 168 To 300 Million Light Years, And Beyond: A New Way To Measure Cosmic Distances 169 Enzyme Necessary For DNA Synthesis Can Also Erase DNA 175 Archeological Evidence Of Human Activity Found Beneath Lake Huron 176 Evidence Of Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling Detected In Nanowires 178 1,000,000 words! 179 Natural bleach 'key to healing' 184 Floating wind turbine launched 186 Key to blood clotting discovered 188 Men 'out-performed at university' 190 Small World Crammed on Biennale’s Grand Stage 194 A Paris Plan, Less Grand Than Gritty 197 On High, a Fresh Outlook 199 2 Infoteca’s E-Journal No.73 June 2009 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Bad Habits Asserting Themselves By RONI CARYN RABIN Five fruits and vegetables a day. Exercise, several times a week at least. No smoking. Anyone who hasn’t heard the healthy lifestyle message has to be living under a rock. But whether it’s the vegetable-hating inner child or the primal urge to conserve physical energy asserting itself, millions of middle-age Americans are having none of it. Over the last 20 years, the share of Americans 40 to 74 who eat five fruits and vegetables a day has dropped to 26 percent from 42 percent, according to the latest analysis of an authoritative national survey on health and nutrition. Moderate drinking — roughly one drink a day for women, two for men — increased to 51 percent from 40 percent, even as the number of abstainers went down, to 40 percent from 51 percent. (Advice is mixed on whether this is a healthy trend.) And the number of smokers in the 40-to-74 group declined only slightly, to 26 percent from 27 percent. The obesity rate increased to 36 percent from 28 percent. And 43 percent of Americans said they worked out at least 30 minutes three times a week, down from just over half. “The results are disappointing and disturbing,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Dana E. King, a professor of family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Dr. King added that because fruits and vegetables are markers of a healthy diet, correlated with consumption of fat and fiber, “not eating them is reflective of a decline in diet over all over 18 years.” 3 Infoteca’s E-Journal No.73 June 2009 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila The study, in the June issue of The American Journal of Medicine, compared results from two National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, in 2001-6 and 1988-94. The surveys, done regularly by the National Center for Health Statistics, include a physical examination; each included more than 7,000 respondents 40 to 74 years old. Dr. King focused on middle-age adults because they are at greatest risk for heart disease, but was surprised that even those with diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol were no more likely to adhere to healthy habits. “I worry that some people are taking medication instead of following a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “You take a pill and say, ‘I’ll eat whatever I want, and my doctor says my cholesterol is fine.’ Your pill may be lowering your cholesterol, but it’s not doing the other 100 things that proper eating and exercise do for you.” In some areas, men’s habits have deteriorated more than women’s. In the earlier period, 57 percent of men and 49 percent of women reported exercising three times a week; now both sexes are at 43 percent. The rate of obesity climbed similarly in both men and women. Although the study did not address the underlying causes of these changes, some experts say men are less receptive than women to advice on nutrition and exercise. Longer commutes and more time spent on the computer have made for more sedentary lives, said Ross Brownson, professor of epidemiology at Washington University in St. Louis. And Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, said stress and depression might be taking a toll. “Most people know what they need to do, but they need to be confident they can actually make the changes and believe the changes will impact their health,” she said. “I think what we’re seeing is that people are giving up.” Dr. King warned that the rise in unhealthy habits could lead to a costly surge in heart disease and other chronic ailments of the elderly. But he added, “The other half of this message is that changes in lifestyle can do so much good.” Other studies have shown that people who adopted healthy behavior reduced their risk of heart disease and death by 35 percent in just four years. “So to those people who say it’s too late and won’t do any good — the exact opposite is true,” Dr.