Sleep apnea in kids linked to brain damage

NEW YORK, Aug 24: When children have sleep apnea -- that is, brief but frequent episodes during the night when their breathing becomes blocked -- they may be at risk for more than just a poor night's sleep. Findings from a new study provide what researchers believe is the first evidence that untreated sleep apnea in children can cause neuronal brain injury.

''This should be a wake-up call to both parents and doctors that undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea might hurt children's brains,'' lead author Dr Ann C Halbower, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a statement.

''This is truly concerning because we saw changes that suggest injury in areas of the brain that house critical cognitive functions, such as attention, learning, and working memory,'' she added.

Previous reports have tied childhood sleep apnea to deficits in memory, learning, and other mental functions, but until now no studies have demonstrated neuronal injury.

As reported in the online medical journal Public Library of Science Medicine, Dr Halbower's team performed sleep studies and neuropsychological assessments in 19 children with moderate to severe sleep apnea and in a comparison groups of 12 similar but healthy ''control'' children.

In addition, six of the sleep apnea patients and six matched controls underwent specialized MRI exams to assess the state of brain neurons.

Consistent with earlier research, verbal working memory and verbal fluency were impaired in children with sleep apnea. Moreover, the average IQ of the sleep apnea group was just 85.8 compared with 101.1 in the control group.

The MRI scans revealed metabolic changes suggesting neuronal injury in two specific areas of the brain in the children with sleep apnea, the investigators report.

''We cannot say with absolute certainty that sleep apnea caused the injury, but what we found is a very strong association between changes in the neurons of the hippocampus and the right frontal cortex and IQ and other cognitive functions,'' Halbower noted.

Further research is needed to determine if early diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea can reverse the deficits identified in the study, the team concludes. Sleep apnea can be treated with pressurized air delivered by a facemask, to keep the airways open while a person sleeps.(AGENCIES)

Brain chemical's call to exercise may go unheeded

NEW YORK, Aug 24: The body's sensitivity to a particular brain chemical may help separate those of us who can't sit still from those who can't seem to get off the couch, a study in rats suggests.

Because spontaneous activity throughout the day is a major factor in calorie burning, researchers say this brain response might play a role in obesity risk.

In their study, lean rats were more sensitive to a brain chemical called orexin A, and tended to fidget and move around through much of the day. Obesity-prone rats, on the other hand, were more likely to resist orexin A's ''get moving'' signal and take it easy instead.

What's more, the lean rats maintained their physiques despite eating as much as their heavier counterparts -- pointing up the importance of their high activity levels.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

While going to the gym or taking a jog may be important for weight control, so too is the incidental physical activity people get during the day. Standing, casually walking or moving in any way all burn more calories than sitting in front of the TV.

Previous research has found that normal-weight people move around significantly more often over the course of a day than overweight individuals do.

It's possible that sensitivity to orexin A plays a role in a person's tendency to be a mover or a couch potato, thereby contributing to obesity, according to the study's senior author, Dr Catherine M Kotz of the University of Minnesota and the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

''There could be something at work that makes some people more sedentary,'' she told Reuters Health.

Kotz and her colleagues focused their research on orexin A because it's known to spur appetite, as well as wakefulness and movement. They wanted to see whether ''obesity-resistant'' rats differed from obesity-prone rodents in their response to the brain chemical.

The obesity-resistant rats were created by breeding lean rats with lean rats, while the obesity-prone animals were bred from two obese parents.

From early on, the researchers found, the obesity-resistant rats were naturally more active, and over time, they stayed lean, while the obesity-prone animals packed on the pounds.

When the researchers infused the animals' brains with orexin A, they found that the lean mice became even more active, while their heavier counterparts showed little response to the chemical.

Though it's not clear that this is true of humans, the findings support the notion that some people ''have to fight their biology'' to get moving, Kotz said.

A pill that would boost orexin's powers is not out of the question, though that would take some time, according to Kotz. More practically, she said, the findings highlight the importance of ''low-level'' activity throughout the day.

For people who are significantly overweight and sedentary, Kotz said, simply standing and moving more is a good first step toward becoming active.(AGENCIES)

Denglisch is here to stay

FRANKFURT, Aug 24: It is known as Denglisch, a hybrid of Deutsch and English, and cultural purists say it is an insult to the language of Goethe and should be purged from the vocabulary.

Denglisch has spread steadily as Germans adopted American phrases in business, advertising, technology, and everyday speech.

''Brainstorm'' has become as common a word in German as ''surfen,'' ''chatten'', and ''shoppen'' (for surfing, chatting and shopping).

In Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital, ''uptick'' and ''downturn'' are familiar terms and posters listing evening entertainment are headlined ''city nacht (for night).

In Berlin, a satirical theatre calls itself quatschcomedyclub (quatsch means nonsense) and visitors to the foreign ministry can relax at ''The Coffee Shop im Auswaertigen Amt.''

''We are colonising ourselves, voluntarily,'' complained the German Language Association, a 26,000-strong private group of self-appointed language guardians who want legal protection for the language.

The association has introduced an award for ''language adulterer of the year'' to shame public figures whom it deems guilty of showing insufficient respect for German.

The leading candidate for this year's prize, to be announced in late-August, is Guenther Oettinger, premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

His offence? Saying Germany should adopt English as its working language and use German at home and on holiday. The association called him a ''language lackey.''

Most Germans shrug off Denglisch and the linguistic invasion of their language as an inevitable consequence of globalisation.

But several influential conservative politicians are now campaigning for a law to protect German. A similar campaign, modelled on legislation in France, failed five years ago.

(KEEPING GERMAN ''PURE'')

The renewed effort is led by Erika Steinbach, a member of parliament for the Christian Democratic Union, partners in the ruling government coalition.

She says 30 per cent of Germans speak no English at all but are ashamed to admit it.

''How far does your mother tongue take you in your own country?'' she asks on her Web site. Her answer: not very far.

''Without English and Denglisch, you are pretty helpless in German everyday life.''

Judging from attempts elsewhere to legislate the use of a national language, both English and Denglisch are in Germany to stay.

In 1994, France passed a law meant to suppress Franglais, Denglisch's French cousin. The legislation banned the use of foreign words in work contracts, public announcements, advertising and on radio and television.

It said foreign words would have to be replaced by words approved by the Academie Francaise, which serves as watchdog for the French language.

The law had little effect on the use of such words as ''le weekend'' or ''le T-shirt'' -- denounced as language contaminants by purists.

Americanisms proved similarly resistant to legislation in Poland, where young people embraced English after the collapse of communism and decades of obligatory Russian studies.

There are no signs that the growing dominance of English around the world -- according to one estimate, almost a third of the world's population has some knowledge of English -- has been affected by growing anti-Americanism in many countries.

Experts say linguistic dominance is largely a function of power.

''A language becomes an international language for one chief reason -- the political power of its people -- especially their military power,'' said British linguist David Crystal, whose book ''English as a Global Language'' is considered a landmark study.

But the speed and breadth of a language's universal adoption may also be linked to how difficult or easy it is to learn.

Mark Twain, in an essay entitled ''The Awful German Language'', quipped that ''a gifted person ought to learn English ... In 30 hours, French in 30 days, and German in 30 years.''

(WHAT NEXT? GLOBISH?)

For those in search of shortcuts, there are rival proposals from India and France for simplified versions of English called Globish.

The Indian version, designed by retired engineer Madhukar Gogate, provides simplified spelling and pronunciation to make learning easier for people unfamiliar with Roman script.

The other Globish is being promoted by a retired IBM executive with a flair for publicity, Jean-Paul Nerriere, whose French-language Web site touts his book ''Don't Speak English, parlez Globish.''

He proposes a 1,500-word version of English with elementary syntax as ''the planetary dialect of the third millennium and integrated solution to the problem of international communication.''

The idea mirrors the Basic English developed in the 1930s by British linguist Charles Kay Ogden. It has a vocabulary of 850 words and was hailed as an instrument for world peace after the end of World War II.

Legend has it that one of its most prominent advocates, Winston Churchill, withdrew his support after learning that Basic English renders ''blood, toil, tears and sweat'' into ''blood, hard work, eyewash and body water.''(AGENCIES)

Stem cells created without destroying human embryos

NEW YORK, Aug 24: In a significant development, biologists here have developed a technique for establishing colonies of stem cells without destroying human embryos.

This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research, said the New York Times, reporting the finding by researchers at Advanced Cell Technology which is being published in the Journal Nature.

Research on human embryonic stem cells give rise to the cells and tissues of the body and scientists and patient advocate groups see it as a potential source for treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

But the new method had little immediate effect on longstanding objections of the White House and some Congressional leaders, the paper said.

It also brought objections from critics who warned of possible risk to the embryo and the in vitro fertilization procedure itself, in which embryos are generated from a couple's egg and sperm.

The new technique, the Times said, would be performed on a two-day-old embryo, after the fertilized egg has divided into eight cells, known as blastomeres. In fertility clinics, where the embryo is available outside the woman in the normal course of in vitro fertilization, one of these blastomeres can be removed for diagnostic tests, like for Down syndrome.

The embryo, now with seven cells, can be implanted in the woman if no defect is found. Many such embryos have grown into apparently healthy babies over the 10 years or so the diagnostic tests have been used, the paper reported. (PTI)

NY's oldest bartender still mixing martinis at 90

NEW YORK, Aug 24: A man who mixed martinis for Marilyn Monroe and poured Scotch for John Lennon was feted as New York's oldest bartender when he turned 90 this week, and he vowed to keep working.

Hoy Wong, who was born in Hong Kong and served in the US military in World War II, is known simply as Mr Hoy at the historic Algonquin Hotel where he has served Manhattans and martinis for the past 27 years in the dimly lit Blue Bar.

The hotel is best known as the favored lunch spot of the 1920s literary circle The Round Table, whose members included the founders of The New Yorker magazine.

The Algonquin, which touts Hoy as the city's oldest bartender, threw a birthday party for him on Tuesday night, inviting customers past and present as well as staff, friends and family. Asked about retirement, Hoy said: ''I never think about that. ... Now I'm 90 but I don't feel I'm that old.''

Hoy started tending bar in 1948 and worked at various hotels and restaurants, including Freeman Chum in New York where he served Monroe drinks, before moving to the Algonquin where former Beatle Lennon used to order Scotch.

Hoy was coy about his celebrity customers, but his granddaughter Jennifer Zhang-Mckenna said he would occasionally come home with anecdotes from work.

''He would tell me that the Duke of Windsor told him he made the best martini in the world,'' Zhang-Mckenna told Reuters.

''One day he said 'People all think that Marilyn Monroe is beautiful but I'm telling you, the prettiest is Elizabeth Taylor, though Marilyn Monroe is just sweet.' She would come to the bar and say with her sweet voice 'Hi, Mr Hoy,''' she said.

Zhang-Mckenna said she would be surprised if Hoy ever retires.

''He can't relax. I said 'When are you going to retire?' and he said 'I don't know, maybe I'll work for a couple more years,' and that was 10 years ago,'' she said.(AGENCIES)

China asks diplomats to leverage their economic clout

BEIJING, Aug 24: Top Chinese leaders have asked diplomats to leverage their new found economic clout to help the nation's modernisation drive and launch multi-dimensional diplomacy to ensure world peace.

China will adhere to a "mutual benefit and win-win" strategy in its exchanges with the rest of the world, a three-day central meeting on foreign affairs attended by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao here noted.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), proposed ways of strengthening and improving work related to foreign affairs. Wen spelt out priorities for foreign affairs now and in the future, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The meeting stressed that the country should use its fast economic growth to promote global peace, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and the world.

China will transform the growth mode of foreign trade, expand the ratio of services trade, co-ordinate imports and exports, take concrete steps to protect intellectual property rights, and accelerate the signing of free trade pacts with other countries and regions.

The meeting pointed out that China urgently needs to improve the quality of foreign affairs work because it now has "unprecedented close links" with the international community in economic, political, cultural and security fields and the link between domestic and foreign affairs is more pronounced.

It stressed foreign affairs work should focus on the primary task of development, uphold the banner of "peace, development and co-operation," adhere to an independent foreign policy of peace, "unswervingly" pursue the path of peaceful development and be multi-dimensional. (PTI)

Coffee may trigger heart attack

WASHINGTON, Aug 24: That cup of coffee you're craving for might not be such a good idea after all.

Research in the September issue of Epidemiology suggests coffee can trigger a heart attack within an hour or so in some people.

Coffee junkies can take some comfort from the finding that the risk was highest among light coffee drinkers (those who consumed up to one cup a day).

For those people, the risk of heart attack increased fourfold when they indulged. Couch potatoes (those who don't exercise) and those with other risk factors for heart disease were also at greater risk of having a heart attack after drinking a cup of coffee, the study showed.

As a result of these findings, ''people at high risk for a heart attack who are occasional or regular coffee drinkers might consider quitting coffee altogether,'' says researcher Ana Baylin, a research associate at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, RI, in a news release.

Baylin, who works in the department of nutrition at Brown, adds that for these individuals, a cup of coffee could be ''the straw that broke the camel's back.''

Baylin and colleagues suggest caffeine causes short-term increases in blood pressure and sympathetic nervous activity that could trigger a heart attack.

On the other hand, previous studies have shown coffee drinkers may be at decreased risk for Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancers.

In the new study, moderate coffee drinkers (those who consumed two or three cups a day) raised their risk of having a heart attack by 60 per cent by drinking a cup of coffee.

But light coffee drinkers increased their risk of heart attack by more than four times with one cup, according to the study. Little effect was seen among heavy coffee drinkers (those who drank four or more cups per day).

What's more, coffee drinkers who have three or more risk factors for heart disease more than doubled their risk of sustaining a heart attack after downing a cup.

The new study was based on 503 cases of non-fatal heart attacks in Costa Rica.

The researchers asked participants about their coffee consumption in the hours and days before their heart attack.

The findings of the new study appeared in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association).

Although the study was conducted in Costa Rica, the researchers say the results are relevant to the US because Americans and Costa Ricans have similar caffeine habits.

''For people with multiple risk factors for a heart attack and those who have a sedentary lifestyle, a cup of coffee could be the final straw,'' says Ahmed El-Sohemy, PhD, an Assistant Professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.

''One should aim to remove some of these known risk factors and have a more active lifestyle,'' he says.

''For those people who are not regular consumers and have other risk factors, getting that jolt of caffeine is probably a jolt to their system,'' he explains in the study.

''We know that caffeine causes transient increases in blood pressure, so those who are not regular consumers are not used to it, and they get that surge and for a vulnerable heart, that could be the trigger,'' he says.

El-Sohemy recently reported that people who have a genetic variation associated with slower caffeine metabolism are at an increased risk of a nonfatal heart attack when they consume coffee. (UNI)

Nepal gets US grant for restoration of heritage sites

KATHMANDU, Aug 24: The United States has provided a grant of USD 114,808 to Nepal for restoration of two cultural heritage sites in the Kathmandu valley.

The funds are being provided to the Patan Tourism Development Organization of Lalitpur district and to Heritage & Environment Conservation Foundation Nepal of Kathmandu district.

A grant of USD 85,535 will help restore the traditional waterspout at Nag Bahal in Lalitpur district while a grant of USD 29,273 will help rebuild the Machali Pati, a traditional public rest house in Pachali, Teku of Kathmandu district.

"Helping preserve Nepal's cultural heritage is an excellent way for the United States to show its friendship with Nepal. We are proud to be able to support these two worthwhile projects," Sharon Hudson-Dean, Deputy Director of the American Center said last evening.

The funds are provided through the US Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation.

With this new funding, the US government's commitment to restore and preserve cultural projects in Nepal over the past four years came around USD 238,834, said US Ambassador James F. Moriarty on the occasion.

Projects supported by the US in the last four years include restoration of Kal Bhairav in Kathmandu Durbar Square, which was completed last year; restoring Kageshwor Temple, also in Kathmandu Durbar Square, which is nearing completion; and rebuilding the Lakshmi Narayan Temple and Mahadev Temple, both of which are underway. (PTI)

Luther Vandross's mother makes diabetes appeal

TORONTO, Aug 24: A year after the death of US R&B artist Luther Vandross, his mother is using the release of his greatest hits and a new survey to highlight the dangers of diabetes and urge people to get a medical checkup.

Vandross, who won eight Grammy awards and sold 25 million albums, died last year aged 54 due to complications of diabetes. He never fully recovered after suffering a stroke two years earlier.

His mother, Mary Ida Vandross, 82, said his death followed that of his father, two of her other four children, and one grandson from diabetes-related complications. Her fourth and last child, a daughter, died after suffering from asthma.

''It is with me daily that my family was taken from me,'' Vandross told Reuters in a telephone interview. ''Diabetes is really dangerous. Just get yourself checked.''

Her appeal coincides with the release of a nationwide survey of 2,000 Americans that found a growing number of adults aged 18 to 40 who are living with or at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a disease caused by genetic factors and often brought on by obesity and lack of exercise. It can lead to a host of problems, including blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart disease and premature death.

In the last two years, the number of Americans living with diabetes grew 14 percent to 20.8 million people.

The Diabetes Aware Generational Survey by Danish insulin maker Novo Nordisk found most people with diabetes know that diet and exercise can help prevent the disease -- but only one in five exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet.

For Luther Vandross, his diabetes was probably caused by a mixture of genetic factors and lifestyle, his mother said.

Vandross always struggled with health and image problems, losing 100 pounds -- several times. At his heaviest he weighed over 300 lbs (136 kg).

The latest CD of his hits, The Ultimate Luther Vandross, includes two new songs recorded right before his stroke called ''Shine'' and ''Got You Home.''

(AGENCIES)