Excelsior... Nation

Coming to a theater near you-carbon-neutral movie

WASHINGTON, Oct 28: The critics raved: ''Tender and touching!'' ''Beautiful and poignant!'' ''A sweet gem!'' But the makers of the independent film ''Sweet Land'' seem just as pleased with another accolade: carbon-neutral.

This means that all of the carbon dioxide emitted by the filmmaking process -- lights, cameras, transportation -- was totaled up and offset by comparable investments in renewable energy. Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change.

''For me, it's less of a political statement about global warming, and more just, there's got to be a nicer, cleaner way to do this,'' said film director and writer Ali Selim in an interview before the movie's Washington opening yesterday.

''Sweet Land'' cost about 1 million dollar to make, Selim said, and from the beginning, he and the cast and crew worked to minimize their environmental impact.

Filming in Montevideo, Minnesota, population 5,346, Selim used sunlight instead of film lights whenever possible during shooting and had actors carpool to the set instead of driving on their own. He kept them at the location rather than paying to have them fly back and forth.

He also used the practice of ''shooting out'' each location before moving on to the next, that is, getting every necessary shot, so that transporting the entire costly enterprise from one place to another was kept to a minimum.

After the movie wrapped, the paperwork began: Selim's wife Robin, the movie's co-producer, added up ''every mile driven by every vehicle, every gas receipt ... Every airline ticket, every actor who traveled, every pound of film,'' Selim said.

The weight of the film was important if the film had to be carried by plane, since the cost of the airplane fuel and its attendant carbon emissions had to be taken into account, he said.

8,000 TONS OF CARBON

The whole report was sent to The Carbon Neutral Company in London, which calculated that ''Sweet Land'' emitted some 8,000 tons of carbon.

The report on their carbon emissions cost the moviemakers 5,000 dollar, Selim said. Offsetting their emissions by investing in a reforestation project in Germany and windmills and compact fluorescent lighting in Jamaica cost another 10,000 dollar.

The film itself has nothing to do with the environment, except that it was shot in the austere farm country of Minnesota, Selim's home state. Set in 1920, ''Sweet Land'' is the story of a mail-order bride and her laconic husband-to-be, struggling for acceptance in a hidebound community.

Tim Guinee stars as the bridegroom, and wholeheartedly accepted the requirements of making a carbon-neutral movie.

''I've done over 100 movies and TV shows and this is a movie I love more than anything,'' Guinee said in an interview. ''Our most important thing was to try and make a good, beautiful movie, and this (carbon-neutral push) got done because it just felt like trying to do the right thing.''

Other films have gone the carbon-neutral route, but the best known -- ''An Inconvenient Truth,'' ''The Day After Tomorrow'' and ''Syriana'' -- have at least a tangential message about the environment or energy.

Selim said he wants to make future films this way. But what if the movie gets a bankable star -- Harrison Ford, say -- used to the energy-gobbling limos and private jets of a Hollywood production?

''I wonder what he would say if you asked him,'' Selim said. ''If he said no, we'd probably say OK ... But I think a lot of people would say, all right, I'll give it a try.'' (AGENCIES)

Air Arabia to start flights to Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram

DUBAI, Oct 28: Air Arabia, the first low-fare airline in the Middle East and North Africa, will start flights to Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram from Sharjah next week.

"The demand for services to these cities has been overwhelming and we are confident that we will be able to cater to the huge mass of travellers on these sectors," Adel Ali, CEO of Air Arabia, said.

While the inaugural flight to Chennai is scheduled for Thursday (November 2), services to Thiruvananthapuram will start on Sunday next week (November 5).

In India, the low-cost carrier already flies to Mumbai, Jaipur, Kochi and Nagpur.

"We are also going to start services to Kathmandu soon", Ali added. (PTI)

Who on earth would pay 1 million dollar for hell?

LOS ANGELES, Oct 28: No one was buying hell -- or at least its red-hot Web address.

HELL.Com was among hundreds of Internet domain names up for auction in Hollywood, Florida yesterday, by domain asset management provider Moniker.Com, a unit of marketing services firm Seevast Corp.

The owner put a minimum price of 1 million dollar on the underworld's domain, confident of high interest after the salacious address, Sex.Com, sold for about 12 million dollar earlier this year. But there were no takers with bids failing to reach the reserve price.

''The world is still alive and well. Nobody is going to hell right now,'' Seevast Chief Executive Lance Podell told Reuters, adding that the domain would now be part of a silent auction.

Moniker was selling HELL.Com on behalf of a group called BAT Flli LLC, whose founder Kenneth Aronson registered the name in 1995.

It's not the first time that Aronson has tried to sell HELL.Com. He put the address on the auction block in April 2000, at a starting bid of 8 million dollar.

In an interview with Reuters in 2000, Aronson said members of The Final.Org, an enigmatic collective of digital artists and creative visionaries, were using HELL.Com as a private destination for their work.

According to the site, HELL.Com is a ''private parallel web'' not accessible with a Web browser.

The auction yesterday included a list of domain names such as cameras.Com, which pulled in 1.5 million dollar. Sexeducation.Com that sold for 120,000 dollar and babies.Net which went for 26,000 dollar.

Flowers.Mobi, an address with the new extension for mobile devices, went for 200,000 dollar, while fun.Mobi pulled in 100,000 dollar.

A boom in Internet advertising driven by companies such as Google Inc. And Yahoo Inc. Have sent prices for sought-after domain names soaring. (AGENCIES)

Brief counseling aids older adults' insomnia

NEW YORK, Oct 28: Insomnia is a common problem for older adults, but even a couple sessions of behavior counseling can help them sleep easier, new research suggests.

In a study of 35 older adults, who were an average of 70 years old, with long-standing insomnia, researchers found that those who received two counseling sessions on healthy sleep habits were resting better four weeks later.

Half of the subjects, which included 25 women and 10 men, were randomly assigned to the short-term treatment, while the other half acted as the comparison group.

Overall, 12 out of 17 patients reported improvements in their sleep quality, versus 7 out of 18 study participants who received the kind of care typically offered in primary care settings -- including pamphlets on sleep and insomnia, and a phone call from a nurse.

The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, are in line with past studies that have shown behavioral therapy to be very effective for chronic insomnia. Indeed, other researchers have argued that counseling should be the first treatment choice rather than sleep medication, which can cause side effects or dependence.

But behavioral therapy with a specialist can be time-consuming, and not always readily available, the authors of the new study note in their report.

So it's important to see whether even brief counseling in a primary care office can be effective, according to Dr Anne Germain and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

In their study, the counseled patients had one 45-minute session with a nurse practitioner, followed by a shorter ''booster'' session two weeks later.

During the sessions, they learned about the factors that either promote or interfere with sleep, and received specific advice on sound sleeping -- going to bed only when sleepy, for example, and getting up when you can't fall asleep or stay asleep.

Four weeks later, the study found, nearly three quarters of these patients had some improvement in their sleep quality. In more than half, the insomnia was considered to be in remission. In contrast, only 17 per cent of patients who received standard therapy had improvement in sleep quality.

Larger, longer studies are needed to see if the benefits of this short-term treatment last and if they hold true for people with various medical conditions that affect sleep, the researchers note.

''Nevertheless,'' they conclude, ''the present preliminary findings are encouraging and suggest that (brief behavioral therapy) may be amenable to use in primary care settings.'' (AGENCIES)

Antipsychotic deemed effective for anxiety disorder

NEW YORK, Oct 28: The anti-psychotic drug trifluoperazine is well-tolerated and superior to inactive ''placebo'' in the short-term treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, a chronic disorder associated with exaggerated worry and tension, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. However, the value of other antipsychotics for treating anxiety is less clear because of the lack of large, well-designed studies.

Dr Keming Gao, of University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, and colleagues conducted a review to examine the benefits of antipsychotic drugs for anxiety disorders. The researchers also reviewed studies on bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder that included data regarding changes in anxiety.

''We found that in a well-designed study, low doses of trifluoperazine...Were well tolerated and superior to placebo in the short-term treatment of generalized anxiety disorder,'' Gao said in an interview with Reuters Health.

''In less well-designed studies, other...Antipsychotics appeared to be superior to placebo and might be as effective as (sedative drugs) in the short-term treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety conditions.''

In patients with bipolar disorder, two antipsychotic drugs -- olanzapine and quetiapine -- significantly reduced anxiety symptoms compared with placebo.

Antipsychotic drugs may be useful for combatting anxiety in patients who don't respond to antidepressants or sedative drugs or in patients who should not be treated with these two classes of medications, Gao concluded. (AGENCIES)

Antipsychotic deemed effective for anxiety disorder

In patients with bipolar disorder, two antipsychotic drugs -- olanzapine and quetiapine -- significantly reduced anxiety symptoms compared with placebo.

Delayed nausea after chemo lowers quality of life

NEW YORK, Oct 28: Nausea and vomiting occurring the week after cancer chemotherapy is common, despite the use of so-called ''anti-emetics'' to control nausea and vomiting, and can adversely affect quality of life. And nausea appears to have a greater negative impact than vomiting does.

While it may seem ''self-evident'' that nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy have a negative effect on life, few studies have actually quantified this adverse effect of treatment, doctors explain in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In nearly 300 cancer patients, Dr Brigitte Bloechl-Daum from the Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues analyzed the prevalence and impact of acute nausea and vomiting occurring in the first 24 hours after chemotherapy and delayed nausea and vomiting occurring 2 to 5 days post-chemotherapy.

Most patients received anti-emetic treatments prior to chemotherapy, as is recommended. Despite this, however, vomiting was reported by more than one third of patients (36.4 per cent). In roughly 13 per cent, vomiting occurred in the first 24 hours after treatment, whereas 32 per cent suffered delayed vomiting.

Nausea plagued close to 60 per cent of study patients and was much more bothersome to patients than vomiting. Nausea was immediate in 36 percent and delayed in 54 per cent.

''Nearly one in two patients suffered an impact on daily life, primarily from nausea, even though they received only moderately (vomit-causing) regimens,'' note the authors.

The rate of delayed nausea was ''unexpectedly similar'' after highly and moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (60 per cent versus 52 per cent, respectively.

Of the 173 patients who did not suffer nausea or vomiting in the first 24 hours after chemotherapy, 23 per cent said delayed nausea and vomiting affected their quality of life.

This research, the authors conclude, highlights the burden of nausea and vomiting that cancer patients suffer and the need for new and more potent anti-emetics. (AGENCIES)

Duloxetine effective for diabetic neuropathic pain

NEW YORK, Oct 28: Duloxetine appears to be a safe and effective treatment for diabetes-related pain caused by damage to the peripheral nervous system, according to a report in the journal Neurology.

This damage, also called diabetic peripheral neuropathy, occurs when the communication network that transmits information back and forth from the peripheral nerves to the central nervous system is damaged. This can result in a variety of symptoms including pain, numbness or tingling sensations.

Duloxetine, the active ingredient in Cymbalta, is a selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that treats depression by increasing levels of serotonin and norepinephrine, and treats neuropathy by blocking pain signals to the brain.

To investigate how effective duloxetine is in treating pain from diabetic peripheral neuropathy, Dr Joachim Wernicke of Eli Lily and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, evaluated 334 non-depressed patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain who were randomly assigned to 60 mg duloxetine once or twice daily, or placebo.

''A 50-per cent reduction in the 24-hour average pain response was achieved by 27 per cent of patients in the placebo-treated group,'' they report, compared with 43 per cent of patients in the once-day duloxetine group and 53 per cent in the twice-daily duloxetine group.

Treatment with duloxetine, at either frequency, also reduced pain rapidly. The benefits of the drug over placebo in reducing the 24-hour average pain severity score became apparent during the first week of treatment.

With the exception of overall increased sensitivity to pain, all secondary measures of pain, such as night pain and the severity of the worst pain, were significantly improved with duloxetine compared with placebo. The benefits with once- versus twice-daily duloxetine appeared to be comparable.

Duloxetine therapy had an acceptable safety profile with no association with any serious side effects. However, nausea, dizziness, constipation, fatigue, drowsiness, diarrhea, and increased sweating were significantly more common with the drug than with placebo.

The results support the use of once daily duloxetine for patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, the authors conclude. While the twice-daily dosing may raise the risk of side effects, it may provide additional benefits in some patients, they add. (AGENCIES)

Large amounts of bacteria expelled during sneezing

NEW YORK, Oct 28: Many people carry Staphylococcus aureus, a potential disease-causing microbe, in their nose and now new research shows that large amounts of this organism and other bacteria are released into the air with every sneeze. While the presence of the common cold does not affect this dispersion, allergies seem to increase it.

''Our findings suggest that sneezing contributes to the risk of cross-infection by airborne transmission of S aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), and probably other...Bacteria, and they should be taken into consideration in future investigations of outbreaks,'' report Dr Werner E Bischoff, from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues.

The findings, which appear in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, are based on a study of 11 healthy nasal S aureus carriers. Airborne dispersal of Staphylococcus aureus was measured before and after histamine-induced sneezing, both before and during experimentally induced colds.

The measuring technique involved having each volunteer sit in an airtight chamber built around a biological safety hood. Air samplers were used to measure airborne bacteria.

Sneezing increased the airborne dispersal of S aureus, CoNS, and other bacteria by up to nearly fivefold.

As noted, having a cold did not influence bacterial dispersal. By contrast, having a respiratory allergy increased S aureus spread during sneezing by almost fourfold.

''Further studies are necessary to clarify the underlying mechanisms of allergies of the respiratory tract and S aureus airborne dispersal,'' the researchers note. (AGENCIES)

Depression impairs asthma-related quality of life

NEW YORK, Oct 28: Depression and anxiety disorders are both associated with worse quality of life because of asthma, but only depressive disorders are associated with worse asthma control, the results of a study in the journal Chest indicate.

Dr Kim L Lavoie, of the University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada, and colleagues examined the relative impact of having a depressive disorder or an anxiety disorder in 504 adults with asthma.

The participants completed a psychiatric interview using the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders. The Asthma Control Questionnaire and the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire were also used. Standard lung function tests were performed in all subjects.

Overall, 31 per cent of patients met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder. Twelve per cent of patients had an anxiety disorder only, and 8 per cent had a depressive disorder only. Eleven per cent had both anxiety and depressive disorders.

''Our main finding was that having either a depressive or anxiety disorder was associated with worse asthma-related quality of life, but only depressive disorders were associated with worse asthma control levels,'' Lavoie told Reuters Health.

''These findings were observed independent of age, sex, and asthma severity,'' the researcher continued. ''This means that the worse asthma control and quality of life observed in patients with...Depressive and anxiety disorders were not simply due to greater asthma severity.''

The researcher noted that if depressed patients with asthma are at greater risk for worse asthma control, they could be targeted for more intensive asthma treatment, as well as additional psychotherapeutic or behavioral interventions to improve their depression.

''There are several symptoms of depressive disorders -- e g, fatigue, lack of energy, and decreased interest in daily activities that may include self-management of chronic asthma -- that may make them less likely to adhere to daily medication regimens ... Which we know has a huge impact on control,'' Lavoie commented.

Therefore, detection and treatment of psychiatric disorders in asthma patients ''may have implications for both mental and physical health.'' (AGENCIES)

Powder found at Bill Clinton's NY office non-toxic

NEW YORK, Oct 28: A suspicious white powder delivered by mail to former President Bill Clinton's New York office was not dangerous, a Secret Service spokesman said.

A staffer opened an envelope yesterday afternoon addressed to the former president that contained the white powder, showed it to a colleague and then the police were notified, said police spokesman Kevin Czartoryski.

Field tests on the powder determined it was ''an inert substance and non-toxic,'' said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.

Clinton was reportedly at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York during the incident attending a party to celebrate his birthday, two months after he turned 60.

In 2001, powdery Anthrax spores sent in letters to news organizations and government offices in Florida, Washington and elsewhere killed five people and made at least 17 people ill. Those cases have not been solved. (AGENCIES)

Anti-nuclear Naval exercise due in Gulf on Monday

WASHINGTON, Oct 28: At loggerheads with Tehran over its nuclear program, about 25 nations will take part in a naval exercise in the Gulf right across from Iran next week to practice stopping ships with nuclear materials, said US officials.

The mission takes place at a time when major powers are considering a UN sanctions resolution against Iran over its nuclear plans. It is also the first such exercise since North Korea launched an underground nuclear test on October 9, resulting in UN weapons and financial sanctions against Pyongyang.

The exercise, hosted by Bahrain in international waters, will start in the Gulf on Monday and will involve vessels from the United States, France, Italy, Australia, Britain as well as Bahrain, said a senior State Department official.

Aircraft and other ''operational assets'' will be provided by those six nations, the State Department said.

''This is an exercise that will test our capacity to intercept illicit trafficking,'' said senior State Department official Bob Joseph of the exercise.

US officials said the exercise had been planned for many months and was expected to be met with some interest by Iran.

''From Iranian news reports, we know the exercise got the attention of Iran,'' said Joseph.

Observers to the two-day exercise, called ''Leading Edge,'' will include Gulf countries Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Korea, Japan and Russia in the 25th such mission organized under the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative.

PSI was created in 2003 by President George W. Bush with the goal of agreeing to share intelligence information and work against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including through military exercises such as next week's.

As part of Monday's exercise, a ''target vessel'' will be purportedly carrying materials useful to a nuclear weapons programme and the goal will be to interdict this ship and prevent the materials from reaching an unspecified ''country of nuclear proliferation concern'' in the region.

The United States hopes to use PSI to increase international cooperation to prevent North Korea from transferring any nuclear technology, particularly to Iran.

While the naval exercise is going on, the five major nuclear weapons states and seven other countries are due to meet in Morocco to implement another initiative to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of extremist groups.

That meeting will be led by the United States and Russia and follows an initiative agreed to by Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in St Petersburg last July. (AGENCIES)