Has Work Got You Burning the Midnight Oil? It Could Be Bad for Your Heart

The benefits of gainful employment are many, but working hard may have a downside: an increased risk of heart attack.

A new study found that people who worked 11 hours or more a day were 67% more likely to have a heart attack or die of one over an average 12 years of follow-up, compared with people who worked standard seven- or eight-hour days.

The study followed more than 7,000 British civil service workers aged 39 to 62 who originally signed up between 1991 and 1993. At the start of the study, none of the participants had heart disease. Researchers screened the group for heart disease every five years until 2004, and also consulted hospital data and registries to track rates of heart attack and death. By the end of the study, 29 participants had died of heart disease and 163 had had heart attacks.

The 11-hour mark appeared to be key. Those who worked relatively long days — up to 10 hours a day — were not at significantly higher heart risk than those who worked less. But once workers crossed the 11-hour threshold, their heart disease risk went up.

What the researchers also wanted to know was whether adding information about people's work hours would help improve the accuracy of standard heart disease risk calculations — which categorize people into low, moderate or high risk over 10 years — based on traditional risk factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking. This risk calculation is known as the Framingham risk score.

Indeed, adding work hours to the calculation improved prediction by nearly 5%. The Boston Globe's Daily Dose blog reported:

Some 124 "low-risk" participants out of the 6,400 were re-classified as "moderate-risk" — defined as having a 5-year heart attack risk of 5 to 10 percent — when their long work hours were combined with their Framingham risk score. Interestingly, 85 of the nearly 400 moderate-risk folks who were also included in the study were re-classified as low-risk once their eight-hour-long workdays were factored in.

Why long work hours are associated with an increase in heart risk isn't clear. It could be that working long days isn't a risk factor in itself, but a marker for other things that increase risk: for instance, high-stress types who are already at increased risk for heart disease may simply work longer than other people. The study's authors theorized that chronic stress may be a culprit, since stress affects metabolic function and can lead to depression and sleep problems — all of which are associated with increased risks of heart disease and heart attacks.

Of course, there's also the issue of sedentary office work. In a study published in January in the European Heart Journal, researchers found that prolonged bouts of sitting — practiced by legions of office workers — led to increased risks of two major heart disease indicators: larger waist size and higher levels of blood fats. That was true even in people who exercised regularly outside of work hours.

What does that mean for you? Remember to get up and stretch or take a lap around the office once in a while, if you're slogging long days at work. Even these small changes in behavior can lower your health risks, the authors of the January study found.

Also, try to punch out a little earlier than you otherwise would. That means putting down the BlackBerry at home and not checking email from the plane. It's not worth the heartache.

Source: healthland.time.com

Benefit strawberries for healthy teeth

It turned out that strawberries are very beneficial for the health of our teeth. One is to prevent the formation of dental plaque. What are the benefits of strawberries others refer to the following article:

Strawberry fruit juice to prevent formation of dental plaque that can trigger the appearance of the teeth and mouth disease, said researchers from the University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta Rahmi Amalia Ayu Budi.
"The content of the natural sweetener xylitol and polyphenols in the form of strawberries proved capable of reducing the colonization of 'Streptococcus mutans' which can inhibit the enzyme activity so as to prevent the formation of plaque," he said in Yogyakarta, on Monday.



Thus, according to him when describing the results of his research, strawberry juice consumption have a significant effect in reducing dental plaque index.

He said that, in general, strawberries contain nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrate, and energy. Potential minerals contained in it is calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium, vitamin C and folic acid.
"Strawberries are also shown to have antioxidant activity two-fold higher than red wine, five times that of apples and bananas, and ten times more than the watermelon," he said.

So, according to him, strawberries has many benefits for human health, including reducing the accumulation of dental plaque which can prevent the emergence of the teeth and mouth disease.

He said the plaque is the main cause that triggered the emergence of dental and oral diseases, including caries (tooth decay), calculus (tartar), gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) and periodontitis (inflammation of the tissues supporting the teeth).

"Given the plaque formation is a process that can not be avoided, hence reducing the accumulation of plaque into boiling things important in preventing the formation of teeth and mouth disease. One of them with strawberry juice," he said.

According to him, with strawberry juice, the taste will stimulate acid secretion of saliva in high amounts. As a result, become more watery saliva and salivary viscosity becomes lower.
"Finally, dental plaque can be reduced so that the appearance of the teeth and mouth disease can be prevented," said student study program Dentistry, University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY)

U.S. cardiovascular disease costs will triple by 2030, study says

There's a new forecast of the cost to treat heart disease in the U.S. over the next 20 years -- and it isn't pretty.

According to a study published Monday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Assn., the annual cost to treat heart disease -- including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and other conditions -- will triple by 2030, from $273 billion to $818 billion (in 2008 dollars).

Two overweight women walk at the 61st Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in Gaithersburg, Md., in August 2009. (Tim Sloan AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. medical expenditures are already the highest in the world, hitting 15% of gross domestic product in 2008, the authors reported.

To generate the forecast, researchers took current disease rates and applied them to population estimates suggested by census data. They assumed no major changes in treatment.

How Much Sex Is Enough?

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2011) — Society has long debated the contrasting advantages of monogamy and promiscuity and, in western society at least, the long term benefits of monogamy have in general won out. However new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that sperm from polygamous mice are better competitors in the race for fertilisation.

Dr Renée Firman at the Centre for Evolutionary Biology, University of Western Australia, has used house mice to show that sperm from rival males compete to fertilise females and that, over several generations, polygamy can select for mice who produce more sperm, with stronger motility, than monogamous males.

After 12 generations of competitive selection (polygamous) or relaxed selection (monogamous) female mice were mated twice, in succession, with males from both groups. While 53% of the litters had mixed paternity, 33% of litters were fathered by the polygamous males compared to 14% by monogamous males. Polygamous males retained this advantage regardless of whether they were mated first or second, demonstrating that the increased fitness applies to both offensive and defensive competition. The selection procedure had no obvious effect on male size or behaviour, nor did it affect female fertility.

So in the age old debate about the merits of monogamy versus polygamy is seems that, for male mice at least, the more partners you have the more fertile your offspring will be.

Texas Lousy at Reporting Food Poisoning, Study Says

If you live in Texas and eat food, you will probably die, or at least become violently ill. That's what we're taking away from a study that gives the Lone Star state an "F" in reporting outbreaks of foodborne illness.

You'll never know what gets you in Texas

The Center for Science in the Public Interest studied ten years' worth of CDC data and decided that the more reporting of such outbreaks a state has, the more likely it is to have a swift-acting, effective public health system.

Because Texas only reported an average of one outbreak per one million people, we apparently blow. Our fellow flunkies in the back row include Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada, Indiana and Kentucky, and eight others. Wyoming, home to a few dozen people and a shitload of cattle, got an "A."

"These findings suggest that many states lack adequate funding for public health services, leading to health departments that are overburdened and understaffed," the report states. "The result is decreased outbreak investigation and detection and an incomplete picture of foodborne illness across the country."

If you're a Texan and want to know the specific pathogen that will inevitably worm its way into your system and make you vomit uncontrollably, it will most likely be salmonella. That foul bacteria accounted for 15 percent of the reported outbreaks. However, two percent of you will probably eat a mouthful of listeria, then come down with listeriosis and then die.

But don't pack your bags for an "A" state like Minnesota just yet: states with higher grades don't mean fewer cases of food-cooties. You'll probably die there as well -- it's just that there's a better chance some dude at the CDC will find out about it. Bon appétit.

Surgeon General: Help make breastfeeding easier for moms

Breastfeeding seems to be the most natural thing in the world and is recommended as the optimal form of nutrition for newborns, yet many moms find it difficult to do for a variety of reasons. This is why the Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin is launching a “Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding.”

January 20th, 2011

Dr. Regina Benjamin talks with CNN's Kiran Chetry about the call for breastfeeding support

Benjamin says the number of women breastfeeding in the United States is low compared with other countries, and “we'd like to change that.” Her plan identifies 20 different things families, employers, health care professionals and communities can do “to help encourage women to breastfeed and give them the support they need.”

According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year, 75% of new moms initiate breastfeeding. At 3 months only 33% of moms are only feeding their infants breast milk and at 6 months only 13% are still exclusively breastfeeding their babies. Benjamin points out that the numbers for African-American women are even lower – 22% at 3 months and only 8% are still exclusively breastfeeding by the time their little one is 6 months old.

The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months because it benefits babies and mothers. Breast milk contains antibodies, which can protect babies from ear infections, digestive problems, and severe lung infections. Studies also suggest it protect babies against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), diabetes, obesity and asthma. Moms also benefit, according to a report issued by Benjamin’s predecessor, former acting Surgeon General Dr. Steven Galson, which says breastfeeding benefits for moms include “reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, as well as breast and ovarian cancers.”

Benjamin says “something happens between when they [moms] start breastfeeding and 6 months,” and she is trying to help change this.

She recognizes that some women are simply unable to breastfeed because the babies are not latching on and she is not trying to make them feel bad for not doing so. She suggests that while these moms may not be able to directly feed their babies, encouraging them to express their breast milk and then giving it to the baby in the bottle is another way for the infant to get mom's nutrient-filled and protective milk.

Any woman who has breastfed can attest to it being a learned skill that requires patience. Both mom and baby have to learn how to do this and if you first do not succeed, encouragement from family and instruction from a lactation expert can prevent a mother from giving up. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 breastfed babies also is getting formula within 2 days of birth.

Benjamin’s plan calls for developing programs to educate spouses and grandparents about the benefits of breastfeeding, but also for support groups within communities and for hospitals and health care professionals to provide support and help for moms when they leave the hospital.

Having access to prenatal care and instruction on how to breastfeed before the baby is born can help moms prepare for what’s ahead. But for many women who want to breastfeed, the support to do so is often lacking, particularly when they return to work.

According to the “Call to Action,” half of all mothers with children under age 1 were working in 2009 and more than two-thirds were employed full time.

While they’re at work, moms need to pump their breast milk, so their infants can be bottle-fed mom’s milk while they’re away. However, if mom can’t take a break to pump, or there isn’t a private place for her to set-up to pump, she may feel as if she doesn't have much of a choice but to discontinue breastfeeding. Benjamin says women working in low-income jobs have a particularly difficult time pumping at work.

Over the next 6 months to a year, Benjamin says she wants to have a constant conversation and raise awareness about helping women breastfeed. “We want to get them [businesses] to understand that there are some economic benefits – it helps to retain good employees. Companies who have lactation programs or breastfeeding programs tend to keep their employees longer.”

What women want

Ask a group of ladies what they look for in a man, and buzzwords fly. Confidence. Independence. Humor. Kindness. Looks. It's as if we women are all seeking the exact same guy. (Hot damn—lucky dude.)

But here's the rub: We reorder these priorities depending on where we are in our lives.

"What a woman looks for in a partner changes as she ages," says Helen Fisher, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University and a relationship expert, whose most recent book is Why Him? Why Her?

So if you want a decent shot at success, you have to recognize what she values at this stage of her life—and know what to expect if you plan to stay with her. A woman who once prioritized, say, grinding to Lil' Wayne on the dance floor will eventually start to prefer intimate conversation accompanied by a glass of Barolo and a plate of homemade Bolognese.

These changes extend into the bedroom, too. Very few women become set in their sexual ways. Quite the opposite: A Men's Health exclusive survey of nearly 1,400 women found that sexual tastes shift with the passing years. To be specific (and the women we asked were very specific), two-thirds of the women in their 30s and almost half of the women in their 40s revealed that their sexual palates had evolved in the past decade. And change can be good.

For example, a woman who once avoided being on top because she worried about how her double D's looked might eventually become sexually confident, knowing exactly what she wants, how she wants it, and how to guide you there. Sex becomes more of an adventure with age, it appears.

But that doesn't mean you have to wait. Whether the woman you're dating or living with is in her 20s, 30s, or 40s, here's your guide to hitting her hot spots.

Barnes Doctors Experiment With Cool New Toy That Kills Brain Tumors

The doctors at Barnes Jewish Hospital have a new toy to play with and use to kill brain tumors: the Monteris Medical AutoLITT System. It's not an especially catchy name, but it sure does look cool: a thin metal wand with a glowing red laser at the tip. And doctors are finding it's a handy tool for getting rid of brain tumors in hard-to-reach places which would previously have been inoperable or resistant to chemotherapy.

"It provides us with a new way of accessing the brain in a minimally-invasive fashion," says Dr. Eric Leuthardt, "and killing a tumor where it is without having to do a large surgery and a large opening into the brain to get to certain areas." Leuthardt is one of the doctors who has been using the new system.

Surgery with the AutoLITT System begins with the doctors boring a hole into the patient's skull that's about the diameter of a pencil. Using an MRI scanner as a guide, the doctors insert the laser wand into the brain, right into the center of the tumor. The laser is so precise that it's able to burn away the cancer cells without hurting healthy tissue, and the surgeons can watch the tumor's disappearance on the MRI monitor.

Because the surgery is less-invasive, recovery time is shorter, taking days instead of weeks.

Barnes is one of the first hospitals in the country that gets to play with this technology.

The AutoLITT System doesn't work on all tumors. It's ineffective, for example, on vascular tumors, or tumors that are formed from blood vessels. But it's able to eliminate most gliomas (tumors from glial cells, the non-neurons that make up the nervous system) and metastasized tumors (cancer that originated somewhere else and spread).

To see the AutoLITT System at work, check out this video produced by Barnes:

Abbott's dissolvable heart stent gets OK for use in Europe

Abbott Laboratories said Monday that its experimental dissolvable heart stent has received approval in Europe, a milestone in the development of the next-generation heart device for patients in the U.S. and around the world.

The North Chicago-based drug and medical-device giant said it is the first-ever government regulatory approval of a "bioabsorbable" stent. Abbott hopes its drug-coated absorbable stent, which is inserted after balloon angioplasty to keep blocked pathways open, evolves into an advancement of medical devices for clearing clogged arteries.

Unlike existing stents made of a metal mesh or drug-coated metal, Abbott's stent is designed to be absorbed and slowly metabolized by the coronary arteries. After two years, patients will no longer need a metal stent in their arteries, according to clinical trials, Abbott said.

Cardiology experts say the absorbable stent holds promise, but it remains unclear whether it eventually would replace stents on the market, which have been hailed for their effectiveness at keeping arteries to the heart open and reducing the need for heart surgeries. They say Abbott's absorbable stent needs more study in the U.S., where trials have yet to begin and doctors are largely unfamiliar with it.

6 Reasons Why You Should Date a Fat Girl

I get shit on quite a bit by female readers (usually via email) calling me a sexist pig and what not for the “fat chick” and “dirty whore” jokes I make. While they are mostly right, I need to point out that I love chubby girls. Yes you, chick who said I show nothing but “plastic bitches” on this site, I’m talking to you.

The reason “men’s entertainment” sites don’t show hefty women anymore, is because they aren’t in demand. Supply and demand. This site is 72% men, and in almost 3 years I’ve only had a handful of people make comments about liking ‘the chubbies.’ RM readers demand hot sluts with big tits, and I supply them.

Today however, I’m going to make my case for the larger ladies. Yes you in the back row who can finish a Porterhouse steak, and clear a motherfucking swimming pool when you cannon ball, I got your back (or a fraction of it at least lol).

Pregnant Women Often Stamp Out Claims They Smoke

How do we say "she doth protest too loudly?" Next time you see a pregnant women dousing herself in perfume, stomping her feet and insisting that she does not smoke, even though she reeks of cigarette butts, trust your gut: She's lying.

One in four moms-to-be who smoke while they are pregnant, deny it, according to a study published in Reuters Health. This has significant implications, because smoking by moms-to-be is one of the most common preventable causes of illness and death among infants, says Patricia Dietz, a researcher for the division of reproductive health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Reuters.

Smoking for two? Credit: Getty Images

Though the numbers are most likely even larger especially for younger women in their 20s (some are better than others at being sneaky,) researchers studied pregnant and non-pregnant smokers aged 20 to 44 to see who would and wouldn't fess up on a health questionnaire, Reuters reports.

They zeroed in on the deception by taking blood samples from the women to measure levels of cotinine -- a byproduct of nicotine that serves as a marker of exposure to tobacco smoke, according to Reuters. Their analysis included 994 pregnant women and 3,203 non-pregnant women.

Overall, 13 percent of pregnant women and 30 percent of non-pregnant women were active cigarette smokers. The pregnant smokers smoked an average of 11 cigarettes a day, while the non-pregnant smokers averaged close to 14 cigarettes a day, Reuters reports.

But, more pregnant than non-pregnant women smokers failed to disclose their habit -- 23 percent versus nine percent -- and were identified by their cotinine concentrations, the report states.