pseudonym/health

From the page: ""Sugar was the old devil, and high-fructose corn syrup is the new devil," said Marcia Mogelonsky, a senior analyst at Mintel International, a market-research company."

From the page: "Ron, 73, is one of just three patients in the UK to be fitted with a bionic eye and after 30 years of being completely blind he can now see well enough to do the laundry.

The operation was carried out at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London seven months ago and Ron's sight has steadily improved since then.

He lost his sight in his 40s after suffering from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa but now thanks to the operations he is regaining some of his independence.

Ron, who has asked for his surname not to be disclosed, can now follow road markings, see flashes of coloured light and make out shades of grey."

From the page: "The study, published in the December issue of Social Indicators Research, analyzed data from thousands of people who recorded their daily activities in diaries over the course of several decades. Researchers found that activities such as sex, reading and socializing correlated with the highest levels of overall happiness.

Watching TV, on the other hand, was the only activity that had a direct correlation with unhappiness.

"TV is not judgmental nor difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it," says the study. "Furthermore, chronic unhappiness can be socially and personally debilitating and can interfere with work and most social and personal activities, but even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained by a TV. In other words, the causal order is reversed for people who watch television; unhappiness leads to television viewing."

Kick the TV opiate habit now!

From the page: "Halloran recommends families eat more fresh fruit, stop eating salt-rich fast foods and drinking high-calorie sodas, and engage in more physical fitness activities. And parents, she adds, should talk more to teachers if they think their children have attention deficit or hyperactivity problems."

In particular, parents need to start saying "no" to their children's requests for sugary drinks--and they need to start today. Give 'em water instead!

From the page: "U.S. and Iraqi forces have guarded the 23,000-acre site -- surrounded by huge sand berms -- following a wave of looting after Saddam's fall that included villagers toting away yellowcake storage barrels for use as drinking water cisterns. (emphasis added)

Yellowcake is obtained by using various solutions to leach out uranium from raw ore and can have a corn meal-like color and consistency. It poses no severe risk if stored and sealed properly. But exposure carries well-documented health concerns associated with heavy metals such as damage to internal organs, experts say.

"The big problem comes with any inhalation of any of the yellowcake dust," said Doug Brugge, a professor of public health issues at the Tufts University School of Medicine."

Iraq sells its 550 metric ton "yellowcake" stockpile.

Really?