12 Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now!

texting-and-driving-multitaskingTexting while walking, sending emails during meetings, chatting on the phone while cooking dinner. In today’s society, doing just one thing at a time seems downright luxurious, even wasteful.

But chances are, you’re not doing yourself (or your boss, or your friends and family) any favors by multitasking your way through the day. Research shows that it’s not nearly as efficient as we like to believe, and can even be harmful to our health. Here are 12 reasons why you should stop everything you’re doing—well, all but one thing—and rethink the way you work, socialize, and live your life


Chobani recalls moldy yogurt after complaints, FDA probe

Chobani_AP2.jpgU.S. yogurt-maker Chobani is officially recalling moldy cups of Greek yogurt after customers complained that the product tasted runny and fizzy and some reported illnesses.

The recall, announced on Thursday, follows nearly a week after Chobani sought to quietly remove the yogurt from store shelves without alerting the public, a strategy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called “unusual.”

Privately-held Chobani said it is removing the product “due to some claims of illness,” though a spokeswoman, Amy Juaristi, downplayed the claims, saying the mold, which can occur in dairy, “is unlikely to have ill health effects.” Juaristi said tainted cups would be replaced.

FDA spokeswoman Tamara Ward said the agency is continuing its discussions with Chobani. She declined to give further details. On Wednesday Ward said the FDA was looking into the situation to assess the level of risk to the public and to determine whether the company was communicating appropriately with the public.

Chobani’s problems began last Friday, when unhappy yogurt-eaters began to complain, flooding the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages reporting foul smells, bloated containers, and gastrointestinal distress.

Some commented on the characteristically thick Greek yogurt’s “runny” consistency and said they would not buy Chobani again.

The company had asked some retailers last week to remove certain yogurt cups from store shelves but did not issue a formal recall.

Thursday’s recall was “a voluntary decision to remove any final products that might have been out there,” Juaristi said.

The private company said the problem had affected less than 5 percent of its production and that 95 percent of the tainted cups had been identified by Thursday morning. The mold was limited to yogurt cups produced at Chobani’s Idaho plant. The company also has a plant in New York and one in Australia.

Chobani said cups with the code 16-012 and expiration dates between 9/11/2013 and 10/7/2013 would be replaced.

Euromonitor, a sales tracking firm, ranks Chobani the second-best selling brand in the U.S. Greek-style yogurt market, after Yoplait. Chobani’s chief executive and founder is Hamdi Ulukaya.

Greek-style yogurt, which is thicker, creamier and often higher in protein than other types of yogurt, now makes up more than 40 percent of the U.S. yogurt market, Reuters has reported.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/chobani-recalls-moldy-yogurt-after-complaints-fda-probe/#ixzz2eC1qecVf

 


US teen use of e-cigarettes doubled, CDC reports

Twice as many U.S. middle and high school students used electronic cigarettes, which mimic traditional cigarettes and deliver nicotine as a vapor, in 2012 than a year earlier, and these teens could be on the way to a lifelong addiction, according to a government report released on Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 10 percent of high school students surveyed reported using e-cigarettes in 2012, up from 4.7 percent in 2011.

Some 2.7 percent of middle school students surveyed had used e-cigarettes in 2012, up from 1.4 percent in 2011.

Last year, nearly 1.8 million middle and high school students nationwide tried e-cigarettes, the report said.

“The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden. “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”

E-cigarettes are battery operated, reusable devices, designed to mimic the size and appearance of traditional cigarettes but deliver nicotine in vapor form instead of tobacco or other carcinogens.

Twelve states have laws preventing e-cigarette sales to minors – California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. New York banned e-cigarette smoking within 100 feet of an entrance to a public or private school.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans two years ago to regulate e-cigarettes but has not yet done so.

Lorillard Tobacco Company, which makes e-cigarettes, last year said on its website that it does not market the product specifically for teens. Its nicotine cartridges come in flavors such as cherry crush and vivid vanilla, which is promoted as tasting like ice cream.

A spokesperson for Lorillard did not respond to requests for comment.

The survey also found that 76.3 percent of students who used e-cigarettes in a 30-day period also smoked conventional cigarettes at the same time.

E-cigarettes have been promoted as an aid to stop smoking but both the CDC and FDA warn that there is no conclusive evidence the product aids in quitting smoking.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/

 


Whooping cough reaches epidemic level in Texas

People of all ages can get whooping cough, but infants have the greatest risk of contracting it

Whooping cough has reached epidemic proportions in Texas and could hit a 50-year high, a health official said on Thursday.

Nearly 2,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported in Texas this year. Two infants, who were too young to receive the whooping cough vaccine, have died, state officials said. The number of cases likely will surpass the recent high of 3,358 in 2009, according to the state health services department.

“We’re clearly having an epidemic,” said Dr. Carol Baker, the director of the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Dr. Lisa Cornelius, Texas infectious diseases medical officer, said: This is extremely concerning. Pertussis is highly infectious and can cause serious complications, especially in babies, so people should take it seriously.”

Pertussis or whooping cough is a bacterial infection that often begins with cold-like symptoms and a mild cough, followed a week or two later by severe coughing that can last for several weeks, health officials said.

It spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. People of all ages can get whooping cough, but infants have the greatest risk of contracting it, they said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an alert this week urging doctors to screen for whooping cough and encouraging residents to get vaccinated.

Last year, 49 states reported an increase in whooping cough cases, but most states have experienced declines so far this year, data shows. Researchers attribute the rise to a new type of pertussis vaccine, which is safer but less effective over the long run, and to a decline in the number of children being vaccinated.

Whooping cough vaccinations for infants can’t be completed until babies are four months old, Baker said.

Most children are vaccinated by the time they reach adolescence, Baker said. Vaccination is recommended during pregnancy to protect the mother and the newborn, she said.

Last year, more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Infants had the highest rate, followed by children ages 7 to 10.

In 2012, 49 states and the District of Columbia reported increases in cases compared to the prior year, the CDC said. Most had double or triple the rate of prior years.

So far in 2013, only 16 states are ahead of last year’s pace for whooping cough, the data showed. More than half are in the South.
The article originally appeared in fox news

 


Schools sending BMIs reports of students’ to parents

Many students already stress about the grades on their report cards, but now, some students are worrying about a whole new scholastic measurement: their body mass index (BMI).

Schools in 19 states have started to conduct annual weigh-ins for students that test for BMI, Medical Daily reported. Their measurements are then sent home to parents as reports, which note whether or not the child is considered overweight.

Kids have started calling the reports “fat letters.”

Many families and health experts have started pushing back against the reports, arguing they could damage children’s self-esteem.  However, others say the reports are the best way to know whether a child’s weight is healthy or unhealthy.

An individual’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight by the square of their height.  This figure is then compared to growth charts accounting for the person’s age and gender, in order to understand how they compare to the rest of their peers.  BMI is the primary measurement used to determine if a person is considered overweight and obese.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese.  These children are at increased risk for a variety of health issues, such as asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/fat-letters-schools-sending-reports-students-bmis-to-parents/#ixzz2eBaHRn7O

 


Arsenic levels in rice not dangerous in short term, FDA says

The samples cover most types of rice grain and rice-based foods and beverages consumed in the United States,” the agency said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that after testing 1,300 samples of rice and rice products, it has determined that the amount of detectable arsenic is too low to cause immediate or short-term negative health effects.

The next step, the agency said, will be to use new tools that provide greater specificity about different types of arsenic present in foods, to analyze the effect of long-term exposure to low levels of arsenic in rice.

The FDA’s review comes after Consumer Reports urged the government in 2012 to limit arsenic in rice after tests of more than 60 popular products – from Kellogg’s Rice Krispies to Gerber infant cereal – showed that most contained some level of inorganic arsenic, a known human carcinogen.

The consumer watchdog group said some varieties of brown rice – including brands sold by Whole Foods Markets Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc – contained particularly significant levels of inorganic arsenic.

In response to the FDA report, Urvashi Rangan, Consumer Reports’ director of consumer safety and sustainability, said the FDA’s interest in the subject was “great news” and that the agency’s findings mirrored its own findings.

“It doesn’t mean consumers need to throw out all the rice in their cabinets, but they should be aware that the problem is important,” she said.

The FDA said on Friday that the samples it tested came from various types of rice grains, including white, jasmine and basmati. They also included samples from rice products including infant cereals, pasta, grain-based bars, cookies, pastries and drinks such as beer, rice wine and rice water.

“Taken together, the samples cover most types of rice grain and rice-based foods and beverages consumed in the United States,” the agency said.

The average levels of inorganic arsenic – the most toxic kind – ranged from 2.6 to 7.2 micrograms per serving of rice grains. Instant rice came in at the low end of the range and brown rice at the high end.

In foods, arsenic may be present as inorganic arsenic or organic arsenic, the FDA said. Together they are referred to as total arsenic.

Among rice products the level of inorganic arsenic ranged from 0.1 to 6.6 micrograms per serving, with infant formula at the low end and rice pasta at the high end. The levels are not high enough to cause any short-term health effects, the agency said.

The average amount of inorganic arsenic among 99 samples of brown rice was 7.2 micrograms, with some samples originating in the United States running as high as 10 micrograms. The average amount in instant rice was 2.6 micrograms.

The FDA declined to name specific products among the samples it tested, saying that while the total number of samples was large enough to accurately measure average levels of arsenic, it was not large enough to evaluate specific brands.

Some companies source their rice from different locations, which may result in samples from the same brand having different levels of arsenic over time, the agency said. It will conduct a risk assessment to consider how much arsenic is consumed from rice products and whether there are variations in health effects for certain segments of the population.

Once complete, the assessment will help the agency determine whether further action is necessary, the FDA said. It is also conducting additional sampling to broaden its data on infant and toddler products.

In the meantime, the FDA recommends that consumers eat a well-balanced diet to minimize the potential negative effects of consuming too much of any one food. It said wheat, barley and oats are among the nutritious grains that consumers can eat to vary their diet.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/arsenic-levels-in-rice-not-dangerous-in-short-term-fda-says/#ixzz2eBWnYqBT

 


Countries with more wealth have higher Alzheimer’s risk

People living in wealthier countries with better access to clean water and good hygiene may have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, Medical News Today reported.

In a study published in the journal Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, researchers analyzed data from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report in 2009.

They noted that countries with better access to clean drinking water, lower rates of infectious disease and a greater percentage of the population residing in urban areas all had higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease, according to Medical News Today.

Researchers explained their findings using the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests that people who live in places with access to better hygiene have less exposure to certain germs. With no harmful bacteria to fight, people’s immune system’s develop insufficiently, putting them at a higher risk for autoimmune diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

“The ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests a relationship between cleaner environments and a higher risk of certain allergies and autoimmune diseases, is well-established,” lead study author Dr. Molly Fox, from the University of Cambridge, said. “We believe we can now add Alzheimer’s to this list of diseases.”

Currently, more than 50 percent of people with Alzheimer’s live in the developing world, and by 2025, this figure is expected to rise to more than 70 percent, according to Fox.

“An awareness of this by-product of increasing wealth and development could encourage the innovation of new strategies to protect vulnerable populations from Alzheimer’s,” Fox said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/countries-with-more-wealth-better-hygiene-have-higher-alzheimers-risk/#ixzz2eBSsKetK

 


Game consoles contain 5 times more germs than toilet seats

http://campredwood.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/video-game-consoles.jpgA new study has found that game consoles have five times more germs than toilet seats.

According to the study, the hand-held controllers contain on average 7,863 germs per 100 square centimeters – that`s five times more than a toilet seat which has 1,600, the Mirror reported.

Children`s toys, garden – trampolines, bikes and balls also have more bugs.

The trampoline is worst among household items, with 640,000 germs in every 100 square centimeters – an area about the size of a coaster.

Researchers swabbed everyday things around the home for bacteria including E.coli, APC and Enterobacteriaceae.

Chair and sofa arms harbour 19,200 germs per 100 square centimeters – 12 times the amount on a loo seat, says the study carried out by Domestos and UNICEF.

And fridge handles have 7,474 bacteria over the same measure


Gut bacteria ‘may be obesity weapon’

Obese man

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

Bacteria living in our guts seem to be affecting our waistlines and harnessing them could lead to new ways of shedding the pounds, US research suggests.

The human body is teeming with thousands of species of microbes that affect health.

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

The findings were published in Science.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri, took gut bacteria from pairs of twins – one obese, one thin.

The bacteria were then put into mice which had grown up in completely sterile environments and had no gut bacteria of their own.

Mice with the obese twin’s bacteria became heavier and put on more fat than mice given bacteria from a lean twin – and it was not down to the amount of food being eaten.

There were differences in the number and types of bacteria species from the lean and obese twin.

Overall it seemed those from a lean twin were better at breaking down fiber into short-chain fatty acids. It meant the body was taking up more energy from the gut, but the chemicals were preventing fatty tissue from building up and increased the amount of energy being burned.

One of the researchers, Prof Jeffrey Gordon, told the BBC’s Science in Action program: “We don’t dine alone, we dine with trillions of friends – we have to consider the microbes which live in our gut.”

However, the diet was also important for creating the right conditions for the lean twin’s bacteria to flourish. A bacterial obesity therapy seems unlikely to work alongside a a diet of greasy burgers.

Keeping both sets of mice in the same cage kept them both lean if they were fed a low-fat, high-fiber diet. Mice are coprophagic, meaning they eat each other’s droppings, and the lean twin’s bacteria were passed into the mice which started with bacteria that should have made them obese.

However, a high-fat, low-fiber diet meant the mice still piled on the pounds.

Human therapies

A human obesity treatment is unlikely to use transplants of thousands of species of bacteria from lean people’s guts as it carries the risk of also transferring infectious diseases.

Instead a search for the exact mix of bacteria which benefit weight – and the right foods to promote their growth – is more likely.

Prof Gordon said the next steps in the field would be “trying to figure out how general these effects are, what diet ingredients may promote their beneficial activities and to look forward to a time when food and the value of food is considered in light of the microbes that live in our gut – that foods will have to be designed from the inside out as well as from the outside in.”

Commenting on the research, Prof Julian Parkhill, from the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute, said he expected a future when manipulating bacteria was a part of obesity treatment.Gut bacteria

“There’s a lot of work to do, but this is proof of concept that bacteria in the gut can modulate obesity in adults, but it is diet-dependent,” he said.

He added that changing bacteria was a promising field for other diseases.

He told the BBC: “It’s an exciting new area, but I think we need to be careful in promoting it as a cure-all.

“It’s clear in specific areas – inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, Crohn’s – the microbiome is going to be important.”

 


Soil samples show Richard III suffered from roundworm

Richard III's skeleton as found in the grave

Soil from the pelvis area of Richard III’s skeleton had many roundworm eggs

Richard III suffered from a roundworm infection, a team says.

A soil sample from the region where his infected intestines would have been during life, revealed multiple roundworm eggs.

Richard III was the last Yorkist king of England, whose death at the age of 32 in the Battle of Bosworth effectively ended the Wars of the Roses

Prevalent both in medieval times and in tropical countries today, the roundworm parasite spreads from fecal contamination and can grow up to one foot long.

The work is published in the Lancet journal.

In addition to soil from the pelvis, scientists tested soil from other areas of the grave to see whether the eggs were equally distributed.

“What we found was plenty of roundworm eggs in the sacral soil, where his intestines would have been. There were no parasite eggs of any kind in the skull soil and only very low levels around the grave,” said Piers Mitchell, a medical consultant and researcher at Cambridge University.

“This shows that the significant number of eggs inside the soil must have genuinely been from his intestines and could not have been contamination from soil in the grave.”

Most soil from medieval times is likely to show some contamination as human waste was often discarded from windows onto the ground below.

Medieval farmers also used feces as a crop fertilizer which could also have quickly spread the unwelcome guest.

The eggs were identified by powerful microscopes after they had been separated from the soil using sieves. In the right conditions, the dead eggs can be preserved for hundreds of years due to the robust nature of their cell walls.

Roundworms infest the human digestive tract and use the body as a host to stay alive and reproduce. As they steal their host’s food, an infection could have resulted in malnutrition or death among people who had extremely poor diets.

Today it is thought a quarter of the population still suffer from roundworm, especially in tropical countries with poor sanitation.

Biological anthropologist Dr Piers Mitchell: “Roundworm is spread from faecal contamination of food”

The “king under the car park” was likely to have had an extremely nutritious diet so he may not have noticed many symptoms, apart from a dry cough.

Common parasites

Many medieval people would have suffered from other intestinal parasites present in meat and fish, but there was no evidence of these in the king’s remains.

This suggests that his chefs would have cooked his food very well explained Dr Mitchell.

“Parasites are killed by the thorough cooking of meat, so medieval chefs were perhaps more conscientious than you might otherwise have guessed.”

Jo Appleby, at the University of Leicester who helped uncover Richard III’s skeleton, said that roundworms were very common at the time.

It might seem surprising that Richard – who had a very noble background – was infected with roundworm, but this is something that you can pick up very easily through fecal contamination,” she told BBC News.Richard III graphic

Simon Brooker, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it was very plausible Richard III had roundworm. He explained that eggs in the pelvic abdominal regions had also been found in other historic sites.

“Where you’ve got a large number of worms combined with poor nutritional intake, the consequences can be quite severe.

“I expect Richard III’s exposure would have been low compared to the people he ruled over. It would have been somewhat of a nuisance rather than having had any severe consequences,” Prof Brooker told BBC News.

In February 2013 a team from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch’s family. Since then his distant relatives have been granted a review over the decision to bury his remains in Leicester.

Source: BBC News