Thursday, September 02, 2004
Being single a health hazard, says study
There’s some bad news for the Bridget Jones generation of 30-something single women (and their male counterparts). Being single is as bad for you as smoking - or worse.
News released this week from a research project which monitored the lifestyles of 10,000 adults across Britain over 10 years, revealed that men and women without a partner drink too much, skip meals, work too hard and lack the emotional stability enjoyed by those who get married. And they do not have an emotional confidant to share problems with.
Married couples, on the other hand, tend to have better diets and more comfortable homes. Children within a marriage are also thought to have a stabilising effect on the parents, whereas single people are likely to take more risks.
The researchers found that men who had never married or who were separated or divorced at the start of the research were 10 per cent more likely to die during the following eight years. Women who were single, separated or divorced at the start of the study had a 4.8 per cent greater risk of dying.
Professor Andrew Oswald, who led the research, said: "Marriage keeps you alive and the effect is remarkably large – about three extra years on average.�
There’s some bad news for the Bridget Jones generation of 30-something single women (and their male counterparts). Being single is as bad for you as smoking - or worse.
News released this week from a research project which monitored the lifestyles of 10,000 adults across Britain over 10 years, revealed that men and women without a partner drink too much, skip meals, work too hard and lack the emotional stability enjoyed by those who get married. And they do not have an emotional confidant to share problems with.
Married couples, on the other hand, tend to have better diets and more comfortable homes. Children within a marriage are also thought to have a stabilising effect on the parents, whereas single people are likely to take more risks.
The researchers found that men who had never married or who were separated or divorced at the start of the research were 10 per cent more likely to die during the following eight years. Women who were single, separated or divorced at the start of the study had a 4.8 per cent greater risk of dying.
Professor Andrew Oswald, who led the research, said: "Marriage keeps you alive and the effect is remarkably large – about three extra years on average.�
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Trade trumps multi-cultural tolerance
The NZ government is extremely elastic when it comes to applying its own principles.
We are constantly being exhorted to become a multi-cultural nation, and to exhibit tolerance of other cultures. However, this obviously does not apply when a trade deal is at stake.
Taiwanese minister Lin Yi-fu was to address a New Zealand-Taiwan Business Council seminar in Wellington next week, but seminar organisers today told NZPA it had been postponed after Mr Lin was refused an entry visa to New Zealand.
The government has given no reason for refusing Mr Lin a visa - however, it is pursuing at full-steam a new trade deal with China, and China doesn't like Taiwan. So guess where the pressure came from.
The NZ government is extremely elastic when it comes to applying its own principles.
We are constantly being exhorted to become a multi-cultural nation, and to exhibit tolerance of other cultures. However, this obviously does not apply when a trade deal is at stake.
Taiwanese minister Lin Yi-fu was to address a New Zealand-Taiwan Business Council seminar in Wellington next week, but seminar organisers today told NZPA it had been postponed after Mr Lin was refused an entry visa to New Zealand.
The government has given no reason for refusing Mr Lin a visa - however, it is pursuing at full-steam a new trade deal with China, and China doesn't like Taiwan. So guess where the pressure came from.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Concerns over artificial birth technologies
The latest figures from Denmark show that 5% of births, or one child in 20, are the result of in vitro fertilisation. (British Medical Journal, 15 July).
Meanwhile, an Australian study has found that children conceived by IVF are nine times as likely to have a rare genetic disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, as naturally-conceived children. (New Scientist, 11 August). In an article published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne say that the natural incidence of BWS is 1 in 36,000 births, but for IVF children it is 1 in 4,000. The Australian study confirms other research published last year.
Although the condition is quite uncommon, doctors are asking what feature of IVF causes the defects. One possibility is that IVF itself is to blame. Another is that growing embryos in a culture medium can lead to imprinting errors. This is worrying as IVF clinics are trying to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies by implanting only a single embryo which has grown in a culture medium for a few days. Yet another reason is growing evidence that the eggs and sperm of people with infertility problems are more likely to have genetic disorders.
The latest figures from Denmark show that 5% of births, or one child in 20, are the result of in vitro fertilisation. (British Medical Journal, 15 July).
Meanwhile, an Australian study has found that children conceived by IVF are nine times as likely to have a rare genetic disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, as naturally-conceived children. (New Scientist, 11 August). In an article published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne say that the natural incidence of BWS is 1 in 36,000 births, but for IVF children it is 1 in 4,000. The Australian study confirms other research published last year.
Although the condition is quite uncommon, doctors are asking what feature of IVF causes the defects. One possibility is that IVF itself is to blame. Another is that growing embryos in a culture medium can lead to imprinting errors. This is worrying as IVF clinics are trying to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies by implanting only a single embryo which has grown in a culture medium for a few days. Yet another reason is growing evidence that the eggs and sperm of people with infertility problems are more likely to have genetic disorders.
Now there's an art critic I can agree with!
A cleaner at London's Tate Britain modern art gallery threw out a bag of garbage which formed part of an artwork because it was thought to be trash.
The transparent bag of garbage, full of newspaper, cardboard and other bits of paper, formed part of a work by German-born artist Gustav Metzger called "Recreation Of First Public Demonstration Of Auto-Destructive Art".
It was on display next to a sheet of nylon that had been spattered with acid, and a metal sculpture on a table when a cleaner tossed it out with the other trash.
A cleaner at London's Tate Britain modern art gallery threw out a bag of garbage which formed part of an artwork because it was thought to be trash.
The transparent bag of garbage, full of newspaper, cardboard and other bits of paper, formed part of a work by German-born artist Gustav Metzger called "Recreation Of First Public Demonstration Of Auto-Destructive Art".
It was on display next to a sheet of nylon that had been spattered with acid, and a metal sculpture on a table when a cleaner tossed it out with the other trash.
