Features

Negative childhood experiences in physical education (PE) classes may have long-term effects on adult physical activity, a large study suggests. 

Researchers conducted an online survey of more than 1,000 adults, aged 18 to 45, across 46 states about their best and worst memories of their PE experiences, as well as their attitude about physical activity now. The 392 male and 636 female respondents were recruited by an internet service for monetary compensation. 

“Memories of enjoyment of PE... were the most substantial correlates of present-day attitudes and intentions for physical activity,” the investigators report in the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 

For example, they found, rarely being chosen first for team sports in gym class was “strongly related to the amount of time spent sitting on weekdays and on the weekend” in adulthood. 

Thirty-four per cent of respondents reported feeling embarrassed by their childhood PE experience.

The next most frequent “worst memory” theme was lack of enjoyment in PE activities, reported by 18 per cent. 

People’s best memories of PE class included receiving positive recognition from peers or teachers regarding their performance. 

“The most surprising thing about our research was the vividness of [memories and the] emotional impact. This tells us these were transformative experiences,” senior author Panteleimon Ekkekakis of Iowa State University in Ames told Reuters Health by phone. 

People’s gym class memories “had some degree of influence on their self-perception and... the degree of their sedentariness,” said Ekkekakis. 

However, he stressed, the association was only “modest at best”.

“We’re not saying the experiences are deterministic and that one negative experience is going to determine a person’s physical activity level for the rest of their life,” he said. 

Christopher Hersl, vice president of programmes and professional development at the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America), who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health by phone, “Our number one goal is to turn out children that are healthy, happy and productive. If our instructional practices are causing any of these things not to happen then we need to reconsider our practices.” 

Carolyn Buenaflor, associate director of Cedars Sinai Healthy Habits, a community benefit programme that partners with school districts within Los Angeles to provide nutrition education and physical activity programmes, told Reuters Health by phone that children today might not have the same PE experiences as their parents did. 

Buenaflor said many of the elimination games children and adolescents used to play in gym class have been replaced with non-elimination games. PE classes also play more group games than sports games where one student at a time shone or did not. 

“Getting in front of the class and kicking the ball is not the best thing to foster enjoyment and physical exercise,” said Buenaflor, who was not involved in the research, 

People’s recollections of past experiences may not be accurate, the authors acknowledge. And this kind of study cannot prove that early experiences affected later attitudes. 

Still, they point out, “if improvements in PE experiences could inspire even small increases in [physical activity], millions could derive additional health benefits”. 

It seems clear, they conclude, “that decades-old arguments concerning the focus on sport in PE programmes and… fitness testing should be revisited. [With further research] it may be possible to transform PE into a professional field that closely adheres to the [evidence and]... that welcomes psychological best practices for the benefit of children and public health”.

On the day that one becomes an octogenarian, nature bestows a mathematical birthday gift: a gradual reprieve from the relentlessly increasing likelihood that he or she will die in the coming year.

That gift may come as small comfort against the growing creakiness of joints and the still-mounting probability that the end is nigh. But an analysis of close to 4,000 very long-lived Italians suggests that the rise in the risk of imminent death continues to slow until the age of 105. After that, researchers estimate, the chance of making it to see another birthday holds steady at roughly 50-50.

Perhaps it is “nothing to blow a trumpet about”, said University of California, Berkeley demographer Kenneth Wachter. But at least the mortality rate levels off, the data suggest.

Wachter and colleagues from universities in Italy and Germany published their findings in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.

For humankind in general, these findings hint at an intriguing, if largely theoretical, prospect: that the maximum possible human lifespan — essentially, the species’ design limit — has not yet been reached. It may even be extended by means as yet undiscovered.

If the “oldest old” tell us how long we could live, then many centenarians could, in principle, get even older. And maybe older still with the right elixir.

“This data suggest our genetic heritage is permissive,” Wachter said. “Our bodies are not put together so that at some point, everything goes wrong.”

Indeed, he said, there is reason to believe that some humans could beat the current longevity record of 122, which was set in 1997 by Jeanne Louise Calment of France.

The new research contributes to a debate that has preoccupied poets and philosophers for as long as they have set pen to paper. For instance, the historian Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, maintained a running tally of long-lived persons and pondered the significance of their longevity.

Scientists have been in the fray since at least 1825. That’s when the British mathematician and actuary Benjamin Gompertz published the first models of human mortality and asked when, and whether, we must die.

In the new study, the international team of demographers and statisticians took advantage of the proliferation of people who live well past their 100th birthday. By calculating and analysing the death rates of 3,836 well-documented cases of Italians who lived to 105 or beyond and combining them with existing data on mortality rates, the researchers created a model that reveals the statistical likelihood of death in every year of the human lifespan from 65 to 105.

Established demographic data show that after 65, people grow more likely to die with every passing year. And the math is unforgiving: Each year after 65, the probability of death rises at a pace that is double what it was the previous year.

But when the researchers added the 3,836 long-lived Italians to the earlier data, they saw that this doubling held up only until the average human’s 80th birthday. After that, the rate of increase began to slow.

For the lucky humans who made it all the way out to 105, that annual increase in the probability of death seemed to stop. 

The authors also showed that the annual mortality rate in those aged over 105 declined slightly with each successive birth year, such that those born more recently tended to live longer.

This pattern “strongly suggests that longevity is continuing to increase over time and that a limit, if any, has not been reached”, wrote the team, which included demographer James W. Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany.

“Our results contribute to a recently rekindled debate about the existence of a fixed maximum life span for humans,” they added. In any event, it raises “doubt that any limit is as yet in view”.

To University of Illinois epidemiologist S. Jay Olshansky, the evidence for the counter-argument — that there is a strict limit to the maximum human lifespan and we have reached it already — is right there in the new Italian data.

“The conclusion that they’ve come to, which is that there is no upper limit to life, is unreasonable,” said Olshansky, who was not involved in the new research.

By the time people reach these extreme ages, at least half disappear every year. And since there are so few of them to begin with, this harsh reality “tells us the real story”, he said.

“If 100 people survive to age 110 out of billions — which is exactly what has happened — what difference does it make if it’s 50 or 60 that die before their next birthday?” he said. It is just not persuasive to use such a small difference, drawn from such a tiny population of humans, to conclude anything about the longevity of humans in general. Statistically speaking, he said, “the tail of the survival distribution does not wag the dog.”

This should be abundantly clear to anyone who has ever been around senior citizens, he noted. “Human bodies are not intended for long-term use, and when we do manage to get them to operate past a century, plenty of age-related diseases accumulate,” Olshansky said.

Geneticist Jan Vijg of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York believes he has seen the limit of the human lifespan, and said it ceased its upward trajectory in the 1990s with the death of Calment. (The Frenchwoman ascribed her longevity to the fact that she didn’t worry much and had a diet rich in olive oil, port wine and chocolate, which she consumed at a rate of more than 1 kilogramme a week.)

For a study published in 2016 in the journal Nature, Vijg and his colleagues calculated that if scientists could cobble together 10,000 people who had reached the age of 110 — a big if — only one of them would be expected to live beyond 125.

Vijg, who was not involved in the new study, praised the authors’ ability to generate a new and well-documented database of very long-lived individuals. But “their data does not substantiate the claim” that the maximum limit to human lifespan goes out much further than it has already, he said.

“There is a ceiling. At the end of the day there is a ceiling,” says Vijg.

Vijg says he is “amazed” at the vigour of the scientific debate around an issue that is so distant from the reality of ordinary mortals. The outer limit of the human lifespan is an “intriguing scientific debate”, he said. But improving the average lifespan of all humans — by extending gains in nutrition, creating new medicines and addressing the causes of infectious diseases — is a better way to spend one’s energy, he adds.

“There is lots of opportunity here, no doubt,” Vijg said. “We can improve quality of life more and maybe give more people more life.”

What do the new numbers tell us about life and death at the outer limits of the human lifespan?

Think of aging as if it is a treadmill: You’re power-walking along in your early 60s, and around the time of your 65th birthday, the pace at which the treads move under your feet starts to pick up.

With each passing year, the speed grows. In fact, the rate of this change doubles every year.

Fail to keep up and you die.

Around the time of your 80th birthday, the rate of this increase begins to slow. You’re still more likely to die with each passing year than you were the year before, but your treadmill isn’t speeding up quite as much.

And by the time you reach the age of 105 — surprise! — the yearly quickening ceases altogether.

Now imagine yourself in a gym filled with treadmills, each occupied by people of different ages. The 105-year-olds are running faster than everyone who is younger. And they are falling off their treadmills — dying — at a much higher rate than are the 70-year-olds. Indeed, only about half of them make it to 106.

But if they do, they get a little break: Their treadmills are still the fastest in the gym, but at least they’re not getting any faster.

In a state of veritable design and technology renaissance in recent years, Volvo has always been one of most trusted and respected of car brands. Known for its rugged reliability, utilitarian practicality, innovative technology and obsessive attitude to safety, Volvo has only recently started to cultivate an emphasis on design and desirability.

Launched in 2016 as the second of a new generation of automobiles, the Volvo S90 is the Swedish brand’s flagship saloon, and is a complete mid-size premium car that finally has the sort of design and luxury necessary to take the segment’s German heavy hitters head on.

Presence and posture

Driven on Jordanian roads in most luxurious trim available for regular wheelbase models and the most powerful non-hybrid engine, the Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription delivers a relaxed, effortless big car driving experience. Long, wide and with flowingly rakish roofline, the S90 sits on the road with a classic rear-drive saloon’s posture and long bonnet, despite its front-drive derived four-wheel-drive architecture.

Oozing refinement from outside and within, the S90 Inscription’s badge, design and attitude is that of a classy and tastefully assertive luxury cruiser without the overtly aggressive aesthetic and obnoxious snobbery of some, and not the forgettable anonymity of others.

With flowing lines and long, wide and road-hugging stance, the S90’s fascia is dominated by a wide, upright and chrome-ringed grille with hungry shark-like convex vertical slats and big, bold Volvo insignia above a short overhang. Flanking its charismatic grille, are slim, strongly browed headlights with distinctive ‘Thor’s Hammer” LED signature to underline its Scandinavian provenance. 

With longer rear overhang, the S90’s width is accentuated by boomerang style rear headlights framing the rear fascia. Among few cars to look more sophisticated in white, the driven model also featured huge 20-inch alloy wheels to complement its near 5-metre length.

Responsive, capable and consistent

Powered exclusively by a range of turbocharged 2-litre 4-cylinder engines tuned and equipped for different outputs, the most powerful pure combustion engine S90 T6 model gains a supercharger and 65BHP on the next most powerful T5 model.

Developing 315BHP at 5,700rpm 295lb/ft torque over a wide and accessible 2,200-5,400rpm band, the T6 — with the aid of standard four-wheel-drive — also shaves a full second off the T5’s 0-100km/h times, and is able to accelerate through the benchmark in 5.8-seconds and onto a 250km/h top speed. Meanwhile, 7.3 litres/100km fuel efficiency is frugal for so powerful a luxury saloon of 1,892kg.

However, more important than headline specifications is how the T6 drives in both outright performance and modest real world consumption when driven gently. Noticeably quicker launching than the T5 model and plenty of competitors, the T6’s four-wheel-drive traction allows it to put power to ground more effectively.

Meanwhile, its mechanically-driven supercharger provides the sort of instant lag-free response from idling engine speed that even the better turbochargers can’t. Delivering power in a consistent, and abundant sweep from standstill to redline, one can feel a further underlying surge just past 2,000rpm as the T6’s turbocharger chimes in at full boost.

Grip and versatility

Responsive from standstill, muscularly flexible in mid-range and eager to redline, the T6 also benefits from a smooth and quick shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox for efficiency and driving versatility. Sending power mainly to the front wheels under normal conditions, the T6’s four-wheel-drive system allocates more power rearwards for improved road-holding on slippery surfaces and in wet weather. 

On the same twisting, winding test drive route as the S90 T5 front-wheel-drive version, as available in Jordan, the S90 T6 AWD proved more capable and better able to carry speed through corners on the less than ideal, smooth, low traction tarmac.

With good grip on the tarmac, the T6 AWD, however, didn’t have to rely on gentler driving to avoid slight rear drifts that would have been caught and controlled quickly by its vigilant electronic stability controls. Instead, the T6 favoured a similar driving style one would adopt with a traditional Audi or Subaru four-wheel-drive platform. 

By turning in somewhat early, decisively and tight to the inside of a corner to point it in the desired cornering line, and then coming back on throttle early, the T6 sends power rearwards and digs in to find plenty of traction and grip as it then powers out onto a straight.

Stylish, smooth and smart

Through corners, its steering is well-weighted, quick and precise, with a slightly meatier feel in Dynamic drive mode. Turn-in is tidy and eager for so large a front-derived car, while body roll is well contained. Riding on sophisticated double wishbone front and integral axle rear suspension, the S90 rides comfortably over most of Amman’s imperfect tarmac and textures, even with stylish low profile 255/35R20. 

However, one felt that these tyres could be firmer than ideal on some particularly sudden potholes and that the S90 would ride yet better with base Inscription specification 18-inch wheels with taller tyre sidewalls for improved suppleness.

Stable and highly refined at speed, the S90 T6 is a natural long distance express with a smooth, comfortable and reassuring ride. Quiet and relaxing inside, the S90’s cabin has a hunkered down driving position and high stylish leather dashboard. Ambiance is however airy and classy with dark upper trim contrasted with light open pore wood and tan seats as tested.

Seating is meanwhile supportive and comfortable, and further helps keep one feeling relaxed and civil even through the worst of traffic jams. An object lesson in cabin design, ambiance and material, the S90 Inscription oozes class and elegance.

Kitted with an exhaustive list of convenience, luxury and safety features, the S90 Inscription includes adaptive cruise control, City Safety auto braking and a host of other advance driver-assistance systems.

Of particular interest during test drive were the S90’s user-friendly infotainment screen and its blind spot warning system, which was invaluable in dense and unruly Amman traffic. Meanwhile, its 360° parking camera allowed one to manoeuvre and park in spaces otherwise improbably small for so large a car.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 82 x 93.2mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection, variable valve timing

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 5.25:1; 2nd 3.029:1; 3rd 1.95:1; 4th 1.457:1; 5th 1.221:1; 6th 1.0:1; 7th 0.809:1; 8th 0.673:1

Reverse/final drive ratios: 4.015:1/3.2:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 315 (320) [235] @5700rpm

Specific power: 160.2BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 166.75BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 295 (400) @2200-5400rpm

Specific torque: 203.15Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 211.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 5.8-seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.3 litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 169g/km

Fuel capacity: 60-litres

Length: 4,963mm

Wheelbase: 2,941mm

Track, F/R: 1,623/1,624mm

Overhangs, F/R: 873/1,149mm

Ground clearance: 152mm

Luggage volume: 500-litres

Unladen weight: 1,892kg

Steering: Speed sensitive electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.4-metres

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/integral axle

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 345mm 320mm

Braking distance, 100-0km/h: 35-metres

Tyres: 255/35R20 (optional)

Price, on the road: JD66,000 (as driven)

By the Royal Health Awareness Society

While it may be easier to pass a United Nations resolution than to pass spinach onto a child’s dinner plate, this and other food-related conflicts are worth the negotiations that take place during mealtime.

In Jordan, parents and healthcare providers have their work cut out for them. Almost a third of Jordanian school-aged children suffer from iron deficiencies and almost a quarter suffer from stunted growth. Stunted growth is only one of many effects that result from iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can also cause a child to have a lower immunity to diseases, to experience constant fatigue or a feeling of tiredness and may even result in worsened academic performance at school. Iron deficiency has dire consequences on a child’s health due to the fact that it has a central role in the production of healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells are the body’s oxygen carrier and transporter and are essentially the reason why cells are alive. 

While paleness is commonly known to be the hallmark of iron deficiency anaemia, there are many other symptoms, including headaches, repeated infections and heart palpitations. If the condition is not resolved, a child may suffer from irreversibly impaired learning and social abilities.

Iron deficiency anaemia can be prevented in children by supplying iron through a healthy diet. Consider if you’re providing your child with iron rich food items, such as: 

• Red meat

• Chicken

• Eggs

• Lentils

• Chickpeas

• Spinach

Adding vitamin C to plant-based iron sources helps enhance the absorption of iron in the body. You can add lemon or orange juice along with the meal, or add minced meat to spinach or serve tomatoes along with eggs.

The role of parents in preparing meals, providing continuous guidance and inspiration and being armed with accurate and updated information can make the world of difference between a happy and healthy child and a malnourished one.

Doctors recommend infants be tested for iron deficiency between the ages of 9 — 12 months because the earlier you know about it and treat it, the less the effect on stunting the growth of your child.

The train of dreams

The Royal Health Awareness Society aims to spread awareness among parents about the dangers of anaemia in children and how to prevent it. 

Sessions are conducted in community clinics, where parents learn about safeguarding their children’s health. For Sumayya, it is being anaemic herself that prompted her to join the sessions: “I wanted to learn how to help myself and help prevent my children from getting it.” Sumayya’s family always drank tea with their meals, but now she knows that drinking tea or coffee can stop her body from absorbing iron. 

Another surprising tip that Sajeda picked up is that “you can get more iron from spinach by squeezing lemon on it”. 

Not only does “don’t have too much calcium” not make sense, but I question this fact about eggs and calcium. 

“The RHAS nutritionist told us about something called the train of dreams,” points out Ilham. “It’s what we dream for our children and how their health can make or break our dreams for them.” 

This really got Ilham thinking about how the little things she does every day, like providing her children with healthy meals, affects their future. 

Participating parents took a pledge together to feed their families healthy food. 

“I got very emotional,” Ilham reveals. “I just want to go home and make them one of the healthy meals I learned about!”

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

Smartphone apps that remind heart patients to take their pills could help them stick to prescribed regimens, an Australian study suggests. 

Heart patients often take up to four medications a day, three times a day, and that can be overwhelming, said Karla Santo. 

“Our results are really encouraging, especially because the apps that we used were already freely available in the app stores and were already being used by millions of people,” Santo told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

As reported in the journal Heart, Santo and colleagues at the University of Sydney in New South Wales randomly divided 150 volunteers with coronary heart disease into three groups. One group used a basic medication reminder app, a second used an advanced app with customisable features, and a third group was not given an app. 

Before the study, none of the participants had used apps to remind them to take their pills. 

The apps were chosen for the experiment based on an earlier study by the same researchers in which they ranked medication reminder apps available in Australia for iOS and Android devices. 

The top-scoring free basic app was My Heart, My Life (from the Heart Foundation of Australia), and the top-scoring free advanced app was Medisafe, which is available in the US and the UK. 

Three months later, patients in each group took a questionnaire designed to assess medication adherence. Scores showed that app-users stuck more closely to their pill regimens than patients who weren’t using a reminder app. 

The average difference between app-users and non-users was small, however — only 0.47 points on an 8-point scale. That may have been because participants generally had medium or high medication adherence to start with, the researchers suggest. 

“Low-adherence” — meaning people largely did not comply with their schedule — was more common without apps (29 per cent, versus 19 per cent among app users). 

App users did not seem to get extra benefit from advanced features, such as the ability to snooze reminders, track doses, provide adherence statistics and alert a friend or family member to missed doses. 

Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death globally, according to the World Health Organization, and researchers note about 40 per cent of cardiovascular patients worldwide do not abide by their medication schedule. 

“The best way to keep track of medications is to use the tool you have within reach, and more often than ever, that involves an app,” said Karandeep Singh, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who was not involved in the study. 

Singh, who researches mobile health apps, called the study design “encouraging”. He said a lack of rigorous research has slowed the uptake of apps into guidelines and clinical practice. 

Indeed, Santo’s team writes, while there are thousands of health apps available, there is minimal evidence of their effectiveness in improving health or medication adherence. Regarding the current study, they admit their data only reflects a three-month period and longer-term follow up is needed. 

Still, Santo thinks more patients could benefit from reminder apps. 

“I think these apps would be useful for any patient that is required to take long-term medications such as patients with chronic diseases like diabetes, respiratory disease and HIV/AIDS,” she said. 

“We could recommend to physicians to start a conversation with their patients about how well they are taking their medications and probably suggest the use of a medication reminder app,” she added. 

TAMPA — Researchers have found a new way that global warming is bad for the planet: more hungry bugs. 

Rising temperatures will stimulate insects’ appetites — and make some prone to reproducing more quickly — spelling danger for key staples like wheat, corn and rice which feed billions of people, researchers said on Thursday.

And since these three crops account for 42 per cent of the calories people eat worldwide, any uptick in scarcity could give rise to food insecurity and conflict, particularly in poorer parts of the globe.

“When it gets warmer, pest metabolism increases,” said Scott Merrill, a researcher at the University of Vermont and co-author of the study in the journal Science.

“And when pest metabolism increases, insect pests eat more food, which is not good for crops.”

Prior studies have already warned of climate change’s harmful effects on food staples, whether by making water scarce for irrigation or sapping nutritious content from cereal grains.

The latest study adds to that body of research by focusing on the boosted appetites of pests like aphids and borers.

To find out just how bad it could get, researchers ran simulations to track temperature-driven changes in metabolism and growth rates for 38 insect species from different latitudes. 

Results varied by region, with cooler zones more likely to see a boost in voracious pests, and tropical areas expected to see some relief.

Overall, “global yield losses of these grains are projected to increase by 10 to 25 per cent per degree of global mean surface warming,” said the report.

“In France or the northern United States, most of those insects will have a faster population growth if the temperature warms up a bit,” lead author Curtis Deutsch told AFP.

“In Brazil or Vietnam or a very warm place, then it might be the opposite,” said Deutsch, a researcher at the University of Washington.

France stands to lose about 9.4 per cent of its maize to pests in a world that is 2ºC warmer, compared to about 6.6 per cent of yield losses today due to pests.

In Europe, currently the most productive wheat producing region in the world, annual pest-induced yield losses could reach 16 million tonnes.

Eleven European countries are predicted to see 75 per cent or higher losses in wheat from pests, compared to current pest damage.

In the United States, the world’s largest maize producer, insect-induced maize losses could rise 40 per cent under current climate warming trajectories, meaning 20 fewer tonnes of maize per year.

China, home to one-third of the world’s rice production, could see losses of 27 million tonnes annually.

The study did not account for any anticipated increase in pesticide use, or other methods of stemming the expected crop loss.

‘Insane’ aphid population

Consider the case of a particularly dangerous pest, the Russian wheat aphid.

Though tiny, these bugs are a major threat in North America, where they are considered an invasive species after first being detected in the 1980s.

Merrill said no aphid males have been found in Canada or the United States. The females, it seems, are reproducing clonally, essentially “giving birth to live clones of themselves,” he told AFP.

“These insects are born alive. They are born pregnant. Not only that, their granddaughters are developing inside them when they are born. It is crazy,” he added.

“They can reproduce under ideal temperatures very quickly,” on the order of eight daughters a day.

“You can imagine how quickly a very small population, even one aphid, can just explode over a whole field season. One or two aphids could turn into a trillion under ideal conditions. It is insane how quickly these populations could grow.”

Until now, most research on crop effects from global warming has focused on the plants themselves.

But researchers hope their findings will spark a hunt for more local solutions, like selecting heat and pest resistant crops and rotating plantings rather than simply dumping more pesticides into the environment.

“We have to start thinking about how are we going to short-circuit some of those things before they actually happen,” Merrill said.

Moderate consumption of sodium may not affect the risk for cardiovascular problems in people without heart disease, a 21-country study suggests. 

Researchers tracked nearly 96,000 adults without heart disease for an average of eight years. Even when people consumed more than double the recommended limit of two grams of sodium per day, they did not have a higher risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke or death. 

The exception was in China. There, in 80 per cent of communities, the average sodium intake was nearly three times the two-gramme limit. Consuming that much was linked to a small increased stroke risk, the study team reports in The Lancet. 

“In the study of 255 communities around the world on five continents, we found that sodium is not associated with major cardiovascular disease or mortality. In fact, there’s an inverse association with all-cause mortality, so higher sodium [was] related to lower mortality,” lead author Andrew Mente of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said in a phone interview. 

The positive link between sodium and stroke was seen only at very high levels of sodium, above five grams per day, Mente said. 

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1.5 grams of sodium per day for people at risk for heart disease. To prevent heart disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a limit of two grammes of sodium daily, which is the amount in roughly one teaspoon of salt. 

Mente’s team analysed data on adults ages 35 to 70 in high-, middle- and low-income countries. 

In 80 per cent of countries, half of the people consumed an average three grammes to five grammes of sodium per day. But only at the highest end of that range was each additional gram of sodium linked to an increase in systolic blood pressure of three millimetres of mercury (mm/Hg). (Systolic pressure, the “top” number, reflects pressure in blood vessels when the heart beats.) 

Sodium intake was associated with major cardiovascular events only in communities where half of the people consumed at least 5.75mg per day. But even here, the association was not statistically significant, meaning the results could have been due to chance. 

“Outside China, most [communities] fall in that three-to-five gramme per day range,” Mente said. “In that moderate range, we find no relationship between sodium and any clinical outcome or mortality.” 

“Certainly, we need to target communities like in China who are at very high levels of sodium [but in] most other parts of the world, most of whom are already at moderate levels, lowering their sodium further [would not benefit them] and in fact may even result in harm,” Mente said. 

It is better to focus on improving diet quality rather than focusing on a single nutrient like sodium, he noted.

The study team did find that in all countries, the risk of cardiovascular events decreased as potassium intake increased. 

Potassium-rich foods include fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, potatoes and dairy products, Mente said.

Two events, that are completely separate but that share a common trait yet, came just a few days ago as a reminder of the strong and global impact of computer and video games.

The first is the Gamescom giant gaming trade fair that takes place in Cologne, Germany, and the second is the tragic shooting at the video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida in the USA.

The first, also called “The Heart of Gaming”, is a confirmation and a rather positive illustration of the importance of the subject, whereas the second is a sad, dramatic example of what extreme addiction — of any kind — can lead to.

Gamescom first edition was in 2009. It is the world’s largest gaming event. The tournament in Jacksonville may have been about “good and fair sportsmanship”, but it was enough to have one player gone mad to see the event end up in a tragedy.

The fact is that the world of computer or video gaming is a strange one. There is a large gap between those who have little to do with it, who hardly play any such game, and those who are addicted to it. As far as numbers are concerned, the latter group luckily remains a minority, although the phenomenon is widely publicised in the media.

The extraordinary technical progress accomplished by the industry in the last ten years or so in terms of machines processing speed, advanced 3D graphics, fast frame rate, very responsive controls, augmented reality, and virtual reality, it has all made gaming more exciting, closer to reality, if not exceeding it, and consequently more addictive in some cases. Fast Internet connectivity that allows more realistic and thrilling online challenges between remote players has significantly increased the risk of addiction. With virtually no time lag at all when connected to the network, players now find it more interesting than ever to play online.

Those who do not play computer games have no idea of the degree of realism software and hardware have reached, of the intensity of attraction they have, especially on the young. Just try Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro for one hour or two, to name only this one example of platform, and you will understand and realise the fascination that gaming exerts. Add to that the online factor where players challenge each other from a distance, and the amounts that are involved in games played for money (not a minor point…), and you will have an idea of the far reaching extent of the phenomenon.

Another illustration of the importance of the subject is the laptop computers models that are manufactured with very high technical specifications. To show the power of these machines, to impress buyers, their makers call them gaming laptops — it is self-explanatory.

Of course, you do not have necessarily to play computer games if you buy such beautiful computers, but the qualifier says it all: sheer power in terms of speed, advanced 3D visuals, and 4K ultra high-resolution graphics. Dells’ Alienware series is such a fine example of high-end computers.

The importance of the whole concept is such that Alienware is a trade name by itself, owned by Dell. It is in a way the luxury brand of the company, like Lexus is for Toyota or Infiniti for Nissan, in the automotive world. Prices are a match for the performance and usually start at $1,500 for basic units, reaching two or even three fold this amount for the most expensive top-of-the-line models.

Regardless of the risk of addiction, computer and video gaming remains a fascinating aspect of computer and audio-visual technology and of the entertainment world. It is in a way a by-product of the bigger driving and flight simulators, and of training simulators of all kinds in general, and that are put to good use every day in countless fields.

Adults with mood disorders like anxiety and depression may be more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than people without mental illness, a new study suggests. 

Researchers enrolled 221,677 people age 45 and older without any history of heart attack or stroke and tracked them for an average of nearly five years. 

More than 90 per cent of participants were ages 45 to 79. In this age group, compared to men without mental health issues at the start, men with moderate psychological distress were 28 per cent more likely to have a heart attack during the study and 20 per cent more likely to have a stroke. Men in this age group with high levels of distress were 60 per cent more likely to have a heart attack and 44 per cent more likely to have a stroke. 

Women ages 45 to 79 with moderate psychological problems were 12 per cent more likely to have a heart attack and 28 per cent more likely to have a stroke than women without any mental distress. Women with high psychological distress were 24 per cent more likely to have a heart attack and 68 per cent more likely to have a stroke. 

 “The stronger association between psychological distress and heart attack in men compared to women could be due to women being more likely than men to seek primary care for mental and physical health problems, thus partly negating the possible physical effects of mental health problems,” said lead study author Caroline Jackson of the University of Edinburgh in the UK. 

“Alternatively, it could reflect the known hormonal protection against heart disease in women since the study population included a large number of younger women,” Jackson said by e-mail. “We did however find a strong association between psychological distress and stroke in women, perhaps suggesting different mechanisms exist between psychological distress and different types of cardiovascular disease in women.” 

Overall, the study participants suffered 4,573 heart attacks and 2,421 strokes. 

The study was not designed to prove whether or how depression or anxiety might directly cause heart attacks or strokes, researchers note in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality Outcomes. 

Another limitation is that researchers assessed psychological factors at a single point in time, making it impossible to know if worsening cardiovascular health contributed to mood disorders or if mental illness caused heart problems. 

However, it is possible that lifestyle factors like poor eating and exercise habits, smoking, or inactivity might independently influence both the risk of mental health problems and heart issues, the study authors note. 

“It is also possible that symptoms of depression or anxiety directly affect the body’s physiology through mechanisms such as hormonal pathways, inflammatory processes in arteries and increased risk of blood clotting,” Jackson said. “It is vital that further research seeks to identify the underlying mechanisms so that we can better understand the link between mental health and subsequent physical health and inform intervention strategies.” 

Researchers assessed psychological distress using a standard set of questions designed to reveal symptoms of mood disorders. The questions asked, for example, how often people felt tired for no reason, how often they felt restless or fidgety, and how frequently they felt so sad that nothing could cheer them up. 

Overall, about 16 per cent of the study participants had moderate psychological distress and roughly 7 per cent had high or very high levels of mental distress.

There is hardly anything concerning Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul that has not been written about in the last few days, following his demise on August 11. His books, travelogues, literary awards, knighthood, Nobel Prize, as well as his temperament, sharp wit, punctuality and wives; every aspect was covered in lucid detail. 

It was also reported, in different media outlets, that he courted controversy and loved his cat Augustus, who he believed would outlive him but unfortunately, died suddenly in October 2011. 

“Everything of value about me is in my books,” Sir Vidia conceded in his Nobel Lecture, at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, in 2001. “I will go further now and I will say I am a sum total of my books. Each book intuitively sensed and in the case of fiction, intuitively worked out, stands on what has gone before and grows out of it. I feel that at any stage of my literary career it could have been said that the last book contained all the others,” he explained. 

In other words, the best way to know Sir V was through his books and what a wonderful treasure trove they were. If “Miguel Street” and “The Mystic Masseur” were laced with comedy but were sad at the same time, “A House for Mr Biswas” was a novel that was inspired by the life of his own father and remains, to this day, his most brilliant work. He wrote 30 books in a span of six decades and shifted between fiction and non-fiction while exploring the legacy of colonialism. 

A chance encounter with Lady Nadira at a literary festival, a decade or so earlier, led to a deep friendship between Sir V’s wife and me. I had dropped something on my foot and exclaimed in Punjabi, my mother tongue, which she overheard. In the next instance she responded to me, in fluent Punjabi! We burst out laughing at the absurdity of an Indian and a Pakistani talking in a common alien language, amidst the English speakers.

Nadira dragged me to their table and introduced me to Sir V who promptly wanted to know what the meaning of my name was. He pronounced it differently, enunciating the last few consonants slowly. In his deep Oxbridge accent, my name sounded more exotic than it was.

I was painfully shy in Sir V’s presence. A great many questions swirled in my head, but I could somehow never articulate them. His sharp observant gaze missed nothing. Requesting him to attend my book launch three years ago, seemed like an impossible task, but to my amazement, he accepted the invite immediately. 

Sometime later, as the preparations for our daughter’s marriage were being finalised, we had gathered in his sitting room. Nadira had invited our son-in-law’s parents for cocktails. We were all meeting each other for the first time. Sir V sat amidst all the wedding chatter with a watchful eye, without participating in any of it. 

“Nickunj,” his deep voice resonated suddenly. 

The last few consonants of my name rang around us. 

Everyone stopped talking to look at him.

“After the terrific launch of your book,” he stated evenly. 

“How is it doing now?” he asked me. 

I almost dropped the plate of food I was holding. 

“Close your mouth,” Nadira whispered. 

“Well?” Sir V prompted with an imperceptible smile. 

I searched for a clever answer as he regarded me steadily. 

“Well,” I replied eventually, echoing the grandmaster.