Loud, grating noise is not just annoying, it can increase the risk of a heart attack, researchers report.

This increase in risk appears to be caused by the physiological effects of environmental and work noise, the German research team found.

“Our results demonstrate that chronic noise exposure is associated with a mildly to moderately increased risk of heart attack,” researcher Dr. Stefan Willich, director of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin, said in a prepared statement.

“The increase appears more closely associated with actual sound levels rather than with subjective annoyance. However, there were differences between men and women and these need further investigation,” he noted.

Reporting in the Nov. 24 online edition of the European Heart Journal, Willich’s team compared data on 2,000 heart attack patients with data on more than 2,000 patients admitted to trauma and general surgery departments for reasons other than heart attack.

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–Who would of known? Not the same, but otherwise hard to diagnose is a little known protein deficiency called Protein-S. I was recently cleared of having Protein-S.

Two more bird flu outbreaks have occurred. Guess where?

China on Friday reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among its vast poultry flocks, even as it released dozens of farmers and villagers from medical observation with clean bills of health.

The latest poultry outbreaks were hundreds of miles apart - in the northern province of Shanxi and the far northwestern region of Xinjiang, the official Xinhua News Agency said. All poultry on nearby farms were killed as a precaution.

China has reported 15 outbreaks of bird flu in poultry since Oct. 19 and has promised tough control measures to prevent human infections.

The country confirmed its first human cases of bird flu on Wednesday - a woman who died and a boy who recovered. The boy’s sister, who died, is a suspected case. But dozens of people who had contact with the three patients showed no signs of the disease, Xinhua said.

“In 2003, we triumphed over SARS,” Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying on state television, referring to another deadly disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome. “It shows that we will triumph over bird flu as well.”

–Famous last words?

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–I really want to visit China sometime soon. I hope bird flu doesn’t get out of hand/mutate, but not for my own selfish reasons of wanting to travel there.

bird flu, china, sars, health, poultry, disease

The AIDS virus, HIV, basically magically disappeared from this guy’s body. Must be all those fried Mars bars they eat in Scotland. A fried Mars Bar probably incinerated the disease as well as his intenstines.

A SCOTTISH man is believed to have become the first person in the world to beat HIV.

Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in August 2002. However, tests 14 months later showed the virus had completely gone from his body, despite taking no medication to combat it.

His doctors are adamant there were no mix-ups with his tests and have urged him to come forward for medical research to help the quest to find a cure for HIV, which causes AIDS.

• Andrew Stimpson was diagnosed as HIV-positive in August 2002
• 14 months later tests indicated that the virus had gone
• At present Mr Stimpson has declined to undertake further tests

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I hate medical tests as much as the next guy, particularly anything having to do with below my waistline, however, this is one test where the weight of millions rest.

HIV, AIDS, Andrew Stimpson, Loch Ness Monster

Was Arrested Development too expensive? The ratings were low, but maybe your audience doesn’t like that type of show. I guess some people don’t get it. The Family Guy didn’t make it and now Arrested Development. That pair is probably two out of the top 5 shows you have ever had on Fox. Props for Prison Break because thats a good show and apparently the ratings are good enough to keep on tv for more than 1 season. Eventually though they gotta break out of prison.

Fox you must also have the best people in the business, because you find and sign some excellent programming. Maybe these employees won’t stick around if they get attached to these shows? The only problem is that you cut your losses to early. Arrested is a fantastic show and now I will cry.

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I’m predicting most men aim for the back of the bowl of a toilet when taking a leak.

See the poll on the right hand side? There it is. Cast your “what you do and how you do it” vote.

Update: 57 people were killed, 600 injured in the simulataneous bombings at the Radisson Hotel, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn in Amman Jordan.

Reuters has a map and more text.

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This dude drove by the scene at both hotels.

terrorism, amman, jordan

CBS and NBC are introducing replays of your favorite shows for 99cents hot off the back of iTunes payment model.

“All networks are expected to strike deals to make their shows available outside traditional channels in the coming years.

For the networks, these deals could be the first real opportunity to move away from almost complete dependency on advertising and toward subscriber revenue that has created their greatest competition over the last 30 years — cable television.”

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I predict this will be a great source of income for these networks and boom goes the dynamite. I will personally NEVER use the 99cent service, but the people without TiVO or other PVR’s and such will.

I’m gonna say the pie chart of usage will skew heavily to Soap Opera watchers, followed by prime time junkies, then the small, but steady group of people that still watch Wheel of Fortune religiously.

cbs, nbc, tivo, boom goes the dynamite, soap opera, tivo, television