"As scientists, we begin every study hoping to be able to confirm beneficial effects of potential therapies, and we hoped to confirm this for the use of medical marijuana in treating Alzheimer's disease," said Dr Weihong Song, a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine.

"But we didn't see any benefit at all."

"Instead, our study pointed to some detrimental effects."

Previous studies using rats carrying amyloid protein showed that HU210 -- a synthetic cannabinoid -- reduced the toxicity of amyloid plaques and promoted the new growth of neurons.

The latest study used mice with modified DNA containing the human genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer's -- widely considered to be a more accurate model for the disease in humans.

Mice treated with HU210 did no better than untreated mice -- those given low doses of HU210 performing the worst.

The researchers also found that HU210-treated mice had just as much plaque formation and the same density of neurons as the control group.

The mice given higher doses of HU210 overall had fewer brain cells.

Although the study showed the negative effects of cannabinoids, Dr Song believes that further studies need to be conducted.

"Our study shows that HU210 has no biological or behavioural effect on the established Alzheimer's disease model," he said.

"More studies should be done before we place much hope in marijuana's benefits for Alzheimer's patients."

The controversial government-funded study set out to assess the results of 'heroin-assisted treatment' or HAT.

"Heroin-assisted treatment is very safe when done properly," said Dr Martin Schechter of the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI).

"Our results show it to be very effective."

"This is a group, frankly, that society has written off as being beyond help."

Addicts selected for the study had often made several unsuccessful attempts to get clean.

The study entailed them receiving doses of prescription heroin at a clinic.

One addict with an intense desire to quit heroin spent all his time chasing his next hit.

"It's not something that I would wish on anybody," said Vincent.

Once his habit was stabilised, he managed to find part-time work at the city's port.

"I was actually able to live a normal life," he said.

The number of days spent by participants looking for illicit heroin was halved -- as was the amount of money they spent on drugs.

88% of those treated with heroin remained with the treatment programme for at least a year.

"Many people believe that we need a different approach," said Mayor Sam Sullivan.

"I think that once the citizens realize how much crime is going down, how much the load on our health services is going down, how much cheaper it is for everyone, that there's going to be a demand for this kind of programme."

But one retired policeman was sceptical about the approach.

"Giving drugs as a method of treatment is a bunch of nonsense," says Al Arsenault, a 27-year veteran of the Vancouver police.

"These guys just don't get it."

"Drug addicts need the cure, not the poison."

"What they're doing is they want to legalize drugs, when there's not enough treatment centers available."

"That's totally backwards."

"You don't start there, substituting one drug for another to keep them chemically addled in the corner."

But the people behind the study remain steadfast in their belief that HAT is the right approach.

"Based on the evidence, we could apply and we will apply to have heroin licensed," said Dr Schechter.

"The public can sometimes object to drug users being paid money not to use drugs, but international experience has shown that it can work," said Bobby Smyth, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist behind the pilot programme.

"This project is different in so far as we are trying to make these young people feel good about themselves by donating money to charity."

"In many cases, teenagers who use drugs come from troubled backgrounds and suffer from low self-esteem."

"When they give money to charity, it creates a feel-good factor."

"It helps to give them confidence and a purpose in life."

Participants in the pilot were given nominal amounts of money for seeking treatment -- €1 for every urine test passed and €10 a week for attending counselling sessions.

Successful participants were then able to select charities of their choice to receive donations from the programme.

In total, €3,115 was raised by nine teenagers for a range of charities including the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation, and the Temple Street Children’s University hospital in Dublin.

As well as the money raised, participants benefited from an increase in their own self worth.

“The clients who committed themselves to the programme seemed to get a lot out of it," said Smyth.

"We used a number of psychological measures to look at changes in their wellbeing during the pilot and we found improvement in all domains, especially in their self-esteem."

"We also found reductions in drug use and successful detox completion."

“I think the teenagers obtained a deep satisfaction from the knowledge that their efforts in addressing their own addictions were going to have benefits for others."

"As far as I am concerned, this project also challenges the stereotype that all drug users are self-centred and don’t care about anyone else."

Sarah, a 16-year-old recovering heroin addict, raised €636 for the ISPCC.

“When I signed up, I decided to send any money that I made to the ISPCC because they are helping young children and that means a lot to me,” she said.

“The ISPCC wrote to me to say thanks for the money."

"It was the first time that I had ever given money away to a good cause."

"It was also the first time that anyone had ever written a letter to thank me for anything, and that meant a lot to me.”

Professor David Bailey of the University of Western Ontario addressed the 236th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society with the results of a study into how fruit juices react with medicines.

"Recently, we discovered that grapefruit and these other fruit juices substantially decrease the oral absorption of certain drugs undergoing intestinal uptake transport," said Professor Bailey.

"The concern is loss of benefit of medications essential for the treatment of serious medical conditions."

The study took healthy individuals and gave them fexofenadine, an antihistamine, along with either a glass of grapefruit juice, a glass of water containing naringin (the compound that makes grapefruit juice taste bitter), or water.

Grapefruit juice drinkers only absorbed half of the amount of fexofenadine, compared to those who drank water.

The water with naringin served to block a key drug uptake transporter called OATP1A2.

"Blocking this transporter reduces drug absorption and neutralizes their potential benefits," according to the study's findings.

"By contrast, drugs whose levels are boosted in the presence of grapefruit juice appear to block an important drug metabolising enzyme, called CYP3A4, that normally breaks down drugs."

Until more is known, patients are being advised to stick to water when taking medicines and to consult with their own doctor if they want to drink juice.

But Professor Bailey believes that much more research is required -- there could be many more drugs out there that interact badly with fruit juices.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way."

Methylene blue was previously used as a cure for malaria, but was disliked by patients as it had the side-effect of turning urine blue.

The drug has since been used to treat other conditions, but there have been concerns over damage to brain tissue.

But a new research effort is looking at methylene blue in very small doses, which should avoid the neurotoxic effects of larger doses.

Tests in the lab show that it slows cellular ageing and enhances mitochondrial function -- spurring hopes that it could be used to treat degenerative brain conditions.

"The results are very encouraging," said Dr Hani Atamna of the Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, California.

"We'd eventually like to try to prevent the physical and cognitive decline associated with ageing, with a focus on people with Alzheimer's disease."

"One of the key aspects of Alzheimer's disease is mitochondrial dysfunction, specifically complex IV dysfunction, which methylene blue improves."

"Our findings indicate that methylene blue, by enhancing mitochondrial function, expands the mitochondrial reserve of the brain."

"Adequate mitochondrial reserve is essential for preventing age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's disease."

One of Dr Atamna's colleagues is excited about the prospect of treating serious diseases with a drug that is very cheap to manufacture.

"What we potentially have is a wonder drug." said Dr Bruce Ames.

"To find that such a common and inexpensive drug can be used to increase and prolong the quality of life by treating such serious diseases is truly exciting."

"Chair time is an insidious hazard because people haven't been told it's a hazard," said Professor Marc Hamilton of the University of Missouri in Columbia.

"The existing data, by numerous studies, are starting to show that the rates of heart disease and diabetes and obesity are doubled or sometimes even tripled in people who sit a lot."

Sitting down shuts down production of lipase, an enzyme crucial to fat absorption.

"Instead, the fat will recirculate in the blood stream and go and be stored as body fat or it can clog arteries and cause diseases," said Professor Hamilton.

Standing up reduces the levels of glucose in the blood, which could reduce the likelihood of diabetes occurring.

The average person can also expect to burn up 60 calories per hour just by standing.

"When we think about the postural muscles that are mostly in the legs and back, these are big, powerful muscles," Professor Hamilton said.

"We're talking probably 20 pounds of muscle in each leg."

"That's a lot of muscle that can be engaged in routine activities."

Such is his conviction that Professor Hamilton has got rid of his desk chair -- he now has a treadmill instead.

"If you can perform a behaviour while sitting or standing, I would choose standing," he said.

"You can have just as much fun watching your kids play if you're standing by the fence, next to a friend who pulls out that aluminium lawn chair and is sitting there."

"But just avoid the chair is the simple recommendation, as much as you can."

Professor Hamilton is confident that other researchers will pursue this idea, leading to new breakthroughs in medicine.

"There is going to be a flood of research on this in the next couple of years, and not just by us," he said.

"This has raised the attention of a lot of great scientists around the world who have begun doing their own studies."

Dr Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, issued an advisory notice to his own staff and faculty that warns them to only use their phones when absolutely necessary.

"Electromagnetic fields generated by cell phones should be considered a potential human health risk," reads the report.

"Sufficient time has not elapsed in order for us to have conclusive data on the biological effects of cell phones and other cordless phones -- a technology that is now universal."

Although the link between mobile phones and cancer is still contentious, Dr Herberman is taking a precautionary approach.

"Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later," he said.

The advisory contains diagrams showing how electromagnetic fields penetrate the brain when a mobile phone is being used -- with penetration levels much greater for the young.

Dr Herberman's advisory was issued with the active encouragement of Dr Devra Lee Davis, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh.

"The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain," said Dr Davis.

"I don't know that cell phones are dangerous."

"But I don't know that they are safe."

Dr Herberman has issued the following advice to minimise the health effects of mobile phones:

Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a foetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet.

Yerba mansa -- which means 'calming herb' in Spanish -- has been used for centuries by healers in the Southwestern US by Native Americans and Hispanics.

It is little known outside the region, but botanists hope that it could become a widely popular remedy.

"As far as I know, our centre is the only place in the US conducting production research [on yerba mansa]," said Professor Charles Martin, a researcher at New Mexico State University.

There are concerns over threats to the natural habitat of the plant -- cultivation could be the key to the continued survival of the species.

"There are a lot of plants that have almost been picked to extinction," said Michael Moore, director of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine in Bisbee, Arizona.

"A hundred years ago, American ginseng could be found in 22 states and now it's only found in a few."

Professor Martin alighted upon yerba mansa after looking for potential that could survive adverse conditions.

"We targeted native herbs in an effort to find alternative crops for small farmers that are drought tolerant and have a built-in pest resistance, and yerba mansa is an ideal plant that meets that criteria," he said.

"It will grow in a wide variety of conditions and soils, including alkaline-encrusted soil and in all degrees of sunlight."

"Once established, it doesn't need any more water than a typical crop, than say alfalfa."

Some nurseries in California already grow yerba mansa for ecological restoration projects -- and there is already enthusiasm for the idea of growing it there on a larger scale.

"We could easily go into cropping," said Jeff Nighman, vice president of Santa Barbara Natives, a nursery based in Gaviota.

"It could be a branch of what we're doing already."

One member of the Yaquis tribe from Tucson, Arizona, is also experimenting with growing yerba mansa without soil -- he is using a variant of hydroponic technology called aeroponics.

Bill Quiroga, president of Native American Botanics, hopes that Native American farmers will eventually grow the herb to supply his wholesale company.

"We have to find ways to grow it so that we keep the herb for later generations," he said.

Jordanian cardiologist Dr Ziyad Hijazi takes two or three children every year to his home country for procedures requiring devices that are not approved in the US.

In a typical case, Dr Hijazi went to Jordan to implant a device called an amplatzer muscular VSD into the heart of a child from Massachusetts.

The device can be used to close up congenital 'holes' in the heart and is manufactured by Minneapolis-based AGA Medical.

It was available for 9 years in Jordan before it was finally approved for US use in 2007.

Dr Hijazi believes that children are getting worse treatment in the US, and have even died, because approval for adult medical devices takes priority.

He claims that more than 90 per cent of the medical devices he uses on children are 'off-label', meaning that they are approved for use on adults only.

"We take responsibility as physicians for using unapproved devices on kids," he said.

One medic is sure that children have died as a result of the lack of specialised implants for the young.

"In the nineties, we lost lives in the cath lab," said Dr Thomas Forbes, director of cardiac catheterisation at the Children's Hospital of Michigan.

"Patients have died on the table because we were using stents that were made for adults and weren't flexible enough."

A recent law provides financial incentives for companies to make devices for children -- but it also requires them to track the progress of patients at their own expense.

"It's a paperwork nightmare," Dr Forbes said.

"They have to commit resources and follow these patients forever."

"If I'm a [Johnson & Johnson] stockholder, I'm saying, 'I love kids, I'd love to help them out, but move on.'"

Some believe that the focus on adults is down to the fact that the market for children is much smaller.

"We're all anxious for the dissolvable stent...but do you think Johnson & Johnson is going to be interested in doing this for babies?" said Dr Richard Ringel, a paediatric cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"No, they want to do it for [adult] coronary patients because the numbers are so much larger."

One manufacturer acknowledged the inherent problems with developing devices specifically for children.

"We have not cracked the code on this," said Michael Mussallem, chief executive of Edwards Lifesciences, makers of a a blood-oxygen monitor designed for the young.

"Development is time-consuming, there are regulatory hurdles and how do you recoup your investment?"

"The math generally does not work."

Mussallem also believes that there is a culture of 'getting by' when it comes to treating children.

"There's not a climate for innovation," he said.

"A great percentage of devices are used off-label to accommodate children's needs."

"Physicians are just used to getting by."

An upcoming conference organised by the state-funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) will bring doctors and manufacturers together to discuss the issue.

The trade association representing medical device makers is looking to the government for leadership on the issue.

"First, we need to understand what the needs are and I'm hopeful that NIH will help catalogue the needs," said Tara Federici of AdvaMed.

Carl Weisman, a 49-year-old Australian, conducted a survey of 1,533 heterosexual men for his new book So Why Have You Never Been Married? Ten Insights into Why He Hasn't Wed.

The book is intended to explain to women why so many successful men opt to stay single -- and also to make lifelong bachelors realise that they are not unique in being so selective.

"Men are 10 times more scared of marrying the wrong person than of never getting married at all," said Weisman.

"This is the first generation of people who have grown up with bad divorces."

"People assume there is something wrong if you don't marry but these are men who have made a different choice and not given in to social pressures."

"It's so important to these men to get it right."

Weisman's online survey found that around 8 percent never want to marry while 62 percent plan to wed -- but half of them won't settle for anything less than perfection.

The remaining 30 percent are undecided either way.

72 percent of respondents said they were unafraid of marriage itself, but half of them said that marrying the wrong person was their greatest fear.

"My best advice to single women after bachelors is to be patient," said Weisman.

"If you're in a hurry to get married you'll be frustrated."

Weisman found that money was an important factor, whether you had a little or a lot.

"Those with little money said they would have nothing to offer a partner, with some suffering self-esteem issues and withdrawing from the dating pool," he said.

"While those who are financially sound were terrified what a bad divorce could do to them."

Although it is commonly assumed that the single are more miserable than the married, Weisman's research defied such preconceptions.

"A compelling issue was how many of them had found contentment in a never-married life," he said.

"They had created lives full of careers, friends and ambitions."

"It was not like they walk around all day worried about not being married."

Ironically, working on the book made him look at his own life in greater depth -- Weisman moved in with a girlfriend for the first time ever and they are now contemplating marriage.

"As I researched the book I found I was looking at men 10 years older than me and it was like looking into the future," he said.

"If I didn't change, nothing would."

The soft mint contains arginine (branded as CaviStat), a component of human saliva that is known to neutralise acids that can damage tooth enamel.

"CaviStat can be considered to be a super-saliva complex that will pick up where fluoride has left off," said Dr Israel Kleinberg, lead researcher and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

"By mimicking the profound benefits of saliva we are able to attack the several stages of the tooth decay process."

A clinical trial in Venezuela involving 200 children aged between 10 and 11 demonstrated the effectiveness of arginine in fighting tooth decay.

Half of the children in the study took two mints in the morning and two at night, after brushing with a fluoride toothpaste.

The other half brushed twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and took plain sugarless mints.

At the end of trial, the children given the medicated mint had 62 percent less instances of cavities than those given the plain mint.

"This technology will be very beneficial to children and those adults prone to root caries due to dry mouth induced by medications, cancer treatments and medical conditions, such as Sjogren's syndrome," said Professor Kleinberg.

"We feel that CaviStat will be the new paradigm for fighting tooth decay."

The mints are designed to be dissolved and chewed into the biting surfaces of the back teeth -- where around 90 percent of childhood cavities occur.

"Unlike regular candies, we want this product to be stuck in the teeth," said Mitchell Goldberg, president of Ortek Therapeutics, the company that has licensed the technology from Stony Brook.

Ortek plans to seek regulatory approval to begin testing the product in the US this year -- but it could be several years before it is authorised for sale to the public.

"Clearly this technology has market potential in the billions and is a major advance in protecting healthy teeth," Goldberg said.

In 'How To Cheat At Cooking', Smith encourages people to avoid making food from scratch using fresh ingredients when they can make use of processed ingredients.

Researchers from Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) analysed the salt content of the recipes in the cookbook -- they found that several contained the recommended daily allowance in one serving.

“Delia Smith is very respected by the public and has great influence over what we cook,” said Graham MacGregor, chairman of CASH and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Medical School of St George’s Hospital in London.

"She has been trusted by millions of people for years to provide easy, everyday recipes."

“It is a real pity that she seems to be unaware of the dangers of eating too much salt, and furthermore it seems as if these latest recipes have not been checked for their salt content."

Professor MacGregor believes that Delia's use of excess salt threatens to reverse years of campaigning on health.

“The UK is currently leading the world in salt reduction," Professor MacGregor said.

"The majority of our food industry is making huge efforts to reduce the amount of salt they add to food and the public is becoming much more aware that eating too much salt has severe health implications."

"Unfortunately, this hard work is undermined when chefs and cookery writers appear on television using high salt ingredients and adding large amounts of unnecessary salt to their recipes."

"Research suggests that 19,000 deaths from stroke and heart attacks could be prevented in this country each year if we could get down from our current 9g a day to an average of 6g of salt per day for adults.”

Smith's new cookbook and accompanying BBC TV series have already attracted a hailstorm of criticism, with many feeling betrayed by someone who formerly advocated the joys of home cooking with fresh ingredients.

“Nutritionists would always advise people to cook meals from scratch, using fresh ingredients and adding as little salt as possible,” said Carrie Bolt, a nutritionist working for CASH.

"It really doesn’t take long to make a simple tomato sauce from a can of tomatoes, some onion, garlic and herbs."

"Avoiding ready-made versions like tinned mince and jars of sauce would cut the salt content of some of these recipes dramatically."

“If people do want to cook one of Delia’s Cheat recipes -– and they are not all high in salt –- then I would advise them to try the ones that do not feature high salt ingredients such as anchovies, olives, capers, stock, Parma ham, ready-cooked bacon, Thai fish sauce, soy sauce, blue cheese, and Pecorino Romano cheese."

"And there is certainly no need to add any extra salt during cooking.”

Researchers from Israel and Spain revealed their findings at a Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain symposium on medical cannabis.

"We have come a long way in ten years and there is still a lot of research ground to cover," said Professor Tony Moffat, chairman of the symposium.

"There is currently considerable interest in the medical benefits of cannabis and related compounds for a range of conditions including arthritis, multiple sclerosis and neurological pain."

"Although recent press coverage has focused on the abuses associated with the plant, cannabis-derived medications may offer novel opportunities in drug discovery."

"Cannabis as it is normally smoked has mind-blowing properties and there are compounds in there which has these hallucinogenic properties."

"However, some of the indications for Alzheimer's in a mouse model is just a single compound that's used from cannabis plant material which is extracted and it can stop the memory loss."

"Now if you take that single compound and apply it to humans in clinical trials, we could prove for those 400,000 Alzheimer's patients that it could be used for those."

Alzheimer's expert welcomed the possibility of a new way to treat the incurable condition.

"I'm sure there will be people who want to enter the trial," said Dr Suzanne Sorenson of the Alzheimer's Society.

"The treatment opportunities for Alzheimer's disease are so few, it is incurable."

"The drugs that exist at the moment aren't suitable for everybody."

"So there being other drugs available, I'm sure will be a positive thing for patients."

But there was caution surrounding cannabis and its currently illicit status.

"We need robust clinical trials into the potential benefits of non-psychoactive components of cannabis," said Dr Clive Ballard, also from the Alzheimer's Society.

"It is important for people to note that these treatments are not the same as recreational cannabis use, which can be potentially harmful."

"The city of Oakland believes in compassionate care," said Paul Rose, spokesperson for Oakland's mayor Ron Dellums.

"The people of California voted to support medical cannabis."

"The mayor was discouraged to learn of the DEA's actions, which were in opposition to the will of the residents of this city."

Mayor Dellums has now written to Congressman John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, requesting an investigation of the DEA's activities in California.

"The DEA's recent surge tactics, such as the dissemination of threatening letters to property owners and unrelenting raids that continue to place citizens in harm's way, undermine state and local authority, and jeopardize the integrity of state law," wrote Dellums to Conyer.

"We urge the House Judiciary Committee to expeditiously hold hearings and examine this very important issue."

Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, described the DEA's actions as 'outrageous' and 'damaging.'

"They're trying basically to get landlords to do their dirty work," said Mirken.

"They don't have enough agents to close down the dispensaries and they're trying to get landlords to do it for them."

"The wheels don't turn in Washington DC as fast as we would like them to."

"But this does appear to have gotten Chairman Conyers' attention -- and that's a good first step."

In the face of growing opposition, the DEA are unapologetic about their targeting of cannabis dispensaries in California

The dispensaries contravene federal law, but are legal under California state law, a situation that has led Dellums to speak out.

"The DEA San Francisco Field Division Office has sent out letters as a courtesy to the landowners to inform them of the suspected marijuana distribution center operating on their property," said Javier Pena, DEA Special Agent in Charge.

"The DEA is committed to enforcing our nation's drug laws and will continue to work to keep our neighborhood communities safe from drugs and the negative ripple effects they cause."

Shenyang's Yilishen Group claimed that investors could get rich by giving them money which they would use to raise ants.

These insects were supposed to be the main ingredient for a health tonic promising an aphrodisiac boost.

The tonic was promoted on television by Zhao Benshan, the country's most famous comedian.

But the group has twice delayed payment of dividends since October, fuelling panic and rumours that the government has frozen their funds.

'We strongly demand the government offer a way out for Yilishen!' read one of the banners carried by demonstrators.

Riot police were deployed to prevent protesters reaching the provincial government headquarters.

Yilishen survived several investigations in the past eight years and investors had previously received their dividends on time.

But some believe the ants to be a useless ruse for an illegal scam -- one that is now unravelling.

"It has been out there for eight years and the government has given the company and the manager so many honors," said investor Li Dechun.

"We thought there mustn't be any problem."

A spokesperson for the provincial government responded to the scandal by denying any responsibility.

That will be of little comfort to those who have lost their savings.

"Most of the investors are from the lower class of society," said Cong, a resident of Shenyang.

"Some have threatened to take more radical actions, such as blocking trains at the railway station."

"We do think it will help the number of people, who want to give up to smoking -- the vast majority of smokers want to give up -- and this will give them an extra push," said Alan Johnson, Health Secretary.

The new warnings will begin appearing on cigarette packs from next year, with all tobacco products compliant by 2010.

Other countries such as Canada and Brazil have adopted a similar strategy, with some evidence to indicate that such warnings make smokers think twice.

A recent study showed 15% of Canadian smokers had been deterred from having a cigarette -- more than double the rate of countries such as the US and Australia, which had text-only warnings at the time of the study.

Protests against the move have come from Forest, the smokers rights lobbyists funded by tobacco companies.

"You could construct exactly the same argument for placing graphic images on bottles of alcohol, but because most people like to drink alcohol, the government doesn't want to offend the majority," said Neil Rafferty, spokesperson for the group.

"The government are bullying smokers simply because they can get away with it."

Professor Robert West of Cancer Research UK believes that the new warnings could result in up to 10,000 people giving up -- possibly saving over 2,000 lives a year.

But Professor West believes that it would also help if the poorer sections of society were deterred from smoking by ramping up the price of tobacco and clamping down on smuggling.

"The government is facing a huge smuggling problem," he said.

"Smuggled tobacco is half the price of a regular pack and 40% of tobacco is smuggled, mostly rolled tobacco.

"We need to bear down on that as much as we can."

"Survivors were either over-protective or clingy because they were fearful that something would happen to their children or they were dismissive and pushed their children away in an attempt to prevent any future hurt," said lead researcher Janine Beck, a PhD student at the Queensland University of Technology.

"These parenting patterns are highly likely to be repeated, so the cycle of trauma transmission continues."

Beck found that depression, anxiety, and trust issues were more prevalent in the descendents of Holocaust survivors compared to the general population.

The probability of experiencing depression seems to be linked to the magnitude of trauma -- long-term inmates of concentration camps and those who were the sole survivor in their family having the worst symptoms.

Country of origin also seems to be a factor, with survivors from Eastern Europe experiencing more problems than those from other regions.

The research is unfortunately relevant in the present day as conflicts in countries such as Iraq could mean that their traumas could similarly affect future generations.

"Undoubtedly, survivors and their descendants have been unable to reach their full potential in life," Beck said.

"Civilians and their descendants traumatised because of more recent conflicts such as in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Darfur are likely to be affected in similar ways."

"My emotions have changed. Somehow I can't help that," he said.

"Being a Jungian psychologist, I would describe myself as less intuitive.

"More of a thinking, more rational, less intuitive person.

"Less sure if I can do things by inspiration."

Houghton, 68, is an experienced grief counsellor -- a major reason why he was selected for a clinical trial in 2000 for a new artificial heart implant.

He became the first patient to have the Jarvik 2000 ventricular pump implanted permanently.

The surgery undoubtedly improved his physical health -- after recovery, his workload included writing books, travelling the world giving speeches, and taking part in a 91-mile charity walk.

But the contrast in his emotional interactions became starkly obvious to him.

He found himself struggling to cultivate a relationship with his grandsons due to a lack of emotional connection.

Poets and philosophers have posited the heart as the seat of emotion for centuries.

But Broughton's background as a psychologist makes him fall back on his professional expertise for an explanation.

"The procedure lands you in a position that no one has ever pioneered -- what it does to a person as a person.

"You're an invented person trying to cope with it, trying to deal with the emotional context of it."

“Appetising food smells have increased but others are less attractive, such as stale food and beer, damp, sweat and body odour, drains and -- how do you put this nicely -- flatulence," said Oliver Devine of Mitchells and Butlers, one of the countries' largest pub chains.

Since the smoking ban started in Scotland twelve months ago, the chain has experimented with introducing a scent into their pubs intended to smell like the sea.

“We are considering trialling the smell of leather, which suggests luxury and indulgence, and cut grass, which is clean and domestic,” Devine said.

The proposals are a slap in the face to advocates of the smoking ban who claimed that pubs would be more pleasant environments after cigarettes were banished from them.

Other establishments have also been implementing systems that pump perfume into the atmosphere.

Rentokil Initial -- already responsible for the automated systems that spray perfume into pub toilets -- have been commissioned by the Marriott chain of hotels to make their bars smell nicer.

Luminar, the operator of over 100 nightclubs in the UK, have already begun wafting pleasant odours over the dancefloors in their outlets.

"Our analysis suggests that abstinence-only programmes that aim to prevent HIV are not effective," said Kristen Underhill, lead author of the study.

"This finding has key implications for policy and practice, especially in the US, where abstinence-only programmes receive both federal and state funding."

One such faith-based programme caused a recent stir in Britain, when a school was sued unsuccessfully by a pupil wanting to wear a silver ring as a symbol of her chastity -- violating uniform codes.

In general, such programmes have failed to become widespread in Britain -- possibly related to dwindling church attendance, as society grows ever more secular.

This contrasts with America, where one third of the President's anti-HIV budget is dedicated to abstinence-only programmes.

The findings of the study indicate that programmes emphasising the use of condoms are more successful at preventing HIV, as well as reducing unwanted pregnancies.

Some figures working in the field of sexual health believe that abstinence-based approaches could ultimately do more harm than good.

"There are even studies which show they can make things worse as people do not have the knowledge or confidence to have safe sex," said Ivan Blake of Brook Advisory Centres.

"That's not the 'right stuff' as far as I'm concerned," said Congressman Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology committee.

A special panel charged with studying astronaut health found 'heavy use of alcohol' before launch, which may have lead to life-threatening situations on at least two occasions.

NASA are officially vague on the risks, stating that the allegations are based on anonymous interviews and are unsubstantiated.

When space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier was asked if he knew of any such incidents, he said: "The obvious answer is no. I've never had any instances of that."

"There's not been a disciplinary action or anything I've been involved with regarding this type of activity."

NASA is releasing two reports into astronaut's health, one by an external committee and another by an internal panel.

The agency is currently dealing with the fallout from the Lisa Nowak case, where one of their astronauts involved in a love triangle plotted to kidnap her rival.

Any scrutiny of astronaut's behaviour is likely to cause more trouble for an already embattled administration.

"If the reports of drunken astronauts being allowed to fly prove to be true, I think the agency will have a lot of explaining to do," Congressman Gordon said.

"We have developed a direct-current nanogenerator that is driven by ultrasonic waves," said lead researcher Dr Zhong Lin Wang, Regents' Professor at Georgia Tech.

"The basic principle is to use piezoelectric and semiconducting coupled nanowires, such as zinc oxide, to convert mechanical energy into electricity.

"This nanogenerator has the potential to directly convert hydraulic energy in the human body, such as blood flow, heart beat, and contraction of blood vessels, into electric energy."

Wang and his team have developed a prototype which generated electricity continuously for four hours.

"We expect the lifetime of the nanogenerator is much longer than the time we have tested," said Wang.

It is envisaged that the technology could be used to power a new generation of nanoscale medical implants to aid patients with conditions requiring constant monitoring.

For example, diabetics currently monitor blood sugar levels manually by taking a small blood sample which is analysed using a handheld electronic meter.

The new implants would be inserted surgically into the body where they could continually measure blood sugar and automatically alert patients and doctors to problems over a wireless link.

Wang and his team are confident that their work represents a real breakthrough in enabling the deployment of nanoscale devices in medicine.

"It sets a solid foundation for self-powering implantable and wireless nanodevices and nanosystems in biofluid and any other type of liquid," he said.

Nearly 400 college students were wired up with microphones that were used by the researchers to count the words they used in a day.

Women spoke a daily average of 16,215 words in a day compared with 15,669 words from men.

But researchers believe this difference is statistically insignificant.

"What's a 500-word difference, compared to the 45,000-word difference between the most and the least talkative persons?", said lead researcher Matthias Mehl.

The study was sparked by a magazine article claming that women use an average of 20,000 words per day compared with 7,000 for men.

But Mehl and his co-author James W. Pennebaker couldn't find any research supporting this claim, so they decided to redress this.

"Although many people believe the stereotypes of females as talkative and males as reticent, there is no large-scale study that systematically has recorded the natural conversations of large groups of people for extended periods of time," said Pennebaker, chairman of the psychology department at the University of Texas.

The numbers of words that the men used in a day ranged from 47,000 words in one case to 500 over a few days in another.

The researchers do concede that their findings may not apply to everyone as they only studied university students.

"The question is, how it applies to people as we get older," said Mehl.

"The long-term goal is that the patients will have a safe, secure supply that doesn't mean drug dealers, that doesn't mean growing their own," said Reena Szczepanski, director of the New Mexico chapter of the pro-legalisation Drug Policy Alliance.

Federal law prohibits the use and distribution of medical cannabis, and users can be prosecuted even if state law says otherwise.

New Mexico's Attorney General is now being consulted on whether a legal framework to allow cannabis production and distribution by the state is feasible.

"The production part is unprecedented. No other state law does that," said Dr. Steve Jenison of New Mexico's health department, the man charged with administering the medical cannabis programme.

"So we're trying to be very thoughtful in how we proceed."

Until the issue is resolved, patients will have to secure their own supplies.

However the state is accepting applications from patients certified by their doctor as eligible for the state-supplied cannabis -- if and when it becomes available.

In the meantime, patients with conditions treatable with cannabis are looking forward to the new programme.

"If there's a system in place that's going to allow me to do this treatment without having to break the law then I'll just be able to sleep better at night," said Martin Walker, a local HIV patient and educator.

"I'd turned 40 that year. We had a minivan, lived in suburbia and were a very career-based couple," said Doug, a writer for the Denver Post.

"It was a lot different from when we first got together and we thought it would be a great way to change our sex life and spice up our marriage."

The couple had been passionate in the early part of their marriage, but raising two children and focusing on their careers had caused their sex life to dwindle.

"We knew 100 days was going to be a challenge and it wasn't always easy after a long day, especially when I got really sick halfway through," he said.

"Almost everyone we spoke to said 'My God, that sounds difficult.' But we wanted to see what would happen to us and we made it and are happy we did so."

Having succeded in reviving his marriage, Doug Brown has now sold a book to a publisher detailing the experiment.

"It was a great idea and some days were really fun," he said.

But Brown will have to find new ways to keep the marital spark alive in future.

"I'm not so sure we'll do it again. Maybe we can squeeze it down to 10 days or a week."

"Bits and blades are all going to be replaced by light," says Barry Schuler, CEO of the laser's developer Raydiance.

Ultrashort pulse or USP lasers have been around for 25 years, but have only recently been scaled down from a room full of equipment to a compact form that can sit on a table.

The laser cuts without generating heat, making it suitable for delicate operations such as treating burns by removing the burnt tissue.

"The short pulse is very effective in not damaging the tissue that's left behind," said Ron Waynant of the Food and Drug Administration.

Another advantage of the laser is that when the USP laser hits tissue, vapour is generated that can be analysed spectroscopically.

""That's important because we think that instantaneous analysis can be used to drive the laser with a computer," said Ahamed Idris, professor of surgery and emergency medicine at the University of Texas.

Industry figures believe that a new boom in technology driven by USP lasers is imminent.

"We're like where we were in the '60s when the laser was first invented," said Bob Clark of Clark-MXR.

"People kept asking: 'It's an interesting technology, but what problem is it going to solve?'

"Nowadays lasers are ubiquitous. Everything we know about telecommunications is done with lasers.

"I think we're at the same threshold with USP lasers."

By gaining experience of minor injuries, children would learn to avoid more serious harm later in life, according to Peter Cornall, head of leisure safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

“Parents and children must not be frightened about venturing outside," Cornall said.

"When children spend time in the great outdoors, getting muddy, getting wet, getting stung by nettles, they learn important lessons –- what hurts, what is slippery, what you can trip over or fall from."

Cornall highlighted the media's role in raising fears through saturation coverage of child abduction cases.

“You can see why parents are so concerned because of the fears highlighted in the media. But it’s not right. It’s detrimental to children’s development.”

Many parents refuse to let children play outside until they are 14, and Cornall feels that this is part of the problem.

“When they get to 13 or 14 when they are allowed out, they more or less have an accident straight away because they suddenly have all this freedom.”

He feels that parents need to realise that keeping their children at home constantly won't shield them from injury.

“We need to ask ourselves whether it is better for a child to break a wrist falling out of a tree, or to get a repetitive strain wrist injury at a young age from using a computer or video games console."

Railwayman Jan Grzebski fell into the coma after he being hit by a train in 1988.

Doctors did not Grzebski to survive, let alone emerge from the coma.

"I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot. Those who came to see us kept asking: 'When is he going to die?' But he's not dead," said his wife Gertruda.

Grzebski paid special tribute to his wife, crediting her with his survival.

“She’s the one who always took care of me. She saved my life,” he said.

At the time of the accident Grzebski was a father of four.

During his coma, 11 grandchildren came into the world.

The period also saw the end of Communism and the Eastern Bloc, along with Poland's accession to the European Union.

But there are more obvious signs of change on the streets of Poland.

"What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I've got nothing to complain about," he said.

Kidsbeer began life as a guarana drink served at a restaurant run by 39-year-old Yuichi Asaba.

When Asaba had the brainwave of renaming the drink 'Kidsbeer', he realised that he had a hit on his hands.

He outsourced production, changed the formula to make it less sweet, and more frothy.

Starting from an initial run of 200 bottles a month of the retooled product, it soon became a runaway success.

Satoshi Tomoda, president of Kidsbeer maker Tomomasu, said: "Children copy and mimic adults.

"If you have this drink at occasions such as events and celebrations attended by kids, it makes the occasions even more entertaining."

Although popular in Japan, plans to import and promote the drink into the UK have fallen flat.

A spokesperson for industry watchdog The Portman Group said: "The way this drink is promoted, showing young people absolutely desperate for a drink, risks fostering harmful attitudes.

"Children need better education about alcohol, but this is not the way for them to learn."

However, the British Soft Drinks Association said the product should be allowed as long as the marketing is done more sensitively that in its home market.

"For us as physicists, this cannot be the explanation," said Thomas Heimburg, an associate professor at the university's Niels Bohr Institute.

"The physical laws of thermodynamics tell us that electrical impulses must produce heat as they travel along the nerve, but experiments find that no such heat is produced."

Currently it is assumed that an electrical pulse is sent from one end of the nerve to the other via electrically charged salts and a membrane that sheathes the nerve made of lipids and proteins.

The Danish researchers see sound propagation as a much more likely explanation. Although sound waves normally weaken as they spread out, a medium with the right physical properties could create a special kind of pulse called a soliton wave that can propagate without losing strength.

As the nerve membrane is made of a material similar to olive oil that can change from liquid to solid through temperature variations, scientist believe they can freeze and propagate the solitons.

They also suggested that anaesthetics alter the melting point of the membrane and make it impossible for their theorised sound pulses to propagate.

"I said to my husband, there must be a better way," said Gennard-Levy. "The loos are awful in this country.''

As councils have looked to cut their costs, the number of toilets has decline 40% between 2000 and 2005, leaving 415 to serve a population of 7.5 million, according to Government figures.

What toilets remain are often dirty and smelly, as well as being havens for drug users.

Research by the environmental charity Encams shows that 95% of Britons have urinated, vomited or defecated in public as there were no public facilities available.

To make matters worse, a 53% increase in London house prices over the last five years has motivated councils to sell off old toilets to property developers.

"It's not cost-effective to keep them,'' according to Tony Wood, an estate agent who helped convert a multi-stalled Victorian toilet in Forest Hill to a split-level flats that you can rent for £700 per month.

After initially charging £5 at its launch, Gennard-Levy's luxury toilet now charges £1 for use of the toilet only and £5 for a pampering service. That contrasts with the 20p charge that mainline rail stations levy for using their toilets.

"I would have been happy to pay the full price,'' says publisher Catherine Snow after using the new service. "I've had to run into horrible pubs and hope they didn't see me.''

Medical researchers sent out questionnaires to sword swallowers around the world. The 46 respondents had collectively swallowed about 2,000 swords in the past three months.

25 had swallowed more than one sword at a time; five had swallowed at least 10 at a time; and one person had downed 16 swords at once.

The most common medical complaint was of a sore throat, or 'sword throat' as it's known in the business.

Typically this would occur while they were still learning, after frequent performances, or from stunts involving multiple or unusually shaped swords.

Some reported lower chest pains, often lasting for days. Abstinence from sword swallowing would lead to a recovery.

Sixteen respondents mentioned intestinal bleeding and one was told by doctors that a sword had 'brushed' his heart.

Distractions posed a major health threat to performers. One swallower slashed his esophagus after being distracted by the macaw on his shoulder;

A belly dancing sword swallower suffered a major haemorrhage when a bystander shoved dollar bills into her belt, causing three blades in her esophagus to 'scissor'.

The researchers concluded that "although the risk of sustaining life threatening injury is low for an experienced swallower while relaxed and concentrating on swallowing a single sword, the risk over a career is high."

"There's God and there's the devil, and the devil's not a gentleman. If you give him any kind of an opening, he will take that," said cattle rancher Audrey Cummings.

"Supposedly, we do not allow religion in schools -- and Yoga is a religion."

According to Wikipedia, Yoga is one of the six branches of Hindu philosophy that is also incorporated into other religions such as Buddhism and Tantra.

Parent Chelsea Brears believes there is a double standard as education is otherwise secular: "It's not fair to take prayer out, and yet they're allowing yoga, which is religion, in our schools."

Yoga is not part of the school curriculum, but are part of a supplemental program sponsored by the provincial government and 2010 Legacies Now, a funding body of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"Yoga is not a religion," said school superintendent Sue Ellen Miller.

"Children don't have to participate in the program and it's important that parents don't believe we're teaching this as a religion."

Cathy Braun, an elementary-school teacher in Quesnel, said she teaches yoga to her pupils once or twice a week for 15 minutes. She has yet to field any complaints personally.

"It gets them moving and gets them focused as well," she said.

"The kids enjoy it. I don't teach them any chants, but they're the ones who go: Om. They learned that from The Lion King."

Between May 2003 and March 2004, 20 doctors in Switzerland undertook a strictly controlled study involving 204 patients using Bioforce Arnica Gel and ibuprofen gel.

Improvement in the two main areas – pain reduction and the functional capacity of the hands – had to be achieved for the study to be successful. In both cases Arnica Gel proved to be as effective as the synthetic gel.

For herbal medicines to be allowed on the register, makers must show that they are safe and manufactured to a high standard. Proof must also be provided that the substance has been used in traditional medicine for many years -- not of efficacy,

"It's shameless," says David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London. "Medicines work or don't work, and they should be labelled accordingly."

All EU countries must have similar laws by 2011 in order to comply with a directive on herbal medicines that allows "the requirement to demonstrate efficacy to be replaced by the need to demonstrate traditional use", an MHRA spokesman says.

Marbury has gone even further by promising to wear his line of shoes on court throughout the forthcoming season. He is also embarking on a nationwide tour to spread the word in person. After all, Starbury is not going to be advertised the way Nike, Adidas, Reebok and all the others have done in the past. The money simply isn't there. Instead, Marbury is leveraging his own fame and the power of word of mouth.

It has only been a couple of weeks since his new line of clothing went on sale. At one store it was reported that 500 people were waiting in a line when the doors opened. It has also been reported that some stores were imposing a two item limit, such was the high level of demand.

Marbury isn't just trying to stick it to his fellow sports celebrities. As someone who grew up in the urban deprivation of Coney Island, he feels acutely that families should be spending $200 on groceries not shoes. Whilst such social entrepreneurism deserves to be applauded, questions still remain over how such shoes can be manufactured so cheaply.

Whilst any attempt to alleviate poverty in America has to be lauded, if it relies on exploitation of workers in other countries then is it as compromised as the labour policies of corporations such as Nike? Ironically, Steve and Barry's don't source much from China -- to avoid tariffs, they tend to source more from Africa.

Although Marbury has the best interests at heart of his brothers and sisters at home, is he doing the same for them abroad? This is an issue he need to address, as his rivals will be looking for any sign of weakness that they can use to attack him. Starbury's ethical policy is a notable absence from their website.

One thing however is certain: Marbury's bold play has the potential to change the sportwear industry forever. As he says himself: "I want to tell people all over the country that the game is over; being cool isn't about a price tag."

It aimed to raise awareness of continuous presence of AIDS; a subject hardly reported in the media with the equal frenzy that terrified us about AIDS in the eighties. And it was also organised to remind us that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are again on the rise.
The Masturbate-a-thon event was initially launched in the USA six years ago in broad minded San Francisco and only this year the organisers decided to branch out with the 1st UK appearance in London at the Drop Studios in Clerkenwell Road.
And bravo to us Europeans! There were over 160 of us to take part, whereas on it's first US showing, over in California, only 40 braved it!
What a bunch of lightweights!
With my lover on my side we headed hand in hand into the unknown, without any idea whatsoever what to expect apart from the charitable and thus absolved wanking!
The place was richly togged out in red shimmering fabrics from the entrance stairwell up to the first floor, where an administrative reception for filling disclaimers and sorting out sponsorship was in action. Friendly staff then ferried us into a chill-out area where soft drinks and a pile of Razzles and gay publications had been left for us to titillate. But our dormant orgasmic state needed no prompting from such images. Frankly, they always make me laugh in cringed teeth!

Three options had originally been designed for the event. 3 rooms: one for the men, one for the women and one for the couples. A rule was in place to restrict masturbation to solo acts only, as the act of touching a partner or loved one undermined the whole point of the event. Not sure they had a license to cover such an eventuality in any case.
These room options somehow failed to work due to the amount of people present on the day. We discovered to our dismay, on entering the room for the couples, that there was before us a sea of men and only three other couples in a cramped room, where some of the men performed standing up as islands in a spaghetti sea of laid back human flesh. The whole vibe however was well mellow. The feel of an aura of orgasms and quiet joy permeated the room.
We settled down in a corner and got on with delivering the promises of our sponsorship ofSh! which afforded us 3 choices of preferences:
1 - for the amount of orgasms reached
2 - the amount of times successful
or 3 - just for having the courage to attend!
Which is what we went for, as we didn't feel that this was in any way a competition to produce results. To attend, in our opinion amply sufficed to make the point.

A "Channel 4" crew was filming the event in another room. We were interviewed at the end to give our impressions, which will be broadcast later in the year, as part of a "wank-week" series on the subject. My mind never ceases to ponder, but for a split second at the thought of program makers running out of ideas for originality these days! It will be aired in the autumn and well into the dark hours of the night, when most of the mainstream audience will be already tucked away in bed or having sex!
Apart from making some changes to provide more comfort (especially air com!) and more intimacy, my lover and me would be prepared to participate again.
Now is the time we ought to address once and for all the taboo that masturbation is a dirty or evil act.
It is mystifying for the Christian church to condemn the practice of "Onanism" when it has the hypocrisy of denying people in third world countries rich in venereal diseases and Aids right to use condoms or to use any form of contraception! To explore safer sex by masturbation and the promotion of it is a positive step in 21st Century sexual liberation. This is the age of Aquarius so let us be sexually liberated from out dated and hypocritical conditioning.

Masturbate-a-thon

Sh!

With backing from Randy Mamola, John Reynolds, James Toseland, Niall Mackenzie and Suzi Perry to name but a few, Enduro Africa aims to buy at least 100 bikes for health workers in Zimbabwe. By joining us and raising money to take part, you will be helping to save the lives of some of Africa's poorest people. By taking up the Enduro Africa challenge you will also become part of a life-changing adventure, the memories of which will remain with you forever.

Set amidst some of South Africa's most stunning scenery, this challenge offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself, a country where the needs of the poorest are far removed from our own here in the developed world. You will also explore the diverse regions of the Drakensberg mountain range, a beautiful, wild and isolated area - home to the infamous 'Roof of Africa Rally' - this is some of the very best mountain riding on Earth.

Enduro Africa is by no means a ride for experts, this is a ride that appeals to every skill level. The ride will test your confidence, spirit and determination at times and can be both physically and mentally draining. The rally is more a test of endurance than skill on a bike and although we will be riding for quite some time each day, there is rarely a feeling of having to rush, the ride is a team event and you will be looked after by your team-mates at every stage.

There is full medical support, radio communication and breakdown recovery and every team will have an extremely experienced team leader to see them through. Most of the roads are totally unmade and have rough surfaces, the accommodation is clean and basic and the food is excellent.

The most important qualities you will need to take part are a sense of humour, a helpful, open-minded attitude and the ability to work as a team or think for yourself, when the circumstances demand it. You should be mature enough to look after yourself whilst keeping an eye out for the others around you. It will also help if you are reasonably fit.

The aim of the rally is to supply at least 100 Honda CTX200 motorcycles to the charity. Without a doubt this bike is perfectly suited to novice and expert alike, totally at home with the challenging roads and variable conditions that lie ahead.

To take part in the trip, riders will need to raise a minimum of £4,500 in sponsorship. For some this will be simple, for others it could seem a high mountain to climb. It may seem a large amount of money to some of you now, but once you start putting your mind to the task it is surprising how enjoyable, satisfying and easy raising the sponsorship money can become.

Enduro Africa is an ethical and profitable business. Your £4,500 covers all your trip expenses, Enduro Africa wages and running costs, team leaders, medics, mechanics, food, bikes, flights and accomodation are also included in this price.
Out of the total money raised Enduro Africa deduct all costs and donate the remaining cash and bikes to Riders for Health, as an example principal aim is to give away 100 bikes plus 50k for maintenance and training, however this may not always be possible. A full breakdown of the rides associated costs is available to any rider that takes part after the accounts are finalised.

2006 Enduro Africa sold out.
To sign up for 2007 please go to Enduro Race

Humans are generally attracted to the taste of carbohydrate sweetness. In the early years this worked well because most of the things in nature that are sweet are non-poisonous, but unfortunately, thanks to technology, we have now learnt how to extract the sweetness and leave the rest.

It's the 'taste inflation'. If new-born babies were able to analyse their chemical taste sensors, they'd experience a broad range of various tastes, the bitters in green leafy vegetables, natural fruit sugars and even the sweetness in tomatoes or cashews. Although when they're introduced to standard foods like infant formula, candy bars, soft drink etc they're natural taste senses are basically obliterated, desensitising them to flavour subtleties found in natural foods. What you end up with is people who can only taste sugar and salt, hence why most prepared or processed foods are overloaded with these two ingredients. If you were to bight into a doughnut and not be repulsed by the excess sugar taste, you are suffering taste inflation. Some people also think that this process actually makes people stupid! By impairing the tongue's sensitivity and by taking away the brain's full scope of possible taste sensations, it's actually impairing their own judgement, making them less aware!

Taste inflation is also a problem in the perfume and cosmetics world and Bubble Jam Health are issuing another full report on this on our website where you can read about it.

Are you prepared to let the sugar giant companies and others keep doing this to you? Will you let them do it to your children?

In America, the contributions made to congressional parties leading up to changes in food laws around sugar is disgusting and sugar barons in America alone pocket over £1 billion in excess import taxes every year. During the period 1997-1999, a company called Flo Sun Sugar made over 21 donations ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 to campaign committees and these numbers have only gone up over the last six years (sourced from www.newstarget.com). Is it any wonder that 'law makers' are overlooking regulations around sugar. This is a whole other issue and one I will not delve into too much here, but please be aware of this, and consider doing some research of your own.

Apart from the other results of eating sugars listed in part one, it is a fact that sugars and refined carbohydrates are directly linked to diabetes. Sugars are detrimental to the health of those without Diabetes and devastating for those with it. Excess sugar in our blood can also lead to Type 2 Diabetes.

In a nutshell, the sugar in our bodies is known as blood sugar or blood glucose and all the cells in our body must have a constant source of glucose to fuel metabolism. Our cells use the power created by the glucose to process growth and repair. When we eat, our digestive system converts most of our food to glucose and releases it to our blood stream. Our pancreas gland secretes insulin and this insulin moves the glucose from the blood and into the cells for fuel. If the cells can't get enough glucose they literally starve to death and as they do our tissues and organs begin to degenerate. When too many fat cells crowd the other cells in the body it's hard for the insulin to reach its destination. And too many fat cells are caused when we? Eat excess sugars and refined carbohydrates – prepared or processed foods, and don't eat enough natural fibre and exercise regularly. This is Diabetes and because Type 2 Diabetes takes several years to form and doesn't have any 'dramatic' symptoms, most people aren't even aware they have it. Type 1 Diabetes can cause severe complications such as heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, which will usually start to appear 10-15 years after diagnosis.

Nutritionists regard four classes of simple sugars as detrimental to our health when prolonged consumption is in amounts above 15% of the carbohydrate calories. These are sucrose, fructose, honey and malts. You may be surprised to hear that honey is included here. You may have been under the impression that honey was a natural sweetener from the bees right?

Well from the bees it is, but 95% of the dry matter of honey is fructose, glucose and sucrose. Honey has the highest calorie content of all sugars and is not much better than white or brown sugar once it has been treated and ready for commercial use. Honey is not a recommended substitute when you are making an effort to cut out sugars. Use only raw, unheated honey, and only on occasion.

Eating small organic (if possible), natural meals regularly, with a low sugar content, every three to five hours can help keep a balance and prevent any increase or decrease in blood sugar levels. Natural sources of sugar like fruit are very healthy in moderation as they still contain all the original vitamins and minerals. By keeping our blood sugar levels balanced, our metabolism and our appetite is also maintained. The more sugar and refined carbohydrates you eat such as commercial cereals, sweets, cakes, buns and biscuits, the harder it will be for you to maintain an even blood sugar and your body will be confused as to whether it wants to rest, move, gain weight, lose weight, process or store!

Substitute that chocolate biscuit for some organic oatcakes with goats cheese, or a snack of berries, olives and nuts. Invest in a juicer and make yourself delicious freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices. Not only does this food look better and taste better, your body will love you for it. Make an effort to re-educate your brain and bring your bodies natural taste sensors back to life! There really are plenty of healthy, alternative options to choose from and there's something for everyone's taste. Even the biggest of sugar addicts can reform!

Kicking sugar should be done gradually and it's easy to set small goals for yourself, be it week by week or day by day. Set yourself a goal to be free of sugars in one year. Try replacing the normally sugary snacks you have with healthy alternatives and you'll soon realise how dependent you made yourself on the artificial energy boost and how you no longer suffer the afternoon sleepiness in the office. Get off your butt and get into some regular exercise. Find something you enjoy doing be it running, the gym, swimming, squash. You'll find something you love and you'll feel more energised, healthy and alive.

Of course it's a lot to take in and the realisation is that you must make quite a large life change, but it is possible! It may be more of a challenge for some but those few are probably more overweight than the rest and have more mentally and physically to gain from making such an important change in their lives. You can do it!

Start off by thinking about what you're going to eat before you eat it. Look at it and ask yourself, is this natural? Is this loaded with sugars and refined carbohydrates? Am I going to put this in my mouth and kill more taste buds? Will the amount of sugar literally make me feel ill?

Read the packaging and look carefully for all ingredients and all the different ways that sugar can be listed.

Start to go for things on the shelf that aren't pre-prepared or packaged and try shopping at a market or organic food shop instead of your local, convenient supermarket.

Some reference books that you will find useful are "Lick the Sugar Habit", Nancy Appleton PhD, "Food Politics", Marion Nestle, "Green Tea", Nadine Taylor, "Blended Medicine", Michael Castleman, "Prescription for Dietary Wellness", Phyllis A Balch. You can also carry out your own research on Google and find many other books and websites to help you.

An extremely healthy sugar substitute is Stevia. It is an all natural sweetener from the sweetleaf herb that has almost zero calories and won't alter our blood sugar like sugar does. It is safely used all around the world and has been for thousands of years with no reports of toxicity or negative side effects (sourced from
www.newstarget.com) Why then have we not heard of it and/or are unable to purchase it easily? Just another way the sugar giants protect the profits of the Aspartame market. Without being aware of what is the healthy alternative and what options you have, Aspartame will be your first choice for a sugar substitute and instead of suffering obesity, diabetes or any of the other sugar related illnesses, you'll suffer migraines, blindness and nervous system disorders! Try your local health food store for liquid or crystal Stevia or search the web!

Molasses is also another suitable option initially as it is relatively unprocessed and contains vitamin K, B6, PABA, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chromium, copper and iron which all have their own beneficial qualities. Again, try your health food shop and look for blackstrap molasses.

One of THE most important things to remember when you're making the effort to cut down on sugars is that artificial sweeteners are not an option!

I mentioned briefly above that it was important NOT to use artificial sweeteners when trying to cut down on sugar and I was originally planning to outline the risks of using Aspartame in this section, but after doing some research I found that there are just too many facts I feel obliged to tell you about.

Please join me in part 3

We'll be bringing you the absolute truth, the shocking facts on sugar (and artificial sweeteners) in a series of articles over the coming weeks. We hope you take the time to read it and make a positive change to your diet by eliminating this killer. It really could give you an extra ten, even twenty years of life.

Part 1: The serious facts

In America, men, women and children are addicted. They're consuming 115lbs of sugar per year, and yes, it's addictive. Just like cigarettes, just like some drugs. In fact, sugar is more damaging than all other narcotics combined. Take a minute to just think about that.

It's in bread, breakfast cereal (some contain as much as 50% sugar!), mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, soups, spaghetti sauce, hams, and just about every microwave meal you can name, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Look closely at the labels next time you're in the supermarket. You'll find just about everything contains sugar. Believe it or not, even flue-cured tobacco can contain as much as 20% sugar by weight.


Don’t be fooled by the label ‘no added sugar’. Read the ingredients carefully. Sugar can also be known as:
Maltedextrin
Sucrose
Lactose
Glucose
Dextrose
Honey
Sorbitol
Fructose
Maltose

A clever way that companies try to fool us is by disguising that the food contains sugar. One way is by calling it something else!

By the time the natural sugar cane or sugar beets are refined down to molasses, then refined into brown sugar, then all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients are stripped, and all that is left is an unnatural concentrated white crystalline substance (C12H220), industrially produced, which the body is not able to handle. That can't be good for you right?!

A common mistake is that people think sugar is a food and ingest massive amounts of it. It’s a silent assassin. Its damaging effects start from the very day we're born when we're fed formula containing sugar, even before we're born if our mothers are eating excess sugar. Practically 95% of people are addicted to sugar to some degree. Most aren’t even aware. That's staggering.

When we talk about sugar, we are including bad nutrition as a whole, since anyone who indulges in excess sugar, generally has bad dietary habits. There are significant consequences that you will suffer if you consume excess sugars. It has the effect of a long-term chemical poison. Just what damage does sugar do to the human body? The list is endless. See how many you can put a tick next to out of the following list, sourced from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications (references available on request):

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defences against infectious disease.
2. Can make it difficult to lose weight because of constantly high insulin levels, which causes the body to store excess carbs as fat.
3. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
4. Sugar can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
5. Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.
7. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.
8. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.
9. Sugar is by far the leading cause of dental deterioration - cavities in teeth, bleeding gums, failure of bone structure, and loss of teeth.
10. Sugar is the main cause of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.
11. It is either a significant or contributory cause of heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension, cancer.
12. It has an extremely harmful effect in unbalancing the endocrine system and injuring its component glands such as the adrenal glands, pancreas and liver, causing the blood sugar level to fluctuate widely. It has a number of other extremely damaging effects on the human body.
13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
14. Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.
15. Sugar can cause premature aging.
16. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
17. Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.
18. Sugar contributes to obesity.
19. Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis.
20. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
21. Sugar can cause gallstones.
22. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
23. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
24. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
25. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
26. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
27. Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.
28. Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.
29. Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.
30. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
31. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs) (Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).
32. Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.
33. Sugar causes food allergies.
34. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
35. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
36. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
37. Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.
38. Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.
39. Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
40. Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.
41. Sugar can cause emphysema.
42. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.
43. Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.
44. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.
45. Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.
46. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.
47. Sugar can damage your pancreas.
48. Sugar can increase your body's fluid retention.
49. Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.
50. Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries.
51. Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.
52. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
53. Sugar can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.
54. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind's ability to think clearly.
55. Sugar can cause depression.
56. Sugar can increase your risk of gout.
57. Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
58. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.
59. Sugar can lead to dizziness.
60. Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.
61. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.
62. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
63. Sugar is an addictive substance.
64. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
65. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
66. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.
67. Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.
68. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.
69. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
70. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
71. Sugar can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function.
72. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.
73. I.V.s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.
74. Sugar increases your risk of polio.
75. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
76. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.
77. In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives.
78. Sugar may induce cell death.
79. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.
80. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
81. Sugar can cause gum disease.
82. Increases overgrowth of candida yeast organism
83. Increases chronic fatigue
84. Can trigger binge eating in those with bulimia
85. Increases PMS symptoms
86. Increases hyperactivity in about 50% of children
87. Increases tooth decay
88. Increases anxiety and irritability
89. Can increase or intensify symptoms of anxiety and panic in susceptible women

How many did you tick? Gob smacked? You should be.
Be sure to visit us again soon to read part 2 where I'll go through ways to help withdraw excess sugars from your diet and give you vital important information on Aspartame – the most controversial food additive in history.

Intrepid