The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| US study links household chemical with heart disease Posted: 06 Sep 2012 08:36 AM PDT  A new study links a chemical found in products made with Teflon to risk factors for heart disease. — Picture courtesy of ©shutterstock.com "Even at the low exposure levels of PFOAs found in most Americans, there is a positive association between increasing levels of PFOAs and cardiovascular disease," researcher Anoop Shankar of the West Virginia University School of Public Health in the US told WebMD. PFOA is widely used to make lubricants, polishes, paper coatings, food packaging, fire-retardant foams, and products made with Teflon. Levels of this chemical have been found in the blood of more than 98 per cent of Americans, and the chemical stays in the body for years. Appearing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, the research involved data on more than 1,200 men and women, averaging in their 50s, gathered from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. According to CNN, subjects "with the highest levels of PFOA in their blood had double the odds of having a history of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke, compared to adults with the lowest PFOA levels". Also, those subjects with the highest levels of the chemical in their blood were associated with 78 per cent greater chances of peripheral artery disease. But because the research only found an association between PFOA and vascular diseases, not a cause-and-effect link, the scientists say more work needs to be done. WebMD reports that while other studies have found a link between PFOA and heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, few studies have examined the chemical's effects on cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Interactive gravestones link to online tales of life Posted: 06 Sep 2012 07:06 AM PDT  The website linked to the QR code shows a profile of the departed, pictures, videos and tributes from family and friends. — Reuters pic One funeral company in the southern English town of Poole is offering to add quick response (QR) codes to headstones which will link smartphones to online memorials illustrated with pictures, videos and contributions from family and friends. Chester Pearce Funeral Directors said QR barcodes enable visitors to learn a lot more about the person buried beneath gravestones than the age, dates of birth and death and the odd biblical passage or literary quote usually written on them. "It's about keeping people's memories alive in different ways," said managing director Stephen Nimmo. "When you lose somebody, whether it be suddenly or ongoing, you can really struggle with things. "Talking about them is very important, keeping their memory going is very important and this is just an add-on to that." QR codes, a barcode that can be scanned with smartphones or QR scanners, allow users to pull up information on the internet and are frequently used in advertising and marketing campaigns. "It's a new technology, it's something that there will be people who like it, there will be people who don't and that's the same in everything that we do," Nimmo said. He said he has seen demand growing for QR codes as they catch the imagination of the public. Chester Pearce charge about £300 (RM1,500) to create a code that can also be placed on gravestones, benches, trees or plaques and is linked to a page on their QR Memories website. Gill Tuttiet, 53, was one of the first customers in Poole to use the technology for her late husband Timothy. "Tim was quite outward-going and game for anything. I think this is the way forward and Tim would have wanted that, and it's making a process that's hard possibly easier," Tuttiet said. The website linked to the code shows a profile of the departed, pictures, videos and tributes from family and friends. Close friends and family given a password are also able to add personal messages of their own. "We've all got a story to tell," Nimmo said. — Reuters |
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