Facebook App Lets You Add Enemies Online

 

Forget friending. A new Facebook app allows users of the social network to identify and share people, places and things as “enemies” for all to see. The app, called EnemyGraph, lets you list anything with a Facebook presence — ranging from “friends,” to foods, to products, movies or books — as an enemy. Since the app launched March 15, it’s seemed to appeal especially to users with a liberal bent. Some of its most-selected nemeses so far include Rick Santorum, Westboro Baptist Church and Fox News. The app was developed by a professor and two students at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dean Terry, who directs the school’s emerging media program, helped conceptualize the project, while graduate student Bradley Griffith and undergraduate Harrison Massey built the app. Griffith said EnemyGraph has so far accumulated some 400 users. But more importantly, its creators say, press coverage has helped meet the team’s goal of sparking a larger conversation about the nature of social media and Facebook in particular. “One thing that has always struck me is the enforced niceness culture,” Terry told Mashable. “We wanted to give people a chance to express dissonance as well. We’re using the word enemy about as accurately as Facebook uses the word friend.” But the app has utility beyond simply sparking a philosophical debate, Terry adds. Researchers and marketers have long gathered information on social media users based on what they support, but at the expense of possibly overlooking another valuable data source. “You can actually learn a lot about people by what they’re upset about and what they don’t like,” Terry says. “And the second thing is that if you and I both don’t like something, that actually creates a social bond that hasn’t been explored in social media at all, except with Kony and some big examples like that.” Terry and Griffith teamed up last year to create Undetweetable, a service allowing Twitter users’ deleted tweets to be uncovered posthumously. That project gained some attention as well but Twitter quickly forced it to shut down. Terry wouldn’t be surprised if EnemyGraph meets a similar fate from Facebook. “My guess is it goes against their social philosophy and purpose,” he says. “It is a critique of their social philosophy for sure.” Do you like the EnemyGraph idea? Let us know in the comments.

socially disruptive narcissists More Facebook Friends You Have, the More Unhappy You Are

 

A  study has discovered a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and how much of a “socially disruptive narcissist” you are—giving us one more reason to tone down our Facebook addictions. Researchers at Western Illinois studied 294 college students and found that those with more friends on Facebook tended to score higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire. They tended to respond more aggressively to comments, change their profile pictures more often, and updated their news feeds more regularly than others. This may not be all that surprising, but it does provide a bit of motivation to re-evaluate what Facebook does for you, if you fit into one of these categories (and if not, at least you can stop feeling bad about not having very many Facebook friends—it’s probably a good thing). None of this is to say Facebook is inherently bad, of course. It’s still a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, especially after you’ve fixed all of its annoyances—you might just want to dial back on all the photo tagging. While you’re at it, you can also move some of those friends to your Acquaintances list using Facebook’s new tool, which will hide them from your news feed more often.

Extra smoking counselling 'doesn't help quitters'

Offering free nicotine patches or intensive counselling to smokers calling the English NHS helpline does not help them quit, a study in the BMJ says. University of Nottingham researchers found that this additional support - on top of what is already offered - had no effect on numbers giving up smoking. More than 2,500 smokers were followed up over one year. The Department of Health said it would not now offer any extra services. The Department of Health and the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, in Nottingham, funded the study to find out if the support offered currently by the NHS Smoking Helpline could be improved. 'Proactive support' The smokers in the study were split into four groups. The first received standard support in the form of NHS Stop Smoking Services advice, letters, emails, text messages and access to a helpline. The second group received the same support but were also offered free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in the form of a 21-day supply of patches. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote We are fortunate in having a wide range of treatments available in this country which can be tailored to the individual needs of the smoker” Amanda Sandford Ash The third group received "proactive support" in the form of standard support plus extra counselling sessions and messages from helpline staff. The fourth group received the same proactive support as the third group but with added free nicotine patches. Participants in the study were followed up one month and six months later. Analysis of the data showed that six months after quitting, 18.9% of the 59% who were contacted said they had managed not to smoke. Nearly 80% of this group agree to give a breath test for carbon monoxide to prove that they had stopped smoking. The study found no significant difference in success rates between those people offered different types of supportive counselling, or between those given nicotine replacement therapy. Some 18.2% of those given proactive support had quit, compared with 19.6% of those who did not receive this support. Overall, 17.7% of smokers who were offered the patches stopped smoking, compared with 20.1% of those not offered them. Even one month after setting a quit date, no significant differences were found between the groups. 'Costly burden' Professor Tim Coleman of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, who led the study, said the trial had shed light on how telephone helplines could be used to help smokers who wanted to stop. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote This study brings into sharp relief the need to find other ways of using quitlines to help smokers give up” Prof Tim Coleman UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies "On the basis of this study, giving out free nicotine patches and more intensive telephone counselling through the English national quitline just doesn't seem to work. "It brings into sharp relief the need to find other ways of using quitlines to help smokers give up, and so to reduce the terrible effects smoking has on people's lives and the costly burden to the NHS." Amanda Sandford, from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said the study showed that standard NHS care was difficult to improve upon. "We are fortunate in having a wide range of treatments available in this country which can be tailored to the individual needs of the smoker. "The important thing is that people wanting to stop smoking should get professional advice. "The 17-20% quit success rate found in this study is far higher than when trying to stop smoking on your own." A Department of Health spokesman said the research was helpful in deciding what the helpline should offer. "The Coleman study looked at what would happen if the helpline also offered extra services to smokers such as free nicotine patches. It found that there would be little additional benefit so we won't be adding this to the helpline."

Minimum price for alcohol introduced in bid to tackle Britain's binge crisis

The cost of a pint of beer will be at least 80p and a pint of strong cider would be at least £1.60. Mr Cameron said he was trying to tackle the country’s binge drinking culture and was targeting those who ‘pre-load’ on cheap supermarket drink before going out. He wants a 40p minimum charge for each unit of alcohol, following similar moves in Scotland. The prime minister said: ‘We’re consulting on the actual price but, if it is 40p, that could mean 50,000 fewer crimes each year and 9,000 fewer alcohol-related deaths over the next decade.’ The minimum price was welcomed by police and health campaigners, who say drink was behind 1.2million hospital admissions and 1million crimes last year, and  cost Britain £21billion a year. Critics, however, say it will unfairly punish the vast majority, who are sensible drinkers and comes just hours after a five per cent rise in duty on drink was confirmed in the budget. Mr Cameron also wants to give pubs more powers not to serve people who are drunk, a zero tolerance approach to drunken behaviour in hospitals, a ban on multi-buy discounts and a late night levy on pubs and clubs to help pay for policing. A consultation will take place in the summer, with a new law introduced by the end of the year. He said: ‘Binge drinking is a serious problem. And I make no excuses for clamping down on it.’ Supermarkets will oppose a minimum price. At Asda, a can of Smartprice lager costs 22p. The supermarket is also selling wine at £2.30 a bottle. It contains 8.3 units of alcohol, meaning it will rise in price by at least £1.

Liver deaths at all-time high

 

Liver disease is killing more people than ever before in England, especially in deprived areas, shows a report out today. Deaths from liver disease: implications for end of life care in England, the first national report into the problem, finds that between 2001 and 2009, deaths from liver disease rose by 25% – and that more than a third of these were from alcohol-related liver disease. In England in 2001, 9321 people died from liver disease, but by 2009 this had risen to 11,575; at the same time, deaths from other major causes fell. The report, from the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, also showed that liver disease was a disproportionate killer of younger people, accounting for one in ten of all deaths in people in their 40s. Death from liver disease, especially alcohol-related, was much more common in men than in women – 60% of all deaths from liver disease occurred in men. Alcohol-related liver disease was responsible for 41% of deaths from liver deaths in men, and 30% of liver disease deaths in women. The most economically deprived areas of England were the most likely to have high levels of death from alcohol-related liver disease, where it accounted for 44% of all liver disease deaths, compared with 28% in the least deprived areas. Mortality also varied between regions: it was highest in North West, North East and London, and lowest in East of England, South West and South East. Professor Martin Lombard, national clinical director for liver disease, said: “The key drivers for increasing numbers of deaths from liver disease are all preventable, such as alcohol, obesity, hepatitis C and hepatitis B. We must focus our efforts and tackle this problem sooner rather than later.” Professor Julia Verne, lead author of the report and clinical lead for the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, said: “It is crucial that commissioners and providers of health and social care services know the prevalence of liver disease in their local areas, so that more people can receive the care they need to allow them to die in the place of their choosing.”

A Nation 'Addicted' To Statins...

Dear Reader,

In the UK alone, more than 7 million people are taking cholesterol-lowering statins. This is extremely worrying when you consider the damage these over-prescribed drugs can inflict, with side effects ranging from liver dysfunction and acute renal failure to fatigue and extreme muscle weakness (myopathy).

Slowly tearing us apart

Even more concerning are the side effects that crop up after long-term use, which are often not linked to statins. For example, one study monitored the symptoms of 40 asthma patients for a year. 20 of these patients started statins at the outset of the study, while the remaining 20 did not.

The results showed that those patients on statins used their rescue inhaler medications 72 per cent more often than they had at the start of the study, compared to a 9 per cent increase in those who were not taking statins. The researchers also reported that patients taking statins had to get up more frequently at night because of their asthma and also had worse symptoms during the day...

Worsening asthma symptoms is just the beginning. More recent research has linked statins with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, depression, Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Still, doctors are very quick to reach for their prescription pads and push these drugs. There appears to be an unofficial (but widely practiced) 'statins for all' approach... especially if you are aged 50 and over.

Luckily, some mainstreamers are slowly catching on to what we've been saying for nearly a decade. In 2011, research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine drew attention to the fact that there is inadequate medical data available that proves the benefits of statins, and that many studies fail to acknowledge the most commonly reported adverse effects of statins.

The fact remains (and your doctor may still deny this) that in total, statins cause serious damage in about 4.4 per cent of those taking them, in comparison to the 2.7 per cent statin users benefiting from them... and it looks as if this message is finally getting through to medical authorities.

A case in point is simvastatin or Zocor. After being on the market for almost 3 decades and causing havoc and distress with its horrendous side effects, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally issued a warning about the use of this drug... saying that even the approved dosage can harm or even kill you!

Yep! Kill you!

All well and good

It's all fair and well and good that the FDA flagged this warning, but what's the point if doctors continue to prescribe these drugs left, right and centre?

Professor Sarah Harper, director of Oxford University's institute of population ageing, recently said that the UK's "love affair" with prescription medicine, shows how people choose to pop pills rather than follow a healthy lifestyle.

She cited the widespread use of statin drugs to 'help' protect against heart disease and lower cholesterol, instead of eating healthily, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol intake and taking regular exercise.

By all means, I applaud Prof Harper for pushing the message that living a healthy life plays a big part in preventing disease, but why blame patients for being a bunch of pill poppers when doctors hand out drugs with reckless abandon... and recommend taking preventative drugs to ever younger age groups. So in fact, the white coats should be labelled as Big Pharma's drug pushers, because they're part of the problem... especially considering that so many people put their entire trust in their doctor and would never dream of questioning their advice. Most people take what they say as gospel.

Then there's the media, inundating Joe Public with inflammatory headlines like: 'Statins could help fight breast cancer' or 'Statins can prevent infections like pneumonia'... Not to mention their reporting on botch studies showing the 'unintended benefits' of statins, like their potential to prevent pneumonia, combat diabetes, reduce the risk of oesophageal cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer — all of these so-called benefits are of course not yet proven, and highly unlikely. Still, they reach the front pages!

So, yes we might have turned into a pill popping public, but it's the mainstream and the media that have created this monster all with the help and backing of the puppet master: Big Pharma. Because as you and I know all too well, it's all about the money. 

Mike is in rehab

"The Situation" is in rehab for substance abuse ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell TMZ the "Jersey Shore" star -- aka Mike Sorrentino -- has checked into an inpatient treatment program.  

A rep for the Situation just contacted TMZ to say they are not confirming that Mike is in rehab ... just that he "has spent the past several weeks at an undisclosed location for much needed rest and recuperation after his extensive production and appearance schedule."

Like most of the 'JS' crew ... Sorrentino's been on a non-stop party train since the show debuted on MTV 2 years ago -- drinking and making paid appearances at nightclubs all over the world.

Sitch makes anywhere from 15K ... up to a whopping 50k per nightclub appearance.

MTV just announced "Jersey Shore" is returning for a 6th season ... which is scheduled to start shooting this summer.
 

S SPAIN THE NEXT GREECE? NATION SINKS FURTHER INTO MIRE

Savage cuts to the Greek health service have seen the country's HIV and Tuberculosis rates soar - sparking fears it is becoming a third world nation.

Aid agencies said the cutting of hospital budgets by an astonishing 40 per cent had also led to a sharp rise in the number of citizens being diagnosed with Malaria.

In the south, they said, it is reaching near endemic levels not seen since 1970s.

The scrapping of needle exchange services has seen the number of HIV and Aids sufferers in central Athens rise by 1,250 per cent in 2011 alone.

There are more prostitutes on the streets selling their bodies to make ends meet, while heroin addicts are finding it harder to come by anti-retroviral treatments.

There is also the first instances ever of the two illnesses being transmitted between mother and child - something usually equated with sub-Saharan Africa and not Europe.

Médecins sans Frontières Greece's Reveka Papadopoulos said the health service cuts, which saw widespread job losses, were putting social services 'under very severe strain'.

She added: 'If not in a state of breakdown. What we are seeing are very clear indicators of a system that cannot cope'. She said the 40 per cent cuts were on top of a 24 per cent increase in 2011 in demand for medical services.

This, she said, was 'largely because people could simply no longer afford private healthcare. The entire system is deteriorating'.

On the rise: The number of HIV and Aids sufferers in Greece is soaring

 

She added: 'There has also been a sharp increase in cases of tuberculosis in the immigrant population.

'Cases of Nile fever - leading to 35 deaths in 2010 - and the reappearance of endemic malaria in several parts of Greece.

 

 

 

'The simple fact of the reappearance of malaria, with 100-odd cases in southern Greece last year and 20 to 30 more elsewhere, shows barriers to healthcare access have risen.

'Malaria is treatable, it shouldn't spread if the system is working.'

Good news: Greece is set to receive the next tranche of eurozone bailout cash next week

The news comes as it was revealed Greece will get €5.9billion in new bailout money on Monday. It is the first slice of a new rescue package meant to keep the country afloat while it overhauls its economy.

Greece stands to receive a total of €172.7 billion from its partners in the 17-nation eurozone and the International Monetary Fund until 2016.

IS SPAIN THE NEXT GREECE? NATION SINKS FURTHER INTO MIRE

Spain now owes more money than it has done in the last 20 years, the Bank of Spain said.

For 2011 the country's public debt was 68.5 percent of gross domestic product, up from 61.2 per cent in 2010.

While it is a relatively low ratio, compared with its 16 eurozone peers who have an average 87.7 per cent, it has almost doubled from 36.3 per cent in 2007.

This is because there is a lack of economic impetus since the credit-and-construction bubble burst in 2008.

Spain has been ordered by the European Commission to cut its budget shortfall from 8.5 per cent of GDP in 2011 to 5.3 per cent this year and 3 per cent in 2013.

It has forced Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to hunt for savings worth around €60billion.

This year's target is a compromise after Rajoy defied Brussels by ditching a much tighter goal of 4.4 per cent of GDP agreed by the previous government.     

But the task will be made tougher as the economy is thought to already be in its second recession in three years, with the government expecting output to shrink 1.7 per cent in 2012.

The cuts has led to the closure of 27 publicly run companies, some of which were duplicates - such as a water company.

Others included a loss-making entity tasked with stimulating Spain's small housing rental market and one created to back the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.    

The central bank also said Spain's 17 autonomous regions, blamed for the lion's share of the fiscal slippage last year, ran debt up by 17.3 per cent in 2011 to €140billion.

The data showed the country's wealthiest region of Catalonia, was the most indebted, closely followed by Valencia.  Both had debt-to-GDP ratios of around 20 per cent compared to an average of 13.1 per cent.    

Tighter controls over regional budgets imposed by the central government aim to bring their spending back under control this year, even if analysts retain doubts over their future compliance and banks' balance sheets.    

The sum includes money left over from the country's first rescue package and a new €130billion programme.

The disbursement was approved earlier this week, said Matthias Mors, the European Commission representative to the troika - the debt inspectors from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF who are managing the Greek bailout.

The bailout, on its own, will not be enough to ease the country's financial woes.

An EU report released today said Greece must make a sustained effort to attract future investment and support export-led growth as it seeks to recover from a recession that is now in its fifth year.

But the report, prepared by the European Commission and the ECB, also said a bond swap deal with private creditors has made the country's debt load far more sustainable in the long-term.

The news has had a positive effect on European financial markets.

The FTSE 100 is today 0.45 per cent up at 5,967.43; France's CAC 40 is 0.54 per cent up at 3,599.37; and Germany's DAX is 0.33 per cent up at 7,168.37.

The report projects that, assuming interim targets are met, Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio will decline to below 117 per cent in 2020 and to below 90 per cent in 2030.

It was as high as 160 per cent of GDP before the debt relief deal was agreed with private creditors.

While progress has been made in reforming the economy, significant concerns remain, including inflation, a lack of credit available to households and business, and the need to regain competitiveness by reducing labor costs, Mors said.

'One of the priorities of this second program is the recapitalization of banks,' Mors said.

For one thing, bank deposits have fallen, he said. For another, the agreement to write down private debt 'will leave holes in the balance sheets of banks, because they held government bonds,' he added.

He said the new program includes €50 billion for bank recapitalisation. 'This is an enormous amount,' he said. Mors also warned that significant more belt-tightening lies ahead.

'The target for this year is a primary deficit of 1 per cent,' he said, referring to the budget balance before interest payments. 

'And the programme target for 2014 is a surplus of 4.5 per cent. And therefore people have to be aware that, in terms of fiscal adjustment, there's still a long way to go.' He said the Greek government will have to identify before this summer how it plans to close that gap.

It's Not Dementia, It's Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory

 

One day in 1999 Duane Graveline, then a 68-year-old former NASA astronaut, returned home from his morning walk in Merritt Island, Fla., and could not remember where he was. His wife stepped outside, and he greeted her as a stranger. When Graveline’s memory returned some six hours later in the hospital, he racked his brain to figure out what might have caused this terrifying bout of amnesia. Only one thing came to mind: he had recently started taking the statin drug Lipitor. Cholesterol-lowering statins such as Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor are the most widely prescribed medications in the world, and they are credited with saving the lives of many heart disease patients. But recently a small number of users have voiced concerns that the drugs elicit unexpected cognitive side effects, such as memory loss, fuzzy thinking and learning difficulties. Hundreds of people have registered complaints with MedWatch, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s adverse drug reaction database, but few studies have been done and the results are inconclusive. Nevertheless, many experts are starting to believe that a small percentage of the population is at risk, and they are calling for increased public awareness of the possible cognitive side effects of statins—symptoms that may be misdiagnosed as dementia in the aging patients who take them. Fat and the Brain It is not crazy to connect cholesterol-modifying drugs with cognition; after all, one quarter of the body’s cholesterol is found in the brain. Cholesterol is a waxy substance that, among other things, provides structure to the body’s cell membranes. High levels of cholesterol in the blood create a risk for heart disease, because the molecules that transport cholesterol can damage arteries and cause blockages. In the brain, however, cholesterol plays a crucial role in the formation of neuronal connections—the vital links that underlie memory and learning. Quick thinking and rapid reaction times depend on cholesterol, too, because the waxy molecules are the building blocks of the sheaths that insulate neurons and speed up electrical transmissions. “We can’t understand how a drug that affects such an important pathway would not have adverse reactions,” says Ralph Edwards, former director of the World Health Organization’s drug-monitoring center in Uppsala, Sweden. Two small trials published in 2000 and 2004 by Matthew Muldoon, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of Pittsburgh, seem to suggest a link between statins and cognitive problems. The first, which enrolled 209 high-cholesterol subjects, reported that participants taking placebo pills improved more on repeated tests of attention and reaction time taken over the course of six months—presumably getting better because of practice, as people typically do. Subjects who were on statins, however, did not show the normal improvement—suggesting their learning was impaired. The second trial reported similar findings. And a study published in 2003 in Reviews of Therapeutics noted that among 60 statin users who had reported memory problems to MedWatch, more than half said their symptoms improved when they stopped taking the drugs. But other studies have found no significant link between statins and memory problems. Larry Sparks, director of the Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Research at the Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Ariz., goes so far as to say that “you’ve got a better chance of buying a winning lottery ticket, walking outside and getting hit by lightning and dying” than you do of suffering a cognitive side effect from statins. Vulnerable Genes? Many experts agree that for most people the risk is quite low, but they are beginning to believe the effects are real. “A subset of the population is vulnerable,” argues Joe Graedon, co-founder of the consumer advocacy Web site the People’s Pharmacy, which has collected hundreds of reports of cognitive-related statin side effects in the past decade. Some researchers believe these people have a genetic profile that puts them at risk.

Statin side effects: How common are memory loss, diabetes, and muscle aches?

 

When the US Food and Drug Administration told the makers of cholesterol-lowering statins to add new side effect warnings to their labels last week, many of the 40 million statin users may have been unaware of the extent of the risks associated with these drugs that have been touted by some cardiologists to be safer than aspirin. No question, statins -- which include Lipitor (atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), and Crestor (rosuvastatin) -- are relatively safe drugs, and they’ve saved thousands of lives over the past 20 years, particularly in men with established heart disease. But like any drug they can cause problems in some, including muscle aches, an increased risk of diabetes, and, gaining recent attention, memory loss. University of California-San Diego researcher Beatrice Golomb published a paper two years ago describing 171 statin users who reported that they had developed memory problems and dementia-like symptoms that the statin users attributed to their use of the medications. The vast majority experienced an improvement in their symptoms after stopping the drugs and many saw their symptoms return after going back on statins. Robert Grindell, a state employee from Makinen, Minn., told me his short-term memory began to deteriorate after he started taking Zocor in his early 50s. (He contacted Golomb after hearing about her research.) “My co-workers told me I was coming in to ask them the same question three times in one day,” he said. “I had a CT scan to determine if I had a stroke, but it came back fine; the next day, I couldn’t even remember where I had the test performed.” After learning that Zocor caused memory problems, Grindell decided to go off it and said within a few days he noticed an improvement in his memory, not having to glance down several times at a printed phone number as he dialed it to remember the digits. Unfortunately, the exact incidence of these memory problems isn’t known. Manufacturer-sponsored clinical trials show that they occur in fewer than 1 percent of users, but statin researcher Dr. Paul Thompson, chief of cardiololgy at Hartford Hospital, said the real incidence is probably much higher. He has a study expected to be published sometime this year that measured cognitive effects in statin users compared with those on placebos that he said will provide a better estimate; the findings can’t be disclosed until the study is published. The diabetes risks of statins are more well-established. One review study published last year calculated an extra two cases of type 2 diabetes in every 1,000 patients who took a high-dose statin (80 milligrams per day) compared with those who took a lower dose (20 to 40 milligrams). And one clinical trial found that statin users had about a 25 percent increased risk of developing diabetes over a two-year period compared with those who took placebos. Experts, though, agree that in people at high risk for heart disease, the increased diabetes risk is outweighed by the statin’s protection against heart attacks and deaths from any cause. The danger of muscle destruction from statins -- which can damage the liver and kidneys -- is also clear but slight. According to Thompson, about 1 in every 1,000 statin users will develop severely elevated levels of the enzyme creatine kinase, which indicates muscle death, and only 1 in 10 million die from developing an extremely severe case of the condition called rhabdomyolysis. Muscle aches are far more common: occuring in about 1 in 10 users, according to Thompson. “It seems to be more common in people who do a lot of exercise.” In fact, a study he conducted found that marathon runners taking statins developed a greater increase in creatine kinase right after their race compared with runners who weren’t on statins. “We also see more muscle aches in older people and women since they have less muscle mass,” he said. Lowering the statin dose or switching to a different statin doesn’t always help, Thompson said. “In our studies, those who develop statin myalgia tend to get it again and again; they’re body may get sensitized to statins.” There may also be a genetic component, with statin muscle aches occuring more often in those whose parents also had them. And there may be a link between memory loss and muscle aches. “In our database, the majority of patients who had cognitive problems also had muscle problems,” Golomb said. She recommends that those who are having memory loss or muscle aches speak to their doctor about going off statins -- especially if they’re not in a high-risk group for heart attacks. Those who get the most benefits are men under 65 who’ve already had a heart attack, she said. Women, elderly people, and those without heart disease get much smaller benefits from statins, and it’s unclear whether the drugs extend their lives. “Many patients have told me that their doctor said going off statins would kill them,” Golomb said, “but that’s not an accurate representation of the evidence.”

Evidence builds that meditation strengthens the brain

Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit. See Also: Health & Medicine Nervous System Psychology Research Brain Tumor Mind & Brain Neuroscience Intelligence Brain Injury Living Well Reference Thalamus Alpha wave Cerebral contusion Functional neuroimaging Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes. The article appears in the online edition of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of neural tissue. Among other functions, it plays a key role in memory, attention, thought and consciousness. Gyrification or cortical folding is the process by which the surface of the brain undergoes changes to create narrow furrows and folds called sulci and gyri. Their formation may promote and enhance neural processing. Presumably then, the more folding that occurs, the better the brain is at processing information, making decisions, forming memories and so forth. "Rather than just comparing meditators and non-meditators, we wanted to see if there is a link between the amount of meditation practice and the extent of brain alteration," said Luders. "That is, correlating the number of years of meditation with the degree of folding." Of the 49 recruited subjects, the researchers took MRI scans of 23 meditators and compared them to 16 control subjects matched for age, handedness and sex. (Ten participants dropped out.) The scans for the controls were obtained from an existing MRI database, while the meditators were recruited from various meditation venues. The meditators had practiced their craft on average for 20 years using a variety of meditation types -- Samatha, Vipassana, Zen and more. The researchers applied a well-established and automated whole-brain approach to measure cortical gyrification at thousands of points across the surface of the brain. They found pronounced group differences (heightened levels of gyrification in active meditation practitioners) across a wide swatch of the cortex, including the left precentral gyrus, the left and right anterior dorsal insula, the right fusiform gyrus and the right cuneus. Perhaps most interesting, though, was the positive correlation between the number of meditation years and the amount of insular gyrification. "The insula has been suggested to function as a hub for autonomic, affective and cognitive integration," said Luders. "Meditators are known to be masters in introspection and awareness as well as emotional control and self-regulation, so the findings make sense that the longer someone has meditated, the higher the degree of folding in the insula." While Luders cautions that genetic and other environmental factors could have contributed to the effects the researchers observed, still, "The positive correlation between gyrification and the number of practice years supports the idea that meditation enhances regional gyrification."

Shisha cafes should have prominent notices saying, “Smoking shisha can kill” - just like you would on a cigarette packet

 puffing on a Turkish waterpipe is the latest trend to hit British bars and cafes.

The flavoured tobacco, which is smoked via a long pipe connected to a vessel filled with water, is particularly fashionable among young people, with the number of specialist bars rising 210 per cent since 2007.

But the World Health Organisation has warned that a one-hour shisha session can be as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes.

Trend: Zaky Ali ,40, owner of Marhaba Cafe in Birmingham, with a hookah pipe for smoking shisha, which is becoming more popular among the young. But experts warn it can do more damage than cigarettes because users take more puffs of smoke

This is because a cigarette smoker typically takes between eight and 12 puffs, inhaling 0.5 to 0.6 litres of smoke.

But during hour-long shisha sessions smokers may take up to 200 drags, ranging from 0.15 to 1 litre of smoke each. 

 

 

More...

• Britain's drink death capital: How more people die from alcohol in Sunderland than anywhere else

 

‘Shisha smoking is a growing concern because people aren’t aware of the risks like they are with cigarette smoking,’ says Professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at University College London.

‘The greater the exposure in terms of duration and amount smoked, the greater the risk to your health’

That’s because although shisha tobacco tastes nicer than cigarettes, it contains all the same toxicants known to cause lung cancer and heart disease.

Risk: Smokers typically take in 12 puffs on a cigarette compared to up to 200 for hookah pipes

Among the risks are heart disease, respiratory problems, lung and mouth cancer and problems during pregnancy.

‘Smoke from tobacco contains a number of carcinogens which damage the DNA in cells,’ explains Professor West. ‘Just one damaged cell can divide and multiply uncontrollably and quite quickly develop into a large tumour. This is what causes lung cancer,’ explains Professor West

Enthusiasts claim that as the smoke passes through water most of the harmful chemicals are absorbed, however there is no evidence to support this.

‘If people think it’s safer than cigarettes, when it’s not, they need to be informed otherwise,’ said Professor West.

There are other risks. As the mouthpiece is passed around from person to person, this raises the risk of transmitting diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis.

The waterpipe has been used to smoke tobacco for centuries, primarily in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

A rise in travel to countries such as Egypt and Turkey has seen the pipe transported to the UK.

The waterpipe is heavily sold as a souvenir, and is popular with tourists who like to take it back home as a gift or decorative object.

The waterpipe can also be purchased in various shops in London for as little as £20, with shisha tobacco costing £5-£10.

The tobacco is burned with charcoal in a bowl that sits above the vessel.

The smoke it produces passes through the water in the container and goes down the pipe so the user can sit by the vessel and an inhale it with their mouth. 

Middle Eastern inspired: A shisha user in Iraq, the pipe's traditional home

The smoke is cooled by the water and makes it feel less ‘harsh’ - and experts warn that as a result people inhale it more deeply into their lungs, which increases the risks even further.

Shisha tobacco is flavoured with fruit molasses such as apple and strawberry, so the residual redolent smoke is sweet.

Because it doesn’t taste like a cigarette, people often think of it as being safer or better. Many young people who don’t usually smoke are attracted to this seemingly harmless activity.

It’s also a cheaper option than buying a round at the pub. One shisha usually costs between £7-£20, and is often shared by two or three people throughout an evening.

In the borough of Westminster, London, the number of shisha cafes have gone up approximately by 68 per cent since 2007.

The smoking ban hasn’t stopped this trend from growing. Restaurant and café owners offering shisha have been able to flout the ban by creating garden terraces or patio seating outdoors.

But as the weather gets warmer, and shisha becomes more and more fashionable, experts are calling for better health warnings.

Professor West suggests: ‘Shisha cafes should have prominent notices saying, “Smoking shisha can kill” - just like you would on a cigarette packet.’

Having a cocaine binge at the weekend followed by three or four diazepam to get to sleep on Sunday messes up the brain's chemistry

 

Having a cocaine binge at the weekend followed by three or four diazepam to get to sleep on Sunday messes up the brain's chemistry, a consultant psychiatrist says.Many people who use drugs recreationally also take prescription medicines such as tranquillisers, sleeping pills and painkillers to deal with the effects of a weekend high and get back to work on Monday, new research reveals. An international survey carried out by the Guardian and Mixmag magazine found that about a third of the 7,700 people from the UK who revealed their illegal drug use also took prescription sleeping pills – 22.4% had taken benzodiazepines such as temazepam in the last year and 7.2% had taken the newer "z-drugs" – zopiclone and zolpidem. Those taking part in the survey were predominantly well-educated working people who felt they were in control of their lives. But Dr Richard Bowskill, consultant psychiatrist and medical director of the Priory rehabilitation centre in Brighton, said he saw the fallout years later from this pattern of illegal and prescription drug-taking among "highly functioning" clients. "People think they are being their own pharmacist. They have a major binge of cocaine over the weekend and three or four diazepam to get to sleep on Sunday night. They think they understand what it is doing to their body and they think they are in control, but their brain chemistry is getting messed up," he said. "They know the effects of the drug. It's often being used following cocaine to self-medicate for the downswing and it causes chaos. It's a really common scenario. Then they can't get to sleep on Monday and they take some more sleeping tablets." While recreational drug users think prescription medicines are safe, because GPs hand them out and the tablets are what they purport to be, benzodiazepines and opioid painkillers are highly addictive if taken regularly for any length of time. Anna, who had a high-pressured job requiring her to make frequent long-haul flights, was not a recreational drug taker but started taking zopiclone to help her sleep on the plane or when she arrived in a different time zone and needed to be fresh for work in the morning. "Your body gets accustomed to the drugs. I didn't really understand their addictive nature," she said. "They weren't having an effect so I was having to up the dosage." She ended up taking five tablets at a time, but they just made her more anxious, irritable and sleepless. "I lost a lot of friends." She talked of the societal "pressure to perform" and her regret that there was so little help. GPs did not want to know, she said. With the help of the Council for Information on Tranquillisers, Antidepressants and Painkillers (CITA), a support group, she had been switched to a different drug and was slowly cutting down. Against expectations, most people in the Guardian/Mixmag survey did not get their prescription drugs from the internet, but from their own GP or a friend who had been prescribed them. GPs were in a bind, said Dr Peter Swinyard, national chairman of the Family Doctor Association. When people arrived in the surgery complaining of pain or insomnia "we are predisposed to believe what people tell us", he said. "We always work from the premise that they are being honest with us." Nonetheless, a survey the association did last summer showed that 52% of GPs were worried about prescription drug abuse in their area. Eight out of 10 of the 197 GPs who responded to the survey said they were aware of prescribing to people who they thought were addicted. Half were aware of occasions when prescriptions had been sold on. "People tell us they lose their prescription or it got eaten by the dog. A lot of general practices have systems like a book at reception recording those who say they have lost their prescription," Swinyard said. But there are people who GPs would not characterise as liars or cheats. "There is the traditional little old lady who is taking her sleeping pill prescription and selling it down the pub. I'm sure there is a cohort of elderly people supplementing their pension by selling their prescription drugs," he said. Although the Guardian/Mixmag survey responders mostly said they used sleeping tablets for sleep and painkillers for pain, they had often tried them to get high – 57.8% in the case of the anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin, nearly 40% in the case of the benzos and 28% who had taken opioid painkillers. In the US, prescription opioids have caused a huge problem since oxycodone – better known by its brand name OxyContin – was licensed for use outside cancer treatment in the mid-1990s. In 2008, 15,000 Americans died from overdosing on prescription opiates, according to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), which is more than on heroin and cocaine combined. The opioid epidemic appears not to have hit the UK. "There has been a rise in oxycodone deaths, but it is pretty small," said James Bell, addiction consultant at the South London and Maudsley NHS trust. "I have been trying to look for evidence here and it is not a big problem." Demand was fuelled in the US by direct advertising to the public. In the UK this is not allowed and most people are registered with a single NHS GP so cannot shop around. The Guardian/Mixmag study, which was conducted by Global Drug Survey, shows that a quarter of responders had taken prescription opioid painkillers and 9% had taken other painkillers. More than three-quarters said they took them for pain relief, 24% said they took them to get to sleep and 18% said they took them for mood-changing purposes.

State of Addiction: Cash-Strapped State Rehabs are Looking for a Fix

Oklahoma was one of the country’s biggest abusers of prescription medications last year, news that comes after several years of budget cuts that have reduced state treatment programs. Dramatic TV news coverage can make it look like methamphetamine is Oklahoma’s biggest drug problem. But Terri White, Commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, says that’s never really been the case. Oklahoma’s Evolving Drug Problem The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services struggles for funds as the state’s addictions get worse. Download “When you look at the number one drug that people identify as their number one issue, it’s still alcohol,” White says. “So, second behind that, we have marijuana and methamphetamine, which often tie for number two and number three. So, methamphetamine is still a significant issue in our state, as is marijuana use.” And there’s a new culprit quickly making up ground. “But coming up very quickly and growing everyday is our number four, which is prescription drugs. And so, that is growing at a faster rate,” White says. But battling these issues takes money, and over the last several years, the agency has seen cuts both in both federal block grants and state appropriations. It received more than $87 million for substance abuse in 2008, before the economic crisis. For 2012, that number is closer to $69 million. “$35 million being ripped out of a system that’s already under funded is really a horrid situation for the State of Oklahoma.” –Terri White, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services “This agency has lost about 35-million dollars over the last four years,” White says. “$35 million being ripped out of a system that’s already under funded is really a horrid situation for the State of Oklahoma.” And White says cuts directly affect the number of people who can be helped by treatment facilities that rely on state funding. “For example, on any give day already had between 500 and 600 Oklahomans on a waiting list who needed substance abuse treatment, who’d actually made the step to ask for treatment, and every bed in the state was full,” she says. “That number’s gone now, and instead of being between 500 and 600 on any given day, it’s now between 600 and 900 on any given day.” About 50 of those beds are being occupied by residents of Catalyst Behavior Services in Oklahoma City, an in-patient treatment center that’s often the last resort for those who can’t afford and are unable to receive treatment at a fully private program. “I’d been an addict for over a decade,” says Kathleen Beeman, a resident at Catalyst. “I started out using pain medication, opiate pain medication, and it led me to heroin eventually.” Beeman has been at Catalyst for seven months and will be allowed to stay a full year. “My life was destroyed by it,” she says. “And I called for days and days to get in here, and there’s a long waiting list to get in here — to get into any rehab, but I got in and it’s been very helpful to me. I’ve got the tools to stay sober the rest of my life.” But Catalyst is providing those tools on a shoestring budget, says Director Mike Covington. “We get $74 a day per client. That’ll tell you how low that is. That’s really low,” he says. “Considering all the services we provide and all the salaries. And as cost of living has gone up the last three or four years, with the budget, our payment has not gone up.” With an improving state budget outlook, Commissioner White expects about $6 million more to work with starting next fiscal year. But her agency will still just be playing catch-up.

How an hour spent smoking trendy shisha is as harmful as ONE HUNDRED cigarettes

Hubbly-bubbly, hookah or shisha - whatever name it goes by, puffing on a Turkish waterpipe is the latest trend to hit British bars and cafes. The flavoured tobacco, which is smoked via a long pipe connected to a vessel filled with water, is particularly fashionable among young people, with the number of specialist bars rising 210 per cent since 2007. But the World Health Organisation has warned that a one-hour shisha session can be as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes.

Young take drugs blindly, survey reveals

 

A fifth of young drug users admit to taking substances without having any idea of what they contain, a survey has revealed. The group aged 18-25 said they had taken “mystery white powders” without asking or caring what was in them. The poll of 15,500 people also found that more drug users in the UK and US admit taking cannabis than tobacco or energy drinks. Those who go out clubbing a lot were more likely to take ecstasy than smoke cigarettes. Some 15 per cent of all respondents admitted taking an unknown white powder in the past 12 months, with a third admitting it was supplied by someone they did not trust. The survey, by the Guardian and Mixmag magazine, revealed those taking drugs regard the side-effects as often no worse than a hangover.

NICOTINE ADDICTION Ad campaign shows smoking's scary side

Health officials launched a $54 million advertising campaign on Thursday depicting the health risks of smoking in gruesome detail, offering the latest salvo in the government's campaign to deglamorize cigarette smoking. The 12-week advertising blitz, called "Tips From Former Smokers," is an effort to counteract the estimated $10.5 billion a year spent by tobacco companies to market and promote cigarettes in the United States. "This is really a David versus Goliath fight. The tobacco industry has spent more than $100 billion on marketing and promotion. They continue to spend more than $10 billion a year. That's a million dollars every hour," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a telephone interview. Some 8 million Americans have smoking-related illnesses, and as many as 443,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related causes. And while U.S. health officials have succeeded in getting many smokers to quit, recent evidence suggests the message is not getting through to America's youth. According to the U.S. surgeon general's report on youth smoking released last week, one in four high school seniors is a regular cigarette smoker, and because few high school smokers are able to quit, some 80 percent will continue to smoke as adults. CDC says its ads - a combination of paid advertising and public service announcements - are intended to encourage smokers to quit and to build awareness for the damage caused by smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. "Basically these are ads about the real effects of smoking on real people. They show cancer, heart attacks, stroke, amputation and what it's like to live with those conditions," Frieden said. One print ad, for example, depicts Brandon, a 31-year-old double amputee from North Dakota who was diagnosed at age 18 with Buerger's disease, a rare blood-vessel disorder that cut off blood flow to both his legs. Brandon's tip: Allow extra time in the morning to put on your legs. One of the TV spots depicts an emaciated, 51-year-old former smoker from North Carolina named Terrie getting ready for work by putting in her teeth, then putting on her wig and artfully arranging a scarf around her tracheostomy tube. The tagline of the ad is: Smoking causes immediate damage to the body. You can quit. Frieden said frank stories about the real health effects of smoking have been proven to discourage new smokers and to get people to quit. "This is absolutely what works. The science is very clear," Frieden said. A 2008 report by the National Cancer Institute found that anti-smoking media campaigns reduce smoking among both youth and adults, especially those with strong messages that play on the emotions. And a 2012 review of published studies found that testimonials warning about the risks of smoking are especially effective at getting people to quit. Frieden estimates that about 50,000 smokers will quit as a result of these ads. "It could be higher, but that's our conservative estimate." The advertising campaign will run on a wide range of media, including TV, radio, print, billboards, bus shelters, movies and online via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The push follows big tobacco's success in federal court at blocking regulations that would have required companies to put pictures on their labels of rotting teeth, diseased lungs and other images illustrating the long-term health consequences of smoking. But Frieden said the advertising effort was planned long before that decision was handed down earlier this month. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society said the ads are a good step, but they need to be part of a coordinated anti-smoking effort that includes talking about clean indoor air, tobacco taxes and smoking cessation programs. "We have hit a barrier of smoking in this country where about 20 percent of adults are regular smokers," Lichtenfeld said in a telephone interview. "In the past number of years, we haven't been able to reduce that number. If this campaign sends a message to people that this is a habit that has risks that can cause harm, that's a good thing," he said.

Food Addiction campaigns ''aren't working''

 

The government has to do more to tackle the national obesity "emergency", Which? has said in a new report which described the attempts to far as "inadequate". Despite major food companies being asked to sign up to the 'Responsibility Deal' to commit to displaying calorie information, reducing salt in foods and removing trans fats, there has not been enough action, the watchdog said. And given the scale of the diet-related health problem that costs the NHS more than £5bn every year a radical change of approach and pace is required. Which? has found that just two of the top 10 restaurants and pub groups have agreed to provide calorie information and two of the top five coffee shops. And while "some good progress" has been made on companies committing to reduce salt in their food, many big name brands like Iceland, Findus, Princes and Birds Eye have yet to make the pledge. Finally, while most major companies have removed trans fats from their products, there are still smaller take-aways and other caterers that haven't signed up to the pledge. Which? called on the government in the next six months to demand that all food companies use traffic light nutrition labelling, establish 2014 salt reduction targets, introduce a robust pledge for sugar and fat reductions, make saturated fat a priority, ban artificial trans fats, put pressure on food companies to be responsible in their promotions and improve food in public institutions, including hospitals. Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "We have the worst obesity rates in Europe and diet-related diseases, like heart disease and stroke, are blighting the public's health. Our audit of progress made under the government's Responsibility Deal has shown the current approach is overly reliant on vague voluntary promises by the food industry. This has so far failed to bring about change on anything like the scale needed. "The government relies too much on voluntary deals with industry rather than showing real leadership. If food companies don't agree to help people eat more healthily, then we must see legislation to force them to do so for the sake of the health of the nation."

TV-addicted loving Brits spend two months a YEAR watching television

 

Brits spend more than two months a year or 31 hours a week watching television, a new study reveals. The report, published by TV licensing, found that the average Brit consumed 28 hours of television on a traditional set a week, with a further three hours on a laptop, phone or other smaller screen. The research also showed that the average home in Britain has more than two TV sets and at least one laptop.

Children recognise alcohol brand images

 

Children are often more likely to recognise alcohol brand images than those associated with popular snacks, a study has found. The research, commissioned by Alcohol Concern, found that 79 per cent of ten and 11-year-olds recognised Carlsberg as an alcoholic drink. This was more than the proportion that recognised Ben and Jerry's as a brand of ice-cream (74 per cent) or Mr Kipling cakes as a food (41 per cent). Furthermore, 79 per cent of children in this age group recognised the logo for Smirnoff vodka and 75 per cent linked the fictional characters in a Fosters TV ad with alcohol. The findings highlight the influence that advertising has on children and supports calls for greater regulation of broadcast advertising, according to Alcohol Concern. A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport agreed that 'robust, evidence-based alcohol advertising rules' are needed to protect children and young people. He added: 'Both European law and the UK Broadcasting Code set out strict criteria which mean that broadcast advertising for alcoholic drinks cannot be targeted at young people, or encourage immoderate consumption.' Eight out of ten teenagers have tried alcohol by the age of 15, according to the charity Drinkaware.

Addiction to drugs such as cocaine could be caused by a faulty reward system in the brain

Addiction to drugs such as cocaine could be caused by a faulty reward system in the brain, scientists have revealed - and the same flaw leads to a weakness for sugary foods.
Mice with a 'flaw' in their brain's signalling eagerly sought out both cocaine and sugary foods - and responded powerfully to both.
The mice seemed to remember places where they had 'drug experiences' better.
The Swedish researchers describe the finding as a 'key piece' in the battle against addiction and obesity.

The brain sends out the natural chemical dopamine when we eat certain foods, have sex or exercise, giving a feeling of pleasure.

However, drugs can ‘kidnap’ this natural reward system and ‘re-wire’ nerve cells in the brain which leads to addiction and craving for the drugs.
Sugary foods cause the same 'rewiring', say Swedish researchers.
The research found that mice who had a 'faulty' circuit in their brain were easier prey for both sugar and cocaine - seeking out food and the drug, and responding more strongly to both.

In the brain, dopamine works in conjunction with a brain receptor glutamate which is a crucial chemical in assisting memory.

Researchers found that mice who were unable to ‘co-signal’ - as the process is known - would consume more cocaine and sugar than control mice.

The mice that were unable to co-signal developed strong memories of drug-taking environments.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Asa Mackenzie, of Uppsala University in Sweden, said the study showed the brain becomes hypersensitive to rewards when co-signalling does not function.

Prof Mackenzie said: ‘Our data indicate that the brain becomes hypersensitive to rewards when this co-signalling of glutamate and dopamine does not function.

It's estimated that one million people in the UK use cocaine

Swedish researchers found that mice with a 'flaw' in their brains sought out sugary treats - and the same mice were also more vulnerable to cocaine

‘Lower doses than normal are enough to increase the propensity to ingest the substance, and this is true of both sugar and cocaine.

‘Since there is a strong correlation between memory and consumption substances, and ultimately also for the risk of addiction, the researchers also looked into this.

‘The interesting finding from the study that mice that lack the ability to co-signal developed dramatically improved memory of environments that could be associated with the ingestion of drugs.

‘They also found changes in genetic expressions in the reward system that indicate that the brain has become hypersensitive and that dopamine levels have dropped.

‘This is extremely interesting, but more research is needed in order to understand how this can be used in drug development, for instance.’

It is thought more than one million people a year use cocaine in Britain.

March Madness Can Trigger Compulsive Gambling

 

Compulsive gambling is considered as debilitating as an alcohol or drug addiction, according to the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling. March Madness often brings many chances at getting some gambling action, but that can trigger compulsive gamblers. Julie Hintzman, a psychotherapist at Ministry Behavioral Health in Stevens Point, says the disorder is treatable and it may be the whole family who needs it. "I do a lot of individual counseling," Hintzman said. "I do a lot of family counseling also because it becomes a family disease, it affects everybody in the family." She's also seeing a trend of more gamblers using their addiction online, where they can be discreet. Younger people may also have a hard time controlling gambling habits. "Research suggests that more teens are gambling more often and the college basketball tournament seems to be a draw for young gamblers," said Rose Gruber, executive director of the WI Council on Problem Gambling.