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People who drink hot tea daily may be less likely than others to develop glaucoma symptoms, US researchers say.

Compared to coffee, soft drink and iced tea drinkers, study participants who consumed a cup or more of hot caffeinated tea daily had 74 per cent lower odds of having glaucoma, the study authors report in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

“Glaucoma can lead to blindness, and it would be great if it could be prevented because there is no cure,” said lead author Dr Anne Coleman of the University of California, Los Angeles.

“The best way to prevent it is to get your eyes checked,” Coleman told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. “But we are also interested in lifestyle habits and what we can do to make a difference.”

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation, affecting an estimated 58 million people. That includes more than 3 million Americans, only half of whom are aware they have the disease, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.

Coffee, or caffeine in general have previously been linked to increased glaucoma risk, although recent studies do not agree, Coleman and her colleagues write.

To evaluate the relationship between specific caffeinated drinks and glaucoma, Coleman and colleagues analysed data on a sample of more than 10,000 people in the US who were representative of the entire population. Participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 2005-2006 answered questions about their diets and lifestyles, had medical exams and blood tests and also underwent eye examinations.

About 1,700 participants were over age 40, had no other known eye diseases and had full eye examination results from the survey. In this group, Coleman’s team found that just over 5 per cent, 82 people, had glaucoma.

Almost half of participants reported drinking coffee often, but less than 10 per cent drank hot tea daily. The research team found no associations between coffee, iced tea, decaffeinated tea or soft drink consumption and the likelihood of having glaucoma.

“Tea drinkers should keep drinking and don’t need to stop because of a fear of glaucoma,” Coleman said. “This makes sense, but we’ll see if it holds up in future studies.”

Future studies should look at the habits, activities and nutrition that affect lifestyle and glaucoma risks, said Idan Hecht of Tel Aviv University in Israel, who was not involved in the research.

“In the past few years, there has been a tremendous increase in interest, and subsequently research, into the ways lifestyle changes can influence diseases,” Hecht told Reuters Health by e-mail.

Recent research indicates that vitamins C, E and zinc can help vision. Other studies indicate that antioxidants in tea could have similar effects, he noted.

“Patients can and should be involved and take an active role in the management of their ailments,” Hecht said. “Exercising, eating healthy and trying novel ways to improve your health is something you should definitely explore and bring up with your physician.”

Environmental factors could play a role in glaucoma risk as well, said Dr Ahmad Aref at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“As our population grows older, we need to think about the other factors that could help, particularly when it comes to the health benefits of physical activity,” he told Reuters Health by phone.

Overall, both medical and non-medical approaches are key to treating the disease in the future, Aref added.

“It’s a tough disease because we don’t have a way to bring vision back once it’s lost,” he said. “All we can do is prevent it from getting worse, and we want to help patients do that.”

Visions of doomsday are not what they used to be. Forget about the Earth being wiped out by an environmental disaster caused by the dire consequences of global warming, and forget about an all-out nuclear war that would bring civilisation as we know it to an end. Even visions of large meteorites thrashing the Earth are not what would scare us most. The way things are going, it is more likely that global mayhem will take place because of a major crash of the Internet. This is hardly an exaggeration.

When you think of all that is done through the web today, a major crash of it certainly is the worst nightmare you can envision. The world will freeze as surely as in a new ice age. Airlines, banks, transportation, security, e-mail, medicine, government institutions, telecommunications, traffic, audio-video streaming, and of course, the most critical of them all… Whatsapp! They all would come to a standstill, with all the obvious, terrible consequences that we can easily imagine.

How likely it is to happen is not something that can be accurately estimated, except that it is not excluded at all. Human errors, technical failures, accidents and hacking are always possible. 

For the last ten years or so, Europe has been trying to “decentralise” the Internet backbone that is still mainly located in North America. The Internet backbone consists of the computer servers and fibre optic cabling that make the global network. Even if you are in Jordan, for instance, and you send an e-mail to someone in a neighbouring country, you still have to go through the backbone.

To avoid a digital doomsday, Europe is increasing the number of Internet servers and fibre optic cabling on its soil, in an effort to break North America’s almost exclusive monopoly on the web. It is working, up to a certain point, but a lot remains to be done to reduce the global crash risk. Spreading the Internet backbone evenly over continents is one way to reduce both the eventuality and the consequences of a major catastrophe.

Enki Bilal is a leading, successful author of science fiction “bandes dessinées”, the French equivalent of American comics. He has just published the first chapter of a new series very aptly titled “Bug”, which tells precisely of what would happen if a major bug was to bring the Internet down. Bilal’s fiction actually covers more than network failure and also tells of how dehumanising the Internet has become, even without a doomsday scenario. But this is another story.

So far we have all experienced short and very local network failures. However frustrating they can be, such limited incidents, of course, have little to do with a major failure of the web, if it was to cover the world and last for a period exceeding four or five days, for example.

There is little doubt that everything is being done to avoid a big failure to happen. Systems are being made redundant and as safe as possible. Cyber and network security has become one of the most important specialities within the domain of Information Technology.

So far we have only had a “taste” of what a big break down would do. In “mid-2017, two major and intertwined ransomware attacks spread like wildfire across the globe, shutting down hospitals in Ukraine and radio stations in California, and that was when ransomware became an existential threat”. (csoonline.com).

Till now we have been praying that no world leader will ever push the button to start a nuclear war. We can now update our prayers for a safe, always-up Internet.

When patients misunderstand commonly used medical terms, communication and decision making may suffer, UK researchers say.

In a survey of London oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic patients, more than a third of participants did not know the meaning of terms like “benign” or “lesion” and more than half could not define “metastasis” or “lymph node”, the study team reports in the British Dental Journal.

Communication between patient and practitioner is essential, the researchers write, but it may not be happening as often as doctors think it is.

“As a result, ill-informed patients tend to neglect timely treatment which can lead to very bad — sometimes disastrous — outcomes,” said Dr Sidney Eisig of Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine in New York, who was not involved in the study.

“I’ve seen patients with premalignant lesions turn to cancer that otherwise might not have occurred had surgical treatment not been so delayed,” he told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

Emma Hayes of King’s College Hospital, London, and her colleagues recruited 123 patients waiting for their appointments at the hospital’s outpatient clinic to anonymously answer questionnaires about the meanings of several medical terms. Participants also provided background information about themselves, including education level and whether English was their first language.

In a multiple-choice section of the questionnaire, they were asked to define: blister, ulcer, malignant, lesion and benign. In a free-written answer section, they were also asked to describe in their own words the meanings of: biopsy, tumour, lymph node, pre-malignant and metastasis.

Hayes’ team found that 90 per cent of respondents correctly defined blister as a bubble of fluid under the skin. Ulcer came in at a distant second with just 70 per cent choosing the appropriate definition as an open sore or break in the skin.

“The words blister and ulcer are frequently used in medical areas unrelated to dental care, which may explain why the two are the most recognised medical lexicon,” Eisig noted. “For example, a patient experienced foot or hand blisters in the past. A friend or family member once had a stomach ulcer.”

Forty-five per cent of patients were able to define a biopsy as a test involving taking a sample, but 30 per cent wrongly defined it as a test specifically for cancer.

Benign and metastasis were the least understood terms, with 33 per cent of patients responding “Don’t know” for the meaning of benign and just 6 per cent correctly defining metastasis as the spread of a cancer to other areas of the body. Many patients also seemed to mistake “metastasis” for other words, offering responses such as “foot bone” (metatarsal) or “breast condition, very painful” (mastitis).

The researchers found that nearly 27 per cent of participants did not speak English as a first language, which is a higher rate than London as a whole, at 22 per cent, they note. But when the researchers looked just at those whose first language was English, they saw no differences in the number of correct answers based on educational level.

The study authors did not respond to a request for comments.

According to the US National Institutes of Health, providers in many fields, including emergency room settings, surgery requiring anesthetics and breast cancer clinics, grapple with how best to effectively communicate with patients.

Efforts to bridge this gap include encouraging the use of plainer language in written materials and providing interpreting services for non-English speakers.

Eisig notes that some of the biggest challenges to effectively communicating with patients stem from growing bureaucracy within healthcare and are not so easily remedied.

“Over the past decade or so there have been many changes to healthcare, many of which are driven by finances. Some of these changes aren’t always beneficial,” he said.

“Frequently the doctor’s back may be to the patient as entries are being made into the electronic health record. Doctor-patient communication is now being done increasingly through e-mail. These are just two examples that may lead to communication failures because practitioners are spending less time with patients, which results in diminished relationships thus increasing the likelihood for patient misinterpretation.”

Volvo’s follow-up to its popular premium mid-size SUV, the new XC60 is the third in a new generation of high tech Volvos that place just as much emphasis on design, drivability, dynamics and aesthetic as the Swedish maker has always placed on safety. Launched regionally back in September — just weeks before Volvo officially relaunched in Jordan — the XC60 is available in three trim levels and with two petrol engine options, including the range-topping T6 AWD R-Design model, as driven on southern Turkish roads, not too dissimilar from Jordanian conditions.

Stylish Swede

Hot on the heels of its larger XC90 SUV and S90 saloon sisters, the new XC60 shares the brand’s new Scalable Product Architecture platform, and the same sharp, classy and fresh design language. Longer, lower and wider than the previous XC60, the new model has a greater sense of presence and momentum to its wide and urgent stance, and features a jutting tailgate framed by slim vertical lights. Its long bonnet and long ratio between wheelarches to rakish A-pillars lends it a sportier and more premium profile.

Distinctly Scandinavian in its design, approach to luxury and character, the XC60’s fascia is dominated by a wide and jutting grille, flanked by slim and browed headlights stylishly bisected by Volvo’s current “Thor’s hammer” LED signature. With sculpted bodywork and a sharply angled kink at the rear of its waistline, the XC60 is at its aesthetic best in sportier R-design specification with slim and wide dual tailpipes, bigger more aggressive bumpers, and silver mirror backs, in addition to other details, including vast 255/40R21 tyres to fill out its wheel-arches.

Consistent and confident

The third model line built on Volvo’s versatile and new, the XC60 is built on a lightened, yet, more rigid frame. Its platform is a transverse front engine layout, yet enjoys a luxurious cabin-rear design with long bonnet, short overhangs and big footprint for stability, space and comfort. Powered exclusively by compact forced-induction two-litre four-cylinder engines, the XC60 petrol range includes the turbocharged T5, range-topping T8 hybrid and mid-range T6 with both turbo and supercharger for instant low-end responsiveness, meaty mid-range and punchy top-end delivery.

Refined and responsive, the XC60 T6 launches eagerly from standstill, with its mechanically driven supercharger eliminating turbo lag and ensuring consistently progressive yet prodigious delivery. 

Meanwhile, an exhaust gas driven turbocharger build up boost and power, and allows for an urgent top-end delivery. Producing abundant 295lb/ft torque throughout a broad 2200-5400rpm range and 316BHP at 5700rpm, the T6 is effortlessly versatile, with slick 8-speed automatic gearbox aiding performance, flexibility, refinement and efficiency. Capable of 0-100km/h in 5.9-seconds and 230km/h, the T6 AWD returns restrained 7.7l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Composed comfort

With 30 per cent stiffer springs and thicker anti-roll bars, the sportier R-Design specification XC60 well-manage its height and weight through corners. More agile vehicle than its size suggests, the T6 R-Design turns tidily into corner with direct steering. Rides on double wishbone front and integral-link rear suspension with optional adaptive air suspension, as tested, it is smooth and refined with good body control through corners. 

Four-wheel-drive ensures tenacious traction at launch, and allocates power between front and rear reassuring on the move road-holding. 

Stable at speed, capable through switchbacks and comfortably fluent on smooth roads, the R-Design’s optional 255/40R21 low profile tyres were somewhat firm but offered improved grip and a sportier drive in theory. However, in practice, and on rougher rural roads during test drive, one found that the slimmer 235/55R19 base R-Design tyres were more suitable. Well complementing air suspension, the slimmer tyres with higher sidewalls proved noticeably more forgiving, comfortable and supple, and with better steering and road feel communication — if not better outright grip — allowed for more intuitive and confident driving.

Sporty and classy

Composed, settled and refined, the XC60 is classy, elegant and stylish inside, with a distinct design sensibility and attention to detail and use of quality metals, leathers, suedes and soft touch plastics. With darker tones, chunky steering wheel, contrast metallic trim and supportively body hugging, yet, comfortable and highly adjustable seats, the R-Design has a sportier ambiance. Well-packaged and ergonomic, the XC60’s driving position is high but car-like and offers good visibility, but its driving mode selector is position somewhat far back in the centre console.

A practical SUV with good storage and cargo capacity, the XC60 also offers good passenger space, including generous rear head and leg room. Well-equipped, features include nine-inch smartphone-integrated, voice-activated infotainment system with WiFi hotspot. An emphasis on technology and safety, the includes Pedestrian, Cyclist, Large Animal Detection, Run-Off Prevention, Blind Spot Information System with Steer Assist and Oncoming Lane Mitigation for preventing head-on collisions. Steer Assist, meanwhile operates with City Safety and can initiate steering input to avoid collisions at 50-100km/h, and can brake individual wheels at the same time for stability.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: two-litre, supercharged and turbocharged, all-aluminium, transverse four-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 82 x 93.2mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

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

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

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

Reverse / final drive: 4.015:1 / 3.329

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 315 (320) [235] @5500rpm

Specific power: 160BHP/litre

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

Specific torque: 203.15Nm/litre

0-100km/h: 5.9-seconds

Top speed: 230km/h

Fuel consumption, urban / extra-urban / combined: 9.7- / 6.6- / 7.7-litres/100km 

Fuel capacity: 71-litres

Length: 4688mm

Width: 1902mm

Height: 1658mm

Wheelbase: 2865mm

Track, F/R: 1649 / 1653mm

Overhangs, F/R: 872 / 951mm

Ground clearance: 216mm

Approach / break-over / departure angles: 23.1° / 20.8° / 25.5°

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.32

Headroom, F/R: 994 / 988mm (w/sunroof)

Legroom, F/R; 1055 / 965mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1478 / 1430mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 505-/1432-litres

Unladen weight: 2002kg

Steering: Speed sensitive electric-assisted rack and pinion

Turning Circle: 11.4-meters

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / integral-link axle, active air suspension

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Braking distance, 100-0km/h: 36-meters

Tyres: 255/40R21 (optional)

LOS ANGELES — In a battle of box office heavyweights, Luke Skywalker just managed to hold off Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the world rang in another year.

Disney and LucasFilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” retained first place for the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend despite steep competition from Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”. “Last Jedi” picked up an estimated $68.4 million, bringing its domestic haul to $533.1 million.

Don’t weep for “Jumanji”, however. The fantasy reboot, which finds Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart transported into a video game world, has outperformed expectations, picking up a lordly $66.5 million over the holiday weekend. It now has a hefty $185.7 million domestic gross and should continue to draw crowds in 2018. The “Jumanji” sequel has also done well internationally, racking up $350 million worldwide, and has provided a much-needed hit for a studio that has struggled to keep pace with the Disney’s and Warner Bros.’s of the world. Sony claims the film has a $90 million budget. Those alleged production costs have raised eyebrows around town as to their veracity given the film’s Hawaii location and starry cast, but regardless of creative accounting and aggressive spinning, the result is impressive. A sequel seems preordained.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” closed 2017 as the year’s highest-grossing release and the seventh highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million. It will bypass its fellow franchisee “Rogue One” at some point on New Year’s Day to take the seventh spot on the stateside charts and has already blown past the $1 billion mark globally. The film carries a $200 million price tag, and has generated controversy for a series of creative decisions by director and writer Rian Johnson that have, depending on your perspective, either infused new energy into decades-old series or deviated dangerously from the Jedi canon.

It is been a dismal year for the domestic box office, which ends 2017 with $11.12 billion in sales, down 2.3 per cent from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. After a bruising summer, when revenues plummeted more than 6 per cent in the wake of costly flops such as “The Mummy” and “Transformer: The Last Knight”, the gap did narrow. Fall and winter hits such as “It”, “Thor: Ragnarok”, “Coco”, and “Murder on the Orient Express”, helped make up the difference. The industry was also aided by record ticket prices. Empirically, fewer people made it to the multiplexes. Attendance is expected to hit a 27-year low when official numbers are tallied.

Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” took third place on the stateside charts, grossing $22.7 million for the four-day period and pushing its domestic total to just under $70 million. The a Cappella comedy carries a $45 million production budget and has been billed as the final installment in the franchise.

Hugh Jackman’s musical drama “The Greatest Showman” is finishing a close fourth with $20.7 million. The Fox-Chernin Entertainment production chronicles the rise of circus impresario P.T. Barnum. It got a boost from the holidays, and showed the biggest gain in the top 10 movies from the Christmas Eve weekend with an impressive 73 per cent surge. The domestic total should hit $54.3 million through Monday. It’s a pricey movie, though. All that singing and dancing did not come cheap and “The Greatest Showman” cost $84 million to make.

Fox’s second weekend of “Ferdinand” rounded out the top five with $14.6 million, giving the animated comedy $56.8 million domestically.

Not every film was feeling the holiday spirit. Paramount’s “Downsizing” is a costly bomb. The comedy about a man (Matt Damon) who shrinks to the size of thimble in order to live in a materialistic utopia collapsed at the box office, eking out $6.1 million over the long weekend. Its total stands at $18.5 million — a paltry result given its $65 million budget. It also prolongs a box office losing streak for Damon. The actor also struck out with “Suburbicon” and “The Great Wall”, both of which opened during and flopped in 2017.

Warner Bros. and Alcon’s comedy “Father Figures” was another casualty of the Christmas crunch. The story of two twin brothers (Ed Helms and Owen Wilson) on a quest to find their biological father netted $5.1 million over the four-day weekend. Its total tops out at $14.1 million, making it unlikely that it will recoup its $25 million production budget as well its marketing costs.

And Sony’s “All the Money in the World” struggled to appeal to older audiences. The drama about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III attracted lots of attention for the filmmakers’ last minute decision to recast a key role played by disgraced actor Kevin Spacey. The breakneck reshoots took place in a matter of weeks, with Christopher Plummer assuming the Spacey part as parsimonious billionaire J. Paul Getty, and added $10 million to the film’s $40 million budget. Alas, audiences failed to show up. The movie grossed $7.5 million over the holiday weekend, bringing its domestic total to $14.7 million.

Foreign audiences picked up the slack as domestic attendance sputtered in 2017. The global box office is projected to hit $40 billion for the first time in history, propelled by the return of China. Total ticket sales in the Middle Kingdom grew by 22.3 per cent, ending the year with $8.6 billion in revenues. That, at least, gives a beleaguered movie business some cause for celebration.

I Don’t Want This Poem to End

Mahmoud Darwish

Translated by Mohammad Shaheen 

US: Interlink Books, 2017

Pp. 242

This is a book to be treasured. Titled after Mahmoud Darwish’s last poem, it includes previously unpublished poems found by his friends at his house in Amman, soon after his death, as well as older ones. The poetry is supplemented by Darwish’s essay on exile, a letter to his brother when he was first imprisoned in 1965, an interview and commentary by his peers which sheds light on Darwish as a poet and human being. Two of these fellow intellectuals are resident here in Amman: Mohammad Shaheen, Professor of English at Jordan University, who translated the poems, and the respected literary critic, Faisal Darraj, who tells of his last meeting with Darwish, only thirteen days before the latter’s death, sharing their dialogue on Arabic literature.

As translation is increasingly recognised as an art in itself, the translator’s notes are becoming more and more interesting, and Mohammad Shaheen’s are no exception. He begins by recalling that Darwish never aimed to have his poetry translated, saying, “I am quite happy with the boundaries of Arabic as the language of my poetry”. (p. 1) Luckily for the world at large, he did accept good translations. Shaheen refers back to Darwish’s earlier translators, like Denys Johnson-Davies, an acknowledged pioneer in translating Arabic literature to English, to remind that as much as he was acclaimed, Darwish was also controversial. According to Johnson-Davies, the public failed “to see the poet’s development from the direct lyricism of his early poetry… to a more sophisticated form of poetry where the motif of politics is now obliquely expressed”, as in this collection. (p. 5)

Edward Said, on the other hand, clearly saw Darwish’s trajectory as “an epic effort to transform the lyrics of loss into the indefinitely postponed drama of return”. (p. 12) 

A mingling of anticipation and grief is palpable in Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury’s introduction, telling how Darwish’s friends entered his Abdoun house to find the poems he had said he left there — the novelist not really believing the poet was dead. After some searching, they found “I Don’t Want This Poem to End”, the main component of this book, along with other poems. Of the time spent arranging them for publication, Khoury writes: “I was able to get to know Darwish better, and I came to understand why his death had struck us with such tragic intensity. This man was not just a poet; he breathes words, he makes rhythm part of the circulation of his blood, his heart throbs with images; it is as if he were painting with rhythm…” (p. 30)

Rhythm is indeed the decisive momentum in the poems in the book. However much one intends to savour every word, to ponder the poet’s meaning, one finds oneself racing through the lines, propelled onward by the irrepressible rhythm. This applies even when reading silently to oneself — one can only imagine the effect of the readings for which Darwish was so famous and beloved, and which were enthralling even for those who did not understand the language. If one has been so fortunate to attend such a recitation, reading these poems will recreate the experience.

In the interview conducted four years before the poet’s death, Shaheen speaks of “an accentuated Darwishi rhythm which is quite exceptional in Arabic poetry”, asking about the purpose of that style of reading. In answer, Darwish identifies rhythm as “the element which makes a unity of the other elements”, but goes on to say: “I admit that the authority of rhythm sometimes pushes the poetic phrase in unexpected directions.” (pp. 224-5)

This means the rhythm also sparks innovation, another hallmark of Darwish’s poetry. 

In these poems, much seems obvious, for Darwish’s imagery is very concrete and often nature-based. The words he uses are mainly quite ordinary, but it is how they are used, juxtaposed to each other and bound by the rhythm, that gives them extraordinary connotations, evoking complex emotions and multiple interpretations. The themes are too many to innumerate; some are vintage Darwish from new angles: love of homeland, of the land itself, of particular places and people and times; the meaning of exile, absence, return and freedom; the subversiveness of poetry. There is a strong undercurrent of belief in the permanence of Palestine, but also of disillusionment, even bitterness, which could be understood as a reaction to the ongoing injustice perpetrated against the Palestinians. 

Death is arguably the predominant motif, reaching a climax in the long poem, “I Don’t Want This Poem to End”, where the word “poem” becomes synonymous with life. In the interview, Darwish acknowledges a growing preoccupation with death after his heart surgery in 1998. The ensuing decade is considered to be his most productive period wherein he explored death in his writing and tried to use language to resist non-existence. Yet, this is not the poetry of someone who feared death, but of someone who loved life so intensely.

Americans had “Pac-Man Fever” as far back as 1981 but it has taken until now for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to officially recognise that playing video games too often could be a mental health disorder.

The WHO is planning to add the term “Gaming Disorder” to its official list of diseases in 2018, according to a draft of the organisation’s 2018 International Classification of Diseases.

The WHO’s description of Gaming Disorder says that those who are afflicted are characterised by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour, either on digital devices like smartphones or video-gaming offline on machines. 

According to the WHO’s description you may have a problem if your symptoms include impaired control over gaming — you just cannot stop playing. Right now you are jonesing for a round of “Horizon: Zero Dawn”, “Assassin’s Creed: Origins” or “Star Wars: Battlefront II”, that millions are playing at this very second and you feel left out. This could be a red flag.

Or, you give an increased priority to playing video games to the point they take precedence over other life interests and daily activities like eating and sleeping and socialising.

And, the continuation and escalation of gaming continues even after you suffer negative consequences like getting fired for playing on company time or you keep losing relationships because you just are not present.

The WHO’s classification means that doctors and insurance companies can recognise Gaming Disorder as a disease.

The WHO’s clinical description does not include prevention or treatment options.

But Forbes suggests you can self-diagnose by asking yourself the same questions people use to detect alcohol addiction. Just swap the word “alcohol” for “gaming”. If you identify strongly with the four questions you may have a problem and are advised to try to cut down:

— Have you ever felt you should cut down on your gaming?

— Have people annoyed you by criticising your gaming?

— Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your gaming?

— Are video games usually the first thing you think about in the morning when you wake up?

If taking more vitamin and mineral supplements is part of your plan for a healthier new year, a new study may prompt you to reconsider.

Researchers who scoured the medical literature for evidence that calcium and vitamin D pills could help prevent bone fractures came up empty.

Their analysis focused on adults older than age 50 who lived on their own (that is, not in a nursing home or other type of residential care facility). Fractures are a serious health concern for this population — previous studies have found that about 40 per cent of women in this age group will wind up with at least one “major osteoporotic fracture” at some point in their lives, and that among adults who break a hip, 20 per cent died within a year of their injury.

The researchers, led by Dr Jia-Guo Zhao of Tianjin Hospital in northeastern China, combed through clinical trials, systematic reviews and other reports published in the last decade, since late 2006. They identified 51,145 people who were included in studies assessing the role of calcium and/or vitamin D in preventing bone fractures.

Their findings appear in Tuesday’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Among the 14 trials that pitted calcium supplements against either a placebo or no treatment, there was no statistically significant relationship between use of the mineral (in pill form) and the risk of suffering a hip fracture. Nor was there any clear link between calcium supplements and fractures involving the spine or other bones.

Even when the researchers accounted for each study participant’s gender, past history of bone fractures, the amount of calcium they consumed in their diets and the dose of the calcium pills they took (if they did), there was still no sign that supplements were helpful.

An additional 17 trials examined the role of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. Once again, they found no statistically significant link between supplement use and hip fracture risk. Ditto for fractures in the spine and elsewhere.

Upon drilling down to certain subgroups, they found that for people who started out with at least 20 nanogrammes of vitamin D per millilitre of blood, adding more vitamin D through supplements was associated with a greater risk of hip fractures. The same was true for people who took high doses of vitamin D supplements just once a year.

Finally, there were 13 trials involving people who took a combined calcium-vitamin D supplement. As before, there was no statistically significant link between supplement use and the risk for any kind of fracture or combination of fractures. That held up even when accounting for gender, past fractures, supplement dose, dietary calcium or baseline blood levels of vitamin D.

The researchers noted that thousands of people in this final group were participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the US Earlier reports based on data gathered by the Women’s Health Initiative found that calcium and vitamin D supplements were associated with a lower risk of fractures, but only for women who took hormone therapy after menopause. To get a clearer picture of the direct link (if any) between supplements and fracture risk, Zhao and his colleagues opted not to include data from women on hormone therapy.

It is still possible that calcium and vitamin D supplements are useful for people who live in nursing homes or other residential facilities, the study authors wrote. Such people are more likely to have osteoporosis, due to a combination of poor diet, less sun exposure (which the body needs to synthesise vitamin D) and other factors.

But for older adults who live on their own, they wrote, the results are clear: “These findings do not support the routine use of these supplements.”

Older adults are more likely to die on days when air pollution rises, even when contaminant levels are below the limit considered safe by US regulators, a new study suggests. 

Researchers looked at 22 million deaths nationwide to see if there was any connection between fatalities and fluctuations in daily concentrations of ozone, an unstable form of oxygen produced when pollution reacts with sunlight, and so-called PM 2.5, tiny particles that include dust, dirt, soot and smoke. 

Most of the deaths in the study occurred on days when ozone and PM 2.5 levels were below the limits set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Previous studies have linked air pollution to an increased risk of chronic health problems and premature death, but those studies focused on cities, said study co-author Joel Schwartz of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. 

“So we did not know if the same association held in small cities, towns, or rural areas, where pollution levels are lower,” Schwartz said by e-mail. “Now we have them all, so we know that it does apply everywhere, not just in big cities.” 

The study focused on deaths from 2000 to 2012 for people in more than 39,000 ZIP codes nationwide who were insured by Medicare, the US health programme for the elderly and disabled. 

Researchers compared satellite data on daily PM 2.5 and ozone levels on the days people died in specific ZIP codes to air quality levels on another day within a week or two of each fatality. 

EPA standards cap 24-hour PM 2.5 at 35 micrograms per cubic metre of air (ug/m3) and 8-hour ozone at 70 parts per billion (ppb). 

During all of the days examined in the study, 94 per cent had PM 2.5 levels below 25 ug/m3, and 95 per cent of the deaths occurred on these days, the study found. 

At the same time, 91 per cent of the days examined had ozone levels below 60 ppb, and 93 per cent of the deaths occurred on these days. 

Even when air quality still met EPA standards, each 10 ug/m3 daily increase in PM 2.5 levels was associated with an increase of 1.42 deaths per day for every million people, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Each 10 ppb increase in daily ozone levels was associated with 0.66 more deaths for every million people. 

The increased risk of death associated with daily spikes in PM 2.5 and ozone levels persisted even when researchers restricted their analysis to days when the air quality complied with EPA standards. 

Among other things, breathing polluted air can worsen existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, said Griffith Bell, a researcher at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland. 

Beyond a lack of data on young people, another limitation of the study is the lack of data on the long-term air pollution exposure, the authors note. 

Still, people should be aware of the health effects of air pollution even when they do not live in urban areas where traffic and smog may be well-known health risks, said Junfeng Zhang, author of accompanying editorial and an environmental health researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.