Sugary drinks possible cause of gout

WELLINGTON: Sufferers of gout might soon be advised to add sugary drinks to the list of foods that can cause the painful and crippling affliction to flare up, according to a New Zealand study released yesterday.

Red meat, seafood and beer are already known to trigger high levels of uric acid that cause the arthritic ailment, but scientists at the universities of Otago and Auckland have also discovered a human gene variant that can “turn bad” when affected by sugary drinks, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The study showed that when the variant of the gene SLC2A9 behaved correctly, it helped transport uric acid out of the blood stream and facilitated its excretion through the kidney.
“But when people with this gene variant consume sugary drinks, it takes on Jekyll and Hyde characteristics; the apparent function of the gene variant reverses, such that we think uric acid is instead transported back into the blood stream and the risk of gout is increased,” Associate Professor Tony Merriman, of Otago’s Department of Biochemistry, said in a statement.

“So not only does sugar raise uric acid in the blood due to processing in the liver, but it also appears to directly interfere with excretion of uric acid from the kidney. This was a quite unpredictable interaction,” he said.

“Each daily 300-millilitre serving of sugar-sweetened drink increases the chance of gout by 13%.”

As a result of the research, he recommended that in addition to taking prescribed medicines, people with gout should avoid sugary drinks.

Gout is caused when uric acid in the blood crystallises in the joints, causing them to become inflamed. It is the most common form of arthritis in New Zealand, particularly among men, and has strong links with other metabolic diseases such as diabetes, heart and kidney disease.

- Reuters

Know your cashback credit cards

Cashback credit cards have proven to be very popular among Malaysians. Next to the reward point system, cash rebates are a great way to save on spending. However, not all cashback cards are created alike; each one has its own cashback rate and is limited to specific spending categories.

To get the most savings from your cash back card, it’s important to choose the right one for your spending habits.

Here are some things to take note of when applying for a cashback credit card.

#1: Rates and categories
Cashback rates and spending categories are interrelated as most cards limit their cashback to specific categories. The most popular categories are petrol, groceries, dining and utility bill payment. There are three mechanisms on which cashback cards operate:

• High cashback rates (5%-10%) limited to 2-4 categories and lower rates (0.5%-2%) for residuary categories.

• Blanket rate for all categories with a median rate (3-5%).

• User selected categories with fixed rates for each category set by the bank (0.5%-5%).

Depending on your spending habits – choose the card with categories that suit you.

#2: Caps

Most cashback credit cards come with a monthly or annual cap, that is, a maximum amount of cashback that you can receive in a billing cycle. The most competitive products available usually have caps that fall in the range of RM50 – RM100 a month. It’s important to know what your card cashback cap is to ensure you don’t spend more under the false impression that you are earning cashback.

Usually, principal and supplementary cards contribute to the same cashback cap every month but some products calculate the spending separately and allow individual caps for the principal and supplementary cards.

#3: Fees and charges

A cashback credit card, like any other will be subject to the usual fees and charges such as annual fees, cash advance fees, and late payment fees. However, if a cashback credit card allows you to select categories of spending, do note that every time you switch categories, there may be a fee involved. If you add on a category (if the card allows you to do this) you will have to pay a fee on this extra category as well.

Also, it is important to note that not all cashback cards have the same annual fee. Annual fees range from RM70-RM190 for mid-level credit cards and up to RM1000 for premium credit cards.

#4: Special terms and conditions

The terms and conditions of a new credit card commonly goes unread. But if you’re keen on making the most of your card’s cashback feature; it’s vital that you understand the special requirements that qualify you for a cashback card each time you swipe. For instance some cards advertise high cashback rates but are only available during the weekends while others require minimum amount of spend.

Others will only recognise transactions that conducted online or via standing instruction. Some banks are known to have tie-ins with specific merchants and offer bonus cashback if you do business with them.

A cashback credit card can save a few hundred ringgit a year. However, it can also be complicated. The key to finding the right credit card is to first evaluate your spending habits and pay attention to the fine print.

  

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2013/08/13/know-your-cashback-credit-cards/

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Bukit Jalil sought after due to good connectivity

26 July 2013 - Located some 12km south of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, the once side-lined Bukit Jalil is fast developing into one of the most sought-after property hotspots in the country.

Speaking at Trinity Group’s launch of the Z Residence master suites, renowned property consultant Ho Chin Soon said its strategic location as well as the improved infrastructure comprising upgrades of various road and rail projects are the main reasons for the rapid development in Bukit Jalil.

“In the past, Bukit Jalil mainly catered to those who worked at Technology Park Malaysia, its main industrial area, and the nearby vicinity. However, with new highway extensions, we can see an influx in population growth for Bukit Jalil, catering to those who work in KL and PJ. In the near future, citizens of Greater KL including those in Bukit Jalil can expect to travel conveniently and even work in places like Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore – thanks to the upcoming high-speed rail link project,” said Ho.

The mapmaker also touched on the MRT Blue Circle and Putrajaya Lines, as well as the Kelana Jaya LRT extensions which will connect to the MRT Lines. Based on the new rail tracks, road extensions are also underway for better connectivity to Bukit Jalil.

“This is a good opportunity for both developers and buyers as the time is ripe to invest in Bukit Jalil which is expected to see good returns in the near future.

Sugary drinks tied to kidney stone risk

NEW YORK: Adults who drink at least one sugar-sweetened drink a day are slightly more likely to develop kidney stones than people who rarely imbibe them, according to a new study.

While the recommendation for kidney stone prevention has been to drink a lot of fluids, the study suggests that it’s not just the amount of fluid but the type of drink that also matters.

Dr. Gary Curhan, the senior author of the study, said patients often ask for dietary advice to help prevent kidney stones.

While the recommendation has been to drink plenty of fluids, Curhan said, patients often ask, “what should I drink? There’s a lot of lore out there.”

To see whether the type of beverage might matter, Curhan, of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and his colleagues collected data from three massive surveys of nearly 200,000 people.

The questionnaires surveyed participants every two to four years and asked about diet, lifestyle and health, including how much they drank certain beverages and whether they developed kidney stones.

None of the people in the study had kidney stones at the start.

They found that 159 out of every 100,000 people who drank a sugar-sweetened non-cola beverage, such as clear soda, less than once a week developed kidney stones, compared to 306 out of every 100,000 who drank soda daily.

After accounting for other factors, that translated to a 33% greater chance of developing kidney stones.

Frequent punch drinkers also had an 18% higher chance of developing kidney stones.

For every 100,000 people who drank punch at least every day, 226 developed kidney stones, compared to 158 out of every 100,000 participants who had punch less than once a week.

Curhan said that while the numbers of people developing kidney stones in each group are not enormously different, the increased risk spread across an entire population is quite big.

“Sodas are so commonly used that even though the absolute rate doesn’t look that different, if there’s a huge number of people consuming it, then the magnitude on the public health can be quite substantial,” Curhan told Reuters Health.

Other drinks, such as coffee, tea, wine, beer and orange juice were tied to a lower risk of developing kidney stones.

For instance, 205 out of every 100,000 people who rarely drank coffee developed kidney stones, compared to 137 out of every 100,000 people who drank it daily.

Just 96 out of every 100,000 people who drank red wine daily developed kidney stones, while 174 out of every 100,000 people who drank red wine less than once a week developed kidney stones.

Curhan’s study, published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, follows others showing a link between stones and fructose, non-dairy calcium, vitamin C supplements and other factors.

The new study doesn’t prove cause-and-effect between certain drinks and kidney stones, but it’s possible that sugar could be involved, Curhan said, because it might play a role in how the body handles calcium.

Another possibility is that sugary drinks might be contributing to obesity, and obesity is also tied to a higher kidney stone risk, said Dr. Elaine Worcester, a professor at the University of Chicago, who was not part of the study.

Despite the lack of proof of a cause-effect relationship, Worcester said “these kinds of studies are the best we have to give advice to our patients.”

- Reuters

New bird flu may be capable of human to human spread - study

HONG KONG (Reuters): 25th May 2013 - The new H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted between mammals not only via direct contact but also in airborne droplets, and may be capable of spreading from person to person, Chinese and American researchers have found.

A study published in the journal Science and presented at a briefing in Hong Kong on Friday found that three ferrets - an animal often used for research on flu - that were in the same cage as ferrets infected with H7N9 had contracted the disease.

One of three ferrets kept in separate cages nearby also became infected, through airborne exposure.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said it has no evidence of "sustained human to human transmission" of the virus, which has killed 36 people in China.

"The findings suggest that the possibility of this virus evolving further to form the basis of a future pandemic threat cannot be excluded," said the research team, led by bird flu expert and microbiologist Yi Guan.

The virus can also infect pigs, but could not be transmitted from pig to pig or from pigs to other animals, the study showed, although the team urged authorities to maintain surveillance to check whether the virus was mutating.

The WHO said the findings were useful but warned that people "have to be very careful about what's going on the ground".

"Studies like that are really helpful for increasing general knowledge and it's really helpful to know that, under lab conditions, this thing could transfer from person to person," WHO chief spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters.

"We've already seen maybe a few limited instances of human to human transmission within close family range, within close contacts, so this is another piece of the puzzle," he said.

The findings come just days after the WHO said the H7N9 virus appeared to have been brought under control in China thanks to restrictions at bird markets.

H7N9 has relatively mild clinical signs in ferrets, according to the study. All the animals infected with the virus in the experiments presented symptoms for no more than seven days and all recovered from the disease.

The researchers said that all cases where humans had died or become extremely ill had involved additional factors.

The team also found that some infected animals did not develop fever or other clinical signs, suggesting that asymptomatic infections among humans may also be possible.

"The potential public health implication of this ... is that a person infected by H7N9 avian influenza virus who does not show symptoms could nevertheless spread the virus to others," the researchers wrote in their study.

United Nations experts said this week the bird flu outbreak in China had caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy.

The H7N9 virus is known to have infected 131 people in mainland China and one in Taiwan since February, but no new cases have been detected since early May.

 

Source: Yahoo! News

Woman: I was harassed by bus drivers

PETALING JAYA: Monday March 11, 2013 -  A marketing manager claimed she was harassed by five bus drivers at the Bukit Jalil LRT station.

The 33-year-old woman said that she was waiting for a colleague in her car near the station on Friday when a RapidKL bus pulled up behind her and started honking.

“I moved forward, but the driver continued honking and came closer until I was wedged between two buses.

“A middle-aged man wearing a RapidKL uniform began banging on my window and shouting,” she said, adding that she pulled out of the lane but the honking continued.

The woman then parked her car a short distance away and walked towards the bus to get the driver's name.

“Suddenly, five men in RapidKL uniform, including the man who hit my window earlier, surrounded me and began shouting expletives and moving suggestively.

“The middle-aged man started pushing himself close to me as his friends cheered him on.

“One of them slapped me on my left cheek when I tried to defend myself,” she said, adding that she took out her phone to photograph them.

Luckily, her colleague arrived and they quickly ran to her car.

“I was literally shaking, and had to stop for a few minutes to calm down,” she said.

Her traumatic experience was made worse as no one responded to her cries for help, although she said at least 10 people had witnessed the harassment.

The victim, accompanied by her husband, lodged a report at the Subang Jaya police station later that day, which was forwarded to the Cheras district police station.

Cheras OCPD ACP Mohan Singh confirmed receiving the report, and said that the case was being investigated under Section 323 and Section 509 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt and for outrage of modesty.

A spokesman from RapidKL said they will co-operate with the police on the matter.