Cocoa-rich dark chocolate could be prescribed for people with liver cirrhosis in future, following the latest research to show potential health benefits of chocolate.
Spanish researchers said Thursday that eating dark chocolate capped the usual after-meal rise in abdominal blood pressure, which can reach dangerous levels in cirrhotic patients and, in severe cases, lead to blood vessel rupture.
Antioxidants called flavanols found in cocoa are believed to be the reason why chocolate is good for blood pressure because the chemicals help the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels to relax and widen.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Why We Can't Do 3 Things at Once
For those who find it tough to juggle more than a couple things at once, don't despair. The brain is set up to manage two tasks, but not more, a new study suggests.
That's because, when faced with two tasks, a part of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex (MFC) divides so that half of the region focuses on one task and the other half on the other task. This division of labor allows a person to keep track of two tasks pretty readily, but if you throw in a third, things get a bit muddled.
"What really the results show is that we can readily divide tasking. We can cook, and at the same time talk on the phone, and switch back and forth between these two activities," said study researcher Etienne Koechlin of the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. "However, we cannot multitask with more than two tasks."
The results will be published this week in the journal Science.
That's because, when faced with two tasks, a part of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex (MFC) divides so that half of the region focuses on one task and the other half on the other task. This division of labor allows a person to keep track of two tasks pretty readily, but if you throw in a third, things get a bit muddled.
"What really the results show is that we can readily divide tasking. We can cook, and at the same time talk on the phone, and switch back and forth between these two activities," said study researcher Etienne Koechlin of the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. "However, we cannot multitask with more than two tasks."
The results will be published this week in the journal Science.
Monday, April 5, 2010
92 Percent Rise in Taiwanese Tourist Arrivals to Bali
Some 13,444 Taiwanese tourists visited Bali in February 2010, jumping 92.88 percent from the same period last year. Almost all the Taiwanese tourists came to Bali by direct flights from Taiwan and only one tourist by a cruise liner, head of the Bali provincial statistics office Ida Komang Wisnu said on Sunday.
Last year, 120,445 Taiwanese tourists visited the resort island, down 7.67 percent from a year earlier. The surge in the number of tourist arrivals put Taiwan in the fourth place among Bali’s top ten sources of foreign tourists.
He said Malaysia which earlier secured the fourth place after Australia, Japan and China fell to the sixth place next to Taiwan and South Korea. The Taiwanese tourists accounted for 7 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Bali in February 2010 which reached 191,926, he said.
Last year, 120,445 Taiwanese tourists visited the resort island, down 7.67 percent from a year earlier. The surge in the number of tourist arrivals put Taiwan in the fourth place among Bali’s top ten sources of foreign tourists.
He said Malaysia which earlier secured the fourth place after Australia, Japan and China fell to the sixth place next to Taiwan and South Korea. The Taiwanese tourists accounted for 7 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Bali in February 2010 which reached 191,926, he said.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Parents, Let Your Children Fail
THE belief that regular praise will improve the self-esteem of students has backfired, with educators urging over-anxious parents to let their children fail so they can learn from their mistakes.
Parents were also doing too much for their children who were becoming less resilient and unable to cope with failure. Some were even too scared to put up their hand in class and risk giving the wrong answer.
As new research shows that members of Generation Y are entering the workforce with an inflated sense of their abilities, principals are warning ''helicopter parents'' against putting too much pressure on children to be successful, which could discourage them from risking failure.
Rod Kefford, the headmaster of Barker College, has warned: ''We are creating a generation of very fearful learners and the quality of our intellectual life will suffer as a result.''
Parents were also doing too much for their children who were becoming less resilient and unable to cope with failure. Some were even too scared to put up their hand in class and risk giving the wrong answer.
As new research shows that members of Generation Y are entering the workforce with an inflated sense of their abilities, principals are warning ''helicopter parents'' against putting too much pressure on children to be successful, which could discourage them from risking failure.
Rod Kefford, the headmaster of Barker College, has warned: ''We are creating a generation of very fearful learners and the quality of our intellectual life will suffer as a result.''
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