吃番茄可以讓心情變好！根據大陸跟日本的最新研究發現，每週吃2到6次的番茄，可以降低憂鬱症發生的機率、高達四成六。如果每天吃番茄，罹患憂鬱症機率更能降低52%，到底吃番茄還有哪些好處，來看今天的生活大百科。
一顆又一顆的新鮮番茄，圓潤飽滿長得肥美多汁，很多女生喜歡吃番茄，因為熱量很低營養價值高，不過現在有研究發現，吃番茄還可以讓心情變好！大陸跟日本的研究團隊，觀察近1,000名70歲以上的老人家，結果發現每週吃2次到6次番茄的人，比起每週吃1次以下番茄的人，罹患憂鬱症的機率可以降低46%，如果每天吃番茄，罹患憂鬱症的機率會下降52%，專家說可能跟番茄裡某些營養成分有關係，雖然還無法確定是哪種成分跟心情有關，但過去有不少研究都證實，多吃番茄，確實有益身體健康，因為番茄含有抗氧化成分，對預防心血管疾病中風等等，都有不錯的效果。現在又證實，吃番茄能降低罹患憂鬱症的機率，不妨多吃番茄，既能顧身體，還能讓每天都有好心情。
PETALING JAYA: Medical organisations have lauded the Health Ministry’s initiative to look into extending visiting hours in public hospitals.
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr S.R. Manalan said flexible hours were a good idea as family support was important in a patient’s healing process.
Visiting hours in public hospitals on weekdays are during lunch and in the evening.
“Children and other family members may not be able to make it during these times.
“However, visiting hours should not be set when doctors are doing their rounds in the morning,” he said.
It was reported that Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had been urging public hospitals to review and possibly extend their visiting hours.
Liow, however, acknowledged that government hospitals had a greater volume of visitors.
As such, the authorities must ensure they did not disrupt services, he said.
Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia president Datuk Dr Jacob Thomas also welcomed extended visiting hours in public hospitals.
“Every facility, be it private or public, needs to ensure their visiting hours policy is created with the patient in mind.
“The restrictions around visiting hours may need to be adjusted depending on the nature of the wards.
“Intensive care wards operate differently from normal wards while the requirements for open wards differ from single rooms, he said.
In JOHOR BARU, State Health director Dr Khairy Yaakub said implementing flexible hours needed to be studied thoroughly first.
“This policy needs to be studied to ensure the safety of visitors and patients,” he said.
Dr Khairy said government hospitals admitted a large number of patients and many were placed in open wards.
“A high numbers of visitors or people visiting throughout the day could encourage the spread of diseases especially at open wards and disturb the patients themselves,” he said.
State Women, Family, Health and Community Development chairman Dr Robia Kosai said the plan could disrupt the work of hospital staff.
“Government hospitals have a large number of patients and flexi visiting hours will invite too many visitors,” she added.
KUALA LUMPUR: IN an about-turn, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has accepted and recognised the use of capital controls such as the measures taken by Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 to calm volatile cross-border flows.
Although the fund continued to warn that such controls should be targeted, transparent, and generally temporary, the policy, announced in a staff paper released on Monday, is a sharp change from the fund’s enthusiasm for liberalisation of capital accounts during the 1990s.
“It (the control) should be lifted once inflow surges abate or disruptive outflow pressures subside so as to avoid discriminating on the basis of residency, and the least discriminatory measure that is effective should be preferred,” IMF said.
The IMF’s staff paper presents a proposed institutional view that builds on countries’ experience in recent years, previous IMF policy papers and board discussions on capital flows, and recent analytical research.
Most IMF directors agreed that the institutional view, as presented in the staff paper is comprehensive, flexible and balanced.
They agreed that it provides a good basis for fund policy advice and where relevant for bilateral and multilateral surveillance, assessments on issues of liberalisation and management of capital flows.
They stressed that the institutional view would need to remain flexible and evolve over time to incorporate new experience and insight, also taking into account specific country circumstances, and to be reviewed periodically.
According to the staff paper, while the free movement of capital was generally beneficial, it could destablise economies whose financial systems were insufficiently developed.
“Capital flow liberalisation needs to be well planned, timed and sequenced so as to minimise possible adverse domestic and multilateral consequences.
“There is no resumption that full liberalisation is an appropriate goal for all countries at all times,” the fund said.
During the 1990s, under pressure from the United States Treasury, the IMF management proposed changing the institution’s rules to promote capital account liberalisation. The drive was abandoned after the Asian financial crisis stiffened opposition among emerging market countries like Malaysia.
In 1998, Malaysia imposed controls on capital outflows, a decision that the fund opposed at the time but, subsequently, considered as the right decision.
In fact, in an interview with TV3, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde acknowledged the excellent measures taken by Malaysia to address the Asian financial crisis.
Read more: IMF’s new insight into capital flows – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/imf-s-new-insight-into-capital-flows-1.181413#ixzz2EHu01FWK
KENINGAU: THE Malaysian Meterological Department yesterday said the Keningau district in the state is located on an active fault area.
This was the reason it registered an earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale on Monday.
A department official explained that the active fault area was a weaker part of earth which had the potential to generate tremors at any time.
“However, the public in Keningau can rest assured that the tremors are mild and not dangerous.
“Our department will continue to monitor and alert people on any signs of an earthquake,” he said, adding that the tremors were not the first to occur here.
The official said the worst earthquake which struck the state occurred in 1976 when Lahad Datu registered an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.
Other fault areas which had been identified in the state are located in Kundasang and Ranau districts, as well as Beluran and Labuk town in Sandakan.
In another development in Labuan, Sabah Meteorological Department director Abdul Malik Tussin confirmed that a waterspout had been spotted south of the island between 7.45am and 8.10am yesterday.
“There was a storm when the waterspout occurred but till now we have not received any distress call,” he said.
A view of the waterspout spotted at the Labuan waters between 7.45am until 8.10am yesterday. Picture courtesy of Randy Peter
Read more: Tremors in Keningau due to active fault area – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/tremors-in-keningau-due-to-active-fault-area-1.181361#ixzz2EHtprvh9
KUALA LUMPUR: UNIVERSITY of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) carried out surgery to treat two toddlers with functional problems caused by facial deformities last month. The children, aged 2 and 3, are doing well.
UMMC consultant oral and maxilofacial surgeon Prof Datuk Dr Zainal Ariff Abd Rahman said the condition could now be treated better using a new technique known as monobloc distraction osteogenesis.
“The syndrome when not treated can be fatal as the skull does not expand in line with an infant’s growth,” he said during a briefing at Universiti Malaya yesterday.
“We need to educate the public on this rare syndrome that should be treated early.”
He added that as the skull did not expand, space to accommodate vital organs, such as the brain and eyes, was restricted.
“The empty space or airway behind the nose is also cramped, which may cause breathing difficulty.”
The situation will increase pressure in the skull, causing headaches, dizziness and seizures.
The baby would also have a higher risk of eye infection as the eye socket could hold the eyes.
“The cramped airways will also cause sleeping difficulties and parents need to constantly monitor their child as the baby might turn blue in minutes because of lack of oxygen.”
He said the treatment was available in countries like Australia five years ago, but was only available in Malaysia after intense research.
UMMC Genetics and Metabolism unit head Professor Dr Thong Meow Keong said the condition, known as Crouzon syndrome, affected about three per cent of newborn babies.
Read more: New surgery to treat facial disorder – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/new-surgery-to-treat-facial-disorder-1.181401#ixzz2EHtcAkcF
PARIS: An experimental breath test can diagnose colorectal cancer with an accuracy of over 75 percent, Italian researchers reported on Wednesday.
The electronic “nose” detects key molecules emitted by tumours, a technique that is also being used in pioneering diagnostics for lung and breast cancer.
A team led by Donato Altomare of the Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation at the University Aldo Mori in Bari collected exhaled breath from 37 patients with colorectal cancer and 41 healthy counterparts.
The breath was then analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, which looked for a tiny chemical “fingerprint” for so-called volatile organic compounds linked to cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in Europe, after lung cancer, and the third in the United States.
The human and economic cost of the disease is pushing the search for swift, cheap and simple diagnostic tools, compared to tests on stool DNA or faecal blood or a colonoscopy to detect dangerous polyps.
“The technique of breath sampling is very easy and non-invasive, although the method is still in the early phase of development,” said Altomare, “Our study’s findings provide further support for the value of breath testing as a screening tool.”
The paper is published in the British Journal of Surgery.
-AFP/fl
–CNA
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