Watching the World
World Health Woes
“As we enter the 21st century, we still see infectious diseases accounting for 33% of the mortality throughout the world,” says Dr. David Heymann of the World Health Organization. A number of factors have contributed to the problem. The Journal of the American Medical Association says that population increase, failed vaccination programs, overcrowding, environmental changes, and the deterioration of the public health system worldwide have all played a part. Other factors include forced migration, refugees, and the increase in global travel—all of which help to spread infectious diseases. “There’s really no reason for this,” says Dr. Heymann. “The tools to combat or eliminate these diseases are available.”
Mormons and Politics
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has encouraged its members in the United States to become more politically active, reports the Christian Century magazine. The highest LDS council, the First Presidency, recently released a letter urging members to be “willing to serve on school boards, city and county councils and commissions, state legislatures, and other high offices of either election or appointment, including involvement in the political party of their choice.” The letter stated that the church does not endorse candidates or any particular political party. The magazine noted that in the early years of the denomination, “Mormons avoided mainstream political involvement and sought to establish their own theocracy in what is now Utah.”
Stress Increases Car Accidents
A person’s attitude toward his work has a great influence on his behavior when driving, states a study by the Professional Association for Health Service and Social Welfare, in Germany. Those who are stressed by their work run a higher-than-normal risk of causing a road accident, reported the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Pent-up frustration about the boss or about colleagues could lead to lack of concentration when driving,” notes the report. In the study, 75 percent of people who had caused a road accident on the way to or from work blamed it on a “lack of concentration, too much rushing around, pressure for time, or stress.” Although men were said to be the most likely to have an accident when under negative stress, the study also found mothers of young children to be at special risk. The newspaper observes: “They were often under great pressure, since they had to collect their children from kindergarten on time or cook during the midday break.”
Children’s Nightmares Common
Frightening dreams plague almost all children. According to a study by the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, 9 out of 10 children remember being awakened by dreams. Common nightmares include dreams in which they are being chased, are falling great distances, or are affected by a war or natural disaster. In most cases, such dreams are a mixture of elements of fantasy and the real world. Boys usually forget what they dream. Girls, on the other hand, often talk or write about their dreams. To relieve any anxiety caused by nightmares, experts suggest, children should talk about the dream’s contents, draw a picture of it, or act out a scene from it, reports the Berliner Zeitung. If these suggestions are followed, the dreams will usually become less frequent within a few weeks and will no longer be frightening.
Doctors Hooked on Drugs
According to medical authorities in Britain, “one doctor in 15 is suffering from dependence on alcohol or drugs,” reports The Medical Post of Canada. In an effort to combat the problem, leading British medical organizations would like to introduce random drug tests to identify doctors who are abusing drugs or alcohol. It is estimated that more than 9,000 doctors in Britain, including both males and females, may be misusing alcohol or other drugs. Surprisingly, some doctors “do not seek help because they don’t know what services are available to them,” says the magazine.
Reheating Food Does Not Destroy Toxins
Meat that has been left unrefrigerated for more than two hours after cooking should not be eaten, states Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter. But would not cooking it again kill any harmful bacteria? “Reheating meat that has been left out might kill the bacteria that grew on its surface, but it wouldn’t destroy illness-causing toxins produced by certain bacterial strains,” notes the Nutrition Letter. A toxin produced by the common bacterium staphylococcus can cause stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, chills, fever, and headache. “And even making foods piping hot won’t destroy that toxin.”
Carnival in Brazil
“Carnival may have made Rio de Janeiro famous, but more and more Brazilians are just not interested,” reports Nando.net. Many people from around the world have the impression that Brazilians live for the annual festival. However, a study by Brazil’s Institute for Social Research paints a far different picture. It found that 63 percent of Brazilians do not take part in the festivities, 44 percent said they were “not the slightest bit interested,” and 19 percent said they “hated carnival.” The newspaper Jornal do Brasil reported that the main national TV network did not even broadcast the samba parade competitions this year. Nevertheless, thousands of tourists flock to Brazil to see the festival. And since Brazil has one of the world’s highest incidences of AIDS, the health ministry gave out millions of condoms during carnival.
“Lucky Lottery Tree”
Angry villagers near Bangkok, Thailand, have threatened to harm professional bookmakers whom they suspect of trying to burn down their “lucky lottery tree,” reports the South China Morning Post. The “fortune tree” had gained a national reputation for picking winning lotteries, so local villagers were quite upset when they learned that the tree had been scorched by an arsonist. “I am really angry,” said Dongmalee. “I personally won money with that tree and I made money offering advice to others how to read it.” It is said, however, that since the attack, the tree’s spirit is upset, and villagers claim that the spirit has not been dispensing lottery advice. The report said that villagers are planning to bring in Buddhist monks to persuade the tree’s spirit to get back to dispensing lottery advice.
More TV, Less Reading
According to a survey by the Audiovisual Media Institute of Greece, there are 3.8 million TV sets for the 3.5 million households in that country; 1 in 3 households also has a videocassette recorder. The Athens newspaper To Vima reported that the average daily TV-viewing time for Greeks was almost four hours in 1996, compared with less than two and a half hours in 1990. Not surprisingly, reading suffered a sharp decline. The survey revealed that the average Greek read 42.2 newspapers in 1989, but in 1995 that figure dropped to 28.3. Similarly, magazine reading decreased by 10 percent during the same time period.
Undernourished Elderly
“The elderly often do not eat enough and are therefore more prone to sickness,” reports the Nassauische Neue Presse, of Frankfurt, Germany. This conclusion was reached after more than 2,500 men and women over the age of 70 were surveyed in ten European countries. Many think elderly ones need less food, but too few calories weaken the resistance. Moreover, the meals of the elderly are often not very nutritious because they cook quantities of food ahead of time and keep it for a long time. In addition, many eat too little fresh fruit and vegetables, especially when they are not in season. The study concluded that physicians should remind elderly patients to “eat well and regularly.” It also recommended that the elderly be offered more exercise training, since physical exertion enhances the appetite.
Bible Available in 2,197 Languages
“Parts of the Bible were translated into 30 additional languages last year, bringing to 2197 the total number of languages in which Scriptures are available,” reports the ENI Bulletin, of Geneva, Switzerland. The entire Bible is now available in 363 languages, including constructed languages such as Esperanto. The United Bible Societies (UBS) keeps a tally of languages in which at least one book of the Bible has been published. Fergus Macdonald, UBS general secretary, said that the goal is to make “God’s Word available in people’s heart language.”