The Korea Herald

Panic disorder on the rise

Jeon Jin, a TV celebrity and member of boy band “Shinhwa,” recently made a stunning confession. He said he suffered from panic disorder, which made it almost impossible to live a normal life. “I was always anxious. I was seized by thoughts about things that would not happen to me. I carried a baseball bat or a bamboo stick to protect myself from imaginary attackers. I relied on alcohol for months, rarely going outdoors,” he told a television talk show.Jeon is among an increasing number of panic

March 29, 2012

Drug-resistant TB blamed on Indian treatment flaws

NEW DELHI (AP) ― India’s inadequate government-run tuberculosis treatment programs and a lack of regulation of the sale of drugs that fight the disease are responsible for the spiraling number of drug-resistant cases that are difficult to treat, health activists said Friday.India adds an estimated 99,000 cases of drug-resistant TB every year, but only a tiny fraction of those infected receive the proper drugs to treat the stubborn disease through the government-funded program. Saturday marks Wor

March 29, 2012

More people take longer-lasting options to replace missing teeth

DETROIT ― She wasn’t even wearing heels. But on the sidewalk near the Southfield, Mich., law firm where she works, Arlene Bordman’s loafer got stuck in a crack and “I went right over and landed on my mouth.” A few weeks later, she felt something rattling and loose in her upper jaw. Her dentist ended up pulling out her upper four front teeth, just six weeks before her son’s May 30 wedding.Bordman, 68, of West Bloomfield, Mich., got through the wedding wearing a flipper: fake front teeth attached

March 29, 2012

More people take longer-lasting options to replace missing teeth

Functional dyspepsia

Most people have experienced gastrointestinal symptoms such as digestive disturbances, abdominal pain, vomiting and heart burn. When these symptoms come up, it’s best to take clinical laboratory tests. This is because Korean people are particularly vulnerable to stomach cancer and gastric ulcers. If you visit our outpatient clinic with these complaints, we will provide clinical laboratory tests as hepatic function tests, blood tests, urinalysis, stool examination, upper gastrointestinal endoscop

March 29, 2012

Court orders FDA action on use of antibiotics on farms

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A federal court judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to take action on its own 35-year-old rule that would stop farmers from mixing popular antibiotics into animal feed, a practice which is widely believed to have led to a surge in dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria.In 1977, the FDA concluded that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, poultry and other animals weakened the treatment’s effectiveness in humans. The agency issued an order that would have banned no

March 29, 2012

Seasonal veggies boost immune system

As the temperature lingers below the annual average, more people are getting the flu. According to the Korea Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention, 4.66 of every 1,000 patients visiting the doctor recently were diagnosed with influenza. The authorities blame the cold weather, saying it likely brought down overall immunity.According to experts, one way to restore or boost immunity is an extra intake of fruit and vegetables. The effect is much more powerful when coupled with exercise. Sti

March 29, 2012

Chinese buy paper iPads for ancestor worship

Paper replicas of Apple's iPad and iPhone are selling like hot cakes in China this year as millions prepare to honour their ancestors in an age-old annual festival that has taken on a modern twist.Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 4 this year, sees families remember their ancestors by laying o

March 29, 2012

Weight loss in a pill contains coffee bean

Green -- unroasted -- coffee beans might be the weight-loss pill that has been sought for so long, a U.S. researchers suggested. Joe Vinson of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and colleagues said the study involved 16 overweight or obese people ages 22-26, who took capsules of the ex

March 29, 2012

Weight loss in a pill contains coffee bean

Zuckerberg's China trip sparks Facebook frenzy

The sight of a vacationing Mark Zuckerberg in Shanghai has sparked a frenzy of online speculation over the possibility Facebook might return to China, even though the site remains firmly blocked.Excited Chinese bloggers posted photographs of the Facebook founder and his girlfriend at an Apple store

March 29, 2012

Clearwire-fueled freebie services threaten AT&T, Verizon

AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, working to wring more profit from their next-generation data networks, face a new obstacle: Smaller competitors are offering similar services for free.FreedomPop, a company funded by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, will sell an iPhone case that gives consumers free access to 1 gigabyte of data from Clearwire Corp.’s 4G wireless network. Another Clearwire partner, United Online Inc.’s NetZero, is offering 200 megabytes a month for free for as long as 12 months ― so

March 28, 2012

Clearwire-fueled freebie services threaten AT&T, Verizon

New ‘cloaking device’ allows heat evasion

French researchers have developed a technology to “cloak” objects from heat, BBC reported Tuesday.The idea of this “thermal cloak” is to re-direct heat so certain areas will be protected from heat, according to the study published on online optic journal Optic Express. The cloak will have 20 rings of material with the diffusivity to transmit or dissipate heat.The heat that entered the multi-layered structure of the cloak is diffused around the outer part, preventing the inner part from rising

March 28, 2012

New ‘cloaking device’ allows heat evasion

Twins seek sex change in China first: report

Two young Chinese women undergoing sex-change surgery at a Shanghai hospital are hoping to be the first twins in the country to change their gender, a state-backed newspaper said Wednesday.The 25-year-old sisters from the southwestern province of Yunnan have already undergone preliminary surgery at

March 28, 2012

U.S. man injured in gun accident gets new face

After 15 years of wearing a mask and living as a recluse, a 37-year-old Virginia man disfigured in a gun accident got a new face, nose, teeth and jaw in what University of Maryland physicians say is the most extensive face transplant ever performed. From left to right: face of Richard Norris b

March 28, 2012

U.S. man injured in gun accident gets new face

NASA launches suborbital rockets after delays

This image provided by NASA shows the launch of five suborbital sounding rockets, Tuesday March 27, 2012. The first rocket was launched at 4:58 a.m. EDT and each subsequent rocket was launched 80 seconds apart. (AP)NASA has launched five rockets to study the upper level jet stream after several dela

March 28, 2012

NASA launches suborbital rockets after delays

100-year-old light bulb still works

GE Lighting said a 100-year-old light bulb from a time capsule uncovered at its Nela Park facility in Ohio still shines.The company said the time capsule containing five incandescent light bulbs was unearthed Monday as part of the run-up to the East Cleveland facility's 100th anniversary celebration

March 28, 2012

U.S. Gov't: Nuclear bomb in DC wouldn't destroy city

(MCT image)Hollywood has destroyed Washington -- or New York or Los Angeles -- lots of times with nuclear bombs detonated by terrorists. It turns out to be harder in real life than in the movies.Thinking about the unthinkable, a U.S. government study analyzed the likely effects from terrorists setti

March 27, 2012

U.S. Gov't: Nuclear bomb in DC wouldn't destroy city

Too much, too little sleep linked to heart woes: study

People who sleep less than six hours per night or more than eight are more likely to suffer heart problems than people who sleep between six and eight hours, said a US study on Sunday.The findings confirm those in previous, smaller studies, but are based on what researchers described as a nationally

March 27, 2012

Brain size determine popularity: study

A group of British scientists have discovered that a certain part of the brain is larger in people that have many friends, Science Daily reported Saturday.The size of the brain’s orbital prefrontal cortex -- placed just above the eyes -- is linked to people’s ability to understand what others are thinking, or to “mentalize,” according to a joint study by the Universities of Oxford, Liverpool University, Manchester University and Edinburgh University. It is thought that the ability to mentalize i

March 26, 2012

ISS crew takes shelter to avoid passing space junk

A piece of an old Russian satellite whizzed by the International Space Station on Saturday, forcing its six-member crew to temporarily take shelter in two Soyuz escape capsules, officials said. The International Space Station (AP-Yonhap News)The incident was the third of its kind in more than a deca

March 25, 2012

ISS crew takes shelter to avoid passing space junk

Study shows potential for mind manipulation

A group of U.S. scientists have succeeded in artificially manipulating memories in mice brains, offering possibility for weakening harmful thoughts in mental patients, Science Daily reported Thursday.It has been known that stimulating certain parts of the brain can induce behaviors or memories, but the mechanism behind those memory functions has remained a mystery.Now a new study by the Scripps Research Institute suggests a clue to understanding the complexity of the human mind.Researchers genet

March 23, 2012

Study shows potential for mind manipulation