Tuesday, September 01, 2009 LONDON: A new study has said that apple-shaped women with a waist bigger than 88cm are at increased risk of developing asthma - even if they have a normal body weight. It is well-known that being overweight raises the risk of asthma but the new study, by the Northern California Cancer Centre at Berkeley, suggests that the amount of weight women carry around the abdomen might be particularly important.For the study, the researchers analysed data on 88,304 female teachers and school administrators. They found that overweight women were 40 percent more likely to have asthma than women of a normal weight. Asthma was more than twice as likely in obese women, and more than three times as likely in extremely obese women than in those of normal body weight. The researchers also found that women of normal body weight, but with a waist circumference of more than 88cm were also at increased risk - around a third higher than those with a smaller waist. Body mass index (BMI) has been widely used as a standard measure of obesity. However, some scientists argue that waist circumference may be a more useful measure because it more closely reflects levels of visceral fat deposits found around the body's organs. Visceral fat is metabolically different from other types of fat found in the body, and may have different - and more profound - effects on health. "Visceral fat is metabolically more active - it can produce compounds that may cause inflammation. Inflammation may then be related to asthma," the BBC quoted author Julie Von Behren as saying. The study appears in the journal Thorax.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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