Sunday, 25 March 2012

Celebrity addicts: Who dies, who survives, and why

 Singer Whitney Houston's death last month from accidental drowning from the effects of cocaine use and heart disease throws bright light on a dark corner of the world of celebrities who wrestle with substance abuse.  Living on the edge: Whitney Houston's longtime drug habit eventually played a part in her death. Whitney Houston's longtime...

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Friday, 23 March 2012

Brian Regan: Brookside star to cocaine addict

 Brian Regan found fame playing loveable rogue Terry Sullivan in the Liverpool soap opera Brookside. In the show's 1980s heyday, his character's antics were regularly watched by up to seven million viewers a week. But when Regan left the soap in 1997, his acting career petered out and he plunged into a life of drug dealing and addiction. Now...

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Study Suggests Link Between Narcissism And Facebook

There may be a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and just how much of a “socially disruptive” narcissist you are, according to a recent study published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences. Facebook habits of 294 students between the age of 18 and 65 were studied by researchers at Western Illinois...

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Minimum price for alcohol introduced in bid to tackle Britain's binge crisis

The cost of a pint of beer will be at least 80p and a pint of strong cider would be at least £1.60. Mr Cameron said he was trying to tackle the country’s binge drinking culture and was targeting those who ‘pre-load’ on cheap supermarket drink before going out. He wants a 40p minimum charge for each unit of alcohol, following similar moves in Scotland....

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Thursday, 22 March 2012

Whitney Houston drowned after cocaine use, says coroner

Whitney Houston's death was caused by accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors, a coroner has ruled. Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said drug tests indicated the 48-year-old US singer was a chronic cocaine user. The announcement ends weeks of speculation over the cause of Houston's death. She was found submerged...

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Liver deaths at all-time high

 Liver disease is killing more people than ever before in England, especially in deprived areas, shows a report out today. Deaths from liver disease: implications for end of life care in England, the first national report into the problem, finds that between 2001 and 2009, deaths from liver disease rose by 25% – and that more than a third of...

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TWO men who have been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of crime boss Eamon 'The Don' Dunne are senior lieutenants of crime lord Christy Kinahan.

 The mobsters were picked up by armed gardai during a dawn raid at a property in the north inner city and are currently in custody at Store Street Garda Station. Sources do not believe that either is the gunman who actually killed Dunne in the gangland murder in a Cabra pub in April 2010 but they believe that the pair played a key role in organising...

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Wednesday, 21 March 2012

A Nation 'Addicted' To Statins...

Dear Reader,In the UK alone, more than 7 million people are taking cholesterol-lowering statins. This is extremely worrying when you consider the damage these over-prescribed drugs can inflict, with side effects ranging from liver dysfunction and acute renal failure to fatigue and extreme muscle weakness (myopathy).Slowly tearing us apartEven more...

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Tuesday, 20 March 2012

A GANG of “guns for hire” who spread lawless violence in a spate of gun and grenade attacks across Merseyside were today starting life behind bars.

 The five were the “go to” men for gangsters across the area as they carried out attacks on underworld rivals.But their spree saw innocent people...

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Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Ice cream as 'addictive as drugs' says new study

 Researchers concluded that cravings for the dessert were similar to those experienced by drug addicts. They found that the brain was left wanting more while eating ice cream in the same way as a person who regularly uses cocaine. Their study, published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, appears to add weight to previous studies...

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Cigarettes will cost one hundred million lives in UK unless current smokers quit

One hundred million years of life will be lost in the UK unless smokers give up their habit, experts are warning. On the 50th anniversary of its first report on smoking and health, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says more than a fifth of the population still smokes. With smokers losing an average of 10 years of life each, a hundred million...

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A new approved heart drug cuts death rate by a third.

A drug that could benefit people with heart failure has been approved by European regulators. New data on Ivabradine, which costs £1.50 a day, suggests it could cut death rates by more than a thir...

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New safety concerns over knee replacements

 The long-term safety and effectiveness of millions of knee replacement implants is unknown, highlighting inherent problems in the regulation and monitoring of medical devices, according to a leading surgeon. Andrew Carr, professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Oxford, warned that surgeons are being hindered by a lack of reliable...

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