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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Two new studies suggest that modern running shoes could increase the risk of injuries to runners.

One study involved sixty-eight healthy young women and men who ran at least twenty-four kilometers a week. The runners were observed on a treadmill machine. Sometimes they wore running shoes. Other times they ran barefoot.

Rick Roeber has run barefoot since 2003

They found that running shoes create more stress that could damage knees, hips and ankle joints than running barefoot. They observed that the effect was even greater than the effect reported earlier for walking in high heels.

The study appeared in the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine.

The other study appeared in the journal Nature. It compared runners in the United States and Kenya. The researchers were from Harvard University in Massachusetts, Moi University in Kenya and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

They divided the runners into three groups. One group had always run shoeless. Another group had always run with shoes. And the third group had changed to shoeless running.

Runners who wear shoes usually come down heel first. That puts great force on the back of the foot. But the study found that barefoot runners generally land on the front or middle of their foot. That way they ease into their landing and avoid striking their heel.

Harvard's Daniel Lieberman led the study. He says the way most running shoes are designed may explain why those who wear them land on their heels. The heel of the shoe is bigger and heavier than other parts of the shoe, so it would seem more likely to come down first. Also, the heel generally has thick material under it to soften landings.

But the researchers do not suggest that runners immediately start running barefoot. They say it takes some training. And there can be risks, like running when your feet are too cold to feel if you get injured.

The study was partly supported by Vibram, which makes a kind of footwear that it says is like running barefoot. The findings have gotten a lot of attention. But the researchers say there are many problems in the way the press has reported on their paper. So they have tried to explain their findings on a Harvard Web site. For a link, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

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Even a small reduction in salt in the diet can be a big help to the heart. A new study used a computer model to predict how just three grams less a day would affect heart disease in the United States.

Whatever salt you use, less of it could be good for your health

Researchers found it could prevent one hundred thousand heart attacks and ninety-two thousand deaths every year.

The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California San Francisco, was the lead author. She says people would not even notice a difference in taste with three grams, or one-half teaspoon, less salt per day. The team also included researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.

Each gram of salt contains four hundred milligrams of sodium, which is how foods may list their salt content.

The government says the average American man eats ten grams of salt a day. The American Heart Association advises no more than three grams for healthy people. It says salt in the American diet has increased fifty percent since the nineteen seventies, while blood pressures have also risen. Less salt can mean a lower blood pressure.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading an effort called the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The idea is to put pressure on food companies and restaurants. Critics call it government interference.

Mayor Bloomberg has already succeeded in other areas, like requiring fast food places in the city to list calorie information. Now a study by the Seattle Children's Research Institute shows how that idea can influence what parents order for their children.

Ninety-nine parents of three to six year olds took part. Half had McDonald's menus clearly showing how many calories were in each food. The other half got menus without the calorie information.

Parents given the counts chose an average of one hundred two fewer calories when asked what they would order for their children. Yet there was no difference in calories between the two groups for foods that the parents would have chosen for themselves.

Study leader Pooja Tandon says even small calorie reductions on a regular basis can prevent weight gain over time. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. What do you think is a government's duty on issues like salt or fats? Let us know at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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A new study suggests that the brain is even more complex than scientists have recognized

One of the patients is a woman with epilepsy. Doctors are monitoring Denise Harris to see if she is a good candidate for an operation that could stop her seizures. They are monitoring her through wire electrodes implanted in her brain.

But while she is in the hospital, she is also helping scientists understand how the brain works with language. The study centers on a part of the frontal lobe called Broca's area. Pierre Paul Broca was a nineteenth century French doctor. He first recognized the big part that this small area plays in language.

The electrode implants have shown that the area very quickly processes three different language functions. Eric Halgren at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine is one of the main investigators. He says they found different regions doing, at different times, different processes all within a centimeter.

The first function deals with recognizing a word. The second deals with understanding the word's meaning within a sentence. And the third lets us speak the word.

Harvard University brain expert Steven Pinker is another author of the study. A report on the work appeared in the journal Science. Ned Sahin, a researcher at Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, was the first author of the paper. He says scientists have known for some time that traditional explanations for how parts of the brain work need to be changed.

One such belief is that there is a separation of language tasks between two very different parts of the brain. One is Broca's area at the front. The other is Wernicke's area farther back in the brain. That area is named after the nineteenth century German neurologist Carl Wernicke.

The belief is that Broca's area is responsible for speaking and that Wernicke's area is responsible for comprehending. But the new study shows that Broca's area is involved in both speaking and comprehension. Neil Sahin says this shows how parts of the brain perform more than one task.

NEIL SAHIN: "Because here's an example of one relatively small part of the brain that's doing three very different things at three different times, but all within the space of a quarter of a second."

Yet, even with new findings like these, much about the brain still remains a mystery -- at least for now.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Mike O'Sullivan. I'm Jim Tedder.

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People who stop smoking often replace cigarettes with food. A new study says the weight they gain may increase their diabetes risk in the short term.

The study found that smokers who quit had a seventy percent increased risk of developing the disease in the first six years. That was compared to those who had never smoked.

The risks were highest in the first three years. And the risk returned to normal after ten years of not smoking.

The researchers say weight gain is probably to blame for the increase. But they say smokers should stop anyway -- and the real message is not to even start.

Type two diabetes interferes with the body's use of insulin. The substance produced by the pancreas normally lowers blood sugar during and after eating. Over time, high blood sugar can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and nerve damage.

The study is from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. It appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Another American study says obesity has become as great a threat to quality of life as smoking. It compared losses in what are called "quality-adjusted life years." The study found that losses from obesity are now equal to, if not greater than, those from smoking.

These days, there are fewer smokers in the country but more people who are extremely overweight. The findings are based on questions about health-related quality of life in government telephone surveys.

The study is from Columbia University and the City College of New York. It appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

And another study has linked each hour of watching television daily to an eighteen percent increased risk of death from heart disease. The study of adults in Australia also found an increased risk of death from others causes. The findings are published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Lead author David Dunstan at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria says the body was designed to move. He says even if people have a healthy body weight, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on blood sugar and blood fats.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver and available at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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A demonstration last May against loneliness in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Signs read in Portuguese "Tired of being alone," "Couple now" and "I want to be in love."

Earlier findings showed that happiness, obesity and the ability to stop smoking can also spread like infections within social groups. The findings all come from a major health study in the American town of Framingham, Massachusetts.

The study began in nineteen forty-eight to investigate the causes of heart disease. Since then, more tests have been added, including measures of loneliness and depression.

The new findings involved more than five thousand people in the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study. The researchers examined friendship histories and reports of loneliness. The results established a pattern that spread as people reported fewer close friends.

For example, loneliness can affect relationships between next-door neighbors. The loneliness spreads as neighbors who were close friends now spend less time together. The study also found that loneliness spreads more easily among women than men.

Researchers from the University of Chicago, Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, did the study. The findings appeared last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The average person is said to experience feelings of loneliness about forty-eight days a year. The study found that having a lonely friend can add about seventeen days. But every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent, or two and a half days.

Lonely people become less and less trusting of others. This makes it more and more difficult for them to make friends -- and more likely that society will reject them.

John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago led the study. He says it is important to recognize and deal with loneliness. He says people who have been pushed to the edges of society should receive help to repair their social networks.

The aim should be to aggressively create what he calls a "protective barrier" against loneliness. This barrier, he says, can keep the whole network from coming apart.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can find transcripts and MP3s of all of our reports at voaspecialenglish.com -- where you can also post your comments and read what others are saying. And you can find us on YouTube and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

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We talked last week about ways to avoid cold-weather injuries. Today we are going to talk about emergency treatment of hypothermia.

Hypothermia can be mild, moderate or severe. Mild hypothermia is something that most people have experienced if they live in cold climates. You feel so cold that your body starts to shake -- not very much, but uncontrollably.

An Italian climber is saved after suffering hypothermia and other injuries on Argentina's Mount Aconcagua in January

Taking a warm bath or sitting by a fire or doing some exercise can also help the body warm up. These are all common sense treatments.

But treatment needs change when people enter the moderate or severe stages of hypothermia. In that situation, their body temperature drops below thirty-five degrees Celsius. They lose the ability to think clearly. Their muscles become stiff. They might bump into things or fall over objects.

We got advice from a park ranger experienced in search-and-rescue for the National Park Service in California. Adrienne Freeman explained that rescuers will first try to prevent additional heat loss. They will place extra covering around the chest, head and neck of hypothermia victims to keep them warm.

It is important to work fast to get people out of the cold. Hypothermia victims need medical help as soon as possible. But it is equally important to move them slowly and gently.

Any rough or sudden movement can force cold blood from the arms, legs and hands deep into the warmer middle of the body. The sudden flow of cold blood can create shock, a serious condition. It can also cause a dangerously abnormal heartbeat.

The process of "rewarming" a person needs to be done slowly, in a hospital setting. Ranger Freeman said members of search-and-rescue teams have a saying that victims are not dead until they are warm and dead.

An extremely low body temperature can cause the heart to beat so slowly that a pulse may be difficult to find. In other words, a person who is suffering from the effects of severe cold may seem dead, but still be alive.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. If you missed last week's advice about how to avoid cold-weather injuries, you can find it at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can follow us on Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

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Freezing weather can mean frostbite and hypothermia unless a person is prepared. Today we talk about how to stay warm, dry and safe.

Frostbite is damage that happens when skin is exposed to extreme cold for too long. It mainly happens on the hands, feet, nose and ears.

People with minor cases of frostbite that affect only the skin may not suffer any permanent damage. But if deeper tissue is affected, a person is likely to feel pain every time the area gets cold.

If blood vessels are damaged, people can suffer an infection of gangrene. Sometimes, doctors have to remove frostbitten areas like fingers and toes.

Hypothermia happens when the body cannot produce as much heat as it releases. The condition comes on slowly. Signs of hypothermia include uncontrollable shaking, very slow breathing and difficulty thinking clearly. If not treated, hypothermia can be deadly.

To avoid cold-related injuries, here is a simple way to remember four basic steps to staying warm. Think of COLD -- C.O.L.D.

The C stands for cover. Wear a hat and scarf to keep heat from escaping through the head, neck and ears. And wear mittens instead of gloves. In gloves, the fingers are separated, so the hands may not stay as warm.

The O stands for overexertion. Avoid activities that will make you sweaty. Wet clothes and cold weather are a bad mix.

L is for layers. Wearing loose, lightweight clothes, one layer on top of another, is better than wearing a single heavy layer of clothing. Also, make sure outerwear is made of material that is water resistant and tightly knit.

Can you guess what the D in COLD stands for? D is for dry. In other words, stay as dry as possible. Pay attention to the places where snow can enter, like the tops of boots, the necks of coats and the wrist areas of mittens.

And here are two other things to keep in mind, one for children and the other for adults. Eating snow might be fun but it lowers the body's temperature. And drinking alcohol might make a person feel warm. But what it really does is weaken the body's ability to hold heat.

Next week: advice from experts about what to do, and not to do, to help someone injured by extreme cold.

And that's the VOA Special English Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, along with transcripts and MP3s of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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Last week, researchers in the United States reported curing nine adults with sickle cell disease. Ten patients in all were treated in a study with donated bone marrow. The healthy marrow causes new blood cells to form.

Sickle cell disease, also called sickle cell anemia, is a genetic condition that deforms red blood cells. They become sticky and harden into the shape of the letter C, like a sickle, a hand tool with a curved blade.

A nurse helps a sickle cell patient at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri

In other studies, bone marrow transplants cured severe sickle cell disease in almost two hundred children. Doctors first used chemicals to destroy the children's own marrow, then replaced it with healthy marrow.

However, doctors have considered this treatment too risky for adults with the disease. Their major organs are already too damaged to have all their bone marrow destroyed.

So for the ten patients in the study, doctors used a low amount of radiation to destroy only some of their marrow. Then the patients received healthy marrow. There was enough space in the bone for the healthy marrow to start producing new red blood cells.

The researchers say all ten patients remain alive two and a half years after the treatment, and the disease has disappeared in nine of them.

Marrow is a soft, spongy tissue inside bones. Doctors can collect it with a needle. But people who donate marrow must first have tests to make sure they are a good match for the patient.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the study. John Tisdale at the National Institutes of Health was the lead investigator. He says other uses for the treatment are also likely to be found.

Black people in Africa are the huge majority of those with sickle cell disease. About two hundred thousand cases are found in African children every year. About eighty thousand people have it in the United States.

A study published in September in the Lancet said antibacterial vaccines could save the lives of children with sickle cell in Africa. The study pointed out that many children die before they are even identified as having the disease. They die from bacterial infections for which there are new vaccines. But these vaccines are costly and available mainly in wealthy countries.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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But some people worry much more than others about being the target of laughter. These people are frightened. They suffer from an emotional disorder called gelotophobia. That long name comes from the Greek language. The word Gelos means laugh, while phobos means fear.

Victor Rubio is an expert on human behavior at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He says people laugh at others for many different reasons. He says being laughed at causes a fear response in the victim. That fear leads the victim to avoid social situations. Sadly, gelotophobia limits the way they lead their lives.

Victor Rubio was among researchers in a huge international study about laughter. The researchers wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another goal was to measure the fear of being laughed at within different cultures.

A team from the University of Zurich led ninety-three researchers from many countries in search of answers.

The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people. They used questions provided in forty-two languages. Their findings were reported in the scientific publication Humor.

Some of the people questioned said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations. But they hid their feelings. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. People also admitted to differing levels of fear that they themselves were the targets of other people's laughter. The researchers measured and compared all these reactions.

Fear of being laughed at, being made fun of, is a common emotion. But the researchers learned that these feelings differed from nation to nation.

For example, the study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia are likely to hide insecure feelings when they are around others' laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan who feel they have been victims before may avoid such situations.

People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Only eight and a half percent of Finns said they would -- compared to eighty percent of those questioned in Thailand.

What would you think? You can comment at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

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Tuesday was World AIDS Day, and the latest report on the epidemic provided some reason to celebrate.

Experts say new H.I.V. infections have fallen by seventeen percent since two thousand one. Estimates for sub-Saharan Africa are down by about fifteen percent. In East Asia new infections with the virus that causes AIDS have decreased almost twenty-five percent.

In Eastern Europe, the epidemic has leveled off. But new infections appear to be rising again in some countries.

The report came last week from the UNAIDS program and the World Health Organization.

Students from the American University of Beirut light candles to bring attention to AIDS in Lebanon on World AIDS Day

Experts credit the good news in the report at least in part to prevention programs, not just the natural progress of the epidemic. Yet the report points out that while the AIDS epidemic is changing, prevention programs are not.

Karen Stanecki at UNAIDS says few programs, for example, are designed for people in secure relationships. Or people over twenty-five. Or the newly single.

AIDS is the leading cause of death in women age fifteen to forty-four. Those are the main years for having children.

The W.H.O. is now advising infected women to begin antiretroviral drugs at fourteen weeks of pregnancy, instead of twenty-eight. Women are also advised to continue treatment through the recommended end of breastfeeding, when the baby is one year old. This reduces the risk of infecting the child.

Treatments and population growth mean more people than ever are living with H.I.V. The latest estimates say almost thirty-three and a half million have the virus. There were two million AIDS-related deaths last year, and two million seven hundred thousand new infections.

About two-thirds of the people with H.I.V. are in sub-Saharan Africa. Hardest hit is South Africa. On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma announced an expansion of testing and treatment. By next April, he says, all H.I.V.-infected children less than one year old will receive treatment.

AIDS research continues. On Monday the United States said it will hold the two thousand twelve International AIDS Conference. The event has not taken place here since nineteen ninety because of restrictions against visitors with H.I.V. The travel ban will end January fourth.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

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Sometimes new health advice conflicts with old advice. Yet new guidelines last week for breast cancer testing in the United States created a storm of debate. The advice came from experts who are appointed by the government to develop guidelines for preventive services, like mammograms.

Congresswoman Sue Myrick of North Carolina is joined by other lawmakers as she discusses new guidelines for mammograms on November 18

The task force must not consider medical costs. But critics accused the Obama administration of trying to limit mammograms to save money.

The administration pointed out that the current members of the group were appointed during the last administration. And officials said the study had begun long before the latest debate on health reform.

The House of Representatives passed health care legislation earlier this month. And the Senate agreed Saturday to begin full debate on its own bill.

The secretary of health and human services said the new advice would not affect government policies. Kathleen Sebelius advised women to "keep doing what you have been doing."

Some say they worry that health plans might pay for fewer mammograms now. But every state except Utah requires insurance companies to pay for testing women in their forties.

There appeared to be less reaction later in the week when a different group released new guidelines for cervical cancer testing. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the timing was just by chance.

The new guidelines say women age twenty-one to twenty-nine only need to get a Pap test every two years instead of yearly. Girls are advised to begin testing within three years of when they first have sex, or in any case no later than twenty-one.

A Pap test looks for abnormal cervical cells that could become cancer. Doctors may remove suspicious growths. But the experts say that in most cases in young women, these growths would go away by themselves. Removing them can lead to problems such as scarring and the need for Cesarean births later.

Cervical cancer is highly curable if it is found early. Pap tests have saved countless lives. Today most of the deaths are in countries with poor health care.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Barbara Klein.

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On Monday, an influential group of medical experts released new guidelines on testing for breast cancer. The guidelines are from the United States Preventive Services Task Force. Its members are appointed by the government but its recommendations are independent.

One of the biggest changes is that the task force now advises against mammograms for most women under fifty years old. In two thousand two the group had suggested such screening tests every one to two years for women forty and older.

The new guidelines also say women between fifty and seventy-four should not get mammograms every year as currently advised. The experts now recommend testing every two years for that age group.

The task force says the new recommendations are not meant for women who have an increased risk of breast cancer.

The experts also say there is not enough evidence to decide about the benefits and harms of testing women seventy-five or older.

But the group recommends against teaching women breast self-examination. It says evidence suggests that doing so does not reduce breast cancer deaths.

Mistaken test results -- called false positives -- are one problem. But another problem noted by the task force is overdiagnosis. This is when doctors find and possibly treat cancers that would not have shortened a woman's life.

Radiation exposure from breast X-rays is another consideration, though the task force says it may be a minor concern.

The task force did not suggest one form of mammography over another. It says there is not enough evidence to decide about either digital mammography or magnetic resonance imaging instead of traditional film mammography.

Some doctors say the new guidelines will reduce women's chances of needless treatments, invasive tests and harm, including psychological harm. But other doctors say they worry that the changes will reduce testing and lead to more women dying from breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society says it will continue to advise women forty and older to have yearly mammograms. But breast cancer expert Susan Love says the new guidelines are similar to those of most other countries.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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H1N1 flu continues to spread. Currently the virus is most active in the northern half of the world. But experts say it has become the leading influenza virus in all countries.

No one really knows how many people have gotten sick. H1N1, often called swine flu, was first reported in Mexico in April. Countries are no longer required to test and report individual cases. But close to half a million confirmed cases were reported to the World Health Organization as of November first.

Saudi Arabia's health minister gives his 8-year-old daughter the H1N1 flu vaccine in Riyadh

W.H.O. special adviser Keiji Fukuda said last week that the virus has continued to act in some ways like seasonal flu. Most people recover without any need for interventions like antiviral drugs.

But in other ways H1N1 is different. It remained at unusually high levels in several countries during their summer months. And, unlike seasonal flu, younger people have suffered many of the serious cases and deaths from H1N1.

In the United States, cases of suspected influenza are at higher numbers than usual this early in the flu season. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say hospital treatment for likely H1N1 is most common among children up to four years old.

Health officials around the world are concerned about vaccine production. Wealthy countries have promised to donate ten percent of their H1N1 vaccine to poor countries. But there is a worldwide shortage.

The traditional way to make flu vaccine is to grow the virus in chicken eggs. Anthony Fauci at the National Institutes of Health says the shortage is an issue of biology. He says the companies that make vaccines cannot really do much when they have a virus that does not grow well.

In Saudi Arabia, officials are preparing for the Hajj, which starts this year during the last week of November. The event normally brings about three million Muslims from one hundred sixty countries to the holy city of Mecca.

Disease experts worry that H1N1 could spread easily in the crowds. The Saudis have a campaign to vaccinate health workers. They are also urging countries to vaccinate pilgrims making the trip. And they are advising against travel by children, pregnant women and other groups at highest risk.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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In nineteen eighty-seven, H.I.V./AIDS joined a list of diseases that could keep a person out of the United States. The government later tried to cancel its decision. But Congress made the travel ban a part of immigration law. People with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, could seek an exception, but that meant extra work.

Travelers show their documents to immigration officers at Los Angeles International Airport

BARACK OBAMA: "We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we have treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with H.I.V. from entering our own country."

A final rule published Monday will end the travel ban effective January fourth. H.I.V. will no longer be a condition that can exclude people. And H.I.V. testing will no longer be required for those who need a medical examination for immigration purposes.

AIDS has killed more than twenty-five million people since the early nineteen eighties.

In September, there was news that a vaccine showed some ability to prevent H.I.V. infection in humans for the first time. The full results of the vaccine study were presented in late October at an international conference in Paris. They were also reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers confirmed that the study in Thailand produced only "modest" results.

The United States Army sponsored the vaccine trial. The study combined two vaccines, using versions of H.I.V. common in Thailand. Neither vaccine alone had shown success in earlier studies.

Thai researchers tested the combination in more than sixteen thousand volunteers. Half of the volunteers got the vaccine. The others got a placebo, an inactive substance. All were given condoms and counseling on AIDS prevention for three years. The study found thirty-one percent fewer cases of infection in the vaccine group than in the placebo group.

But critics said the findings could possibly have resulted from chance. The announcement in September was based on all sixteen thousand volunteers. Almost one-third of them, however, did not follow all the required steps in the study. Results just from those who did were similar to the larger group, but the influence of chance was more of a possibility.

Still, the researchers said the study produced enough valuable information to offer new hope for AIDS research.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Bob Doughty.

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A condition called atrial fibrillation produces an abnormal heartbeat. People feel their heart race and they lose their breath. It may last a few seconds, but it can get worse and worse with age, leading to a heart attack or stroke.

Doctors generally treat atrial fibrillation with drugs. But a new study shows that another treatment may have better results for patients who were not helped by drug therapy.

Doctor David Wilber performs a catheter ablation

Researchers studied more than one hundred fifty patients who had failed to respond to at least one drug in the past. In the study, about one hundred of them had catheter ablation. The others were treated with more drugs. There was a nine-month follow-up period to compare the effectiveness.

Doctor David Wilber at Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois was the lead author of the study. He says catheter ablation worked in sixty to seventy percent of the patients. By comparison, abnormal heartbeats returned in eighty to ninety percent of those treated with drugs.

But Doctor Wilber says catheter ablation is not meant to be the first treatment choice for atrial fibrillation. He suggests it only when drug therapy fails to work. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Bill Clinton arrives Tuesday at funeral services for John Murtha, longtime congressman from Pennsylvania

Bill Clinton was taken to a New York hospital last Thursday and released the next day.

His heart doctor, Alan Schwartz, said the former president had been feeling pressure in his chest for several days.

ALAN SCHWARTZ: "He had been having episodes of chest discomfort that were brief in nature. But because they were repetitive, he contacted me and came in."

The American College of Cardiology says one in five patients who receive angioplasty has already had heart bypass surgery. That includes Bill Clinton. He had a major operation because of blockages in two thousand four. Doctors say it is common for heart patients to need new stents over time.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Haitian children eat lunch at an orphanage being used by UNICEF for those separated from their parents after last month's earthquake

Haiti was considered to be in crisis long before the earthquake in January. The deputy executive director of UNICEF, Hilde Johnson, says the quake has only made the need for aid more immediate. But she says children all over the world have the right to the same assistance as children everywhere else.

The "Humanitarian Action Report" discusses several issues that UNICEF says increasingly threaten the basic rights of women and children. It says climate change has caused droughts and food insecurity in many areas. High food prices and the global financial crisis of two thousand eight-two thousand nine have only added to poverty and malnutrition. And armed conflict continues to threaten the lives of millions.

Hilde Johnson says children are always the most affected by conflicts and disasters. They face an increased risk of abuse, including sexual violence and other serious rights violations.

UNICEF deals with about two hundred emergencies around the world every year. The greatest need last year was in sub-Saharan Africa. The report says drought, food insecurity and civil unrest affected about twenty-four million people.

Violence and displacements of people were especially bad in Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

In Asia, UNICEF expects its financial assistance needs to more than double this year. This is partly the result of adding Pakistan and the Philippines to the latest report. In Pakistan, it says, more than two million people have been forced from their homes by the conflict in the Swat Valley and other areas of the northwest. And in the Philippines, more than two hundred thousand people are still living in shelters after severe storms last year.

This year's UNICEF report talks about the value of public and private partnerships in helping children and families in emergencies.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. For a link to the UNICEF report listing the twenty-eight countries and territories in crisis, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Winter conditions are affecting many countries in Earth's northern hemisphere. Winter brings cold weather and, with it, a danger as old as man's knowledge of fire. The danger is death or injury by carbon monoxide poisoning. Today, we tell about this ancient and continuing danger.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

Several years ago, a family was enjoying a holiday in the American state of California, near the Pacific Ocean. The family included five children and their parents. The oldest child was twelve years old. The youngest was three.

The family was spending the weekend in a camper. A camper is a small shelter carried in the back of a truck. People can sleep in it for a few days.

The weather turned cold the second night the family stayed along the Pacific coast. The camper did not have any heating equipment to warm the space while family members slept.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

A house where a family of four died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning this summer in Detroit, Michigan

The next day, other people found the family. The parents and their five children had died in their sleep. They died because they did not know that burning wood products creates a deadly gas – carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is known as a silent killer. The California family went to sleep in their warm camper and never woke up.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

Carbon monoxide poisoning causes death and injuries around the world. The poison gas has been a problem since people first began burning fuels to cook food or to create heat.

This gas is a problem in all parts of the world that experience cold weather. A few years ago, America's Centers for Disease Control studied deaths linked to carbon monoxide poisoning. It found that the average number of carbon monoxide deaths in the United States was greatest in the month of January.

The C.D.C. also found that carbon monoxide kills more than four hundred Americans each year. And, it said, more than twenty thousand people are taken to hospital emergency rooms for treatment of health problems linked to the gas.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Carbon monoxide is called the silent killer because people do not know it is in the air. The gas has no color. It has no taste. It has no smell. It does not cause burning eyes. And it does not cause people to cough.

Yet, carbon monoxide gas is very deadly. It steals the body's ability to use oxygen.

Carbon monoxide decreases the ability of the blood to carry oxygen to body tissues. It does this by linking with the blood. When the gas links with the blood, the blood is no longer able to carry oxygen to the tissues that need it. Damage to the body can begin very quickly from large amounts of carbon monoxide.

How quickly this can happen depends on the length of time a person is breathing the gas and the amount of the gas he or she breathes in.

FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

Carbon monoxide poisoning has warning signs. But people have to be awake to recognize them. Small amounts of the gas will cause a person's head to hurt. He or she may begin to feel tired. The victim's stomach may feel sick. The room may appear to be turning around. The person may have trouble thinking clearly.

People develop severe head pain as the amount of gas continues to enter their blood. They will begin to feel very tired and sleepy. They may have terrible stomach pains.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Carbon monoxide is measured in parts per million in a normal atmosphere. Breathing in two hundred parts per million of carbon monoxide will cause the first signs of poisoning. It will result in head pain, stomach problems and a feeling of tiredness after two to three hours.

A level of eight hundred parts per million will cause a person to lose consciousness. Victims will not know what is taking place around them. This will happen within two hours of breathing in this amount of carbon monoxide. Twelve thousand parts per million of the gas will cause death in one to three minutes.

FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

Medical experts say carbon monoxide affects people differently. For example, a small child will experience health problems or die much quicker than an adult will. The general health of the person or his or her age can also be important.

An older adult with health problems may suffer the effects of carbon monoxide more quickly than a younger person with no health problems. People with heart disease may suffer chest pains. They may begin to have trouble breathing.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Carbon monoxide does not always cause death. But it can cause many medical problems. Breathing low amounts of the gas for long periods of time can lead to permanent damage in the heart, lungs or brain.

Medical experts say small amounts of carbon monoxide over a long period of time can greatly harm an unborn baby.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

Water heaters that burn natural gas create carbon monoxide. Fireplaces and stoves that burn wood create the gas. Natural gas stoves and gas dryers or charcoal grills also create carbon monoxide. Automobiles create it. Any device that burns fuels like coal, gasoline, kerosene, oil or wood will produce carbon monoxide.

Experts agree that the leading cause of carbon monoxide poisoning is damaged equipment that burns these fossil fuels. They say many people die or are injured by the gas because they do not use these devices correctly.

Experts say any device used to heat a home should be inspected to make sure it is working correctly. And, no cooking equipment like a charcoal grill should ever be used to heat an inside area.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Carbon monoxide gas is created by fuel burning devices because not all of the fuel is burned.

Most devices used for home heating have a way to expel the gas from the home. For example, a fireplace has a chimney. Natural gas stoves or gas water heaters are usually connected to a device that safely expels the gas from the home. An automobile has a system for releasing unburned gasoline under and behind the vehicle.

Anyone who uses a device that burns fossil fuel must inspect the equipment carefully to reduce chances of carbon monoxide escaping. Companies that produce the devices usually provide directions about using the device correctly. These directions should be read and understood before using any equipment that burns fuel inside a home.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

You can do a number of things to protect yourself from the effects of carbon monoxide. First, immediately leave the area if you recognize the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning in yourself or others.

Seek emergency medical services after you leave the area where you suspect the gas might be. Usually the treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning involves breathing in large amounts of oxygen. However, a doctor will know the best method to treat the effects of such poisoning.

Carbon monoxide does not quickly leave the body, even after treatment has begun. It can take several hours before the gas disappears.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Installing a CO detector

In many countries, it is possible to buy and use a special device that will warn when harmful levels of carbon monoxide are in the area. These devices can be linked to a home's electric system. Others are battery-powered. Experts say these devices should be placed near sleeping areas in the home.

The most important weapon against carbon monoxide poisoning is the safe use of materials to heat any enclosed area. Safety directions that come with heating equipment must be followed. Older equipment powered by fossil fuels should be inspected every year to make sure it continues to be safe. Knowledge about the dangers of carbon monoxide could be the most important information you ever learn.

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FRITZI BODENHEIMER:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Even a small reduction in salt in the diet can be a big help to the heart. A new study used a computer model to predict how just three grams less a day would affect heart disease in the United States.

Whatever salt you use, less of it could be good for your health

Researchers found it could prevent one hundred thousand heart attacks and ninety-two thousand deaths every year.

The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California San Francisco, was the lead author. She says people would not even notice a difference in taste with three grams, or one-half teaspoon, less salt per day. The team also included researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.

Each gram of salt contains four hundred milligrams of sodium, which is how foods may list their salt content.

The government says the average American man eats ten grams of salt a day. The American Heart Association advises no more than three grams for healthy people. It says salt in the American diet has increased fifty percent since the nineteen seventies, while blood pressures have also risen. Less salt can mean a lower blood pressure.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading an effort called the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The idea is to put pressure on food companies and restaurants. Critics call it government interference.

Mayor Bloomberg has already succeeded in other areas, like requiring fast food places in the city to list calorie information. Now a study by the Seattle Children's Research Institute shows how that idea can influence what parents order for their children.

Ninety-nine parents of three to six year olds took part. Half had McDonald's menus clearly showing how many calories were in each food. The other half got menus without the calorie information.

Parents given the counts chose an average of one hundred two fewer calories when asked what they would order for their children. Yet there was no difference in calories between the two groups for foods that the parents would have chosen for themselves.

Study leader Pooja Tandon says even small calorie reductions on a regular basis can prevent weight gain over time. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. What do you think is a government's duty on issues like salt or fats? Let us know at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

A western diamondback rattlesnake in Cave Creek, Arizona

An untreated or incorrectly treated bite might require the removal of a bitten foot, for example, or an arm. Each year around four hundred thousand amputations are the result of snakebites.

Last year, for the first time, the World Health Organization added snakebites to its list of "neglected tropical diseases." This recognition aims to bring greater attention to the problem.

Scientists know of about three thousand kinds of snakes. About six hundred of them are venomous. These are most often found in rural areas in tropical climates.

Asia and Africa have the highest number of snakebites -- together about four million a year. Latin America and islands in the South Pacific follow.

The highest number of victims are agricultural workers. Snakebites are also common among fishermen, hunters and children. Many victims live in areas with poor or non-existent health care systems and where antivenom treatments are often not available.

Antivenom is the only cure. But experts say antivenom technologies and their use need to be improved. Problems include a shortage of manufacturers and the high cost of treatment.

Also, there is a widespread lack of knowledge among local health workers about how to use antivenoms. The treatments can cause dangerous and even deadly reactions if not used carefully.

Antivenom contains proteins from animals such as horses or sheep. The animals are injected repeatedly with one or more different snake venoms to produce immunity.The Lancet medical journal recently published a series of reports on snakebite prevention and treatment. David Warrell at the University of Oxford in England co-wrote one of them. He praised efforts by the W.H.O. to establish common practices for the production, regulation and control of antivenom. But he says more must be done.

The authors say community education programs could help prevent snakebites by teaching people how to avoid them. They also suggest actions like providing protective boots to wear while working in fields, and not sleeping on the ground.

Also important is providing information about where dangerous snakes are most likely to live and when they are most active.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. MP3s, transcripts and broadcasts of our reports are available at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Christopher Cruise.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A new study suggests that the brain is even more complex than scientists have recognized

One of the patients is a woman with epilepsy. Doctors are monitoring Denise Harris to see if she is a good candidate for an operation that could stop her seizures. They are monitoring her through wire electrodes implanted in her brain.

But while she is in the hospital, she is also helping scientists understand how the brain works with language. The study centers on a part of the frontal lobe called Broca's area. Pierre Paul Broca was a nineteenth century French doctor. He first recognized the big part that this small area plays in language.

The electrode implants have shown that the area very quickly processes three different language functions. Eric Halgren at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine is one of the main investigators. He says they found different regions doing, at different times, different processes all within a centimeter.

The first function deals with recognizing a word. The second deals with understanding the word's meaning within a sentence. And the third lets us speak the word.

Harvard University brain expert Steven Pinker is another author of the study. A report on the work appeared in the journal Science. Ned Sahin, a researcher at Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, was the first author of the paper. He says scientists have known for some time that traditional explanations for how parts of the brain work need to be changed.

One such belief is that there is a separation of language tasks between two very different parts of the brain. One is Broca's area at the front. The other is Wernicke's area farther back in the brain. That area is named after the nineteenth century German neurologist Carl Wernicke.

The belief is that Broca's area is responsible for speaking and that Wernicke's area is responsible for comprehending. But the new study shows that Broca's area is involved in both speaking and comprehension. Neil Sahin says this shows how parts of the brain perform more than one task.

NEIL SAHIN: "Because here's an example of one relatively small part of the brain that's doing three very different things at three different times, but all within the space of a quarter of a second."

Yet, even with new findings like these, much about the brain still remains a mystery -- at least for now.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Mike O'Sullivan. I'm Jim Tedder.

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