Whole grains good for the diabetic heart

Women with type 2 diabetes who consume more whole grains, bran, and cereal fibre may reduce their risk of heart disease, according to a new study. What's more, low-glycemic index foods (readily digested carbohydrates that cause a rapid rise in blood sugar) may also help to curb early signs of heart trouble, reports Reuters. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found that women who reported eating more whole grains, bran, and cereal fibre tended to have lower levels of two markers of blood vessel inflammation that have been linked to heart disease ? CRP and TNF-R2. In fact, cereal fibre “may confer stronger effects than fibres from other food sources such as fruit and vegetable”, they note in the journal Diabetes Care.

Kissing leads to meningitis

Intimate kissing with multiple partners, attending college, and a history of preceding illness are independent risk factors for meningococcal disease in adolescents, a new research shows. However, religious observance and meningococcal vaccination are tied to reduced risks, according to a report in the British Medical Journal. Meningococcal disease ? a bacterial infection of the fluid within the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord ? is largely a disease affecting children younger than five years, although in recent years both the US and UK have seen rising rates among teens, say researchers at the University of London.

Steroid better against asthma

Inhaled steroids not only control symptoms, they also appear to change the natural course of asthma over time, Danish researchers report in the journal Thorax. Doctors at Hvidavre University Hospital, Copenhagen, conducted a 10-year-long study of 234 asthmatic patients. The patients were divided into two groups: 44 on maintenance therapy with inhaled steroids and 190 patients who were not. The researchers measured forced expiratory volume in one second, an indicator of lung capacity (FEV1). They say that decline in FEV1 was 25 ml/year in those on inhaled steroids and 51 ml/year in the others.

Sex and love are not the same

Sex and romance involve quite different brain systems and, of the two, love is the more powerful emotion, says a study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology. “The brain areas activated when someone looks at a photo of their beloved only partially overlap with the regions associated with sexual arousal," say researchers at the State University of New York-Stony Brook.