Medi watch
Waking up to heart disease risk
People who don't get enough sleep - at least 30 per cent of Britons and 40 per cent of Americans - are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, a 17-year British study of 10,000 government workers has found. University of Warwick researchers aren't sure why, but say lack of sleep appears to be linked to increased blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Sleeping for five hours or less is considered inadequate, Reuters reports. 'Our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health,' says team leader Francesco Cappuccio.
Needle points way to pain relief
Acupuncture is almost twice as successful as conventional treatments such as painkillers at relieving lower back pain - and even fake acupuncture works better, say German researchers who conducted the largest study yet of the traditional Chinese therapy, involving more than 1,100 patients. Almost half of those given acupuncture felt relief that lasted for months, compared with about a quarter of those given injections, physical therapy or other conventional treatments. About 44 per cent of patients given fake acupuncture also felt better, AP reports. The findings are in line with the theory that pain messages to the brain can be blocked by competing stimuli, says team leader Heinz Endres of Ruhr University Bochum.
Soccer players run rings round joggers
Kicking a ball around with friends works off more fat, builds more muscle and is less tiring than jogging, according to a preliminary Copenhagen University study of men in their early 30s. The men exercised for about an hour three times a week over three months. The body fat in those who played friendly games of soccer decreased by 3.7 per cent, compared with about 2 per cent for those who jogged; muscle mass increased by about 2kg for the soccer players, whereas there was no significant change for the joggers, AP reports. The soccer players felt less tired afterwards - apparently because they had more fun.
Bacteria breakthrough in space
A super-virulent strain of bacteria cultured in space may lead to the development of more effective antibiotics and other treatments for salmonella and similar food-borne diseases, say Arizona State University researchers. Microbes grown aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis killed more mice faster than did a similar sample cultivated on Earth, AFP reports. A protein, Hfq, may be responsible for the enhanced virulence of the microbes grown in zero gravity, which could shed light on how cells act on Earth.
Lowdown on male attraction
Men with deep voices have more children - apparently because they're considered more attractive, says a Harvard University researcher, based on a six-month study of nomads in Tanzania. By manipulating recordings of men with high-pitched voices, Coren Apicella found that women thought deeper voices signified better hunters and, therefore, better mates, AFP reports. 'The test seems to support the hypothesis that low-pitched men make more babies because they have more success in attracting a mate,' she says.
Jason Sankey is a tennis professional
