Parents, give a second thought the next time you pamper your children by giving them noisy toys.
A new study by the University of California says that the noise of some of the most popular Christmas toys can be as loud as a chainsaw and risk permanently damaging toddlers' hearing, the Daily Telegraph reported.

For their study, researchers from the University of California, Irvine tested the levels of two dozen separate toys and took 10 of the loudest to a specialist soundproof laboratory . All of the 10 exceeded 90 decibels and several reached 100 or more, which is equivalent to the noise of a chainsaw or an underground train.

Among the toys tested were the Tonka Mighty Motorised Fire Truck, Marvel Super Shield Captain America, Whac-A-Mole game, Sesame Street Let's Rock Elmo and Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Cosmic Blaster.

Hamid Djalilian, who led the study, said problems could arise if a noisy toy was held too close to a child's ears.

"Children are very sensitive to loud and high-pitched sounds. Unfortunately, hearing loss from noise damage is permanent and not currently curable," he said.

Djalilian said that someone buying a noisy toy for a child should hold the toy as a youngster would and listen to its sound. "If it hurts your ears then it's probably too loud for a child," he said.

With 17 blood samples of the 81 slaughtered pigs testing positive for Japanese encephalitis (JE), the alarmed brass of the Delhi government and MCD on Friday decided to identify the source of the infection in pigs before initiating more drastic measures to check the spread of the disease.

Since JE has already killed more than 500 people in Uttar Pradesh and its spread in the Capital is a scary possibility, the decision was taken at an emergency meeting between senior officials of the MCD and the health department.

Health minister Dr A. K. Walia said: "The first thing we will investigate before the next meeting is the source of the infection. The samples of another 100 pigs are being tested. Since this is the winter season, even the number of mosquitoes - which are the primary carriers of the disease from animals to humans - is quite less."

The MCD had sent the samples for testing to the National Research Centre for Equines at Hisar, Haryana, in late November. Eight of the 17 samples that tested positive had been collected from the Civil Lines area of the Capital, six from Shahdara South and three from Sadar Paharganj.

One of the key instructions issued by the jittery government brass to the MCD authorities was about regular fogging and checking the presence of mosquitoes, particularly in the resettlement and unauthorised colonies. Pigs are known hosts of JE, which spreads from them to humans via mosquitoes.

Based on the preconditions that help the disease spread, the authorities have already identified the "high risk" zones.

Most of these are resettlement colonies with poor hygiene conditions and the presence of pigs, mosquitoes and birds in close proximity to one another. These include Raghubir Nagar, Mangolpuri, Shastri Park, Rohini, Bawana and Trilok Puri, among others.

Though the culling of pigs isn't allowed in the national Capital, the state government's health officials said on the condition of anonymity that it was "the best and the safest option" to check the spread of the disease.

"But since most of these areas have a high population density, the culling of pigs by the government/ civic administration could become a significant political issue in the forthcoming civic elections. Such a move will most likely affect a certain votebank. Therefore, it'll be a tricky decision to take for the political parties," a senior health department official said.

In fact, the issue of compensation to the owners of pigs that may ultimately have to be slaughtered across the city would also be discussed at the crucial meeting on JE, which is scheduled for next week.

Walia confirmed that the state government was aware of the financial aspect of such a decision. "We will discuss a range of issues, including the financial ramifications, at the meeting next week," Walia said.

JE had surfaced in the Capital for the first time this year in October, when four persons tested positive for it. Since then, 14 persons have tested positive for the virus. The areas from where these cases were reported included Gole Market, Bawana and Jahangirpuri .

A botched eye surgery camp blinded five persons, while 11 others developed serious complications in Nandyal town of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh.

St Werburghs Hospital conducted the free camp on November 14, but the hospital authorities tried to hush up the goof-up by referring the victims to hospitals in Guntur, Kurnool and Hyderabad. The incident came to light when the victims approached the district health authorities and the media on Thursday.

Kurnool district health officer Venkatapathy said as many as 33 people went to the camp for cataract surgery.

The patients returned to their villages after the operation. But 16 of them developed infections and went to the hospital for post-surgery followup. "The medical officer there rudely told us to go to bigger hospitals," a patient said.

But for five of them, it was too late. They were already blinded. The National Eye Care Project officials will probe the incident.

A low-carbohydrate diet is better than a standard, calorie-restricted one for cutting down weight and lowering blood levels of cancer-promoting hormone insulin, a British study has found.

Researchers at Genesis Prevention Centre at University Hospital in South Manchester, found that restricting carbohydrates two days per week may be a better dietary approach for preventing breast cancer and other diseases.

"It is interesting that the diet that only restricts carbohydrates but allows protein and fats is as effective as the calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate diet," said Michelle Harvie, research dietician at the Genesis Prevention Centre.

Harvie and her colleagues compared three diets during four months for effects on weight loss and blood markers of breast cancer risk among 115 women with a family history of breast cancer.

They randomly assigned patients to one of the following diets: a calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate diet for two days per week; an "ad lib" low-carbohydrate diet in which patients were permitted to eat unlimited protein and healthy fats, and a standard, calorie-restricted daily Mediterranean diet for seven days per week.

Data revealed that both intermittent, low-carbohydrate diets were superior to the standard, daily Mediterranean diet in reducing weight, body fat and insulin resistance.

Mean reduction in weight and body fat was roughly four kg with the intermittent approaches compared with 2.4 kg with the standard dietary approach.

Insulin resistance reduced by 22 per cent with the restricted low-carbohydrate diet and by 14 per cent with the "ad lib" low-carbohydrate diet compared with 4 per cent with the standard Mediterranean diet.

Yoga can provide more effective treatment for chronic lower back pain than more conventional methods, according to the UK's largest ever study into the benefits of yoga.

The study, led by the University of York and funded by Arthritis Research UK, found that people offered a specially-designed 12-week yoga programme experienced greater improvements in back function and more confidence in performing everyday tasks than those offered conventional forms of GP care.

The research focused on back function - people's ability to undertake activities without being limited by back pain, which was measured using the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire. Although improvements in back function were more pronounced at three months, researchers found there was still an improvement in people's ability to perform tasks such as walking more quickly, getting dressed without help or standing up for longer periods of time even nine months after the classes had finished.

The trial involved two groups of people who were both receiving GP care for chronic or recurrent back pain. A 156-strong group were offered group yoga classes specially designed to improve back function, while a second control group of 157 people were offered GP care alone.

The findings of the study, which was carried out by researchers from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York and the Hull York Medical School, are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine this week.

Lower back pain is a common episodic condition, with 80 per cent of the UK population suffering from it at some point in their lives. It is estimated that around 4.9 million working days a year are lost due to back pain. However, few effective, evidence-based treatments exist.

The yoga programme, which involved 20 experienced yoga teachers, was designed and delivered by Truro-based Alison Trewhela, an Iyengar Yoga teacher and Senior Practitioner in Yoga on the British Register of Complementary Practitioners, in collaboration with York-based yoga teacher Anna Semlyen, a Back Care Advisor to the British Wheel of Yoga.

The classes were designed for complete beginners, with yoga teachers given extra training in back care. Participants were recruited from 39 general practices in seven Primary Care Trust areas, with classes held in non-NHS premises in Cornwall, North London, West London, Manchester and York.

Chief Investigator Professor David Torgerson, Director of York Trials Unit, in the University's Department of Health Sciences, said: "Back pain is an extremely common and costly condition. Exercise treatment, although widely used and recommended, has only a small effect on back pain. We therefore set out to investigate an alternative approach using a specially-developed weekly yoga programme for back pain sufferers to see if this allowed them to manage their back pain more successfully.

"While previous studies have focused on the short-term benefits of yoga, we also wanted to see the long-term effects and measured improvements three, six and 12 months after entry into the study. Our results showed that yoga can provide both short and long-term benefits to those suffering from chronic or recurrent back pain, without any serious side-effects."

Medical Director of Arthritis Research UK Professor Alan Silman said: "We're delighted that our trial has shown that yoga provides such positive benefits for people with chronic low back pain. This extremely common condition cannot be managed with painkillers alone and there is an urgent need to have non-drug therapies that sufferers can utilise in their own home. This trial is part of our larger commitment to seek self-help solutions to this common musculoskeletal problem. There are compelling explanations why yoga may be helpful and this trial lends powerful support to the wider use of this approach."

Trial participants completed a questionnaire at three, six and 12 months from the start of the programme. On average, members of the yoga group were able to undertake 30 per cent more activities compared with those in the usual care group after three months, a statistically significant difference between the two groups which has been recognised as clinically important.

The trial showed that there was more reduction in pain in the yoga group than the usual care group, but of marginal statistical significance.

Researchers also compared the results from the yoga programme with those for high-quality randomised trials for exercise and manipulation, the Alexander technique and cognitive-behavioural treatment. The results suggested that the 12-week yoga group programme may improve back function more than exercise and manipulation, cognitive-behaviour treatment and six sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique, but not as much as 24 sessions of 1-to-1 Alexander technique.

Trial participant Sue Faulkner, 68, retired from her job as an administrator four years ago with the intention of spending her time gardening. However, within six months of retiring her back was so bad she found that walking any distance was painful and she needed to stop regularly to rest. Gardening was out of the question.

Sue from Bishopthorpe in York said: "I felt a definite benefit after the programme as it made me more flexible and we were taught positions to relieve certain types of back pain. I've continued going to yoga classes and still do the positions I was taught during the 12-week programme. Walking around is no longer a problem and I can do my gardening now so long as I pace myself. I've even taken on an allotment with my daughter and son-in-law and no longer take pain killers."

Those attending the specially-designed yoga programme, which involved step-by-step gentle classes, were encouraged to become self-sufficient in the long-term. Classes were supported with four home practice sheets, a manual, and a four-track audio CD teaching how to relax physically and mentally.

Iyengar Yoga teacher Alison Trewhela said: "The yoga programme offers poses for pain-relief and mental calming; mobilising, stretching, strengthening and relaxation; improving awareness of posture; education about how a healthy back functions; and positive mental focus. Yoga aims to treat the whole person - not just the physical.

"As most back pain conditions recur, these lifelong self-management skills are likely to be useful as a preventative measure. As a result of smaller previous trials, one million Americans currently practise yoga as a recommended treatment for low back pain."

Participants in the yoga programme were surveyed nine months after classes had finished and more than half of those who responded were still regularly practising yoga, mostly at home, twice a week.