Depression linked with sleep breathing problems, study finds

Experiencing breathing problems during sleep may raise your risk of depression, a new study suggests.

Women with sleep apnea, in which breathing becomes shallow or pauses briefly during sleep, were 5.2 times as likely to have depression compared with women without the condition. Men with sleep apnea were 2.4 times as likely to have depression as men without the condition, according to the study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Participants in the study who had other breathing problems during sleep also had an increased risk of depression. However, the researchers found no increased likelihood of depression among people who snore.

"Snorting, gasping or stopping breathing while asleep was associated with nearly all depression symptoms, including feeling hopeless and feeling like a failure," said study researcher Anne Wheaton, an epidemiologist with the CDC. "We expected persons with sleep-disordered breathing to report trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, or feeling tired and having little energy, but not the other symptoms."

Both depression and breathing problems during sleep are common, and both are underdiagnosed, the researchers wrote. Screening people who have for one disorder for the other could lead to better diagnosis and treatments, they said.

The researchers took into account other factors that might influence the results, such as age, sex and weight. The results are in line with those of the other studies, the researchers said.

The study found an association, not a cause-and-effect link. However, the researchers wrote that evidence from other research suggests that breathing problems during sleep may contribute to the development of depression. For example, one previous study found a link between the severity of breathing problems during sleep and the odds of later developing depression. And other studies have shown that people who received treatment for sleep apnea showed improvement in their depression.

"Mental health professionals often ask about certain sleep problems, such as unrefreshing sleep and insomnia, but likely do not realize that [breathing problems during sleep] may have an impact on their patients' mental health," the researchers wrote in their conclusion.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/30/depression-linked-with-sleep-breathing-problems-study-finds/#ixzz1qkcbMsRq

Hillary dares to bare! Clinton meets King of Saudi Arabia... and doesn't hide her ankles

Hillary Clinton made it clear that this isn't a man's world anymore when she exposed her ankles during a visit on Friday with Saudi King Abdullah.

The U.S. Secretary of State and one of the world's most well-known female figures talked over Saudi Arabia's role in maintaining a stable world oil supply with the Saudi leader.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, have been strategic allies since the 1940s, but discord over how to respond to Arab popular uprisings strained relations last year.

Grin and bare it: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exposes her ankle during a talk with Saudi King Abdullah

Although the two states have mended the rift, differences persist on regional policy and how to tackle high oil prices.

The United States and other consumer countries fear Saudi Arabia may cut oil output if they release emergency reserves, neutralizing their effort to cool world energy markets.

Clinton met with the king, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and other officials from the Gulf kingdom in Riyadh on Friday, a day before foreign ministers from across the Gulf meet with U.S. officials to discuss regional security.

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'They talked about keeping the global oil supply strong in this period and the essential role that Saudi Arabia plays in that,' a senior State Department official told reporters.

Diplomats and industry sources said this week that Western countries may want Clinton to seek reassurance that the Saudis will not undercut their bid to cut their fuel costs.

Oil prices have risen sharply since the start of the year, at one point breaking $128 a barrel, largely because of expanded sanctions imposed on major oil exporter Iran aimed at slowing its disputed nuclear program.

Lady in heels: Mrs Clinton is greeted by Saudi officials before the leaders discuss the world's oil supply

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123122/Hillary-dares-bare-Clinton-talks-oil-Saudi-King--shows-ankles-black-high-heels.html#ixzz1qkbh50IE

Court orders Egypt to ban porn websites to protect its 'society and values'

An Egyptian court has ordered the government to ban pornographic websites in order to protect society and its values.

The decision and a similar initiative in parliament has fed into fears by liberal and secular Egyptians that their country is moving down the path to fundamentalist Islam, following a sweeping victory by Islamists in parliamentary elections.

The ruling came from a lower court and can be appealed. Three years ago a court made a similar ruling, but it was not enforced because at the time, officials argued filtering systems were not effective.

The ruling to ban porn websites in Egypt has worried some that their country is moving down the path to fundamentalist Islam

Human rights activists criticised the latest ruling and warned it was a violation of freedom of information in an already conservative society.

The pornographic website issue recently underlined the Islamist domination of parliament, when an ultraconservative lawmaker presented a query asking the government to ban pornographic websites because they endangered the morality of the country's youth.

The lawmaker asked the government to introduce legislation banning sites that promote corruption and immorality.

 

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Internet specialists said trying to ban pornography with a court ruling or legislation is ineffective. The use of parental controls is considered a more common way to curb access of minors to offensive content.

'It is very hard to implement and is... a waste of resources,' said lawyer Soha Abdel-Attie of the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights.

She said it was not clear if the new court order builds on the previous case or was a new ban.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122854/Court-orders-Egypt-ban-porn-websites-protect-society-values.html#ixzz1qkaVsQBs

'Osama was living in some version of the Kardashians in Abbottabad': Bin Laden fathered FOUR children and lived in five houses during his nine years on the run in Pakistan after 9/11

Phil Mudd who helped lead the CIA's hunt for Bin Laden has compared the world's most famous terrorist to one of America's most famous reality TV shows following recently testimony of his life by one of his wives. Bin Laden's 30-year-old wife Amal Ahmad Abdul Fateh, speaking to Pakistani investigators, described the former Al Qaeda leader moving between five safe houses and fathering at least two children in a government hospital.

Sugar causes Cancer!

Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, believes the high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us. And as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, new scientific research seems to support his theory that sugar is toxic, including some linking the excess ingestion of sugars to heart disease. Gupta's report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Americans are now consuming nearly 130 pounds of added sugars per person, per year. Those include both sugar and high fructose corn syrup. And while many vilify high fructose corn syrup and believe it is worse than sugar, Dr. Lustig says metabolically there is no difference. "They are basically equivalent. The problem is they're both bad. They're both equally toxic," he says.

Dr. Lustig treats sick, obese children, who he believes are primarily sick because of the amount of sugar they ingest. He says this sugar not only leads to obesity, but to "Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease itself." Something needs to be done says Dr. Lustig. "Ultimately, this is a public health crisis...you have to do big things and you have to do them across the board," he tells Gupta. "Tobacco and alcohol are perfect examples," he says, referring to the regulations imposed on their consumption and the warnings on their labels. "I think sugar belongs in this exact same wastebasket."

A recent study supports the idea that excess consumption of high fructose corn syrup is linked to an increase in risk factors for heart disease by increasing a type of cholesterol that can clog arteries. The University of California, Davis, study also indicated that calories from added sugars are different than those from other foods. Subjects had 25 percent of their caloric intake replaced with sweetened drinks. Nutritional biologist Kimber Stanhope was surprised to see that after only two weeks, "We found that the subjects who consumed high fructose corn syrup had increased levels of LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease," she tells Gupta. "I started eating and drinking a whole lot less sugar."

What happens says Stanhope, is the liver gets overloaded with fructose and converts come of it into fat, which gets into the bloodstream to create "small dense LDL," the kind of LDL that forms plaque in arteries. The irony here is that for precisely that reason - avoiding heart disease - a government commission in the 1970s mandated that we lower our fat consumption. "When you take the fat out of food, it tastes like cardboard," says Dr. Lustig. "And the food industry knew that, so they replaced it with sugar...and guess what? Heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and death are skyrocketing," he tells Gupta.

And other scientific work shows that sugar could also be helping some cancer tumors to grow because sugar stimulates the production of the hormone insulin. Nearly a third of common cancers such as some breast and colon cancers, contain insulin receptors that eventually signal the tumor to consume glucose. Lewis Cantley, a Harvard professor and head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, says some of those cancers have learned to adapt to an insulin-rich environment. "They have evolved the ability to hijack that flow of glucose that's going by in the bloodstream into the tumor itself."

What does the sugar industry have to say about this? Gupta spoke with Jim Simon, a member of the board of the Sugar Association. "To say that the American consuming public is going to omit, eliminate sweeteners out of their diet, I don't think gets us there," he says. Simon points out that the science is "not completely clear" and it's wrong to single out one food because the real emphasis should be on long-term reduction of calories, balanced diet and exercise

Postpartum depression tied to domestic violence

Mothers with postpartum depression are more likely to be in a violent relationship than moms without depression, and new mothers in abusive relationships are more likely to suffer postpartum depression, according to a new survey of women with infants.

"I think intuitively and clinically it's not surprising that there would be an overlap between depression and intimate partner violence," said Dr. Linda Chaudron, a psychiatry professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved in this study.

The results provide clinicians with some guidance for screening women who show signs of postpartum depression or a violent relationship.

"That is a big message that we want to send, that if pediatricians have started screening for maybe one of these two and they detect one, they should be screening for the other," said Dr. Barry Solomon, a pediatrics professor at John's Hopkins Children's Center, and the lead author of the study.

Previous research on the overlap between postpartum depression and domestic violence has typically come from researchers that focus on the mothers' health.

But in recent years, pediatricians have increasingly adopted the practice of screening mothers for postpartum depression and domestic violence.

"It's come from growing evidence that mothers who are depressed or are in a relationship with violence, there are negative effects on children," Solomon told Reuters Health.

1 in 14 in violent relationship

Solomon and his colleagues took advantage of the frequent visits to the pediatrician that new moms make with their babies to explore how often violence in the home and depression co-occur.

In February, 2008 they started screening mothers with children under six months old who came to their clinic for healthy baby checkups.

Most of the women were African American and about one third of them were teenagers.

From the surveys that the moms filled out, the research team found that one out of four of the mothers appeared to have postpartum depression and one out of 14 was in a violent relationship.

The moms who screened positive for domestic violence were twice as likely to have postpartum depression.

More than 50 percent of women in violent relationships also screened positive for depression, compared to 22 percent of mothers who were not in violent relationships.

Similarly, women with postpartum depression were four times as likely to also screen positive for violence at home.

Four percent of women without depression and 16 percent of women with depression were in violent relationships.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/30/postpartum-depression-tied-to-domestic-violence/#ixzz1qcIOYbbQ

5 medical tests every woman needs

No matter what your age, here's how to make sure you're in good health.

1. Audiogram

Why you need it: To find out if you are one of the more than 28 million Americans with measurable hearing loss and, if so, to take steps to keep it from worsening.

When and how often: Schedule an audiogram if you have trouble making out what people are saying, hear ringing in your ears, feel a plugged sensation, or have a family history of hearing loss. Otosclerosis, a genetic disorder that prompts abnormal growth of the bone of the middle ear, is more prevalent in women and often surfaces when a woman is pregnant or between 15 and 30.

What to expect: You wear headphones while a licensed audiologist or ear, nose, and throat doctor has you listen to sounds. "We check for your ability to discriminate between tones of different frequencies," says David Fabry, a former president of the American Academy of Audiology.

What the results mean: If your audiogram is normal, you'll come back every two to five years for a follow-up test. If your audiogram shows you have high-pitch hearing loss, you may have more difficulty hearing certain voices and might need a hearing aid.
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2. Bone-Mineral Density Test

Why you need it: To find out whether you're at risk for osteoporosis. This crippling weakness of the bones afflicts nearly 10 million older Americans, 80 percent of whom are women, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

When and how often: Have your first DXA (dual-energy X-ray) test at age 65 and another every five years thereafter. Women can lose up to 30 percent of their bone mass in the five to seven years following menopause. Get tested at menopause if you weigh less than 127 pounds, have ever smoked, have a history of nontraumatic fractures as an adult, or have a family history of osteoporosis.

What to expect: The DXA test, the most accurate bone-density test, is safe and noninvasive: You lie fully clothed on a table while the X-ray machine scans your spine, hips, and wrists. If your bone density is low, your doctor may recommend the NTX test, a urine test that measures the rate at which you're losing bone mass; she may also want you to be X-rayed annually.

What the results mean: If your DXA shows you have osteopenia, a preosteoporotic state of low bone density, your doctor will recommend you consume at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 400 to 800 IUs of vitamin D daily without fail. (All women should get this amount, in fact.) She'll also suggest regular exercise. If you have osteoporosis, your doctor may give you a drug like Actonel or Fosamax.

3. Clinical Breast Exam and Mammogram

Why you need it: Both types of screening can detect breast cancer when it is confined to the breast. Ninety-seven percent of women diagnosed at this stage survive without a recurrence for at least five years, according to the American Cancer Society.

When and how often: Starting when you're age 20, your doctor should manually examine your breasts at your regular checkup. By age 40, you should have a mammogram (an X-ray of the breasts) once a year. "Schedule your mammogram right after your period," says Dr. Holly Thacker. "That's when the breasts are least tender."

What to expect: Mammograms are done by standard X-ray. "If you've had previous mammograms and you're now using a new facility, be sure the radiologist compares your old films with the current ones," says Dr. Suzanne Trupin, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign.

What the results mean: If the mammogram picks up an abnormality, such as a small deposit of calcium or a mass, your doctor may ask you to undergo a breast ultrasound or in some cases a breast MRI. These tests can determine whether a lump is a solid mass and if a biopsy is necessary.

4. Colonoscopy

Why you need it: To detect colorectal cancer before symptoms occur. In Its early stage, this disease is more than 90 percent curable, says Bernard Levin, M.D., vice president for cancer prevention and professor of medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

When and how often: Doctors suggest you have your first colonoscopy at age 50. If a parent or sibling was diagnosed with colorectal cancer or polyps before 50, you are at higher risk and should get your first test 10 years before they were diagnosed and repeat it at least every five years. If no problems are found and you have no family history, testing can be limited to once every 10 years.

What to expect: For a colonoscopy, the gold-standard diagnostic test, your doctor uses a colonoscope, an instrument with a tiny video camera, to examine your large intestine for polyps and other growths.

What the results mean: If polyps are found, they will be removed and biopsied, says Dr. David E. Beck, chairman of the department of colon and rectal surgery at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, in New Orleans. Depending on the results, you may need surgical treatment or additional testing within three to five years.

5. Dental Screening

Why you need it: To rule out oral cancer, one of the six most common cancers among American adults, according to the Academy of General Dentistry, and to combat gum disease and treat any tooth decay.

When and how often: Twice-a-year teeth cleanings and checkups should begin six months after your baby teeth appear and continue for life. If you're pregnant or taking contraceptives, you may be more prone to gum inflammation. Smokers and women who have more than a drink or two a day are at a greater risk for gum disease and oral cancers.

What to expect: A dentist will take a close look at all your teeth, your tongue, the soft and hard tissues of your mouth and neck, and the area around your jaw to determine if there are any unusual changes in tissue.

What the results mean: If you have gum disease, your dentist may recommend that you return for cleanings more than twice a year. You may also have plaque and tartar scraped from above and below the gum line and rough spots on tooth roots smoothed. If you have abnormal tissue growths, your dentist may take a biopsy.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/29/5-medical-tests-every-woman-needs/#ixzz1qcGqeJ5E

Too much sitting linked to shortened lives

Australians who spent a lot of time sitting at a desk or in front of a TV were more likely to die of any cause during a three-year period than those who were only sedentary a few hours a day, according to a new study.

Researchers found that the link between too much time sitting and shortened lives stuck when they accounted for how much moderate or vigorous exercise people got as well as their weight and other measures of health.

That suggests shifting some time from sitting to light physical activity -- such as slow walking and active chores -- might have important long-term benefits, researchers said.

"When we give people messages about how much physical activity they should be doing, we also need to talk to them about reducing the amount of hours they spend sitting each day," Hidde van der Ploeg, the new study's lead author from the University of Sydney, told Reuters Health in an email.

Of more than 200,000 adults age 45 and older, van der Ploeg and her colleagues found that people who reported sitting for at least 11 hours a day were 40 percent more likely to die during the study than those who sat less than four hours daily.

That doesn't prove sitting, itself, cuts people's lives short, she pointed out.

Although the researchers also asked participants about a variety of lifestyle habits, there could be other unmeasured differences between people who spend a lot or a little time sitting each day.

Still, the findings are consistent with other recent studies suggesting health consequences from too much sitting, said Mark Tremblay, an obesity and activity researcher at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

"Sitting or reclining, especially in front of screens, is bad for you regardless of your age," said Tremblay, who wasn't involved in the new research.

People tend to think they're okay as long as they get their "dose" of working out each day, he told Reuters Health.

But, "Getting your 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week is not insurance against chronic disease," Tremblay added.

Instead, time spent doing moderate or vigorous exercise and time being totally sedentary may each affect long-term disease risks separately, he said.

Effects on cholesterol?

For the new study, van der Ploeg and her colleagues surveyed about 220,000 people from New South Wales, Australia between 2006 and 2008. The surveys included questions about participants' general health and any medical conditions they had, whether they smoked and how much time they spent both exercising and sitting each day.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/30/too-much-sitting-linked-to-shortened-lives/#ixzz1qcFRV2z6

Double HIV infection could be foundation for HIV vaccine

South Africa considers its options to tackle HIV/Aids over next 20 years

Ever since HIV was first discovered, the search has been on to find a vaccine that could save the lives of those living with the virus.  Now experts may be one step closer to making that vaccine a reality.

New research has revealed that women who have been infected with two different strains of HIV have more effective antibody responses than those who have only been infected once.  The double infection response was even found to stop replication of the virus.

The condition is known as “HIV Superinfection,” occurring when a person receives two strains of HIV from two different sexual partners – and now it could be the key to fighting the disease in the future.

“These results suggest that potentially having two different antigens is a better way to stimulate a good immune response than just one,” said Julie Overbaugh, a member of the Hutchinson Center’s Human Biology Division and lead author on the study.  “So now the question is: What should be in a good vaccine? These women may be giving us clues.”

The researchers studied a group of women living with HIV in Mombasa, Kenya, over five years.  They followed the immune activity of 12 superinfected women and compared their results to a group of 36 singly infected.  They also controlled for risk factors that could have affected the results.

On average, the superinfected women had 1.68 times more neutralizing antibodies than the singly infected women – and their ability to neutralize the virus from spreading was 1.46 times higher.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 1.1 million Americans currently live with HIV, and a new person gets infected with the virus every 9.5  minutes.  With so many people afflicted, Overbaugh and her team are eager to get back into the lab to determine the science behind their findings.

“Now we really want to know why they had a better immune response,” Overbaugh said.  “When you’re studying naturally infected populations, you can’t really demonstrate cause and effect.  What we try to do is try to understand how this kind of response might have been generated.  So we need to isolate [and study] the antibodies that these individuals generated.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/29/double-hiv-infection-could-be-foundation-for-hiv-vaccine/#ixzz1qcDwGBg0

It's only rock 'n' roll but I like it: Student Eugenie reunited with long-distance love Jack Brooksbank at McCartney gig

Her elder sister Princess Beatrice is regularly spotted on the London society scene with boyfriend Dave Clark.

But as a student at Newcastle University, we're not used to seeing Princess Eugenie out very often with her long-distance love, waiter Jack Brooksbank.

A low-key couple in comparison to Beatrice and Dave, the young lovebirds reunited in the capital last night for a spot of rock 'n' roll.

Low-key: Princess Eugenie and her boyfriend Jack Brooksbank leave the Paul McCartney Teenage Cancer Trust charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall

However, they declined to pose up for photographers and kept their distance as they left the venue.

Eugenie, 22, and Jack, 26, joined her mother Sarah Ferguson at the Sir Paul McCartney gig at London's Royal Albert Hall.

 

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The star-studded gig, which also saw performances by The Who's Roger Daltrey and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, was raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Babe in blue: The princess wore a navy dress, leather jacket and ballet pumps

Eugenie is currently in her third year of a combined honours degree in Art History, English Literature and Politics at Newcastle University.

Living up north means she and Jack conduct a long-distance for much of the year as he is based in London.

The couple have been quietly dating since Spring 2010 after meeting on holiday in Switzerland.

The pair were introduced through friends in Verbier where Eugenie was celebrating her father Prince Andrew's 50th birthday.

Who said romance was dead? It wasn't just the two of them though, her mother Sarah Ferguson came too

Long-distance love: Eugenie spends most of the year in Newcastle, while Jack lives in London

Their romance started shortly after Eugenie split from Sir Richard Branson's nephew Otto Brockway - half-brother of Kate Winslet's new boyfriend Ned RockNRoll - after six months together.

Eugenie and Jack were first photographed together at the Cuckoo Club in London in May 2010.

In January this year, they enjoyed a romantic holiday in Mustique in the Caribbean.

Although he currently works as a waiter in a London bar, Jack attended the £27,000-a-year Stowe public school in Buckinghamshire.

His parents, chartered accountant George and Nicola own a holiday home near Bordeaux, France.

All for a good cause: Sarah Ferguson dressed up in black

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2122693/Princess-Eugenie-reunited-long-distance-love-Jack-Brooksbank-McCartney-gig.html#ixzz1qcCw2zR3

One-a-day heart pill to stave off stroke is given the green light

The first once-a-day anti-clotting drug for patients with an irregular heartbeat has been given the green light for use on the NHS.

Rivaroxaban works as well as warfarin, a treatment based on rat poison which has been used since the 1950s, but with fewer side effects.

Hundreds of thousands of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) could be eligible, which may prevent 5,000 strokes a year.

The drug is the second new anti-clotting agent to get the go-ahead from the NHS rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which recently approved Pradaxa.

AF is the most common heart rhythm disturbance, affecting up to 1.2 million Britons and causing 12,500 strokes a year.

In AF, the upper chambers of the heart are out of rhythm and beat much faster than normal, which allows blood to pool and generate tiny blood clots which can trigger a stroke.

Rivaroxaban is expected to become a blockbuster drug. As a daily pill, it has a key advantage over Pradaxa, which must be taken twice a day.

AF patients have to take anti-clotting agents for life, but Nice says the new drugs offer value for money either as a replacement for warfarin or for patients who cannot take it.

At £2.10 a day, Rivaroxaban is slightly cheaper than Pradaxa (£2.50), but there is still a big price differential with warfarin. The new drug costs £64 for a month’s supply, compared to warfarin’s cost of only £1, plus clinic visits.

Some of the clinic costs associated with monitoring warfarin may be recouped, says Nice.

 

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Warfarin, which is still used in large doses to kill vermin, has been given routinely to AF patients for decades, reducing the rate of stroke by up to two-thirds at the cost of increased bleeding.

But it is inconvenient for patients because careful monitoring and regular blood tests are needed to prevent excessive bleeding from cuts or stomach ulcers.

Poison: Many patients are currently treated with warfarin, which is used in large doses to kill vermin such as mice, meaning those using it must be monitored

A consensus conference by the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh estimated 5,000 strokes and 2,000 premature deaths a year could be avoided through effective detection and treatment of AF, with only half of patients currently receiving drugs. 

Trudie Lobban, chief executive and founder of the Atrial Fibrillation Association, said prevention and treatment of strokes should be an NHS priority.

She added: ‘After 60 years when warfarin was the only option for patients we now have a choice of agents that will have a significant impact on strokes and quality of life. They are opening the way for raising awareness and education, and encouraging GPs to check for AF.’

Rivaroxaban was developed by Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson and is expected to make peak sales worth two billion euros a year in Europe.

Dr Peter Coleman, of The Stroke Association, said: ‘Warfarin is a highly effective treatment for stroke prevention, but it is not suitable for everyone.

‘We’re pleased to hear that GPs will have another safe medication in their armoury to treat patients with atrial fibrillation.’

Professor Carole Longson, of Nice, added: ‘We know that people taking warfarin can find it difficult to maintain their blood clotting at a proper level and are often not within the target therapeutic range.

‘Rivaroxaban, like dabigatran etexilate, which Nice recently approved as an option for this indication, can benefit people with AF in these circumstances.’

New treatment: Hundreds of thousands of patients with atrial fibrillation could benefit from the drug. (Posed by model)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2122501/One-day-heart-pill-stave-stroke-given-green-light.html#ixzz1qcAgAiu5

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2122501/One-day-heart-pill-stave-stroke-given-green-light.html#ixzz1qcAMXRup

What no bling? Beyoncé takes delivery of a white vintage style cradle for baby Blue Ivy

She is the newborn baby of music royalty, but it seems reports of £1million nursery may have been slightly wide of the mark.

Superstar Beyoncé gave a sneak peek at the furnishings for her much loved daughter Blue, and it looked anything but bling-tastic. 

Beyoncé, 30, and her mother Tina Knowles were seen in Manhattan followed by assistants carrying a white wrought iron vintage style cradle.

Special delivery: Beyonce looked striking in a neon pink long sleeved sweatshirt as she stepped out in Manhattan yesterday

Vintage style: Beyonce took delivery of a cradle for baby Blu Ivy

Handle with care:  The baby bed is delivered to Beyoncé's office building in New York City

One assistant carried the white intricately decorated cradle, while another toted the hanging frame into the singer's New York office.

With Beyoncé for a mother, Blue which no doubt be treated to a chorus of sing lullabies at bedtime as she is rocked to sleep.

The Superstar couple are said to have splashed out on items - to outfit THREE nurseries in their various homes - including a solid gold rocking horse and a diamante-encrusted high chair among a list of extravagant goods for their baby.

With an alleged £240,000 alone dropped on the special bedrooms for the baby.

Rock-a-bye baby Blue: One of Beyonce's assistants carried the frame of the cradle

A source told Star magazine: 'Together they’ve bought a Swarovski-studded high chair by Carla Monchen for £10,000, and a Fantasy ‘posh tots’ coach carriage crib for £30,000.

'Jay-Z bought Beyonce a solid gold handmade Ginza Tanaka rocking horse for £400,000.

'They’ve even splashed out on a £20,000 magical windmill playhouse for the garden and a mini Bugatti car, too.'

Beyoncé looked stunning in a bright neon pink long sleeved sweater as she stepped out earlier yesterday.

Patchwork: The singer 's colourful maxi skirt was an amalgamation of different colourful patterns

The smiling 30-year-old star teamed her bright top with an eye catching multi-coloured patterned skirt which she accessorised with a black hat and John Lennon style sunglasses.

Beyonce is clearly already back to her glamorous best after going through the ordeal of giving birth back in January.

Last week the singer revealed she had plans to return to the stage.

She announced her intention to perform three concerts in Atlantic City this coming May.

She will perform as part of the unveiling of the $2.4 billion Revel Resorts over Memorial Day weekend.

A bright spark: The hit singer showed off a flat stomach, just two and a half months after giving birth to Blue Ivy

Her husband and Blue Ivy's father, Jay-Z, owns the 40/40 club in Atlantic City.

Meanwhile, the star has fallen victim to an apparent swipe from fellow singer Katy Perry.

After singing a cover of a Jay-Z track, Perry appeared to take aim at his wife Beyonce.

The California Gurl singer was talking about her upcoming collaboration with Rihanna - saying she wanted their track to be 'iconic'.

Perry then went on to cite Beyonce and Shakira's 2007 song Beautiful Liar - suggesting it would not stand the test of time.

Hint of brightness: A protective Beyoncé out with Blue earlier in the week

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2122471/Beyonce-VERY-bright-sight-neon-pink-sweater.html#ixzz1qc5aD4iS