440,000 evacuated in Hainan

MORE than 440,000 people had been evacuated by Sunday as floods wreaked havoc in China's southernmost island province of Hainan, authorities said on Monday.

The floods have disrupted the lives of 2.7 million people in 16 cities and counties on the island, and the affected area accounted for 90 per cent of Hainan's total territory, Luo Baoming, governor of the province, said during a video conference on flood relief mobilisation.

The floods have also destroyed more than 3,000 houses, and damaged more than 1,400 roads and 43 reservoirs in the province. Also, over 166,700 hectares of crops have been damaged, and among these, 74,000 hectares have been destroyed, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

Nearly 100 schools were toppled, and five cities and counties were forced to suspend school for two or three days, Mr Luo said.

According to the local meteorological bureau, another round of rains is forecast to pound the island on Wednesday, which will pose more difficulties for relief work, Mr Luo added.

Megacities fast growing

HEALTH issues facing so-called 'megacities' like Tokyo, Mumbai or New York are poised to become a huge challenge for global policy as the cities grow, experts at the World Health Summit said.

Megacities, roughly defined as cities with a population of more than 10 million, are springing up around the world as people increasingly migrate from the fields to massive, sprawling urban centres.

There will be 27 of these megacities by 2020, up from 19 in 2007, said Victor Rodwin, director of the World Cities Project at New York University, with most located in Asia, South America or Africa.

Moreover, the cities themselves are growing at a ferocious rate. 'For every minute that I speak, a new person is going to be moving into Lagos, Kinshasa or Dhaka,' said Ricky Burdett from the London School of Economics.

One in every 25 people on the planet will be living in a megacity by 2025, predicted Francisco Armada Perez, an official from the World Health Organisation.

Health issues found elsewhere are exacerbated in megacities. Diseases such as AIDS, SARS or H5N1 bird flu can spread like wildfire, especially through slums, where one-third of urban dwellers live. Overcrowding and poor sanitation foster tuberculosis, another major challenge facing health officials in megacities.

The world's richest women

THE three richest self-made women on the planet are Chinese, led by paper-recycling queen Zhang Yin, who has a personal fortune of US$5.6 billion (S$7.3 billion), according to the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which compiles data on wealthy individuals.

Of the 20 richest self-made female billionaires on the list, 11 are Chinese, with wealth averaging US$2.6 billion - compared with ninth-placed Winfrey's US$2.3 billion, the report said.

JK Rowling, author of the wildly popular Harry Potter books, wasn at the bottom of the list, with US$1 billion.

'There is no other country that comes even close to touching the number of self-made women in China,' said Mr Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and compiler of the Hurun rich list.

The list includes three billionaires from the United States, three from Britain and one each from Italy, Russia and Spain. The richest non-Chinese person on the list was Rosalia Mera of Spanish clothing store Zara with US$3.5 billion.

Mr Hoogewerf partly attributed the Chinese women's business success to the government's one-child policy and free childcare provided by many grandparents, which has enabled them to spend time building their empires.

Hidden danger of mobile phone usage

Mobile phone companies should display 'health warnings' to allow users to be aware of the health risks from radiation, urged pressure groups and scientists.

Important information that advise users not to place their handsets directly against the body have been available in the manuals.

However, these advice were often buried inside the handset manuals in small prints.

RIM's latest BlackBerry Torch (9800) encouraged users to utilize hands-free operation or put it 25mm away from the body to avoid prolong body contact.

Apple's iPhone and Nokia C6 also warned its users to keep the devices at least 15mm away from the body and to avoid contact while making or answering calls.

According to a spokesperson of Powerwatch, an independent group that investigates the safety of mobile phones: "The safety advice should be included on the boxes and far more prominently in the ‘getting started’ section of user guides and not just in the detail at the back that hardly anyone reads."

Research from the University of Washington has shown that exposure to two-hours long of mobile phone radition can splinter the DNA of brain cells in rats.

That is equivalent to cells found in malignant tumours.

Other studies also revealed that regular use of mobile phone among children affect memories and learning capacities while men face the risks of affecting their sperm count when handsets were kept in trousers pockets.

10 most common H. pylori symptoms;

1. Heartburn or Acid Reflux (GERD)
Whether these symptoms occur on a regular, or even infrequent basis, you may well be infected with H. pylori.

2. Diarrhea, Constipation, Flatulence, Bloating.
Because H. pylori interferes with acid in your stomach, you can't digest food properly.

3. Fatigue and Low Energy Levels.
H pylori creates a non-stop stress on your body, making you feel tired. Added to the possibility that you are not digesting your food properly, your body is not getting the correct nourishment to maintain it's proper energy levels.

4. Nausea & Vomiting.
Many people feel nauseous when with H. pylori infections. Sometimes this can mistaken for pregnancy morning sickness. In some cases, vomiting does occur.

5. Unplanned Weight and Muscle Loss.
Because H pylori affects acid levels - which affects the digestive process of fats and proteins especially - you may notice that you are losing weight. The problem is that this weight loss is due to muscle loss, which is a dangerous way to lose weight.

6. Difficulty Losing Weight
This is a surprising symptom opposite to the above. The reason for this is that a hormone called cortisol is produced when your body is stressed. Cortisol is known to cause either weight loss or weight gain, depending on the person. Cortisol can promote weight gain around the stomach area, and at the same time can also cause muscle loss.

7. Hormonal Symptoms including Mood Swings & PMS
These are usually caused by an over production of Cortisol caused by the stresses of the body trying to deal with infections.

8. Depression and Anxiety
A very important mood chemical (called serotonin) is largely made in a healthy digestive system. Any damage to your stomach by an H. pylori infection will lead to a shortage of this important chemical.

9. Gum Disease, Bad Breath and other Oral infections
Although the H pylori bacteria lives mostly in the stomach and small intestines, it has also been found in the mouth, and even in dental cavities.

10. Blocked nose, painful sinuses, colds and infections
Most people are unaware that the sinuses are joined to the digestive system, and that any irritation to the digestive system can cause sinus problems.

H. pylori infections - you are not alone...

Research shows that H. pylori is present in 75% of the worlds population - that means 3 out of every 4 people are infected. When you consider this you can see there is a good chance you may be infected, especially if you have the symptoms of a stomach ulcer.

Also when you consider that nearly 90% of people with stomach ulcer symptoms are infected with this bacterium, as are 50% of new patients with stomach cancer, then we recommend you get a proper diagnosis to be on the safe side.

The facts we list below will give you an idea of the severity of H. pylori infections - and you will see how many infected people WILL get stomach ulcers as a result of this infection.

Of course the other major risk of H. pylori infections is gastric cancer, which is strongly linked to the presence of H. pylori bacteria in the GI tract as well.

When you consider how widespread H. pylori infections are, and how easy cross-infection is, you will realize that if you are infected, then those family members or partners that are close to you may also become infected if they are not already infected.

The treatment of H. pylori in mainstream medicine presents it's own set of problems. Statistics show that the most commonly prescribed drug therapies have failure rates of up to 70%. Take a little time to get the real truth, so that you don't become just another statistic....

Once you have checked these facts, or if you have been infected for a while, you may think that Helicobacter Pylori is invincible....but the good news is that a recent breakthrough can stop this nasty little bacteria in it's tracks naturally and permanently!

UK graduates less competitive

BRITAIN is falling behind other industrialised nations in the race to produce the highly skilled graduates needed to remain competitive in the world economy, an international survey of education found on Tuesday.

In 2000 some 37 per cent of young Britons graduated, ranking Britain third amongst the members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), beaten only by Finland and New Zealand.

But by 2008 Britain had fallen to 14th, overtaken by countries with rising graduation rates such as Poland, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland and Norway, the OECD reported in its annual review of education statistics.

The findings come as coalition ministers look for ways to cut state spending on higher education with the Treasury demanding 25 per cent budget cuts across government to curb a record budget deficit. Tomorrow's university students face steep rises in the eventual cost of their education, either in the form of higher tuition fees or in larger taxes after graduation, ministers have indicated.

But the OECD said investing in higher education made financial sense for countries, even if they were running a deficit. 'Countries with high graduation rates ... are also those most likely to develop or maintain a highly skilled labour force,' it said in the report Economics at a Glance 2010.

Said Wendy Piatt, head of the Russell Group of leading universities, 'Without more investment in higher education ... the UK risks jeopardising the competitive advantage which has made its universities the envy of the world'.