IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Stress can be nail biting

Whether it's problems at kindergarten or in the office, lots of people respond to stress by chewing on their fingernails. Often, it's just a bad habit. But sometimes it indicates a lot more than that.

"Nail biting can be a habit or the expression of inner tension," says Markus Biebl, a psychologist in Bad Saeckingen in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The tensions often grow out of conflicts, or stress in the workplace or personal life. Children might simply repeat what they see others doing, says Gisela Dreyer, a psychologist from Bonn.

Nail biting can manifest itself suddenly or start as a regular habit as early as kindergarten. Experts estimate that about 30 percent of children and about 15 percent of adults chew their nails.

Dreyer says the behavior is often a form of automatism that fades with time. For example, if school stress goes away, then the reason for the nail biting fades and the habit disappears. But adults who endure long periods of stress and respond by chewing on their nails can find the habit hard to break.

Depression tied to allergies

Research of psychiatrically ill children and adolescents suggests that those with depression, anxiety and other so-called "internalizing" disorders are more likely to have allergies. Among a sample of 184 young people being evaluated for psychiatric disorders and allergies, 105 (57 percent) had a history of allergic disorders, including asthma, hay fever, hives and eczema.

Skinny smokers still fat

This we know: Smoking takes the edge off appetite and so helps people lose weight.

Australian researchers have found that the reduction is from muscle mass and not from stored fat. We might look thinner, we might be lighter, but the weight loss has been damaging to our health.

"Using smoking to suppress body weight gain, if you're overweight, is not going to be helpful," says University of New South Wales pharmacologist Margaret Morris. "If you lose muscle, it looks like you are losing more weight and it gives the appearance you are looking skinnier, but you are still storing the fat."

Professor Morris, whose findings are published in the American Journal of Physiology, says that despite the weight loss, fat would still tend to gather around a smoker's heart, lungs and liver - with obvious implications for overall health.

Beans and curry against cancer

Scientists are discovering that foods such as curry and beans could help fight cancer, a conference was told on Tuesday.

Researchers from the University of Maryland said compounds found in legumes and bran may act as a natural sunscreen for the skin.

The molecules, related to vitamin B, help protect DNA in skin cells from cancer-causing sun damage, said Dr Abulkalam Shamsuddin, pathology professor at the university.

Compounds called inositol and IP6 are found in many seeds and grains, Shamsuddin said. They are antioxidants, which prevent healthy cells from turning cancerous by blocking the effects of cancer-causing substances.

PCs turning kids into cripples

Kids today spend so much time in front of computer monitors they are damaging their backs and will end up deformed and prematurely old, a conference in Australia was told.

Children as young as 5 complain of back pain after hours on the Internet.

"Their bones and muscles are not going to develop the same as ours did," Curtin University academic Leon Straker told an international gathering of physiotherapists in the Queensland town of Cairns. "Their mature bodies are not going to be as capable."

Sydney physiotherapist Jeremy Lockhart says excessive computer use had resulted in children as young as 6 becoming patients.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/07/2007 page19)