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'Blackberry Thumb' Proves a Sour Fruit of Modern Labor |
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You can now add "BlackBerry Thumb" to the list of workplace maladies, says the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).
BlackBerry Thumb refers to an increasingly common, repetitive-stress injury stemming from use of the popular handheld electronic devices. This stress injury causes pain and/or numbness in the thumbs and joints of the hands.
The condition is caused by spending too much time on these devices -- checking and composing e-mails, instant messaging, and accessing the Internet. |
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Prozac in Streams Endangering Mussels |
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The antidepressant drug Prozac (fluoxetine) can disrupt the reproductive cycle of freshwater mussels and increase their risk of extinction, says a U.S. study presented Monday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in San Francisco.
As with other drugs, remnants of Prozac are flushed from the body and travel in wastewater that reaches streams and rivers.
This study found that the drug causes female mussels to release their larvae before they're able to survive on their own. |
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Nicotine Helps Banish Depression |
Nicotine may help improve symptoms of depression, say U.S. researchers, but they add that that's no reason to smoke.
In their study, researchers at Duke University Medical Center randomly assigned 11 people who did not smoke but who were experiencing symptoms of depression to wear either a nicotine patch or a placebo patch that did not contain nicotine.
The participants completed questionnaires to measure their depression symptoms.
Those who wore the nicotine patch for at least eight days experienced significant declines in depression scores, the researchers reported Sept. 11 in the online edition of Psychopharmacology. |
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