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Parents who introduce their teenage kids to alcohol in the hope of encouraging them to drink responsibly could be doing more harm than good, suggests a new research.The research team found that drinking before the age of 15 increased a child’s risk of becoming a heavy drinker.

The study of the relationship between age at first drink (AFD) and the risk of developing alcohol-use disorders (AUDs) during adulthood has found that the risk is greatest when AFD occurs before the age of 15.

“Some early drinkers become alcohol dependent while still in their teens, a time when those who have not yet started drinking are not even at risk of becoming dependent. By looking at adult-onset dependence, we can see for the first time that the association between early AFD and increased AUD risk … is not time limited, but rather persists into adulthood,” explained Deborah A. Dawson, staff scientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and corresponding author for the study.

“In addition, this study controls for a variety of individual risk factors that could contribute to both early drinking behaviour and later alcohol problems,” said Howard B. Moss, associate director for Clinical and Translational Research at NIAAA.

For the study, the researchers collected data from a three-year longitudinal study of U.S. drinkers 18 years of age and older at baseline (n=22,316).

They examined associations between three groups of AFD - younger than 15, between 15 and 17, and 18 years of age or older - and first incidence of alcohol dependence, abuse, and specific AUD criteria as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition. They also controlled for duration of exposure, family history and a wide range of baseline and childhood risk factors.

“The key finding of this study was that people who started drinking before age 15, and to a lesser extent those who started drinking at ages 15 to 17, were more likely to become alcohol dependent as adults than people who waited until 18 or older to start drinking. Past studies have often suggested that this association might result from common risk factors predisposing people to both early drinking and AUDs. Although the current study does not provide conclusive evidence that early drinking directly increases AUD risk, it suggests that it is premature to rule out the possibility of such a direct effect,” said Dawson.

“By controlling for a variety of confounding risk factors in their analysis, Dawson and colleagues were able to demonstrate that … early alcohol consumption itself, as a misguided choice or decision, is driving the relationship between early drinking and risk for development of later alcohol problems,” observed Moss.

“We believe that impaired executive cognitive function (EGF) may lead to choices that favour the immediate pleasures of heavy drinking over avoiding the long-term risks of developing an AUD. Impaired EGF would likely result from frequent and/or extremely heavy drinking at early ages, not from the simple fact of having initiated drinking at early ages. The big question is whether the impaired EGF preceded and led to the early drinking (and the increased risk of AUD), or whether the early drinking caused the impaired EGF,” said Dawson.

According to her, these findings would help in building a body of research that will eventually help scientists deduce whether early drinking is a marker of high risk for AUD or a direct risk factor for AUD.

“If the latter is true, it adds to the importance of preventing early drinking. Especially in light of the finding that the likelihood of developing these AUDs in adulthood is about 50 percent higher for persons who start drinking before 15 as for those who did not drink until 18 or older,” she said.

The results of the study will be published in the December issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

The Indian currency fell by 36 paise to 46.90/91 against the US dollar in early trade today owing to increased demand for the greenback from oil refiners and importers.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the Indian rupee, which was lower by 33 paise to 46.54/55 on Friday, depreciated by 36 paise against the US dollar on better demand for the greenback amid weak Asian stock markets.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex moved down by 08 points to 12,993.72 in early trade today.

Shares of Apple Inc. plunged to a 52-week low Monday and flirted with the $100 line after analysts downgraded the stock because they believe slowing consumer spending will hit its computer business.

Shares of Apple Inc. plunged to a 52-week low Monday and flirted with the $100 line after analysts downgraded the stock because they believe slowing consumer spending will hit its computer business.

Country singer Mindy McCready will surrender to Tennessee authorities on Tuesday to begin serving a 60-day jail sentence for violating probation on a previous drug-related charge, her lawyer said.”Once she’s done with that time, Mindy has met all of her obligations under her probation sentence,” Attorney Lee Ofman told Reuters on Monday. “We worked very hard to get her a deal, so we didn’t have to have a probation violation.”

McCready, whose albums include “Ten Thousand Angels” and If I Don’t Stay the Night,” was originally convicted of prescription drug fraud in 2004 and placed on parole.

In 2007, the 32-year-old singer also spent time in jail for parole violation, and in June this year she was charged again with violating her probation by falsifying community service records. She entered rehab in July this year.

“I am working very hard to put all of this behind me as quickly as possible so I can get back to what I like to do most: sing, write songs, and entertain,” McCready said in a statement.

Actor-turned-director Atul Agnihotri says he cast brother-in-law Salman Khan in his forthcoming film ‘Hello’ not to increase its commercial value, but because the character in the movie demanded a star like him.Salman plays himself, a superstar, in the film that is based on the acclaimed book ‘One Night At The Call Centre’ by Chetan Bhagat.

‘Salman plays Chetan Bhagat’s character in the film. But we have shown him as Salman - the film star - unlike the book which portrayed Chetan Bhagat (the narrator) as a writer,’ Atul told IANS.

‘I have not cast Salman because of commercial reasons or being a relative, but it was important for the role to have an actor who has a star status,’ said Atul.

‘Hello’ is Atul’s second film as director after ‘Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha’, which released in 2004. ‘Hello’ is slated to hit theatres Oct 10.

Though Salman does not play the lead role, he has an important role in the movie as the story begins and ends with him.

And Salman Khan fans will not be disappointed as they will get to see enough of their superstar. The two-hour movie features Salman for at least 25 minutes, said Atul.

Besides Salman, the film boasts of a large star cast including Katrina Kaif, Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Isha Koppikar, Gul Panag, Amrita Arora and Arbaaz Khan.

Katrina plays a fellow traveller who narrates the whole story to Salman.

‘It is through them that the whole story unfolds and they play a pivotal part in the film,’ said Atul.

The director maintained that he had not deviated much from the novel, except for taking a few cinematic liberties.

He explained that while books need more time to introduce characters as it has only words to communicate, cinema is different, being an audio visual medium presentation.

The film revolves around a group of call centre workers who receive a call from god.

Atul said it took them nine days to film the scene where god appears as it needed special treatment.

‘It is always difficult to shoot at night, but the whole scene was shot in the night, which made things difficult for us.’

Extra efforts went into making the scene really special.

‘Lightning and thunder needed to be created. Besides, special effects were also used for the scene,’ said Atul, who debuted as an actor in Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Sir’ in 1993.

Atul said he has no plans to return to the big screen as an actor.

‘I had always planned to be a director and had assisted Pankaj Parasher for five years. In between, I went into acting and had a bad experience. Now I want to concentrate on direction as this was always my first choice.’

Norway’s top consumer advocate said Monday he is taking Apple Inc. to the government’s Market Council in a test case seeking to force the American company to open its iTunes music store to digital players other than its own iPod.

Norway is leading a European campaign that began two years ago to get Apple to make its iTunes online store compatible with rivals’ digital music players.

“We discussed this at a meeting two weeks ago, and decided that Norway will do the test case,” Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon said by telephone. “This could have international consequences.”

The council has the power under Norwegian law to order companies to change trade practices, and can also order fines if companies fail to comply. Thon said Apple has until Nov. 3 to respond to the allegations, and that the council was likely to decide on the case sometime early next year.

Apple in Norway did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Thon began pushing Apple to change its system and rules more than two years go, saying the restrictions violate Norwegian law.

Currently, songs purchased and downloaded through iTunes are designed to work with Apple’s market-leading iPod players but not competitors’ models, including those using Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media system. Likewise, iPods generally can’t play copy-protected music sold through non-Apple stores.

“It’s a consumer’s right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use. iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law,” said Thon.

Thon said Apple agreed at a meeting in February that they wanted to sell music without the protection known as “Digital Rights Management,” or DRM, and that they shared his goal of making systems interoperable.

But “iTunes has now had two years to meet our demands regarding interoperability. No progress has been reported by iTunes since our meeting in February,” said Thon about the decision to file a complaint. “This is a matter of great principal importance.”

Finland, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands all back the Norwegian drive.

World Heart Day Sunday brings bad news for Indian women who have been found to be more vulnerable to coronary diseases because their arteries are narrower than those of men.’Since arteries in women are narrower in India, risk factors have a bigger impact. Coronary and heart diseases need to be more aggressively managed in women than men,’ Madhukar Shahi, senior interventional cardiologist of Gurgaon-based Artemis Health Institute, told IANS on World Heart Day.

The mortality rate among women suffering from cardiovascular diseases is also higher than that of men across the world, including India, because of lifestyle changes in metropolitan cities where women work graveyard (late) shifts and are given to smoking and drinking to battle peer and professional pressure.

The theme for this year’s World Heart Day supported by the World Heart Federation internationally is ‘Know Your Risk’, which encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyles and go for periodic health checks.

Olympic marathon gold medal winner Stefano Baldini is supporting the World Heart Day at the global level this year to drive home the message. The World Heart Federation’s prescription is simple: ‘Be active. Thirty minutes of brisk activity and five servings of vegetables and fruits every day can keep the doctor away.’

According to Shahi, negative lifestyles associated with depression, smoking, alcoholism, lack of exercise, poor diet and lack of social support increase the risk of heart disease and interfere with treatment.

‘The primary factor that causes cardiac problems is stress. The modern Indian woman is subjected to excessive stress at home and at work. Overworking, under-resting and a higher level of frustration at work bring about greater aggression and take a toll on the quality of life,’ Samir Parikh, a leading psychologist at Max Healthcare and a health columnist, told IANS.

‘We need to pay importance to our mental health in order to understand its impact on physical health. No matter how much you rush, it is difficult to catch up. The best is to pace oneself to avoid pressure on the heart,’ he added.

As smoking is common among the new generation of younger Indian women, pre-menopausal smokers are thrice at risk of heart diseases than men.

‘Many women use cigarette as an aid to control their weight because being thin is fashionable. But smoking reduces the HDL cholesterol which increases the risk of heart diseases,’ Shahi said.

He also advised younger women using oral contraceptive in India to refrain from smoking.

A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine in India in May 2008 of 33,000 deceased women who had smoked showed most of them died or suffered from heart and lung-related respiratory, vascular or neo-plastic diseases. Smoking was associated with reduction in median survival of eight years for women, compared to six years for men in the country.

The study also cited that the prevalence of smoking among women between 30 and 69 years in India rose fairly steadily from three percent to six percent over the decades.

The heart expert said the number of coronary diseases in women had increased by 300 percent in the last five years.

‘What makes treatment difficult for women is that surgical interventions like stenting to clear blockages in arteries is more complex as they have narrower arteries,’ he said. Awareness about heart disorders among Indian women was also low.

Some of the major causes of coronary diseases among Indian women are diabetes, high cholesterol level or dyslipidemia, smoking, bad metabolism and premature menopause or estrogen deficiency, the doctor said.

A survey conducted by Ravi Kasliwal, senior consultant of cardiology at Apollo Hospitals, and his team showed that 44.1 percent women executives in the mean age of 40 in corporate offices across India showed the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, which contributed to heart diseases.

Heart problems, said Shahi, are predominantly a lifestyle disease.

‘Indians are genetically more susceptible to heart diseases because of the changing lifestyles in the metros. Rapid economic development, along with urbanisation, and its attendant major lifestyle changes are contributing more to heart diseases,’ he said.

‘Graveyard or late night shifts affect women because long hours at work disturb the circadian variation in hormone levels among women,’ Shahi said. It leads to heart disorders.

The doctor also said the safe limit for alcohol among women was half that of men.

As precautions, Shahi said Indian women, irrespective of whether they were working or not, should test themselves for blood sugar, lipid profiles, pressure, bio-index mass and weight and avail counselling sessions for exercise and smoking at regular intervals.

‘But the formal cardiovascular risk assessment should start at 40,’ he said.

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has married actor Ryan Reynolds in a quiet wedding ceremony in Canada.The 23-year-old actress tied the knot Saturday at a remote resort outside Vancouver, British Columbia, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Wedding guests included Johansson’s mother Melanie Sloan and her brother Adrian Johansson, her representative confirmed.

The couple began dating in the spring of last year shortly after Reynolds split from then fiancee, singer Alanis Morissette, and announced their engagement May 5 this year.

Johansson has earlier dated actors Josh Hartnett and Jared Leto.

Tropical Storm Kyle strengthened into a hurricane off the United States on Saturday as it took aim at New England and Canada’s Maritime provinces, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Kyle, which developed as a tropical storm on Thursday, had top sustained winds near 75 mph and was forecast to make landfall near the Maine-New Brunswick border early on Monday.

Kyle was a minimal Category 1 hurricane on the five-step hurricane intensity scale. In its 11 p.m. advisory, the hurricane center said there might be slight weakening in Kyle before it hits the coast.

Kyle was 355 miles south of the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and moving north at 23 mph.

The hurricane — spawned by the 11th named storm of a busy and destructive Atlantic hurricane season — was forecast to dump as much as 6 inches of rain over parts of New England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island through Monday. It was also likely to cause large and dangerous surf in some areas.

Forecasters have predicted the six-month hurricane season, which runs through November 30, could produce up to 18 cyclones. The warm sea temperatures and other factors that contribute to the formation of hurricanes are still in place.

The disturbed weather system from which Kyle developed drenched Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Caribbean island of Hispaniola before it moved north into the Atlantic.

Authorities in Puerto Rico, a U.S. island territory, said at least four people were killed and scores of homes were flooded.

Kyle was the first tropical storm to form in the Atlantic-Caribbean region since Tropical Storm Josephine on September 2.

A Chinese astronaut has completed his nation’s first ever foray into space beyond the confines of a spacecraft.

Zhai Zhigang, the lead Chinese astronaut, or taikonaut, of the Shenzhou 7 mission, spent about 20 minutes floating outside his vehicle. During the spacewalk, which began at about 4:40 a.m. ET (0835 GMT) and ended at 4:58 (0858 GMT), he retrieved a small sample of solid lubricant from the outside of the spacecraft that had been placed there before launch.

Zhai, along with crewmates Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, launched into space Thursday aboard a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Gansu province. The mission is China’s third manned spaceflight.

Spacewalk activities

To begin the spacewalk, Zhai exited from the hatch in the de-pressurized orbital module.

“I have been out of the hatch, I’m feeling good,” Zhai said immediately after stepping out, according to the CCTV official Chinese television announcer’s translation. “To all the people in my country and the world, my greetings. My country, please have faith in me. My team will finish this mission.”

He proudly waved the red flag of the People’s Republic of China in space to mark the achievement.

Liu assisted from inside the orbital module, clad in a Russian-made Orlan spacesuit and occasionally peeking his head out of the hatch to hand Zhai materials. Jing spent the duration in the pressurized re-entry module, which is due to eventually carry the taikonauts home.

In short order, Zhai had retrieved the test sample from the spacecraft’s hull and passed it back inside to Liu. After about 20 minutes he stepped back inside the spacecraft feet first, and the two taikonauts closed the hatch.

Landmark achievement

Successfully completing a spacewalk solidifies China’s status as a space power, and helps the nation move toward its goal of establishing a more permanent presence in space.

“We’re probably looking at an effort to do a manned docking [in the future] and eventually a spacelab,” said Dean Cheng, China analyst with Alexandria, Va.-based think tank CNA Corp. “This is part of the progression toward that end. And if the Chinese really are intending to put a man on the moon, then this becomes even more essential.”

In addition to proving China’s ability to maneuver in space, the spacewalk showed that China can produce reliable and safe space equipment. During his space venture, Zhai wore a new Chinese-built spacesuit, dubbed Feitian (Chinese for “fly the sky”).

The suit, which reportedly cost 30 million yuan (about $4.4 million), did its job protecting Zhai from the harsh temperatures and radiation of space. It has 10 layers of insulation, weighs about 265 pounds (120 kg), and takes up to 15 hours to assemble and put on, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Another important feature of the spacewalk was the fact that it was broadcast live, which represents not only China’s technological prowess, but its growing confidence and increasing efforts at transparency.

“They are opening up,” Cheng told SPACE.com. “Perhaps one of the lessons from the Olympics is that good things come from being open.”