Demi Moore’s 911 call released: Star ‘smoked something’

 The call made to emergency services when Demi Moore was taken to hospital on Monday night has just been obtained and it seems to imply actress was convulsing after smoking a mystery substance. Advertisement >> A friend of Demi can be heard at the beginning of the 911 call on US website TMZ.com trying to get an ambulance to the star’s Beverley Hills home. There is confusion as the...

Free booze for alcoholics makes perfect logic, but no sense

 As the old adage has it, if you live long enough, you see everything. In the world of substance abuse and addiction, “everything” was in the news today. A group from Vancouver’s notorious hub of drug addiction and policy experimentation, the Downtown East Side, is proposing that a publicly funded, peer-run drinker’s lounge dispensing free legal alcohol to alcoholics be instituted as a means...

Internet addiction changes brain similar to cocaine

 Can a person be truly addicted to the Internet? A new brain scan study shows not only can that be the case, but also that Internet addiction might cause the same brain changes that are seen in alcoholics and drug addicts. For the study, published in the Jan. 11 issue of PLoS One, researchers studied 17 men and women who were diagnosed with Internet addiction disorder (IAD) and compared scans...

Gut hormone may be new weight loss tool, study says

 An appetite-suppressing hormone produced by the body that is used to treat type 2 diabetes can lead to weight loss in overweight or obese patients, says a new study. The research, published Tuesday at bmj.com, also found that glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels. GLP-1 is a hormone secreted by the gut when we eat. A form of GLP-1 that is injected...

Recovering alcoholic Matt Maden: I began drinking at 10 and now I'm facing death at 26

 Matt Maden, now 26, has been living on borrowed time since he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis five years ago. Despite his desperate need he has only a 20 per cent chance of getting an organ because of the growing demand. ‘It’s really scary living with the knowledge that the odds are so heavily against you,’ he said. His condition was detected when he spent two weeks in hospital in an alcohol-induced...

Money spent on nicotine patches 'goes up in smoke', says survey

 Those who go cold turkey have just as much chance of quitting the habit long-term, the study published on Monday added. A total of 787 adult smokers trying to quit were followed over five years by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health. One in three relapsed with the numbers spread equally between those going ‘cold turkey’, those using nicotine patches, gums or sprays, and those combining...

spokesman of the ROP said that more expatriates than Omani nationals are involved in drug trafficking.

 An increasing number of drug abuse and drug trafficking cases are being registered in the Sultanate over the past few months. The trend has seen a spiralling increase following the Royal Oman Police (ROP) campaign to arrest the drug traffickers and abusers, say legal experts. A spokesman of the ROP said that more expatriates than Omani nationals are involved in drug trafficking. The police...

Counsellors Forum: DREAMWARRIOR spiritual teacher who is deeply committed to helping others break through to the joyous experience of living in the NOW.

 DREAMWARRIOR teaches how to become fundamentally present and how to arise in mastery of your mind and ego, so that you are no longer involuntarily pulled out of Presence. teaches that the fully awakened state of consciousness is available now. It is not something that occurs in the future. It is already here, waiting to be revealed. As you awaken into the present moment, your thoughts will stop,...

Are you addicted to your smartphone?

 When Adrian Weldon has a few minutes to spare, he's probably going to use them to text. "I came here to kill time and text," he said, sitting at Lakebottom Park Thursday afternoon. "At least it's not driving and texting." Weldon said he uses his phone mostly for texting, sending quick messages while he's at work and can't call people on the phone, and when he's bored. If you ask him if he's...