Moontown

Putting in long shifts may put extra strain on the heart, experts believe

People who regularly put in overtime and work 10 or 11-hour days increase their heart disease risk by nearly two-thirds, research suggests.

The findings come from a study of 6,000 British civil servants, published online in the European Heart Journal.

After accounting for known heart risk factors such as smoking, doctors found those who worked three to four hours of overtime a day ran a 60% higher risk.

Experts said the findings highlighted the importance of work-life balance.

Overall, there were 369 cases where people suffered heart disease that caused death, had a heart attack or developed angina.

And the number of hours spent working overtime appeared to be strongly linked in many cases.

The researchers said there could be a number of explanations for this.

People who spend more time at work have less time to exercise, relax and unwind.

Work/life balance plays a vital role in well-being Dr John Challenor, from the Society of Occupational Medicine

They may also be more stressed, anxious, or have depression.

A career-minded person will also tend to be a “Type A” personality who is highly driven, aggressive or irritable, they say.

“Employees who work overtime may also be likely to work while ill - that is, be reluctant to be absent from work despite illness,” they add.

Lead researcher Mianna Virtanen, an epidemiologist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and University College London, said: “More research is needed before we can be confident that overtime work would cause coronary heart disease.”

Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said: “This study raises further questions about how our working lives can influence our risk of heart disease.

“Although the researchers showed a link between working more than three hours overtime every day and heart problems, the reasons for the increased risk weren’t clear.

“Until researchers understand how our working lives can affect the risk to our heart health, there are simple ways to look after your heart health at work, like taking a brisk walk at lunch, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or by swapping that biscuit for a piece of fruit.”

Dr John Challenor, from the Society of Occupational Medicine, said: “In many ways it confirms what we as occupational health doctors already know - that work/life balance plays a vital role in well-being.

“Employers and patients need to be aware of all of the risk factors for coronary heart disease and should consider overtime as one factor that may lead to a number of medical conditions.”

By CASTRIES St. Lucia CMC

Dr. Kenny Anthony

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – Opposition Leader Dr. Kenny Anthony Tuesday said that Caribbean countries should amend their constitutions in order to execute convicted murders without having to worry about the repercussions emanating from the London-based Privy Council, the region’s highest court.

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Anthony, speaking on a radio broadcast, said the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) if it is elected to office would amend the Constitution so as to ensure that convicted murderers are executed. He told listeners he believed in capital punishment.
“In the last five years I do not think the Privy Council has upheld a conviction by hanging by any country of the Commonwealth Caribbean. They have  been singularly  persistent  in  making sure  that any appeal that comes  to them on the  basis that someone has  been sentenced to death by hanging, they will ensure that  they reject the sentence  of the court and allow the appeal on whatever grounds.”

Anthony said Britain had abolished hangings and that British judges were no longer deciding issues of hanging on judicial or constitutional grounds.

“What they are doing is basically deciding on those issues on ideological grounds, on political grounds, because in their own country they have decided that hanging is abolished and it is therefore immoral to engage in any judicial decision making that sanctions it in any jurisdiction.

“So once someone from the Commonwealth Caribbean has been convicted of hanging, once that appeal goes to the Privy Council it will find a way to make sure that that sentence is not carried out. That is St Lucia’s problem.

“So even if the Government of St Lucia for instance were to ensure that the appropriate order is given that hanging be proceeded with, once an appeal is made to the Privy Council there will not be any approval of any hanging.”

Anthony said if regional governments were to shun the Privy Council and proceed with executing convicted murderers it could result in both the government and the country being isolated.

“You would be treated as a rogue state by organisations like (the human rights group) Amnesty International,” Anthony said, adding that St. Lucia should follow Barbados and at  the appropriate  time, amend  its  constitution to make  it absolutely clear that hanging is a sentence that will be carried out.

“If we (the SLP) have an opportunity to amend the constitution we will, in much the same way, for example as in the case of St Vincent when (Prime Minister) Ralph Gonsalves tried to alter the constitution he attempted to revoke some of the  decisions  of  the Privy Council and make it absolute that hanging will be carried out in St Vincent.

“That has always been my position, but there are persons who hold different views. I am one of those who support capital punishment. I believe in it, I think it is necessary especially in small societies like ours where we simply do not have the kind of resources available to us to be able to deal with persons who thrive on criminal activity, especially that which involves violent crimes.”

Anthony, a strong advocate of the regional integration movement, said he also supported the island joining the appellate jurisdiction of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Only Barbados and Guyana are signatories to the appellate jurisdiction of the court though many of the CARICOM countries have signed on to the original jurisdiction of the court that was established to replace the Privy Council as the region’s final court.

He said St. Lucia had to resolve whether or not there is need to amend the constitution that allows it to join the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ.

“There is a mechanism that the SLP did put in place which I think the government could make use of. That is an act called Constitutional Reference Questions Act where, if a government is uncertain how  to  proceed  on a matter and suspects that  there may  be a  constitutional problem, what it does is that it frames a question  for the court and asks the court  to pronounce on it to determine whether the  particular act is unconstitutional or not.

“The court then gives an advisory opinion. I think a good way to proceed in the case of St Lucia is to put the question to the Court and allow it to determine whether St Lucia needs to amend its constitution or whether in fact it can make use of certain provisions of the constitution that suggest a way out.” (Antigua Observer)

By Martina Johnson

The collapsed goal posts that caused serious injury to four-year-old Kiana McCulay

Fifteen minutes. That’s how late a father was in picking up his four-year-old daughter from school, only to receive a phone call from a teacher informing him that the child had an accident on the playground and her skull had been partially crushed.

Currently, the young girl, Kiana McCulay, is warded in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount St John’s Medical Centre, with severe head injuries, and the family is grappling with the tragedy, which occurred Monday afternoon on the compound of Buckley’s Primary School.

According to the father, Keith McCulay, he usually picks up his daughter from school early; however, due to a delay that day, he was late.

“I got caught up doing something and then I got a call from the teacher saying something happened to my daughter and the ambulance was supposed to be on its way,” the distressed father said.

The man said his eight-year-old son and the four year old were waiting for him as usual, at the school, and according to reports from older students, they were all playing in the yard.

Kiana’s parents said they were informed that she wanted to climb onto the net along the football goal post and an older child reportedly lifted her and placed her onto the net.

However, a report from one person on the scene indicated that two male students were climbing onto the goal posts when the structure gave way and it was then that the fun turned tragic as the heavy iron horizontal bar crashed down onto the child who was playing nearby.

On Monday, when this reporter spoke with the child’s mother, Uhandae McCulay, she was very distraught.

She lamented, “Oh my baby, my baby. She was hurt so badly. I am just praying for her and our son. He is in a daze, just staring.”

Reports indicate that the school day ends at 3 pm and children are allowed to play in the yard as they wait to be picked up by their parents.

The incident occurred at about 3:30 pm.

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) was summoned at 3:33 pm, but the ambulance never got there until about 4:05 pm. Mrs McCulay expressed disappointment over what she called a tardy response from EMS.

However, according to reports, one ambulance was transporting a patient to the VC Bird International Airport while another was on duty at Pillar Rock.

The ambulance attached to Coolidge Fire Station responded to the call.

The mother, stricken with sadness, also said, “My little girl was just lying there bleeding and nobody did anything for her. A guy covered her with a sheet so no one could get close to her but other than that, they just stood and watched her on the ground.

“I couldn’t stand there and watch her suffer. Oh, my little girl. I picked her up and we rushed her to the hospital. We had to do something to get her the help and care she needed because the ambulance never came while we were there,” the injured child’s mother said.

While the general advice of emergency medical personnel is not to move an injured person if one does not know First Aid, the woman said, “I could not wait for them.”

When contacted again yesterday afternoon, the mother reported that her condition was listed as critical, since she was not breathing on her own.

She said the doctors were still operating on her daughter at the time and she had no knowledge of the child’s probability of full recovery as yet.

“I’m praying,” she said. “God does great things every day.” (Antigua Observer)

By (Bloomberg)

Indicted financier Allen Stanford’s 112-foot yacht was sold for US $3.25 million – less than a quarter of how much he spent in refurbishing it – following a two-month online auction. The lucky buyer was an unidentified bidder, according to the Florida brokerage that handled the sale.

The Sea Eagle was listed for sale on March 11 by Ardell Yacht & Ship Brokers of Fort Lauderdale, with an opening bid of US $2.5 million, over Stanford’s objections. His lawyers complained a court-appointed receiver is liquidating Stanford’s assets at “fire-sale” prices before the former billionaire has been found guilty of anything.

“Mr Stanford invested over $16 million in renovating the Sea Eagle, stripping the vessel to its hull and rebuilding it into one of the finest sport fishing boats in the world,” Ruth Brewer Schuster, one of the financier’s civil lawyers, said in an October filing objecting to the auction. “Any failure to sell the Sea Eagle for an amount far and above Ardell’s asking price of $6.5 million will be a complete waste of estate assets.”

Stanford’s 12-year-old motor yacht attracted just two bidders beyond the initial offer entered to start the bidding. Two hours before the auction ended yesterday, one bidder returned and raised his bid by $250,000 to win the Sea Eagle.

“That boat is definitely a steal at $3.25 million,” said Natalia Hortynski, Ardell’s marketing director. “We were hoping for more, because the more we get, the better it is for everybody.”

Although Florida’s yacht market is awash in bargain-priced boats, Hortynski said the Sea Eagle’s jet engines and a complete retrofitting undertaken by its Dutch manufacturer in 2005 made the craft “very unique.”

The boat was sold “as is, where is,” after it was brought to the US from one of Stanford’s residences in the Caribbean, following the Security Exchange Commission’s suit and seizure of his assets in February 2009. Ralph Janvey, Stanford’s receiver, has been selling Stanford’s assets and investments to raise money to repay his creditors and investors.

In photographs of the yacht, one wall is dominated by a mirror etched with Stanford Financial Group’s stylized eagle shield logo. The boat’s oversized staterooms and marble-lined bathrooms are stocked with pillows, sheets and towels. A small dining table is set for two, and a mini-refrigerator on the upper deck is filled with beer.

Stanford’s lawyers had asked Janvey not to sell personal belongings the financier and his fiancée, Andrea Stoelker, left on the boat. In court papers, the couple requested the return of items such as several small sculptures, scuba gear, DVDs and table linens.

“They’re going with the boat,” Hortynski said of any personal items still onboard. “Everything that’s on the boat is included.” (Bloomberg) (Antigua Observer)

By Shelton Daniel -

Opposition Leader Lester Bird has replied to Governor General Dame Louise Lake-Tack about the establishment of a tribunal to investigate the conduct of three Electoral Commission members.

The trio includes Chairman Sir Gerald Watt, and the two commissioners who were nominated by the opposition leader – namely Deputy Chairman Nathaniel Paddy James and Lionel Max Hurst.

In a May 6 letter to Bird, Dame Louise informed Bird that she had written to the OECS Chief Justice, asking that he “recommend the relevant qualified judges” to sit on the tribunal.

In his reply, dated May 10, Bird told the governor general that there are no grounds on which to investigate the electoral commissioners whether individually or collectively.

According to Bird, when his party challenged the results of last year’s general elections, Prime Minister Spencer vigorously defended the conduct and outcome of the polls. The ALP leader said it is only since the March 31, 2010 judgment by Justice Louise Blenman that the prime minister has taken a totally different line, and is now complaining about the Commission’s performance in respect of the 2009 voting exercise.

“The Honourable Prime Minister made arguments in favour of abiding the results of the election immediately afterwards, and confirming the same in written submissions of last year … Since the rendering of the Elections Court decision, the Honourable Prime Minister has discovered that “the Commission was not ready or able to conduct the elections as required by law … The Honourable Prime Minister is now in agreement with the Elections Court. However, the Honourable Prime Minister has entered an appeal of the same decision, claiming that the Judge’s decision is wrong. Clearly, the Prime Minister may not rely upon the Judge’s decision to impugn the competence of the Commissioners, while at the same time denying the correctness of that same Judge’s decision in an appeal. For this reason alone, there must not be any investigation of the named Commissioners. One cannot approbate and reprobate simultaneously in law,” Bird wrote.

According to the Opposition Leader, “The Prime Minister may not cause an investigation to be triggered because of the late start of the elections, or for any mistake or error made by the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission. Any inefficiencies which became manifest on or about March 12, 2009, caused by the Commission, do not rise to the level of ‘misbehaviour’ by any member and therefore cannot trigger an investigation such as the Prime Minister has requested of Your Excellency. …”

Bird believes Prime Minister Spencer is merely trying to delay elections, and his call for an investigation of the Electoral Commission is merely part of the fancy footwork to that end.

“The Honourable Prime Minister [knows] full well that the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeals will hear his appeal in the week of June 29, 2010, and that a decision will likely be rendered shortly thereafter. It is clear that a tribunal cannot and will not be organized within the next 50 days, or by June 29, 2010, and also be able to render a decision then. Since the Honourable Prime Minister, an appellant in the Elections cases, will be required to demit office immediately following affirmation of the lower court’s decision and that an election date must be set forthwith, the Prime Minister is seeking to bend the system of elections to fit his purpose by making impossible a new date for new elections. The Prime Minister has indicated his intention to amend significantly the Representation of the People Act and to re-register all voters after so doing.”

Bird ended the missive by informing Dame Louise that he was copying his letter to OECS Chief Justice Hugh Rawlins. His reason for doing so, the ALP chief said, was because “Your Excellency did not consult with the Leader of the Opposition as required under the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act prior to seeking the establishment of the Tribunal, and since Your Excellency’s letter of May 6, 2010 . . . informs that Your Excellency has already dispatched a letter to the Chief Justice requesting the formation of a Tribunal, I am obliged to share this response … with His Lordship Hugh Rawlins, the Chief Justice.” (Antigua Observer)

Elizabeth Williams and Renuka Singh

Police and army personnel were called out to assist with security at Piarco International Airport and Crown Point International Airport yesterday.

Law-enforcement officers and soldiers were needed to counter action by security officers and employees of the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago at both venues.

The workers who did show up embarked on go-slow, because they were said to be upset about outstanding job negotiations between the Airports Authority and the Public Services Association.

At Piarco yesterday, army and police officials were called out as additional reinforcement, since security was low. Checks at Crown Point indicated that, out of a shift of 20, in some instances, only four workers were on duty.

The cargo and ramp areas were affected.

There was no interruption of flights to and from both airports.

Estate Police Association representative Curtis Joseph said he was aware of the matter and more severe action might take place today.

PSA president Watson Duke said: ’The PSA and Airports Authority have been in negotiations for some time, and in order for the process to be completed Airports Authority negotiators are withholding a crucial document, in an effort to frustrate workers and defeat them financially,’ Duke said.

The Airports Authority said operations at the airport were not affected by the sickout.

’Airlines have maintained their flight schedules at the two international airports,’ the authority said. (Trinidad Express)