◎陳維真

Want a clue to your risk of heart disease? Look in the mirror. People who look old with receding hairlines, bald heads, creases near their ear lobes or bumpy deposits on their eyelids have a greater chance of developing heart disease than younger-looking people the same age, new research suggests.

想知道罹患心臟病的風險嗎?照照鏡子吧。新的研究顯示,有髮線後退、禿頭、耳垂附近長出皺紋、眼皮上有凹凸不平的沉積物等老化現象的人,罹患心臟病的機率比同齡但樣貌較年輕的人高。

"Looking old for your age marks poor cardiovascular health,’’ said Dr. Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

丹麥哥本哈根大學教授泰柏傑格─韓森表示,「看起來比實際年齡老代表心血管不健康。」

A small consolation:Wrinkles elsewhere on the face and gray hair seemed just ordinary consequences of aging and did not correlate with heart risks.

值得小小安慰的是,臉部其他部位的皺紋或灰髮只是一般老化的結果,和心臟疾病沒有關聯。

The research began in 1976. At the start, researchers documented people’s appearance, counting crow’s feet, wrinkles and other signs of age. In the next 35 years, 3,400 participants developed heart disease (clogged arteries), and 1,700 suffered a heart attack.

這份研究於1976年開始。一開始時,研究人員記錄人的外表、計算眼角魚尾紋、皺紋及其他老化跡象。接下來的35年,有3400名受試者罹患心臟疾病(動脈堵塞),1700人心臟病發。

Those with three to four of these aging signs had a 57 percent greater risk for heart attack and a 39 percent greater risk for heart disease compared to people with none of these signs.

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◎魏國金

For more than 40 years they’ve toiled away, meticulously scrubbing and cleaning toilets in southern India. However, astonishingly, two dedicated cleaners have only £64 EACH to show for their four decades of working their fingers to the bone.

逾40年來,她們在南印度賣力工作,細心不苟地擦洗廁所。然而,令人驚訝的是,這2名工作專一的清潔工,40年來拚命幹活,僅各掙得64英鎊。

Akku and Leela Sherigar have earned an average of 180 rupees - or £2 - a year. And for the last 11 years they have worked for free following a dispute with their employer.

阿庫與莉拉.謝里加1年平均賺得180盧比,或2英鎊。而且,過去11年來,在與雇主發生一場糾紛後,她們無酬工作。

The two women, both aged 59, started working as toilet cleaners for the Government’s Women Teacher’s Training Institute, in South India, in 1971, for 15 Rupees a month as fresh-faced 18-year-olds.

這兩名同為59歲的婦女,1971年還是青春洋溢的18歲時,以每月15盧比的薪資,開始在政府的女教師訓練所擔任廁所清潔工。

But they’ve not had a pay rise ever since, even though they have never missed a day’s work. They’ve now applied to the Guinness Book of World Records for the title of the lowest salary in the world.

然而自此她們未曾加薪,即使她們沒有一天不工作。現在她們申請金氏世界紀錄的全球最低薪資頭銜。

In 2001, they finally had enough and complained to the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, in Udupi, in southwest India. Then, their wages stopped altogether with no mention of any reimbursement.

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◎國際新聞中心

Workers who suffer job strain are 23-percent more likely to have a heart attack than stress-free counterparts, but the risk is far smaller than smoking or a sedentary lifestyle, a large study published in The Lancet on Friday says.

週五公佈在「刺胳針」的大型研究指出,工作有壓力的勞工,心臟病發風險比沒有壓力的勞工高23%,但風險遠低於吸菸或久坐型的生活型態。

The new paper is a meta-analysis -- an overview of 13 studies conducted between 1985 and 2006 in seven European countries that adopted the same approach:participants without CHD were first interviewed and their health was then monitored, for 7.5 years on average.

這份新報告是一份統合分析,綜覽13份1985年到2006年間在7個歐洲國家以同樣方式進行的研究:沒有冠心病的參與者初次受訪後,持續被觀察其健康平均7.5年。

In all, 197,473 took part in these studies, of whom 30,214 reported job strain, defined as having excessive workloads, time pressures and little freedom to make decisions at work.

整體而言,19萬7473名參與研究者中,3萬214人報告有工作壓力,也就是工作過量、有時間壓力、工作時能做決定的自由不多。

During the monitoring period that followed, doctors recorded 2,356 heart attacks. The risk was 23 percent higher among the "job strain" group, even when age, gender and socio-economic factors, which all influence risk, were taken into account. (AFP)

在追蹤觀察期間,醫師記錄到2356件心臟病發案例。即便是年齡、性別、社經等會影響風險的因素都列入考量,心臟病發風險在「工作壓力」組高出23%。(法新社)

新聞辭典

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◎張沛元

The newly married lesbian daughter of a Hong Kong tycoon who offered a $65 million "marriage bounty" to any man able to win her love, said she’d been flooded by marriage proposals but harbored no animosity towards her father.

一名甫新婚的香港大亨的同志女兒說,在其父提供6500萬美元給任何能贏得她的愛的男子後,她飽受求婚轟炸,但對父親沒有懷抱任何恨意。

Since Hong Kong property billionaire Cecil Chao, known in the tabloid media for his prolific womanizing, dangled a $65 million reward for any man able to lead his daughter, Gigi Chao, down the aisle, she says she’s been bombarded by marriage proposals from strangers, date requests, and even an offer from a Hollywood film producer to buy her story.

自從香港地產億萬富豪、在八卦媒體中以其豐富的風流韻事聞名的趙世曾,拿出6500萬美元賞金給任何能帶著他的女兒趙式芝走上紅毯的男子後,趙式芝說,她就飽受來自陌生人的求婚與約會請求的轟炸,甚至還有一名好萊塢製片表示要買下她的故事。

Gigi said her billionaire father had been upset when his daughter’s longtime lover revealed the couple had wed in Paris in April, leading to his impromptu HK$500 million "marriage bounty" offer to any man able to set her straight.

趙式芝說,她的富豪老爸對於女兒的多年(同性)愛人透露兩人已於今年4月在巴黎完婚感到懊惱,導致他即興提出5億港幣的「婚姻賞金」,給任何能讓女兒變成異性戀的男人。

"I wasn’t angry at all. I was really quite touched, very touched and very...how should I say? moved, by Daddy’s announcement," said the 33-year-old.

「我一點也不生氣。我真的非常感動,非常、非常感動…我該怎麼說?被老爸的宣布感動。」33歲的趙式芝說。

"I mean, it’s really his way of saying ’baby girl, I love you. You deserve more,’ basically," added Chao. (Reuters)

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◎陳成良

The people of the Brussels will have to mind their manners from now on, with the city authorities announcing new fines of up to 250 euros for insults traded on the streets.

布魯塞爾的居民今後須注意自己的禮貌了,因為市府當局宣布了一項新措施,要對在街頭上辱罵人者處以最高250歐元的罰款。

"Any form of insult is from now on punishable, whether it be racist, homophobic or otherwise," a spokesman quoted Socialist mayor Freddy Thielemans as saying.

一名發言人引述社會黨市長弗雷迪.蒂勒曼斯的話說,「任何形式的辱罵從今起都將受到懲罰,不管是種族主義言論、歧視同性戀者的言論,還是別的。」

Brussels, home to the EU and many top international institutions, is known for its family-friendly and cultivated lifestyle but the mayor wants to crack down on the everyday unpleasantness found in any big city.

布魯塞爾是歐盟總部和很多重要國際機構的所在地,以有利於家庭和有教養的生活方式而著稱,但市長想以此取締這種凡在各大城市每天都會出現的不快之事。

To do so, officials came to an agreement with judicial authorities to impose fines of between 75 and 250 euros for insults, petty theft and rough jostling where no physical harm is caused.

為此,官員和司法當局達成協議,對辱罵、輕微竊盜案以及沒有造成身體傷害的粗魯推撞,處以75歐元到250歐元的罰款。

The issue was highlighted in a recent film by Belgian director Sofie Peeters who recorded in secret the everyday insults and exchanges she ran into on the streets of the city.

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