Nepal seeks Indian investment
Kathmandu: Nepal has sought Indian investment in harnessing its natural resources and for developing and strengthening the basic infrastructure in the country.

In his message on the occasion of the Indian Independence Day on Sunday, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that there was vast scope for expansion and consolidation of economic and commercial ties between the two countries which still needs to be fully realised.
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Nicotine patch helps teens cut cigarette use
Stanford, USA: Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Nicotine say that nicotine patches may work as well for teens as they do for adults.

The researchers also found that the patches were equally effective in adolescents regardless of whether they were combined with an antidepressant often used to help adults stop smoking. All teens in the study also received behavioral skills training to help them identify and manage trigger situations that usually had them reaching for a cigarette.

The Stanford center said that it was encouraged by the fact that the initial quit rates for kids treated with nicotine patches and skills training were similar to those seen in adults. It said that most of the kids in the study were able to substantially reduce their tobacco usage, which has not been seen in previous studies. The study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, is the first randomly controlled trial of medication to help young smokers quit and is the first to compare success rates of the patch with and without antidepressant medication in this age group.

Despite a national effort to shield kids from the lure of tobacco, one in five U.S. high school seniors smokes daily. Reasons for lighting up for the first time can run the gamut from mimicking family members to deliberate risk taking to weight control.
But a rising awareness of the unpleasant aspects of smoking, coupled with tight pocketbooks and rising cigarette costs, is spurring more teens to reduce or stop smoking.

In the study, the authors tested the effect of the nicotine patch on 211 teens between the ages of 15 and 18 who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day and had been smoking for the previous six months. The volunteers had all made at least one failed attempt to stop smoking and scored highly on a questionnaire that rates nicotine dependence. Teens were recruited from nine continuation high schools in the San Francisco area.

Participants were divided into two groups, one treated with the nicotine patch plus the antidepressant bupropion, and one with the nicotine patch plus placebo. Bupropion, which is also approved as a smoking-cessation aid in adults, is thought to help reduce the depressive symptoms and cravings that can accompany nicotine withdrawal. All of the teens attended weekly group counseling sessions to cope with smoking urges.

Every participant was required to stop smoking two weeks after the first counseling session. All patients received the nicotine patch in tapering strengths for eight weeks. Starting levels were tailored to the daily number of cigarettes a teen had been smoking. Those randomized to receive bupropion began one week before quitting, and continued treatment for nine weeks. Medication and smoking status was confirmed through blood, urine and breath tests.

After 10 weeks of treatment, 23 percent of the teens using both the patch and the antidepressant had stopped smoking completely and 28 percent of teens using the patch plus placebo had kicked the habit — a statistically insignificant difference. Maintaining abstinence was even more difficult for teens than it is for adults, however: only 8 percent of teens on both medications and 7 percent of teens on the patch plus placebo were still abstinent after 26 weeks.

Although it was tough to turn down cigarettes for good, most of the kids in both treatment groups were able to reduce and maintain their cigarette intake to just a few cigarettes per day, indicating that the treatment had at least some benefit for nearly all the participants.

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions — Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
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20th Century Fox makes box-office historyLos Angeles, USA: With the $38 million opening this weekend of Alien vs. Predator, Twentieth Century Fox has made box-office history as the first studio to have six consecutive films gross over $20 million during their debut weekends.

Fox began its record-breaking streak with the Denzel Washington thriller Man on Fire (opening April 23; weekend gross: $22.8 million; co-produced with Regency Pictures), followed by the blockbuster The Day after Tomorrow (May 28; $68.7 million), and the live-action/animated Garfield (June 11; $21.7 million). Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (June 18; $30.1 million) was the summer's surprise comedy smash; and I, Robot (July 16; $52.2 million) was another summer event picture from "Mr. July" — Will Smith. Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.
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