Traffic Noise In Residential Areas Can Increase Risk Of Heart Attack

People living in environments with high levels of road traffic noise might be more likely to suffer myocardial infarction than people in quieter areas. This according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet carried out in the Stockholm area. The study compared 1,571 people from Stockholm County who had suffered a myocardial infarction between 1992 and 1994 with controls from the same area. In order to ascertain whether traffic noise in residential areas increases the risk of myocardial infarction, the addresses of all individuals over the past 20 years were identified, and a level of noise estimated. Similarly, exposure to air pollution was charted and information on different risk factors for myocardial infarction was gathered using questionnaires and interviews. No clear correlation between noise exposure and myocardial infarction was found in the entire study population. However, once people with impaired hearing or exposure to other sources of noise had been eliminated from the study, it was found that there was a 40 per cent higher risk of myocardial infarction in people exposed to road traffic noise exceeding 50 decibels. This relationship applied independently of other known risk factors for myocardial infarction, such as exposure to air pollutants. "More research will be needed to establish a definite correlation between road traffic noise and myocardial infarction, but our results are supported by other studies showing the cardiovascular effects of noise, such as those concerning high blood pressure," says Professor Göran Pershagen, who led the study. "Councils should already be taking these results into account when planning new roads and residential areas." Noise is a serious and growing environmental problem. According to the World Health Organisation, some 40 per cent of the European population is exposed to road traffic noise exceeding 55 decibels during the day. There is at present no threshold limit for road traffic noise in the EU, but in Sweden, the maximum acceptable level is 55 decibels at a buildings façade.
"In the present study, some 65 per cent of subjects were exposed to road traffic noise at levels of 50 decibels or more," says postgraduate Jenny Selander. "This percentage is probably lower for the country as a whole, given that the subjects all came from in and around Stockholm, but there is still a considerable proportion of the population who are being exposed to noise."

Shilpa Shetty learns Indian classical dance

Actress Shilpa Shetty is learning the Indian classical dance, Odissi, for a movie role. The actress with the sylphlike figure has been taking Odissi lessons from Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, son of legendary Odissi exponent late Kelucharan Mohapatra, for an India-China joint film venture, tentatively titled Desire . Along with Shilpa, actress Jaya Prada has also been taking lessons during the shoot of a song for the film in Kerala. “Odissi is complicated, and among all the songs I've ever shot, this has been the most difficult…It's been a hectic week in Kerala…This wasn't any ordinary song, it was an Odissi dance performance," Shilpa writes on her blog. Shilpa added that dancing to this song was much different from other songs she has done in films. “In the normal course, it's easy to rehearse a step and add your own style to it, not necessarily perfecting it, making it fun. But here I had to not only do a different dance form, I had to do it perfectly, making it look authentic and emote at the same time,” Shilpa wrote. Before shooting the song, Shilpa went through a week-long Odissi dance workshop under the supervision of Ratikant Mohapatra at Kollam in Kerala. According to her, the guru was a "hard taskmaster". “Desire” has Chinese superstar Xia Yu as Shilpa’s co-star. The movie, produced jointly by Sharad Hegde from Mumbai and Tracy Shiyun from China, is being directed by R. Sarath.