| How to manage reflux disease
Gastroesophageal reflux disease is one of the most common digestive disorders. It is a condition where stomach acid refluxes upward into the esophagus. Usually, the acid in your stomach is retained by a muscular valve at the end of the esophagus, known as the lower esophageal sphincter. The LES is supposed to remain closed, except when swallowing. If it opens at other times, stomach acid can flow upward (reflux) into the esophagus, causing heartburn. Typical symptoms include an uncomfortable feeling of burning, warmth, heat or pain just behind the breastbone, which is commonly referred to as heartburn. Other symptoms can include nausea, increased belching, regurgitation of food and even chronic cough. Occasional heartburn does not necessarily mean you have reflux disease. In GERD, the symptoms last longer and occur more often.
AstraZeneca Reports Strong 4Q Earnings
AstraZeneca PLC reported a 17 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit Thursday thanks to strong sales of its top five products and cost cutting, but said its focus remained on strengthening its weak pipeline of future drugs. The company, which is facing patent challenges and escalating generic competition, also said that it plans to cut 3,000 jobs over the next three years despite predicting continued sales momentum this year. Net profit for the three months to Dec. 31 was $1.4 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, AstraZeneca said. Revenue rose 14 percent to $7.2 billion. For the full year, profits rose 28.5 percent to $6.04 billion, while sales lifted 11 percent to $26.8 billion. The 2006 results were driven by a 23 percent increase in combined sales of its five key products - heartburn drug Nexium, schizophrenia treatment Seroquel, cholesterol-lowering treatment Crestor, asthma drug Symbicort and breast cancer treatment Arimidex - to $13.3 billion.
No Malfunction As Prince Rocks Halftime
Phew! CBS got through the halftime show without a "wardrobe malfunction." The Artist Formerly Known as a Munchkin of Wardrobe Dysfunction began by singing "Let's Go Crazy," but he didn't.
Prince, who became a Jehovah's Witness in the mid-1990s, no longer wears yellow, butt-baring pants as he did at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards (prompting Howard Stern's send-up at the '92 VMAs). The closest thing to a fashion statement Sunday night was an odd kerchief on his head. So the NFL had no repeat of the 2004 Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake show, which happened the last time CBS broadcast the game.
The 48-year-old Prince, who rose to stardom in the '80s with his distinctive fusion of R&B, funk, soul and rock, once looked androgynous and produced songs that (lest we forget) drove Tipper Gore nuts (and made her a fat target for anti-censorship types like Frank Zappa).
MYTHILI BHUSNURMATH
Why does the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) third quarter review of its monetary policy 2006-07 read like a modern-day avant garde thriller? Because it strings the reader along to expect a certain kind of climax only to pull up short at the last minute. Much like the hero in the thriller who lets off the villain with a rap on his knuckles after a long and action-packed chase, the RBI's 51-page review builds up an incredibly strong case against inflation. And then, just when you think it is going to deliver the coup de grace and hike rates across the board, settles for a tame 25 basis points hike in the repo rate (rate at which RBI lends to banks). Why is this an anti-climax? The reason is that unlike a hike in the reverse repo rate, which is a frontal attack on liquidity (since it withdraws funds from the system), a hike in repo rate is a much more passive tool.
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