This Is Just Pathetic

The sad, sad tale of the panicked American elephant and the Al Qaeda mouse:

UCI researchers linked psychological stress responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a 53% increase in heart problems -- including high blood pressure and stroke -- in the three years after Sept. 11, 2001. It is the first study to show the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on cardiac health.

The majority of those surveyed had watched the attacks on live television, and one-third had no personal connection to them.

Most of them had no preexisting heart problems, and the results persisted even when risk factors such as high cholesterol, smoking and obesity were taken into account.

"It seems that the 9/11 attacks were so potent that media exposure helped to convey enough stress that people responded in a way that contributed to their cardiovascular problems," said Alison Holman, assistant professor of nursing science at UCI and the study's lead researcher.