'Discrimination eats away at you- and increases your chance of mental illness' It's a unique challenge: Diagnosing and treating immigrants with depression, anxiety and other diseases of the mind. Columnist Margaret Wente talks to a renowned British psychiatrist who's come to Canada to help By MARGARET WENTE  -- Canada's growing population of immigrants and visible minorities face mental health challenges that are often very different from those of other citizens. Although many are at increased risk of mental illness, they have poorer access to care, and their issues are often poorly understood. Dr. Kwame McKenzie is a psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in redesigning mental health services for visible minority groups. Last year he moved to Toronto from London, England, to join the staff of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. This week Margaret Wente asked him to explain why understanding ethno-cultural differences is so important for improving mental health care.  FULL STORY

Ginkgo may be waste of money, memory By LESLIE BECK  -- If you take a herbal supplement called ginkgo biloba in the hopes of keeping your mind sharp, you could be wasting your money.According to a study published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the popular supplement does not prevent or delay the onset of dementia, nor is it effective against Alzheimer's disease.  FULL STORY

Listening to the sounds of health-care silence By JEFFREY SIMPSON  -- Where did health care go? Pollsters keep reporting that health care is the No. 1 issue for Canadians. We spend way more on it than on anything else. Yet, no one - well, almost no one - talks about it any more, at least not politically.  FULL STORY

Common antibiotic disrupts bacterial levels in digestive tract By HELEN BRANSWELL  -- This is your gut on drugs.A new study reveals that a common antibiotic disrupts normal bacterial levels in the digestive tract of healthy adults for extended periods. Six months later, some beneficial types of bacteria were still wiped out or remained at levels lower than before the drugs were taken.  FULL STORY

Man who killed family calls for inquest in bid to improve care for mentally ill By KIRK MAKIN  -- A Toronto man who slaughtered his family while in a deluded state has asked the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner to call an inquest into the deaths he caused on Feb. 9, 2006.  FULL STORY

Telus sees opportunity in medical data Telecom giant's $100-million spending commitment steps up effort to digitalize health care information By SIMON AVERY  -- Telus Corp. is strengthening its push beyond the phone business with a $100-million investment to develop technology for electronic medical records.The money will be spent over three years on software and other tools to digitize health care information and share it between hospitals, doctors' offices and patients.  FULL STORY

Tooth decay a chronic disease, dentists say By CLINT THOMAS  -- The Ontario Dental Association said yesterday that it considers tooth decay an infectious disease and called it the most common preventable chronic childhood disease.The association urged parents to do more to help prevent what it said was an ''urgent problem'' in children.  FULL STORY

Hansen cheers opening of spinal-cord injury centre Vancouver -- Man in Motion wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen saw a dream come true yesterday with the opening of a world-class spinal cord injury research centre in Vancouver.The Blusson Spinal Cord Centre at Vancouver General Hospital will have more than 300 researchers looking for new ways to treat spinal injuries and providing outpatient care.  FULL STORY