Wacked Wednesday

Mothers of children with autism have higher parental stress, psychological distress

Ask any mother and she'll tell you that raising a preschooler is no easy task. Now imagine what it must be like to bring up a child with autism or a developmental delay.

Researchers at the University of Washington's Autism Center asked mothers about their experiences and found that moms of children with autism had higher levels of parenting-related stress and psychological distress than mothers of children with developmental delay. Children's problem behavior was associated with increases in both parenting-related stress and distress in both groups, but this relationship was stronger in mothers of children with autism.

"Both groups of women are dealing with children who need high levels of care-giving. But there is something about autism that is making a difference and adding stress and psychological distress to these mothers," said Annette Estes, lead author of a new study and associate director of the UW Autism Center.

Surprisingly, the research also found no link between a child's decreased daily living skills and increased parental stress and psychological distress.

"This finding was counterintuitive," said Estes, who is also a research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "If a child has more needs in getting dressed and in other daily living skills, that means the parents are working harder and seemingly would be under stress. But it is not the hard work that is stressing the mothers. Our findings really pointed to the behavior problems that can occur with autism. Children with autism had significantly higher levels of problem behaviors than children with developmental delay."

Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news166282302.html
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Link between obesity and diabetes discovered

A Monash University study has proven a critical link between obesity and the onset of Type 2 diabetes, a discovery which could lead to the design of a drug to prevent the disease.

The findings were published today in respected journal Cell Metabolism.

The team, led by Associate Professor Matthew Watt, discovered that fat cells release a novel protein called PEDF (pigment epithelium-derived factor), which triggers a chain of events and interactions that lead to development of Type 2 diabetes.

"When PEDF is released into the bloodstream, it causes the muscle and liver to become desensitised to insulin. The pancreas then produces more insulin to counteract these negative effects, " Associate Professor Watt said.

This insulin release causes the pancreas to become overworked, eventually slowing or stopping insulin release from the pancreas, leading to Type 2 diabetes."

"It appears that the more fat tissue a person has the less sensitive they become to insulin. Therefore a greater amount of insulin is required to maintain the body's regulation of blood-glucose," Associate Professor Watt said.

"Our research was able to show that increasing PEDF not only causes Type 2 diabetes like complications but that blocking PEDF reverses these effects. The body again returned to being insulin-sensitive and therefore did not need excess insulin to remain regulated."

Associate Professor Watt said identifying the link is a significant breakthrough in explaining the reasons why obesity triggers the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.

Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news166270497.html
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Post-traumatic stress disorder: Psychological treatments may not prevent PTSD

Psychological interventions intended to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the early stages after a traumatic experience have not been shown to be effective, Cochrane Researchers have concluded. This systematic review focused on multiple-session treatments for everyone involved, irrespective of the presence of symptoms. Two previous reviews found single session interventions to be ineffective.

"It is important to note that these interventions were for everyone involved in a traumatic event rather than just those who had symptoms, which may account for the results. We found no benefit associated with any of the multiple session interventions studied, and there was some evidence that multiple session interventions may result in worse outcome than no intervention for some individuals," says lead researcher Neil Roberts of the Traumatic Stress Service at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, UK. "Our recommendation is, therefore, that these interventions should not be used as a blanket approach for everyone involved in traumatic events."

PTSD is a condition that affects people who undergo extremely stressful experiences, such as earthquakes, violent crimes and military combat. They may suffer long-lasting psychological difficulties as a result. Experts have been trying to develop effective treatments to prevent PTSD from developing for 25 years, but there is little evidence that those used routinely offer any benefit.

The review encompassed people of all risk levels. Researchers looked at data from eleven studies involving a total of 941 people exposed to traumatic events. These studies offered interventions, which included cognitive behavioural therapy and individual and group counselling, to people whether or not they were experiencing symptoms of PTSD. None of these was effective at preventing PTSD. Patients given the treatments were more likely to report symptoms of PTSD after three to six months than patients who were not.

Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news166252659.html
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Veterans Call For Greater Improvements For Veteran Services

Services for veterans have improved recently, but many veterans say more improvements still need to be made.

The Detroit News reports: "Services for returning military veterans have improved dramatically in the last two years, including faster assistance for mental health issues, homelessness and job training, a panel of experts on veterans benefits said Monday. But they still aren't where they need to be for the 1 million GIs returning from conflicts across the globe, local veterans told officials. As the U.S. House of Representatives considers this week Veterans Affairs funding for fiscal year 2010, a group of metro Detroit veterans and their families gathered in Berkley on Monday with U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield, and retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark to consider the needs of veterans in Michigan and across the nation." Some of the issues discussed included the VA claim backlog, veteran hiring and the new GI Bill that will take effect Aug. 1. A new veteran appropriations budget bill calls for an 11.5 percent increase in spending for veteran health care services and hiring more workers to address the backlog.

The paper notes: "Dr. John Grabowski, associate chief of staff for mental health at the VA Medical Center in Detroit, said there has been a tremendous expansion of services for veterans in the last two years, including a new program that will work with criminal courts to get veterans into treatment instead of jail. Yet he agreed that one-on-one services for veterans could improve" (Chambers, 7/7).

Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156729.php
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Increases In Suicides And Murders Linked To Economic Crisis

An article published Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet reports that the rising rates of suicide and murders in the population are directly associated to the growing unemployment rates originated by the economic downturn. Another effect is the decline in road-traffic accidents. Active labor market programs aiming to maintain and reintegrate workers in jobs could tone down some of these unfavorable effects. The article is the work of Dr David Stuckler, of the University of Oxford, UK, and Professor Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and their team.

It is acknowledged that economic trouble can lead to adverse effects in health because of its impact on mental health, addiction problems, increased stress and suicides. On the other hand, some people argue that recessions can lead people to be healthier, because they engage in more healthy behavior, such as for instance walking instead of driving, and less over-consumption of food and alcohol. In order to find out more about the effects of economic downturns on public health, the authors evaluated how economic changes have affected mortality rates in twenty six European Union (EU) countries in the last thirty years. They identified how governments might reduce adverse effects.

Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156690.php
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Stressful Weight Gain

Stressing out can cause people to gain weight, according to a new study.

This new study is believed to be one of the first of its kind to look at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress—job-related demands, difficulty paying bills, strained family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder—in the U.S. population.

The article will appear in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“Today’s economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked to a number of illnesses —such as heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk for cancer. This study shows that stress is also linked to weight gain,” according to Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H., who conducted the research.

Women’s waistlines are affected by more types of stress, according to the study, “Psychosocial Stress and Change in Weight Among U.S. Adults.”

In addition to weight gain associated with financial problems or a difficult job, women also added pounds when grappling with strained family relationships and feeling limited by life’s circumstances.

For men, the numbers on the scale did not go up when facing difficult family relationships or feeling constrained by life circumstances. Among men, lack of decision-making authority at work and lack of skill discretion was associated with greater weight gain. Skill discretion can be defined as the ability to learn new skills on the job and to perform interesting job duties.

Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/07/08/stressful-weight-gain/6974.html