Previous research has shown an association between people who have had clinical depression and obesity.
But does having a major clinical depressive episode — or the drugs used to treat depression, called antidepressants — increase the risk of becoming obese?
Researchers looked at data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS), a longitudinal study over 10 years of a representative sample of household residents in Canada.
The incidence of obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30, was evaluated in respondents who were 18 years or older at the time of a baseline interview in 1994. Major depression was assessed using a brief diagnostic instrument.
The researchers found that the risk of obesity was not increased in association with being diagnosed with a major clinical depressive episode.
The strongest predictor of obesity was a BMI in the overweight (but not obese) range. Effects were also seen for (younger) age, (female) sex, a sedentary activity pattern, low income and exposure to antidepressant medications.
Unexpectedly, the researchers found significant effects for a specific type of newer antidepressant medications — serotonin-reuptake-inhibiting antidepressants (SSRIs) and venlafaxine. The researchers did not find any significant effects for older tricyclic antidepressants nor antipsychotic medications.
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/30/do-antidepressant-drugs-increase-risk-of-obesity/6832.html
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Pig tissues offer stem cell hope Research aims to fix any body part.
University of Missouri researchers have become some of the first in the world to transform connective tissue cells from a pig into stem cells capable of becoming any part of the anatomy.
The achievement, published in the scientific journal PNAS, comes within weeks of two separate Chinese research groups publishing similar findings on pig stem cells. This flurry of discoveries mark the first steps in what will likely be a long road of trial and error needed to produce a safe, effective method to induce adult pig cells to become stem cells that can be used to grow or repair organs.
The method used by the MU researchers was to remove the connective tissue cells, known as fibroblasts, from a pig fetus and transfer them to a controlled medium. Researchers then used a specially designed retrovirus to insert four “reprogramming” genes into the cells’ DNA. These four genes reprogrammed the cells to behave like stem cells. The cells then continued to reproduce at a normal rate, and a small percentage of them exhibited the attributes of stem cells, including the presence of the protein OCT4, a key marker for “undifferentiated cells.”
Source and More:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/29/pig-tissues-offer-stem-cell-hope/
The achievement, published in the scientific journal PNAS, comes within weeks of two separate Chinese research groups publishing similar findings on pig stem cells. This flurry of discoveries mark the first steps in what will likely be a long road of trial and error needed to produce a safe, effective method to induce adult pig cells to become stem cells that can be used to grow or repair organs.
The method used by the MU researchers was to remove the connective tissue cells, known as fibroblasts, from a pig fetus and transfer them to a controlled medium. Researchers then used a specially designed retrovirus to insert four “reprogramming” genes into the cells’ DNA. These four genes reprogrammed the cells to behave like stem cells. The cells then continued to reproduce at a normal rate, and a small percentage of them exhibited the attributes of stem cells, including the presence of the protein OCT4, a key marker for “undifferentiated cells.”
Source and More:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/29/pig-tissues-offer-stem-cell-hope/
Manic Monday
Weight-Loss Surgery May Be Beneficial for Diabetes
Earlier this year, the American Diabetes Association suggested that obese patients struggling with Type 2 diabetes consider weight-loss surgery. The results of two long-term studies presented this week at a medical conference lend further support to the recommendation.
One study of 177 patients found that among Type 2 diabetes patients who had been very obese, 57 percent remained free of the disease more than eight years after gastric bypass surgery.
As many as 90 percent of the obese patients experienced resolution of their diabetes within a year of gastric bypass surgery. But for many, the effect did not last.
Patients who were dependent on insulin prior to surgery were most likely to experience a recurrence of the disease, with only 30 percent seeing long-term resolution of their condition, said Dr. James Maher, professor of surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University and the paper’s senior author.
Source and More
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/health/29diabetes.html?_r=1&ref=health
___________________________________________________________________________
New tool finds best heart disease and stroke treatments for patients with diabetes
Researchers from North Carolina State University and Mayo Clinic have developed a computer model that medical doctors can use to determine the best time to begin using statin therapy in diabetes patients to help prevent heart disease and stroke.
"The research is significant because patients with diabetes are at high risk for cardiovascular disease and statins are the single most commonly used treatment for patients at risk of heart disease and/or stroke," says Dr. Brian Denton, "and this model can help determine the best course of action for individual patients based on their risk of developing cardiovascular disease." Denton is an assistant professor in NC State's Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering and lead author of the study.
Statins are a key component of current cardiovascular medical treatment guidelines, Denton says. They lower cholesterol levels and may significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, particularly in patients that are considered to be at high risk.
The researchers developed a new mathematical model that examines various possible treatment policies to see how they influence short-term and long-term health outcomes for patients. The model shows how people are affected by diabetes, and how their health changes over time as the disease advances and patients age.
The new model incorporates patient-specific data. An established risk model calculates each patient's probability of heart attack and stroke based on risk factors, such as their cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. This overall risk "score" is used to weigh the medical advantages of beginning statin therapy against the financial cost of the statins.
Overall, by accounting for the progression of diabetes, the patient's specific risk score and the cost-benefit analysis, the new model may help patients and doctors decide on the optimal time to begin statin therapy.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165492869.html
___________________________________________________________________________
High levels of cycling training damage triathletes' sperm
The high-intensity training undertaken by triathletes has a significant impact on the quality of their sperm, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Monday 29 June). Professor Diana Vaamonde, from the University of Cordoba Medical School, Cordoba, Spain, said that the triathletes who did the most cycling training had the worst sperm morphology.
Professor Vaamonde's team has previously shown that both high exercise intensity and high exercise volume may be detrimental to sperm quality. They decided to take a more profound look at the sportsmen who seemed to show the greatest alteration - the triathletes - and assess the correlation between the volume of training in each activity and sperm quality. Of the three modalities, only cycling, the activity for which triathletes undertake the most training, showed a clear correlation with sperm quality. The more cycling training the sportsmen undertook, both in time and kilometres, the worse their sperm quality became.
The design of this particular study did not allow the scientists to isolate a single factor responsible for this problem, but Dr. Vaamonde believes that it is likely to be mainly due to either the irritation and compression caused by friction of the testes against the saddle, or the localised heat produced by wearing tight clothing. However, she also believes that reactive oxygen species - small molecules that are a natural by-product of oxygen metabolism and which react to stress by increasing to such an extent that they can damage cell structures - and energetic imbalances may play an important role in the alterations in sperm that the team observed.
"The fact that this effect is greater in triathletes than in other sports practices seems to indicate that it is something to do with the volume of training that they need to undertake to achieve and maintain a high level of fitness," said Professor Vaamonde. "We believe that the same effect would be observed in any athletes undertaking a similar amount of cycling training."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165493540.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Migraines Linked to Brain Lesions and Increased Risk of Stroke in Women
Migraine headaches affect approximately 17 percent of the population at sometime during their life, accounting for more than 1 billion people who suffer from the condition worldwide. American and European studies have shown that 6-8 percent of men and 15-18 percent of women experience migraine every year. The significantly higher rates among women are hormonally driven.
According to a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who experience migraines accompanied by a visual disturbance known as an aura, have an increased risk of sustaining long-term microscopic damage to brain tissue that is important to both coordination and the senses. In addition, a second study appearing in the journal Neurology revealed that women who experience frequent migraines along with an aura, have a four times greater likelihood of suffering a stroke in later years than women without migraines. The finding supports previous studies that suggest an association between migraines and stroke.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/womens-health/migraines-linked-brain-lesions-increased-risk-stroke-women-3372.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Studying The Effects Of Early Child Abuse: $2.25 Million Grant
This summer, the University of Rochester's Mt. Hope Family Center will begin a large-scale, comprehensive study of the effects of child abuse. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the five-year, $2.25 million research project aims to understand how a complex host of factors - from genetics and family environment to hormonal regulation, personality traits, and brain activity - influence the well-being and mental health of children who have experienced child maltreatment.
"What is novel about this study is that it seeks to understand these children from multiple perspectives - neurocognitive, neuroendocrine, and neurophysiological as well as psychological," said Center Research Director Fred Rogosch. "We will obtain very diverse assessments on the same child, providing a holistic view of the multiple ways in which child maltreatment affects development," Rogosch said.
"Our focus on what factors support resilience is equally important," Rogosch added. "Many abused children go on to lead productive, well-adjusted lives. Identifying these pathways to success is vital because it says to children and adults that 'they are not doomed' by an abusive childhood."
Rogosch and Dante Cicchetti, McKnight Presidential Chair and Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and the former director of the Mt. Hope Family Center from 1984 to 2005, are principal investigators of the study.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155632.php
___________________________________________________________________________
10 Ways to Manage Your Weight on Psych Meds
Awhile back, a Beyond Blue reader asked me to address the problem of weight gain and medication. “How do you deal with this yourself?” she asked me.
I’ll be perfectly honest — it’s a battle. As someone with a history of an eating disorder, I’ve had to work very hard on getting to a place where I eat when I’m hungry. For that reason, I won’t go near drugs like Zyprexa, because the 20 pounds that I gained in one month made me feel almost as bad as my depression.
I totally understand that body image is important to your self-esteem. I wish I wasn’t so shallow, but look at the ads around us. What’s the message that they’re screaming?
“Thin people are beautiful. Overweight people aren’t.” I hate that.
So, since this is Friday’s question that is usually answered by an expert, I read through my Johns Hopkins’s literature and found some helpful modification guidelines by Karen Swartz, M.D., Director of the Clinical Programs and one of the physicians who evaluated me in March of 2006 (and then sent me directly into the inpatient unit!). I hope her guidelines help.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/06/18/10-ways-to-manage-your-weight-on-psych-meds/
___________________________________________________________________________
Stress Reduction Technique Aids Sleep
Stressed-out people sleep better and take sleep medication less often when they learn to let go of intrusive thoughts.
The new study from researchers at Duke Integrative Medicine shows participants who took an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course reported less trouble sleeping through the night, and also less sleepiness during the day.
This is the first study to document several positive effects of mindfulness training on sleep quality in a group of generally healthy, but stressed, individuals.
“When we don’t know what to do with intrusive and persistent thoughts, the mind and body feel threatened,” says Jeff Greeson, PhD, MS, a clinical health psychologist at Duke who presented his preliminary results at the North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
“That signals the ‘fight or flight’ response which starts a cascade of sleep-robbing emotions like agitation and anxiety.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/29/stress-reduction-technique-aids-sleep/6785.html
Earlier this year, the American Diabetes Association suggested that obese patients struggling with Type 2 diabetes consider weight-loss surgery. The results of two long-term studies presented this week at a medical conference lend further support to the recommendation.
One study of 177 patients found that among Type 2 diabetes patients who had been very obese, 57 percent remained free of the disease more than eight years after gastric bypass surgery.
As many as 90 percent of the obese patients experienced resolution of their diabetes within a year of gastric bypass surgery. But for many, the effect did not last.
Patients who were dependent on insulin prior to surgery were most likely to experience a recurrence of the disease, with only 30 percent seeing long-term resolution of their condition, said Dr. James Maher, professor of surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University and the paper’s senior author.
Source and More
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/health/29diabetes.html?_r=1&ref=health
___________________________________________________________________________
New tool finds best heart disease and stroke treatments for patients with diabetes
Researchers from North Carolina State University and Mayo Clinic have developed a computer model that medical doctors can use to determine the best time to begin using statin therapy in diabetes patients to help prevent heart disease and stroke.
"The research is significant because patients with diabetes are at high risk for cardiovascular disease and statins are the single most commonly used treatment for patients at risk of heart disease and/or stroke," says Dr. Brian Denton, "and this model can help determine the best course of action for individual patients based on their risk of developing cardiovascular disease." Denton is an assistant professor in NC State's Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering and lead author of the study.
Statins are a key component of current cardiovascular medical treatment guidelines, Denton says. They lower cholesterol levels and may significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, particularly in patients that are considered to be at high risk.
The researchers developed a new mathematical model that examines various possible treatment policies to see how they influence short-term and long-term health outcomes for patients. The model shows how people are affected by diabetes, and how their health changes over time as the disease advances and patients age.
The new model incorporates patient-specific data. An established risk model calculates each patient's probability of heart attack and stroke based on risk factors, such as their cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. This overall risk "score" is used to weigh the medical advantages of beginning statin therapy against the financial cost of the statins.
Overall, by accounting for the progression of diabetes, the patient's specific risk score and the cost-benefit analysis, the new model may help patients and doctors decide on the optimal time to begin statin therapy.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165492869.html
___________________________________________________________________________
High levels of cycling training damage triathletes' sperm
The high-intensity training undertaken by triathletes has a significant impact on the quality of their sperm, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Monday 29 June). Professor Diana Vaamonde, from the University of Cordoba Medical School, Cordoba, Spain, said that the triathletes who did the most cycling training had the worst sperm morphology.
Professor Vaamonde's team has previously shown that both high exercise intensity and high exercise volume may be detrimental to sperm quality. They decided to take a more profound look at the sportsmen who seemed to show the greatest alteration - the triathletes - and assess the correlation between the volume of training in each activity and sperm quality. Of the three modalities, only cycling, the activity for which triathletes undertake the most training, showed a clear correlation with sperm quality. The more cycling training the sportsmen undertook, both in time and kilometres, the worse their sperm quality became.
The design of this particular study did not allow the scientists to isolate a single factor responsible for this problem, but Dr. Vaamonde believes that it is likely to be mainly due to either the irritation and compression caused by friction of the testes against the saddle, or the localised heat produced by wearing tight clothing. However, she also believes that reactive oxygen species - small molecules that are a natural by-product of oxygen metabolism and which react to stress by increasing to such an extent that they can damage cell structures - and energetic imbalances may play an important role in the alterations in sperm that the team observed.
"The fact that this effect is greater in triathletes than in other sports practices seems to indicate that it is something to do with the volume of training that they need to undertake to achieve and maintain a high level of fitness," said Professor Vaamonde. "We believe that the same effect would be observed in any athletes undertaking a similar amount of cycling training."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165493540.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Migraines Linked to Brain Lesions and Increased Risk of Stroke in Women
Migraine headaches affect approximately 17 percent of the population at sometime during their life, accounting for more than 1 billion people who suffer from the condition worldwide. American and European studies have shown that 6-8 percent of men and 15-18 percent of women experience migraine every year. The significantly higher rates among women are hormonally driven.
According to a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who experience migraines accompanied by a visual disturbance known as an aura, have an increased risk of sustaining long-term microscopic damage to brain tissue that is important to both coordination and the senses. In addition, a second study appearing in the journal Neurology revealed that women who experience frequent migraines along with an aura, have a four times greater likelihood of suffering a stroke in later years than women without migraines. The finding supports previous studies that suggest an association between migraines and stroke.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/womens-health/migraines-linked-brain-lesions-increased-risk-stroke-women-3372.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Studying The Effects Of Early Child Abuse: $2.25 Million Grant
This summer, the University of Rochester's Mt. Hope Family Center will begin a large-scale, comprehensive study of the effects of child abuse. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the five-year, $2.25 million research project aims to understand how a complex host of factors - from genetics and family environment to hormonal regulation, personality traits, and brain activity - influence the well-being and mental health of children who have experienced child maltreatment.
"What is novel about this study is that it seeks to understand these children from multiple perspectives - neurocognitive, neuroendocrine, and neurophysiological as well as psychological," said Center Research Director Fred Rogosch. "We will obtain very diverse assessments on the same child, providing a holistic view of the multiple ways in which child maltreatment affects development," Rogosch said.
"Our focus on what factors support resilience is equally important," Rogosch added. "Many abused children go on to lead productive, well-adjusted lives. Identifying these pathways to success is vital because it says to children and adults that 'they are not doomed' by an abusive childhood."
Rogosch and Dante Cicchetti, McKnight Presidential Chair and Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and the former director of the Mt. Hope Family Center from 1984 to 2005, are principal investigators of the study.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155632.php
___________________________________________________________________________
10 Ways to Manage Your Weight on Psych Meds
Awhile back, a Beyond Blue reader asked me to address the problem of weight gain and medication. “How do you deal with this yourself?” she asked me.
I’ll be perfectly honest — it’s a battle. As someone with a history of an eating disorder, I’ve had to work very hard on getting to a place where I eat when I’m hungry. For that reason, I won’t go near drugs like Zyprexa, because the 20 pounds that I gained in one month made me feel almost as bad as my depression.
I totally understand that body image is important to your self-esteem. I wish I wasn’t so shallow, but look at the ads around us. What’s the message that they’re screaming?
“Thin people are beautiful. Overweight people aren’t.” I hate that.
So, since this is Friday’s question that is usually answered by an expert, I read through my Johns Hopkins’s literature and found some helpful modification guidelines by Karen Swartz, M.D., Director of the Clinical Programs and one of the physicians who evaluated me in March of 2006 (and then sent me directly into the inpatient unit!). I hope her guidelines help.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/06/18/10-ways-to-manage-your-weight-on-psych-meds/
___________________________________________________________________________
Stress Reduction Technique Aids Sleep
Stressed-out people sleep better and take sleep medication less often when they learn to let go of intrusive thoughts.
The new study from researchers at Duke Integrative Medicine shows participants who took an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course reported less trouble sleeping through the night, and also less sleepiness during the day.
This is the first study to document several positive effects of mindfulness training on sleep quality in a group of generally healthy, but stressed, individuals.
“When we don’t know what to do with intrusive and persistent thoughts, the mind and body feel threatened,” says Jeff Greeson, PhD, MS, a clinical health psychologist at Duke who presented his preliminary results at the North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
“That signals the ‘fight or flight’ response which starts a cascade of sleep-robbing emotions like agitation and anxiety.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/29/stress-reduction-technique-aids-sleep/6785.html
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Jump Start On The Week Ahead
Site for alcohol's action in the brain discovered
Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain cells work.
Their findings, published in the current advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, reveal an alcohol trigger site located physically within an ion channel protein; their results could lead to the development of novel treatments for alcoholism, drug addiction, and epilepsy.
Ethanol, the alcohol in intoxicating beverages, is known to alter the communication between brain cells. "There's been a lot of interest in the field to find out how alcohol acts in the brain," says Paul A. Slesinger, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Peptide Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, who led the study. "One of several views held that ethanol works by interacting directly with ion channel proteins, but there were no studies that visualized the site of association."
Slesinger and his team now show that alcohols directly interact with a specific nook contained within a channel protein. This ion channel plays a key role in several brain functions associated with drugs of abuse and seizures.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165418779.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Foods that Rob You of Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important necessities of life, as is evidenced by the plethora of studies and articles recently published about this daily occurrence. Whether it is the comforts necessary for a good night’s sleep or the fact that many people find that good sleep helps them keep their personal and professional dreams, what I have found is that sleep acts much like a nutrient, vital for keeping you healthy, just like the foods, beverages, and supplements people consume everyday.
If you don’t like to skip meals, why would you want to skimp on sleep? Believe it or not there are foods that should be avoided at or near bedtime. The following is a list of those foods which can rob you of precious hours of shut-eye.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/foods-rob-you-sleep-3371.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Medicare Fraud Takedown Leads to 53 Indictments
Medicare fraud schemes to falsify over $50 million in Medicare claims have been thwarted by ongoing government strike force operations. A total of 53 indictments have made thus far. Among those having charges filed against them are doctors, health care executives, and beneficiaries for alleged fraudulent Medicare billing in Detroit, Michigan. The takedown by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has lead to indictments being returned by a grand jury, with additional arrests being made in Miami, Florida and Denver Colorado.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/medicare-fraud-takedown-leads-53-indictments-3365.html
Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain cells work.
Their findings, published in the current advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, reveal an alcohol trigger site located physically within an ion channel protein; their results could lead to the development of novel treatments for alcoholism, drug addiction, and epilepsy.
Ethanol, the alcohol in intoxicating beverages, is known to alter the communication between brain cells. "There's been a lot of interest in the field to find out how alcohol acts in the brain," says Paul A. Slesinger, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Peptide Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, who led the study. "One of several views held that ethanol works by interacting directly with ion channel proteins, but there were no studies that visualized the site of association."
Slesinger and his team now show that alcohols directly interact with a specific nook contained within a channel protein. This ion channel plays a key role in several brain functions associated with drugs of abuse and seizures.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165418779.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Foods that Rob You of Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important necessities of life, as is evidenced by the plethora of studies and articles recently published about this daily occurrence. Whether it is the comforts necessary for a good night’s sleep or the fact that many people find that good sleep helps them keep their personal and professional dreams, what I have found is that sleep acts much like a nutrient, vital for keeping you healthy, just like the foods, beverages, and supplements people consume everyday.
If you don’t like to skip meals, why would you want to skimp on sleep? Believe it or not there are foods that should be avoided at or near bedtime. The following is a list of those foods which can rob you of precious hours of shut-eye.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/foods-rob-you-sleep-3371.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Medicare Fraud Takedown Leads to 53 Indictments
Medicare fraud schemes to falsify over $50 million in Medicare claims have been thwarted by ongoing government strike force operations. A total of 53 indictments have made thus far. Among those having charges filed against them are doctors, health care executives, and beneficiaries for alleged fraudulent Medicare billing in Detroit, Michigan. The takedown by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has lead to indictments being returned by a grand jury, with additional arrests being made in Miami, Florida and Denver Colorado.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/medicare-fraud-takedown-leads-53-indictments-3365.html
Saturday, June 27, 2009
We are #1 on Google!
If you do a search of Missouri Disability Blogs such as here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Missouri+Disability+Blogs&btnG=Google+Search
We are in the #1 slot as of this posting!! Ya team!!!
Now let's all work to keep us there at the top as the #1 Disability Blog of Missouri!!
We are in need of contributing people through out the Disability Community to submit stories,presentations and more of your experiences with Disability advocacy.
You can submit your articles to: poundpuppy2k1@gmail.com with the topic line "Disability Blog Submission" or by requesting to be added here as an Author and then you can post up your own stories and share with others.
Keep voting for this Disability Blog on Google as well if you see our ranking falling so we can keep this great project at the top of the list as the #1 place for Disability Advocacy here in Missouri!
It takes all of you the readers of this blog contributing to make it great and in the future even better still.
Great job everybody and thank you to all who do contribute and tell your friends about this blog.
Peace out. Chuck.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Missouri+Disability+Blogs&btnG=Google+Search
We are in the #1 slot as of this posting!! Ya team!!!
Now let's all work to keep us there at the top as the #1 Disability Blog of Missouri!!
We are in need of contributing people through out the Disability Community to submit stories,presentations and more of your experiences with Disability advocacy.
You can submit your articles to: poundpuppy2k1@gmail.com with the topic line "Disability Blog Submission" or by requesting to be added here as an Author and then you can post up your own stories and share with others.
Keep voting for this Disability Blog on Google as well if you see our ranking falling so we can keep this great project at the top of the list as the #1 place for Disability Advocacy here in Missouri!
It takes all of you the readers of this blog contributing to make it great and in the future even better still.
Great job everybody and thank you to all who do contribute and tell your friends about this blog.
Peace out. Chuck.
Friday, June 26, 2009
T.G.I.F.
New Study Shows the SSRI Paroxetine May Affect Sperm DNA and Male Fertility
The selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine (Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline) may affect male fertility through its effects on sperm DNA, according to a small study by Weill Cornell Medical Center researchers. In the study of 35 healthy volunteers without psychiatric disorders, the antidepressant induced abnormal sperm DNA fragmentation in more than 40% of participants.
"Sperm DNA fragmentation is thought to be a very sensitive measure of sperm abnormality, independent of sperm counts or standard sperm tests, and predicts natural fertility as well as fertility with the most advanced forms of assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization," said senior author Peter Schlegel, MD, chair of the department of urology and professor of reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center, in New York City. "What the study tells us is that paroxetine could have an effect on fertility that will not show up in standard sperm tests — and cause an increase in genetic damage to sperm," he said.
Their report is published June 10 online in Fertility and Sterility.
Dr. Schlegel noted that because the study did not show any changes in the conventional measures of sperm quality — including sperm volume, concentration, motility, and morphology — their paper suggests that men on SSRIs might have a reduced ability to conceive. "A man could have his fertility affected and still could have what look like normal sperm counts," he said. He advises that men on SSRIs who are interested in conceiving talk to their physicians about other treatment options for depression.
Source and More
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704701
___________________________________________________________________________
Mental Disorders Are Common in Self-Cutting Adolescents
Major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders are common among adolescent girls who engage in self-cutting, according to findings published in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"Deliberate self-harm has become more prevalent in recent years among adolescents," Dr. Jukka Hintikka, of Kuopio University Hospital, Finland, and colleagues write.
In the current study, the researchers examined the prevalence of mental disorders and associated factors in a sample of community-dwelling adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years. The investigators drew a sample of 80 adolescents who reported current self-cutting from a large sample of 4205 community adolescents. Of the 80 subjects, 44 gave consent for further assessment. Control subjects were age- and gender-matched to each study subject.
Overall, 79% of the 41 self-cutting females had mental disorders, compared to 21% of controls (p < 0.001). Psychiatric comorbidity (i.e., at least two psychiatric diagnoses) was observed in 42% of female self-cutters and 7% of controls (p < 0.001).
None of the three self-cutting males or their controls had a mental disorder.
"We found that major depressive disorder (63% versus 5%), anxiety disorders (37% versus 12%) and eating disorders (15% versus 0%) were much more common in a non-clinical sample of self-cutting girls than among controls," Dr. Hintikka elaborated in an interview with Reuters Health. "In the final multivariate model, the presence of major depressive disorder, signs of alcohol misuse, and internalizing behavior strongly associated with self-cutting in community-living girls."
Source and More
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704965
___________________________________________________________________________
Antidepressant Elavil Impersonates Brain’s Growth Factors
The widely used antidepressant and pain medication amitriptyline (Elavil) can seemingly impersonate the brain’s own growth factors, researchers have shown.
Amitriptyline (Elavil), a tricyclic antidepressant first introduced in the 1960s, and other tricyclics are thought to exert their effects by increasing the levels of the messenger chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.
But the delay required for antidepressants to work has led scientists to the idea that a secondary effect, pushing neurons to survive and grow, must occur indirectly.
The finding that amitriptyline can directly stimulate molecules that help neurons grow and resist toxins suggests a separate mechanism by which some antidepressant and pain relief compounds may function.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/26/antidepressant-elavil-impersonates-brains-growth-factors/6761.html
___________________________________________________________________________
The Ethics of Bloggers
Most people may not realize it, but bloggers — people who write their thoughts in public, online web logs (blogs) or journals — have a shared but largely unspoken ethical code. So says a new study that examined survey results from over 1,200 bloggers from around the world.
Key issues in the blogosphere are telling the truth, accountability, minimizing harm and attribution, although the extent to which bloggers follow their own ethical ideals can depend on the context and intended audience.
Creating weblogs (blogs) is often viewed as a form of citizen journalism, open to anyone with Internet access. As it grows in prevalence and influence, communication scholars, news media, governments and bloggers themselves have raised questions about blogging’s ethical implications.
Some academics propose that bloggers should follow an ethics code, based on standards journalists follow. But few researchers have examined ethical standards bloggers themselves aspire to, and whether they adhere to their own ethical standards.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/26/the-ethics-of-bloggers/6758.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Measuring Intellectual Disability
Researchers from the University of California, Davis have developed a specific and quantitative means of measuring levels of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein (FMRP), which is mutated in fragile X syndrome. The related report by Iwahashi et al, "A quantitative ELISA assay for the fragile X mental retardation 1 protein," appears in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual impairment. Nearly one third of patients diagnosed with fragile X syndrome also have some degree of autism, and the mutation underlying fragile X syndrome is the most commonly known single gene cause of autism.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by low levels of the FMRP protein, which is thought to play a role in communication between nerve cells. In patients with fragile X syndrome, a sequence in the FMR1 gene that is repeated 10-40 times in normal individuals may be repeated from 200 to more than 1,000 times, decreasing levels of the FMRP protein.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155383.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Study Reports Early Diagnosis Of Mental Disorders From New Computer Test
A group of doctors in Pittsburgh have developed the Computer Assessment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (CAMCI) to identify cognitive difficulties easily and reliably. In an article in the March issue of Postgraduate Medicine entitled "Computer Assessment of Mild Cognitive Impairment," the program creators detail the procedures and the benefits of the new test, which they claim is sensitive enough to notice the smallest amount of forgetfulness. By conducting a controlled study with 524 people >60 years old, they were able to demonstrate the ease and effectiveness of the testing system.
The program, which uses a variety of tests that analyze everything from attention and verbal memory to incidental recall and executive function, was administered in primary care physician's offices, a local community center, and in the subjects' homes. The doctors believe this is a testament to the ease of the program: it can be conducted in many places, ensuring that its effect is wide reaching.
They also demonstrated that the test is very accurate. The article states that CAMCI correctly identified >85% of subjects with mild cognitive impairment. It also correctly identified those patients with normal cognitive function 94% of the time, showing that it was effective at recognizing healthy and unhealthy mental processes alike.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155450.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Evidence that cognitive therapy is of no value in schizophrenia
Research co-led by an academic at the University of Hertfordshire, concludes that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is of no value in schizophrenia and has limited effect on depression.
Professor Keith Laws, at the University's School of Psychology, is one of the lead authors on a paper entitled: Cognitive behavioural therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work? A meta-analytical review of well-controlled trials, which has just been published online in the journal Psychological Medicine. The paper reviews the use of CBT in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.
The results of the review suggest that not only is CBT ineffective in treating schizophrenia and in preventing relapse, it is also ineffective in preventing relapses in bipolar disorder.
The review also suggests that CBT has only a weak effect in treating depression, but it has a greater effect in preventing relapses in this disorder.
The authors focused particularly on methodologically rigorous trials that compared CBT to a ‘psychological placebo' and also investigated the impact of ‘blinding', i.e. whether or not the people who assessed the patients knew if they were receiving active treatment or not. Both factors are considered essential before a drug treatment is approved for use in psychiatric disorders.
The authors noted that not a single trial employing both blinding and psychological placebo has found CBT to be effective in schizophrenia and surprisingly few well-controlled studies of CBT in depression.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165230967.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Dietary fat linked to pancreatic cancer
High intake of dietary fats from red meat and dairy products was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a new study published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
This study was undertaken because research relating fat intake to pancreatic cancer was inconclusive.
To examine the association, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed a cohort of over 500,000 people from the National Institutes of Health - AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 1996 and were followed prospectively for an average of 6 years to track a variety of health outcomes, including pancreatic cancer.
Men and women who consumed high amounts of total fats had 53% and 23% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively, compared with men and women who had the lowest fat consumption. Participants who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had 36% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer compared with those who consumed low amounts.
"[W]e observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources. We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources," the authors write. "Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165255064.html
The selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine (Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline) may affect male fertility through its effects on sperm DNA, according to a small study by Weill Cornell Medical Center researchers. In the study of 35 healthy volunteers without psychiatric disorders, the antidepressant induced abnormal sperm DNA fragmentation in more than 40% of participants.
"Sperm DNA fragmentation is thought to be a very sensitive measure of sperm abnormality, independent of sperm counts or standard sperm tests, and predicts natural fertility as well as fertility with the most advanced forms of assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization," said senior author Peter Schlegel, MD, chair of the department of urology and professor of reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center, in New York City. "What the study tells us is that paroxetine could have an effect on fertility that will not show up in standard sperm tests — and cause an increase in genetic damage to sperm," he said.
Their report is published June 10 online in Fertility and Sterility.
Dr. Schlegel noted that because the study did not show any changes in the conventional measures of sperm quality — including sperm volume, concentration, motility, and morphology — their paper suggests that men on SSRIs might have a reduced ability to conceive. "A man could have his fertility affected and still could have what look like normal sperm counts," he said. He advises that men on SSRIs who are interested in conceiving talk to their physicians about other treatment options for depression.
Source and More
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704701
___________________________________________________________________________
Mental Disorders Are Common in Self-Cutting Adolescents
Major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders are common among adolescent girls who engage in self-cutting, according to findings published in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"Deliberate self-harm has become more prevalent in recent years among adolescents," Dr. Jukka Hintikka, of Kuopio University Hospital, Finland, and colleagues write.
In the current study, the researchers examined the prevalence of mental disorders and associated factors in a sample of community-dwelling adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years. The investigators drew a sample of 80 adolescents who reported current self-cutting from a large sample of 4205 community adolescents. Of the 80 subjects, 44 gave consent for further assessment. Control subjects were age- and gender-matched to each study subject.
Overall, 79% of the 41 self-cutting females had mental disorders, compared to 21% of controls (p < 0.001). Psychiatric comorbidity (i.e., at least two psychiatric diagnoses) was observed in 42% of female self-cutters and 7% of controls (p < 0.001).
None of the three self-cutting males or their controls had a mental disorder.
"We found that major depressive disorder (63% versus 5%), anxiety disorders (37% versus 12%) and eating disorders (15% versus 0%) were much more common in a non-clinical sample of self-cutting girls than among controls," Dr. Hintikka elaborated in an interview with Reuters Health. "In the final multivariate model, the presence of major depressive disorder, signs of alcohol misuse, and internalizing behavior strongly associated with self-cutting in community-living girls."
Source and More
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704965
___________________________________________________________________________
Antidepressant Elavil Impersonates Brain’s Growth Factors
The widely used antidepressant and pain medication amitriptyline (Elavil) can seemingly impersonate the brain’s own growth factors, researchers have shown.
Amitriptyline (Elavil), a tricyclic antidepressant first introduced in the 1960s, and other tricyclics are thought to exert their effects by increasing the levels of the messenger chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.
But the delay required for antidepressants to work has led scientists to the idea that a secondary effect, pushing neurons to survive and grow, must occur indirectly.
The finding that amitriptyline can directly stimulate molecules that help neurons grow and resist toxins suggests a separate mechanism by which some antidepressant and pain relief compounds may function.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/26/antidepressant-elavil-impersonates-brains-growth-factors/6761.html
___________________________________________________________________________
The Ethics of Bloggers
Most people may not realize it, but bloggers — people who write their thoughts in public, online web logs (blogs) or journals — have a shared but largely unspoken ethical code. So says a new study that examined survey results from over 1,200 bloggers from around the world.
Key issues in the blogosphere are telling the truth, accountability, minimizing harm and attribution, although the extent to which bloggers follow their own ethical ideals can depend on the context and intended audience.
Creating weblogs (blogs) is often viewed as a form of citizen journalism, open to anyone with Internet access. As it grows in prevalence and influence, communication scholars, news media, governments and bloggers themselves have raised questions about blogging’s ethical implications.
Some academics propose that bloggers should follow an ethics code, based on standards journalists follow. But few researchers have examined ethical standards bloggers themselves aspire to, and whether they adhere to their own ethical standards.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/26/the-ethics-of-bloggers/6758.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Measuring Intellectual Disability
Researchers from the University of California, Davis have developed a specific and quantitative means of measuring levels of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein (FMRP), which is mutated in fragile X syndrome. The related report by Iwahashi et al, "A quantitative ELISA assay for the fragile X mental retardation 1 protein," appears in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual impairment. Nearly one third of patients diagnosed with fragile X syndrome also have some degree of autism, and the mutation underlying fragile X syndrome is the most commonly known single gene cause of autism.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by low levels of the FMRP protein, which is thought to play a role in communication between nerve cells. In patients with fragile X syndrome, a sequence in the FMR1 gene that is repeated 10-40 times in normal individuals may be repeated from 200 to more than 1,000 times, decreasing levels of the FMRP protein.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155383.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Study Reports Early Diagnosis Of Mental Disorders From New Computer Test
A group of doctors in Pittsburgh have developed the Computer Assessment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (CAMCI) to identify cognitive difficulties easily and reliably. In an article in the March issue of Postgraduate Medicine entitled "Computer Assessment of Mild Cognitive Impairment," the program creators detail the procedures and the benefits of the new test, which they claim is sensitive enough to notice the smallest amount of forgetfulness. By conducting a controlled study with 524 people >60 years old, they were able to demonstrate the ease and effectiveness of the testing system.
The program, which uses a variety of tests that analyze everything from attention and verbal memory to incidental recall and executive function, was administered in primary care physician's offices, a local community center, and in the subjects' homes. The doctors believe this is a testament to the ease of the program: it can be conducted in many places, ensuring that its effect is wide reaching.
They also demonstrated that the test is very accurate. The article states that CAMCI correctly identified >85% of subjects with mild cognitive impairment. It also correctly identified those patients with normal cognitive function 94% of the time, showing that it was effective at recognizing healthy and unhealthy mental processes alike.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155450.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Evidence that cognitive therapy is of no value in schizophrenia
Research co-led by an academic at the University of Hertfordshire, concludes that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is of no value in schizophrenia and has limited effect on depression.
Professor Keith Laws, at the University's School of Psychology, is one of the lead authors on a paper entitled: Cognitive behavioural therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work? A meta-analytical review of well-controlled trials, which has just been published online in the journal Psychological Medicine. The paper reviews the use of CBT in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.
The results of the review suggest that not only is CBT ineffective in treating schizophrenia and in preventing relapse, it is also ineffective in preventing relapses in bipolar disorder.
The review also suggests that CBT has only a weak effect in treating depression, but it has a greater effect in preventing relapses in this disorder.
The authors focused particularly on methodologically rigorous trials that compared CBT to a ‘psychological placebo' and also investigated the impact of ‘blinding', i.e. whether or not the people who assessed the patients knew if they were receiving active treatment or not. Both factors are considered essential before a drug treatment is approved for use in psychiatric disorders.
The authors noted that not a single trial employing both blinding and psychological placebo has found CBT to be effective in schizophrenia and surprisingly few well-controlled studies of CBT in depression.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165230967.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Dietary fat linked to pancreatic cancer
High intake of dietary fats from red meat and dairy products was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a new study published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
This study was undertaken because research relating fat intake to pancreatic cancer was inconclusive.
To examine the association, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed a cohort of over 500,000 people from the National Institutes of Health - AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 1996 and were followed prospectively for an average of 6 years to track a variety of health outcomes, including pancreatic cancer.
Men and women who consumed high amounts of total fats had 53% and 23% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively, compared with men and women who had the lowest fat consumption. Participants who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had 36% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer compared with those who consumed low amounts.
"[W]e observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources. We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources," the authors write. "Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165255064.html
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Gene Variations Linked to ADHD
Hundreds of gene variations that occur more frequently in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been identified by researchers.
Many of the gene variations identified were already known to be important for learning, behavior, brain function and neurodevelopment, but had not been previously associated with ADHD.
“Because the gene alterations we found are involved in the development of the nervous system, they may eventually guide researchers to better targets in designing early intervention for children with ADHD,” said lead author Josephine Elia, M.D., a psychiatrist and ADHD expert at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Unlike changes to single DNA bases, called SNPs or “snips,” the alterations examined in the current study are broader changes in structure. Called copy number variations (CNVs), they are missing or repeated stretches of DNA. CNVs have recently been found to play significant roles in many diseases, including autism and schizophrenia. Everyone has CNVs in their DNA, but not all of the variations occur in locations that affect the function of a gene. The current study is the first to investigate the role of CNVs in ADHD.
Individually, each CNV may be rare, but taken together, a combination of changes in crucial regions may interact to raise an individual’s risk for a specific disease.
“When we began this study in 2003, we expected to find a handful of genes that predispose a child to ADHD,” said study co-leader Peter S. White, Ph.D., a molecular geneticist and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Children’s Hospital.
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/25/gene-variations-linked-to-adhd/6734.html
Many of the gene variations identified were already known to be important for learning, behavior, brain function and neurodevelopment, but had not been previously associated with ADHD.
“Because the gene alterations we found are involved in the development of the nervous system, they may eventually guide researchers to better targets in designing early intervention for children with ADHD,” said lead author Josephine Elia, M.D., a psychiatrist and ADHD expert at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Unlike changes to single DNA bases, called SNPs or “snips,” the alterations examined in the current study are broader changes in structure. Called copy number variations (CNVs), they are missing or repeated stretches of DNA. CNVs have recently been found to play significant roles in many diseases, including autism and schizophrenia. Everyone has CNVs in their DNA, but not all of the variations occur in locations that affect the function of a gene. The current study is the first to investigate the role of CNVs in ADHD.
Individually, each CNV may be rare, but taken together, a combination of changes in crucial regions may interact to raise an individual’s risk for a specific disease.
“When we began this study in 2003, we expected to find a handful of genes that predispose a child to ADHD,” said study co-leader Peter S. White, Ph.D., a molecular geneticist and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Children’s Hospital.
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/25/gene-variations-linked-to-adhd/6734.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Possible Cure Found for Crohn's Disease
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
By: Denis Campbell, The Guardian, Manchester, U.K.
Pioneering stem cell treatment involves 'rebooting' patient's immune system.
People suffering from the debilitating bowel condition Crohn's disease may be cured using a groundbreaking stem cell treatment, according to the British doctor leading the research.
Initial findings from the world's first controlled trial of the procedure have raised hopes that it could banish the disease's symptoms for many years in up to half of the patients who undergo it.
The pioneering therapy involves "rebooting" the patient's immune system by first destroying the cells that have attacked the body's immune system to cause the Crohn's, and then replacing them.
Prof. Chris Hawkey, a gastroenterologist at Nottingham University, is leading the Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Crohn's Disease (Astic) trial. So far 15 patients from six European countries, including three Britons, have taken part, though others are being recruited.
"I'm hopeful that half or more of the patients that undergo stem cell transplantation may either be cured or have a long-term remission," Hawkey said. "We think it's likely that about 50 percent of people [in the trial] will be cured. We are encouraged. We have a lot of patients that seem to be very well."
Hawkey, other specialist doctors and patients involved in the trial will today meet Alastair Darling, the chancellor, to press for the NHS to offer better treatment across the U.K. to the estimated 60,000 people who have Crohn's and the 140,000 who suffer from colitis, a similar condition.
Crohn's is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that typically strikes teenagers and those in their 20s. A lifelong condition, it causes ulceration and inflammation of the digestive tract and is incurable. Existing treatments all involve drugs, which help sufferers control their symptoms but do not offer a cure. It wrecks lives because its embarrassing and painful symptoms including diarrhea, stomach pains, fatigue and weight loss can mean that those with the most severe form of Crohn's find it hard to go to school or college, hold down a job or plan a holiday. It is those most acute sufferers who will benefit if the early promise of the Astic trial translates into a viable treatment.
The stem cell treatment, which takes two years, is very painful for patients, and involves risks including bleeding, infection and a 1-2 percent chance of death. The stem cell transplantation is used to kill off the patient's old bone marrow that produces the harmful cells which cause the Crohn's and generate new healthy cells.
Riding instructor Laura Hancock is one of the three Britons who are taking part in the trial. She had severe sickness and stomach pains after the chemotherapy element of the treatment as well as aching bones caused by injections of growth factor. The pain led to her also suffering lack of sleep, back pain and loss of energy. Ultimately, however, she benefited from what proved an uncomfortable experience
She told the recent annual general meeting of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's: "Three months down the line I felt much better and I'm back to my normal energy levels. My recent colonoscopy showed that the Crohn's disease seems to be quite under control."
Helen Terry of the NACC said: "It's not a pleasant treatment for patients because it's painful and carries certain risks. It's not an easy option. But it holds out the prospect of an effective treatment for some people with Crohn's, for whom other, drug-based treatments have proved ineffective. It could mean that people are able to get their conditions under control and get their lives back. We hope that this will prove to be an effective treatment for patients."
The study has been funded by the Broad Foundations, the Los Angeles-based venture philanthropy organization run by Eli Broad, one of America's biggest philanthropists, and his wife Edythe. But Hawkey has applied for further funding, with which to finish the trial, to the UK Stem Cell Foundation, which is trying to progress stem cell techniques from laboratories to actual use in treating patients. It is due to make its decision next month.
Learn about other stem cell advances by visiting www.MissouriCures.com.Wacked Wednesday
Vinegar May Aid in Fat Loss
Study Shows Ancient Medical Remedy May Help Modern Struggle Against Obesity
The latest weapon in the battle of the bulge may be as close as your kitchen pantry.
Ordinary household vinegar -- used to make oil-and-vinegar salad dressings or pickles -- appears to turn on genes that help fight fat, researchers in Japan report.
Vinegar has long been touted as a cure-all for many ills. The substance has been used a folk medicine remedy since ancient times. Modern medical evidence is slowly adding credence to some of the claims. In recent years, research has suggested that the main chemical in vinegar, called acetic acid, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.
The current findings suggest that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. Tomoo Kondo and colleagues gave acetic acid or water to mice via a stomach tube. All were provided a high-fat diet to eat normally.
Researchers found that the mice developed a lot less body fat (up to 10% less) than mice who didn’t receive the vinegar compound. The amount of food eaten by the mice was not affected.
It’s believed that acetic acid turns on genes that produce proteins that help the body break down fats. Such an action helps prevent fat buildup in body, and thwarts weight gain.
The findings are scheduled to be published in the July 8, 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Source and More
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090622/vinegar-may-aid-in-fat-loss
___________________________________________________________________________
Imagining Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes Increases Empathy
Can imagining yourself in someone else’s actual shoes help increase your empathy for their plight? New research suggests the answer is yes.
Empathy involves, in part, the ability to simulate the internal states of others.
The researchers of the new study hypothesized that our ability to manipulate, rotate and simulate mental representations of the physical world — including our own bodies — would contribute significantly to our ability to empathize.
“Our language is full of spatial metaphors, particularly when we attempt to explain or understand how other people think or feel,” notes Sohee Park, co-author of the new study and professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University.
“We often talk about putting ourselves in others’ shoes, seeing something from someone else’s point of view, or figuratively looking over someone’s shoulder.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/24/imagining-yourself-in-someone-elses-shoes-increases-empathy/6706.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Measuring intellectual disability
Researchers from the University of California, Davis have developed a specific and quantitative means of measuring levels of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein (FMRP), which is mutated in fragile X syndrome. The related report by Iwahashi et al, "A quantitative ELISA assay for the fragile X mental retardation 1 protein," appears in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual impairment. Nearly one third of patients diagnosed with fragile X syndrome also have some degree of autism, and the mutation underlying fragile X syndrome is the most commonly known single gene cause of autism.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by low levels of the FMRP protein, which is thought to play a role in communication between nerve cells. In patients with fragile X syndrome, a sequence in the FMR1 gene that is repeated 10-40 times in normal individuals may be repeated from 200 to more than 1,000 times, decreasing levels of the FMRP protein.
Current tests for fragile X syndrome determine the presence of the mutation by measuring the number of repeats at the DNA and mRNA level; however, the lack of a quantifiable test to determine FMRP protein levels has prevented direct correlation between FMRP protein levels and clinical severity of disease. Therefore, a group led by Dr. Paul Hagerman at the University of California, Davis developed a sensitive and highly specific test for FMRP protein. The method used is able to detect protein throughout the biologically-relevant range of protein concentrations and is readily adaptable for large-scale use.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165038363.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Smoking more than 5 cigarettes a day provokes migraine attacks
Tobacco acts as a precipitating factor for headaches, specifically migraines. This is indicated in a study which shows that smokers have more migraine attacks and that smoking more than five cigarettes a day triggers this headache. The work has appeared in the Journal of Headache and Pain.
The influence of tobacco as a precipitating, non-causal factor of migraine attacks has produced contradictory data in scientific literature. The limited research prior to the work published in The Journal of Headache and Pain indicated that smoking could improve migraines by reducing anxiety, one of the factors that triggers an attack.
"This study is groundbreaking in Spain as there are few studies on this topic, and all are very biased. This is due to the complexity and need for prior training of the participants", Julio Pascual, one of the authors of this research and doctor at the Neurology Unit of Marqués de Valdecilla, University Hospital (Santander), explains to SINC.
One advantage of this study is that the sample used, 361 medicine students from the University of Salamanca, were fully aware what a migraine was. The experts, who enquired about the presence or absence of migraine (and its characteristics) and whether or not they smoked, guaranteed the reliability of the results obtained, as most surveys for this type of study are done over the phone, randomly and in people without knowledge of the illness.
The results show that 16% of students fulfilled migraine criteria, while 20% smoked. The percentage of smokers was higher (29%) in those who were also migraine sufferers and migraine frequency in those students who were migraine sufferers and smokers was clearly higher than in those who were non-smokers and migraine sufferers.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165057802.html
Study Shows Ancient Medical Remedy May Help Modern Struggle Against Obesity
The latest weapon in the battle of the bulge may be as close as your kitchen pantry.
Ordinary household vinegar -- used to make oil-and-vinegar salad dressings or pickles -- appears to turn on genes that help fight fat, researchers in Japan report.
Vinegar has long been touted as a cure-all for many ills. The substance has been used a folk medicine remedy since ancient times. Modern medical evidence is slowly adding credence to some of the claims. In recent years, research has suggested that the main chemical in vinegar, called acetic acid, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.
The current findings suggest that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. Tomoo Kondo and colleagues gave acetic acid or water to mice via a stomach tube. All were provided a high-fat diet to eat normally.
Researchers found that the mice developed a lot less body fat (up to 10% less) than mice who didn’t receive the vinegar compound. The amount of food eaten by the mice was not affected.
It’s believed that acetic acid turns on genes that produce proteins that help the body break down fats. Such an action helps prevent fat buildup in body, and thwarts weight gain.
The findings are scheduled to be published in the July 8, 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Source and More
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090622/vinegar-may-aid-in-fat-loss
___________________________________________________________________________
Imagining Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes Increases Empathy
Can imagining yourself in someone else’s actual shoes help increase your empathy for their plight? New research suggests the answer is yes.
Empathy involves, in part, the ability to simulate the internal states of others.
The researchers of the new study hypothesized that our ability to manipulate, rotate and simulate mental representations of the physical world — including our own bodies — would contribute significantly to our ability to empathize.
“Our language is full of spatial metaphors, particularly when we attempt to explain or understand how other people think or feel,” notes Sohee Park, co-author of the new study and professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University.
“We often talk about putting ourselves in others’ shoes, seeing something from someone else’s point of view, or figuratively looking over someone’s shoulder.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/24/imagining-yourself-in-someone-elses-shoes-increases-empathy/6706.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Measuring intellectual disability
Researchers from the University of California, Davis have developed a specific and quantitative means of measuring levels of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein (FMRP), which is mutated in fragile X syndrome. The related report by Iwahashi et al, "A quantitative ELISA assay for the fragile X mental retardation 1 protein," appears in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual impairment. Nearly one third of patients diagnosed with fragile X syndrome also have some degree of autism, and the mutation underlying fragile X syndrome is the most commonly known single gene cause of autism.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by low levels of the FMRP protein, which is thought to play a role in communication between nerve cells. In patients with fragile X syndrome, a sequence in the FMR1 gene that is repeated 10-40 times in normal individuals may be repeated from 200 to more than 1,000 times, decreasing levels of the FMRP protein.
Current tests for fragile X syndrome determine the presence of the mutation by measuring the number of repeats at the DNA and mRNA level; however, the lack of a quantifiable test to determine FMRP protein levels has prevented direct correlation between FMRP protein levels and clinical severity of disease. Therefore, a group led by Dr. Paul Hagerman at the University of California, Davis developed a sensitive and highly specific test for FMRP protein. The method used is able to detect protein throughout the biologically-relevant range of protein concentrations and is readily adaptable for large-scale use.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165038363.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Smoking more than 5 cigarettes a day provokes migraine attacks
Tobacco acts as a precipitating factor for headaches, specifically migraines. This is indicated in a study which shows that smokers have more migraine attacks and that smoking more than five cigarettes a day triggers this headache. The work has appeared in the Journal of Headache and Pain.
The influence of tobacco as a precipitating, non-causal factor of migraine attacks has produced contradictory data in scientific literature. The limited research prior to the work published in The Journal of Headache and Pain indicated that smoking could improve migraines by reducing anxiety, one of the factors that triggers an attack.
"This study is groundbreaking in Spain as there are few studies on this topic, and all are very biased. This is due to the complexity and need for prior training of the participants", Julio Pascual, one of the authors of this research and doctor at the Neurology Unit of Marqués de Valdecilla, University Hospital (Santander), explains to SINC.
One advantage of this study is that the sample used, 361 medicine students from the University of Salamanca, were fully aware what a migraine was. The experts, who enquired about the presence or absence of migraine (and its characteristics) and whether or not they smoked, guaranteed the reliability of the results obtained, as most surveys for this type of study are done over the phone, randomly and in people without knowledge of the illness.
The results show that 16% of students fulfilled migraine criteria, while 20% smoked. The percentage of smokers was higher (29%) in those who were also migraine sufferers and migraine frequency in those students who were migraine sufferers and smokers was clearly higher than in those who were non-smokers and migraine sufferers.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165057802.html
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tight Rope Tuesday
Scientists discover new source for harvesting stem cells
A groundbreaking study conducted by Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to reveal a new avenue for harvesting stem cells from a woman's placenta, or more specifically the discarded placentas of healthy newborns. The study also finds there are far more stem cells in placentas than in umbilical cord blood, and they can be safely extracted for transplantation. Furthermore, it is highly likely that placental stem cells, like umbilical cord blood and bone marrow stem cells, can be used to cure chronic blood-related disorders such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and leukemia.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164965235.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Anxiety's hidden cost
The effect of anxiety on academic performance is not always obvious but new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that there may be hidden costs. The research found that anxious individuals find it harder to avoid distractions and take more time to turn their attention from one task to the next than their less anxious peers.
The researchers, Professor Michael Eysenck and Dr Nazanin Derkshan, designed several experiments to explore the effects of anxiety on our ability to perform tasks such as avoiding distractions on a computer screen, when reading a story, or solving a series of simple mathematics problems.
According to Professor Eysenck, these findings have clear practical implications in the classroom:
"A lot of the negative effects of anxiety appear to be caused by difficulties with controlling attention. This suggests that training techniques designed to enhance attentional control - the ability to ignore distractions and to switch attention from one task to another - could help anxious students to achieve their academic potential," he explains.
In addition, the study showed that anxious individuals often perform at a comparable level to non-anxious ones but only do so at a greater cost in terms of effort or perhaps long term stress.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164962655.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Your Pet’s Bite May Lead to Serious Infection
People love their pets and many even consider them to be part of the family. Therefore, when a pet bites, most owners tend to admonish but readily forgive what is often viewed as a minor to moderate obedience infraction. However, what these loving and indulging pet owners may not know is that many pets can pass along as many as 30 different infectious diseases, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.
According to Dr. Richard Oehler of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, the transmission of MRSA infections between pets and humans are on the rise. Most common are infections of the skin and soft-tissue. The new findings are based upon an analysis of clinical evidence conducted by the researchers, and the study results appear in the July issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
In their report, the researchers write, “Pet owners are often unaware of the potential for transmission of life-threatening pathogens from their canine and feline companions. Bite injuries are a major cause of injury in the USA and Europe each year, particularly in children. Bites to the hands, forearms, neck, and head have the potential for the highest morbidity.”
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/your-pet-s-bite-may-lead-serious-infection-3341.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Would You Know What To Do In A Mental Health Emergency?
A quarter of us will experience at least one mental health problem in any one year, and yet stigma and prejudice are still widespread.
In recognition of this hidden health crisis, The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH - http://www.rsph.org.uk ) has today accredited the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training programme in England, developed to establish a network of people with the skills and knowledge to take this essential first aid training into the community.
Mental health problems can affect people at any time, in different ways, and many suffer in silence for a long time before eventually seeking help. The MHFA course trains people to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems, shows how to offer initial help to those affected, and provides information about professional support.
MHFA supports the government's well-being agenda which highlights the importance of early intervention. Trainees on mental health first aid courses work in many different settings, including commercial organisations, teaching, police and prison services.
Fionuala Bonnar, programme director for Mental Health Services and Improvement, London Development Centre, part of Commissioning Support for London, said: "The MHFA course instructors are a vital link in our work to promote awareness of mental health problems. RSPH accreditation for our instructors' programme shows that our courses are delivered to the RSPH's very high standards, giving additional confidence to instructors, trainees and the public."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155000.php
A groundbreaking study conducted by Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to reveal a new avenue for harvesting stem cells from a woman's placenta, or more specifically the discarded placentas of healthy newborns. The study also finds there are far more stem cells in placentas than in umbilical cord blood, and they can be safely extracted for transplantation. Furthermore, it is highly likely that placental stem cells, like umbilical cord blood and bone marrow stem cells, can be used to cure chronic blood-related disorders such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and leukemia.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164965235.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Anxiety's hidden cost
The effect of anxiety on academic performance is not always obvious but new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that there may be hidden costs. The research found that anxious individuals find it harder to avoid distractions and take more time to turn their attention from one task to the next than their less anxious peers.
The researchers, Professor Michael Eysenck and Dr Nazanin Derkshan, designed several experiments to explore the effects of anxiety on our ability to perform tasks such as avoiding distractions on a computer screen, when reading a story, or solving a series of simple mathematics problems.
According to Professor Eysenck, these findings have clear practical implications in the classroom:
"A lot of the negative effects of anxiety appear to be caused by difficulties with controlling attention. This suggests that training techniques designed to enhance attentional control - the ability to ignore distractions and to switch attention from one task to another - could help anxious students to achieve their academic potential," he explains.
In addition, the study showed that anxious individuals often perform at a comparable level to non-anxious ones but only do so at a greater cost in terms of effort or perhaps long term stress.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164962655.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Your Pet’s Bite May Lead to Serious Infection
People love their pets and many even consider them to be part of the family. Therefore, when a pet bites, most owners tend to admonish but readily forgive what is often viewed as a minor to moderate obedience infraction. However, what these loving and indulging pet owners may not know is that many pets can pass along as many as 30 different infectious diseases, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.
According to Dr. Richard Oehler of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, the transmission of MRSA infections between pets and humans are on the rise. Most common are infections of the skin and soft-tissue. The new findings are based upon an analysis of clinical evidence conducted by the researchers, and the study results appear in the July issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
In their report, the researchers write, “Pet owners are often unaware of the potential for transmission of life-threatening pathogens from their canine and feline companions. Bite injuries are a major cause of injury in the USA and Europe each year, particularly in children. Bites to the hands, forearms, neck, and head have the potential for the highest morbidity.”
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/your-pet-s-bite-may-lead-serious-infection-3341.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Would You Know What To Do In A Mental Health Emergency?
A quarter of us will experience at least one mental health problem in any one year, and yet stigma and prejudice are still widespread.
In recognition of this hidden health crisis, The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH - http://www.rsph.org.uk ) has today accredited the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training programme in England, developed to establish a network of people with the skills and knowledge to take this essential first aid training into the community.
Mental health problems can affect people at any time, in different ways, and many suffer in silence for a long time before eventually seeking help. The MHFA course trains people to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems, shows how to offer initial help to those affected, and provides information about professional support.
MHFA supports the government's well-being agenda which highlights the importance of early intervention. Trainees on mental health first aid courses work in many different settings, including commercial organisations, teaching, police and prison services.
Fionuala Bonnar, programme director for Mental Health Services and Improvement, London Development Centre, part of Commissioning Support for London, said: "The MHFA course instructors are a vital link in our work to promote awareness of mental health problems. RSPH accreditation for our instructors' programme shows that our courses are delivered to the RSPH's very high standards, giving additional confidence to instructors, trainees and the public."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155000.php
Monday, June 22, 2009
New Video from Missouri Cures
Missourians made history when they approved the Stem Cell Amendment, guaranteeing Missouri families the same access to cures available to other Americans.
Unfortunately, anti-stem cell activists continue to try to undermine and repeal patients’ rights in our state.
Source and More:
http://www.missouricures.com/site/PageNavigator/Multimedia/educational_video
Unfortunately, anti-stem cell activists continue to try to undermine and repeal patients’ rights in our state.
Source and More:
http://www.missouricures.com/site/PageNavigator/Multimedia/educational_video
Manic Monday
Adults with asthma not getting their flu shots
Because of increased risk of complications from influenza, vaccination of adults and children with asthma is recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The Healthy People 2010 Objectives call for annual influenza vaccination of at least 60% of adults aged 18-64 years with asthma. However, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators have determined that the vaccination levels among asthma sufferers falls well short of this guideline. The results of their study are published in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164885399.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Major study highlights weight differences among 3-19 year-olds with type 1 and 2 diabetes
A major study of three to 19 year-olds has provided vital data on the weight problems faced by the growing number of children and young people with type 1 diabetes, which is more prevalent in younger age groups than type 2 diabetes.
The findings of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study Group, published online by Pediatric Diabetes, show that children and youths with type 1 diabetes are more likely to be overweight than those without diabetes.
Researchers from six clinical centres across the USA took part in the study, which compared data from 3,953 diabetics, aged between three and 19, taking part in the SEARCH study, with data for 7,666 non-diabetic children and youths from a national US study.
"The links between type 2 diabetes and excess weight are well documented, but are less clear in type 1 diabetes which affects less than 10 per cent of people with diabetes but is more common in children and young people" explains lead researcher Dr Lenna Liu from the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital USA.
"When people have diabetes their blood glucose can become too high" she continues. "In type 1 diabetes, this happens because an autoimmune process has destroyed the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, allowing glucose levels to rise. Type 2 diabetes occurs when not enough insulin is being produced or the insulin is not working properly. Traditionally a disease in overweight adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being seen in younger patients as childhood obesity levels increase."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164883744.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Obama to sign anti-smoking bill in Rose Garden
President Barack Obama is set to sign into law an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.
Obama is scheduled to sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act during an event Monday in the Rose Garden. The law allows the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.
The law won't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright, but the agency will be able to regulate what goes into tobacco products, make public the ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.
Anti-smoking advocates looked forward to the bill after years of attempts to control an industry so fundamental to the U.S. that carved tobacco leaves adorn some parts of the Capitol.
Opponents from tobacco-growing states like top-producing North Carolina argued that the FDA has proved through a series of food safety failures that it's not up to the job. They also said that instead of unrealistically trying to get smokers to quit or to prevent others from starting, lawmakers should ensure that people have other options, like smokeless tobacco.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164877289.html
___________________________________________________________________________
What Is Psychology? What Are The Branches Of Psychology?
Psychology is the science of the mind and behavior. The word "psychology" comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul", and the Greek word logia meaning the study of something. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, psychology is "The profession (clinical psychology), scholarly discipline (academic psychology), and science (research psychology) concerned with the behavior of humans and animals, and related mental and physiologic processes." Although psychology may also include the study of the mind and behavior of animals, in this article psychology refers mainly to humans.
How do psychologists study the mind?
The mind is highly complex and enigmatic. Many wonder how psychologists can study such an intricate, seemingly abstract and extremely sophisticated thing. Even if scientists look inside the brain, as in an autopsy or during a surgical operation, all they see is gray matter (the brain). Thoughts, cognition, emotions, memories, dreams, perceptions, etc. cannot be seen physically, like a skin rash or heart defect.
Experts say that the approach to psychology is not that different to other sciences. As in other sciences, experiments are devised to confirm or disprove theories or expectations. For a physicist, the raw data during the experiments may be atoms, electrons, the application or withdrawal of heat, while for the psychologist human behavior is the raw data.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154874.php
Because of increased risk of complications from influenza, vaccination of adults and children with asthma is recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The Healthy People 2010 Objectives call for annual influenza vaccination of at least 60% of adults aged 18-64 years with asthma. However, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators have determined that the vaccination levels among asthma sufferers falls well short of this guideline. The results of their study are published in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164885399.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Major study highlights weight differences among 3-19 year-olds with type 1 and 2 diabetes
A major study of three to 19 year-olds has provided vital data on the weight problems faced by the growing number of children and young people with type 1 diabetes, which is more prevalent in younger age groups than type 2 diabetes.
The findings of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study Group, published online by Pediatric Diabetes, show that children and youths with type 1 diabetes are more likely to be overweight than those without diabetes.
Researchers from six clinical centres across the USA took part in the study, which compared data from 3,953 diabetics, aged between three and 19, taking part in the SEARCH study, with data for 7,666 non-diabetic children and youths from a national US study.
"The links between type 2 diabetes and excess weight are well documented, but are less clear in type 1 diabetes which affects less than 10 per cent of people with diabetes but is more common in children and young people" explains lead researcher Dr Lenna Liu from the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital USA.
"When people have diabetes their blood glucose can become too high" she continues. "In type 1 diabetes, this happens because an autoimmune process has destroyed the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, allowing glucose levels to rise. Type 2 diabetes occurs when not enough insulin is being produced or the insulin is not working properly. Traditionally a disease in overweight adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being seen in younger patients as childhood obesity levels increase."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164883744.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Obama to sign anti-smoking bill in Rose Garden
President Barack Obama is set to sign into law an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.
Obama is scheduled to sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act during an event Monday in the Rose Garden. The law allows the FDA to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.
The law won't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright, but the agency will be able to regulate what goes into tobacco products, make public the ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.
Anti-smoking advocates looked forward to the bill after years of attempts to control an industry so fundamental to the U.S. that carved tobacco leaves adorn some parts of the Capitol.
Opponents from tobacco-growing states like top-producing North Carolina argued that the FDA has proved through a series of food safety failures that it's not up to the job. They also said that instead of unrealistically trying to get smokers to quit or to prevent others from starting, lawmakers should ensure that people have other options, like smokeless tobacco.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164877289.html
___________________________________________________________________________
What Is Psychology? What Are The Branches Of Psychology?
Psychology is the science of the mind and behavior. The word "psychology" comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul", and the Greek word logia meaning the study of something. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, psychology is "The profession (clinical psychology), scholarly discipline (academic psychology), and science (research psychology) concerned with the behavior of humans and animals, and related mental and physiologic processes." Although psychology may also include the study of the mind and behavior of animals, in this article psychology refers mainly to humans.
How do psychologists study the mind?
The mind is highly complex and enigmatic. Many wonder how psychologists can study such an intricate, seemingly abstract and extremely sophisticated thing. Even if scientists look inside the brain, as in an autopsy or during a surgical operation, all they see is gray matter (the brain). Thoughts, cognition, emotions, memories, dreams, perceptions, etc. cannot be seen physically, like a skin rash or heart defect.
Experts say that the approach to psychology is not that different to other sciences. As in other sciences, experiments are devised to confirm or disprove theories or expectations. For a physicist, the raw data during the experiments may be atoms, electrons, the application or withdrawal of heat, while for the psychologist human behavior is the raw data.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154874.php
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Missouri judge OKs summary of stem cell ballot measure
A Missouri judge has dismissed conspiracy allegations against three state officials and approved the summary and cost estimate for a proposed constitutional amendment banning public money from going to abortion and human cloning.
Supporters could start gathering signatures to get the petition on the 2010 ballot.
The Missouri Roundtable for Life proposed the constitutional amendment earlier this year. The secretary of state's office drafted a summary and the state auditor prepared a cost estimate, but both supporters and critics challenged them.
Supporters argued that the secretary of state's summary was biased against the measure, while critics contended the original petition was improperly drafted and shouldn't have been allowed to proceed.
Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce dismissed the challenges Thursday and rejected Missouri Roundtable for Life's claims that state officials conspired to violate the sponsors' constitutional rights.
Source and More:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/06/20/missouri-judge-oks-summary-stem-cell-ballot-measure/
Supporters could start gathering signatures to get the petition on the 2010 ballot.
The Missouri Roundtable for Life proposed the constitutional amendment earlier this year. The secretary of state's office drafted a summary and the state auditor prepared a cost estimate, but both supporters and critics challenged them.
Supporters argued that the secretary of state's summary was biased against the measure, while critics contended the original petition was improperly drafted and shouldn't have been allowed to proceed.
Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce dismissed the challenges Thursday and rejected Missouri Roundtable for Life's claims that state officials conspired to violate the sponsors' constitutional rights.
Source and More:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/06/20/missouri-judge-oks-summary-stem-cell-ballot-measure/
Friday, June 19, 2009
T.G.I.F.
Dolphin-assisted therapy offers hope to disabled children, parents
A 350-pound dolphin named Matteo tickles a toddler with his snout, sparking a burst of giggles.
The disabled child hitches a ride on Matteo's belly while gleeful parents snap photos. The dolphin expels water through its blowhole and rests its head gently on the girl's shoulder while her parents silently plead for results.
It's a scene Kirsten "Kiki" Kuhnert has watched thousands of times. She used to be one of those moms who prayed for miracles at the side of a dolphin therapy center pool, thinking: Maybe this will make my child talk. Maybe some day he'll walk.
"I have seen kids speak their first word, mothers cry because their autistic son looked at her in the eye or kissed her," Kuhnert said. "Every day a little miracle.
"How big a miracle is in the eye of the beholder."
Kuhnert, a single mom from Key Biscayne, Fla., has dedicated the past 15 years of her life to raising funds for dolphin-assisted therapy, a controversial behavior-modification treatment for severely disabled children. Struck by tragedy as a young mother of a 2-year-old, the Germany native turned her heartbreak into a calling.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164638054.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough Recalled Due to E.coli
In a swift move to remove possibly tainted products from store shelves, Nestle’s USA Baking Division has issued an immediate recall of all raw Toll House cookie dough due to consumer complaints of E.coli illness brought about by eating raw dough. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have launched an investigation into this popular product, however no mandatory government recall has been put into effect.
The press release from Nestle stated that, “While the E. coli strain implicated in this investigation has not been detected in our product, the health and safety of our consumers is paramount so we are initiating this voluntary recall.”
As is stated on all packages of Nestle Toll House cookie dough (including dough tubes, tubs, and bar dough): Raw cookie dough should not be eaten. This product should always be cooked, as directed, before eaten.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/nestle-toll-house-cookie-dough-recalled-due-ecoli-3317.html
___________________________________________________________________________
U.S. swine flu cases top 21,000 as deaths rise
CDC: Most illnesses occuring in Northeast as cool spring prolongs activity
America's count of swine flu cases has risen to 21,449 cases and the number of deaths have nearly doubled to 87.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the number of confirmed and probable cases Friday morning. The tally is up from the last week's count of 18,000 cases and 44 deaths.
Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases reached 44,287, the WHO reported Friday. WHO says cases increased by more than 10 percent in two days.
Source and More
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31443127/ns/health-swine_flu/
___________________________________________________________________________
Fatherhood Influences Men In Mental Health Decisions
Being a father is an important factor in a man's decision to seek help for mental health issues, according to a survey released by the American Psychiatric Association. More than 6 million men suffer from depression each year, and though many try to deal with it on their own, the survey indicates that fathers are more likely to take their mental health seriously for the sake of their children. Over 90 percent of men surveyed said their role as a father or legal guardian would have an impact on their decision to seek help if they were feeling depressed.
"It is encouraging to see that fathers are open to getting help and that some of the stigma surrounding men and depression is waning," stated Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., Chair of the Council on Communications at the American Psychiatric Association. "A father who takes care of himself is taking care of his whole family."
Survey respondents were more likely to say they would encourage their fathers to seek help for depression if they are parents themselves. More than 90 percent of parents or guardians who still have contact with their fathers said they would be likely to encourage their own fathers to seek help for depression if they felt it was interfering with his work or relationships, while only 85 percent of the nonparents would encourage their father to get help.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154593.php
___________________________________________________________________________
What Is Mental Health? What Is Mental Disorder?
Mental health refers to our cognitive, and/or emotional wellbeing - it is all about how we think, feel and behave. Mental health, if somebody has it, can also mean an absence of a mental disorder. Approximately 25% of people in the UK have a mental health problem during their lives. The USA is said to have the highest incidence of people diagnosed with mental health problems in the developed world. Your mental health can affect your daily life, relationships and even your physical health. Mental health also includes a person's ability to enjoy life - to attain a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.
According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, mental health is "emotional, behavioral, and social maturity or normality; the absence of a mental or behavioral disorder; a state of psychological well-being in which one has achieved a satisfactory integration of one's instinctual drives acceptable to both oneself and one's social milieu; an appropriate balance of love, work, and leisure pursuits".
According to WHO (World Health Organization), mental health is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". WHO stresses that mental health "is not just the absence of mental disorder".
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Questions Continue Over ADHD Meds
As reported by the National Institute of Mental Health, a study examining stimulant use among children and adolescents found an association between stimulants and sudden unexplained death in youth with no evidence of pre-existing heart disease.
The finding draws attention to the potential risks of stimulant medication, according to the study’s authors; an accompanying editorial notes that the rarity of sudden unexplained death and the lack of long-term data on the effectiveness of these medications for reducing other health risks make a full benefit/risk assessment difficult.
Stimulant medications are widely used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The medications help reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity and improve the ability of affected children to focus and learn.
Research has shown that stimulants can also have effects on the cardiovascular system, for example, raising blood pressure and heart rate. There have also been reports of sudden deaths in children receiving the medications, prompting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to direct drug manufacturers to inform consumers of possible risks of stimulant medications in children and adolescents with known pre-existing heart problems.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/19/questions-continue-over-adhd-meds/6640.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Psychosocial Effects of Stroke Can Be Significant
Suffering a stroke can have a profound effect on relationships and lead to significant changes in how couples relate to each other on a physical, psychological, social and emotional level.
The study is found in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Researchers from Northern Ireland have come up with four key recommendations for clinical practice after speaking to 16 married stroke survivors, nine males and seven females, aged between 33 and 78.
They found that sexual relationships were significantly affected after a stroke, gender roles became blurred and feelings like anger and frustration were confounded by a lack of independence and ongoing fatigue.
“All the participants perceived stroke as a life-changing event” says Hilary Thompson, who is based at Mullinure Hospital, Armagh, and carried out the research with Dr Assumpta Ryan from the School of Nursing and Institute of Nursing Research at the University of Ulster.
“They faced a continuous daily struggle to achieve some sense of normality and that required huge amounts of physical and mental effort” adds Hilary.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/19/psychosocial-effects-of-stroke-can-be-significant/6635.html
___________________________________________________________________________
How Old Are You Inside? Blood Test May Tell
Researchers Report Development of a Blood Test to Check People's 'Molecular Age'
You know how many birthday candles are on your cake, but a new blood test may be able to tell whether you're aging faster, or slower, than you think.
That blood test is described in a new study, published in Aging Cell. It measures a protein called p16 that rises with age, and rises particularly fast if you smoke and don't exercise.
Researcher Norman Sharpless, MD, an associate professor of medicine and genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., says other scientists identified the p16 gene years ago as a gene that helps prevent cancer. Later research showed that the p16 gene becomes more active as mammals age.
Sharpless and colleagues have created a blood test that measures p16 levels in certain immune system cells called T-cells.
Sharpless says it's the first p16 test for cells that are easy to check. Other cells that contain p16 are in organs that are harder to get to, like the pancreas, he says. "You can't really sample those things," Sharpless tells WebMD. "The advance here is that this is a cell that's easily attainable."
In their new study, 170 healthy North Carolina adults took the p16 blood test and answered questions about their lifestyle. Sharpless and colleagues looked for patterns to gauge participants' "molecular age," based on their p16 blood levels.
Source and More
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20090618/how-old-are-you-inside-blood-test-may-tell
A 350-pound dolphin named Matteo tickles a toddler with his snout, sparking a burst of giggles.
The disabled child hitches a ride on Matteo's belly while gleeful parents snap photos. The dolphin expels water through its blowhole and rests its head gently on the girl's shoulder while her parents silently plead for results.
It's a scene Kirsten "Kiki" Kuhnert has watched thousands of times. She used to be one of those moms who prayed for miracles at the side of a dolphin therapy center pool, thinking: Maybe this will make my child talk. Maybe some day he'll walk.
"I have seen kids speak their first word, mothers cry because their autistic son looked at her in the eye or kissed her," Kuhnert said. "Every day a little miracle.
"How big a miracle is in the eye of the beholder."
Kuhnert, a single mom from Key Biscayne, Fla., has dedicated the past 15 years of her life to raising funds for dolphin-assisted therapy, a controversial behavior-modification treatment for severely disabled children. Struck by tragedy as a young mother of a 2-year-old, the Germany native turned her heartbreak into a calling.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164638054.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough Recalled Due to E.coli
In a swift move to remove possibly tainted products from store shelves, Nestle’s USA Baking Division has issued an immediate recall of all raw Toll House cookie dough due to consumer complaints of E.coli illness brought about by eating raw dough. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have launched an investigation into this popular product, however no mandatory government recall has been put into effect.
The press release from Nestle stated that, “While the E. coli strain implicated in this investigation has not been detected in our product, the health and safety of our consumers is paramount so we are initiating this voluntary recall.”
As is stated on all packages of Nestle Toll House cookie dough (including dough tubes, tubs, and bar dough): Raw cookie dough should not be eaten. This product should always be cooked, as directed, before eaten.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/nestle-toll-house-cookie-dough-recalled-due-ecoli-3317.html
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U.S. swine flu cases top 21,000 as deaths rise
CDC: Most illnesses occuring in Northeast as cool spring prolongs activity
America's count of swine flu cases has risen to 21,449 cases and the number of deaths have nearly doubled to 87.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the number of confirmed and probable cases Friday morning. The tally is up from the last week's count of 18,000 cases and 44 deaths.
Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases reached 44,287, the WHO reported Friday. WHO says cases increased by more than 10 percent in two days.
Source and More
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31443127/ns/health-swine_flu/
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Fatherhood Influences Men In Mental Health Decisions
Being a father is an important factor in a man's decision to seek help for mental health issues, according to a survey released by the American Psychiatric Association. More than 6 million men suffer from depression each year, and though many try to deal with it on their own, the survey indicates that fathers are more likely to take their mental health seriously for the sake of their children. Over 90 percent of men surveyed said their role as a father or legal guardian would have an impact on their decision to seek help if they were feeling depressed.
"It is encouraging to see that fathers are open to getting help and that some of the stigma surrounding men and depression is waning," stated Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., Chair of the Council on Communications at the American Psychiatric Association. "A father who takes care of himself is taking care of his whole family."
Survey respondents were more likely to say they would encourage their fathers to seek help for depression if they are parents themselves. More than 90 percent of parents or guardians who still have contact with their fathers said they would be likely to encourage their own fathers to seek help for depression if they felt it was interfering with his work or relationships, while only 85 percent of the nonparents would encourage their father to get help.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154593.php
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What Is Mental Health? What Is Mental Disorder?
Mental health refers to our cognitive, and/or emotional wellbeing - it is all about how we think, feel and behave. Mental health, if somebody has it, can also mean an absence of a mental disorder. Approximately 25% of people in the UK have a mental health problem during their lives. The USA is said to have the highest incidence of people diagnosed with mental health problems in the developed world. Your mental health can affect your daily life, relationships and even your physical health. Mental health also includes a person's ability to enjoy life - to attain a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.
According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, mental health is "emotional, behavioral, and social maturity or normality; the absence of a mental or behavioral disorder; a state of psychological well-being in which one has achieved a satisfactory integration of one's instinctual drives acceptable to both oneself and one's social milieu; an appropriate balance of love, work, and leisure pursuits".
According to WHO (World Health Organization), mental health is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". WHO stresses that mental health "is not just the absence of mental disorder".
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php
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Questions Continue Over ADHD Meds
As reported by the National Institute of Mental Health, a study examining stimulant use among children and adolescents found an association between stimulants and sudden unexplained death in youth with no evidence of pre-existing heart disease.
The finding draws attention to the potential risks of stimulant medication, according to the study’s authors; an accompanying editorial notes that the rarity of sudden unexplained death and the lack of long-term data on the effectiveness of these medications for reducing other health risks make a full benefit/risk assessment difficult.
Stimulant medications are widely used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The medications help reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity and improve the ability of affected children to focus and learn.
Research has shown that stimulants can also have effects on the cardiovascular system, for example, raising blood pressure and heart rate. There have also been reports of sudden deaths in children receiving the medications, prompting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to direct drug manufacturers to inform consumers of possible risks of stimulant medications in children and adolescents with known pre-existing heart problems.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/19/questions-continue-over-adhd-meds/6640.html
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Psychosocial Effects of Stroke Can Be Significant
Suffering a stroke can have a profound effect on relationships and lead to significant changes in how couples relate to each other on a physical, psychological, social and emotional level.
The study is found in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Researchers from Northern Ireland have come up with four key recommendations for clinical practice after speaking to 16 married stroke survivors, nine males and seven females, aged between 33 and 78.
They found that sexual relationships were significantly affected after a stroke, gender roles became blurred and feelings like anger and frustration were confounded by a lack of independence and ongoing fatigue.
“All the participants perceived stroke as a life-changing event” says Hilary Thompson, who is based at Mullinure Hospital, Armagh, and carried out the research with Dr Assumpta Ryan from the School of Nursing and Institute of Nursing Research at the University of Ulster.
“They faced a continuous daily struggle to achieve some sense of normality and that required huge amounts of physical and mental effort” adds Hilary.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/19/psychosocial-effects-of-stroke-can-be-significant/6635.html
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How Old Are You Inside? Blood Test May Tell
Researchers Report Development of a Blood Test to Check People's 'Molecular Age'
You know how many birthday candles are on your cake, but a new blood test may be able to tell whether you're aging faster, or slower, than you think.
That blood test is described in a new study, published in Aging Cell. It measures a protein called p16 that rises with age, and rises particularly fast if you smoke and don't exercise.
Researcher Norman Sharpless, MD, an associate professor of medicine and genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., says other scientists identified the p16 gene years ago as a gene that helps prevent cancer. Later research showed that the p16 gene becomes more active as mammals age.
Sharpless and colleagues have created a blood test that measures p16 levels in certain immune system cells called T-cells.
Sharpless says it's the first p16 test for cells that are easy to check. Other cells that contain p16 are in organs that are harder to get to, like the pancreas, he says. "You can't really sample those things," Sharpless tells WebMD. "The advance here is that this is a cell that's easily attainable."
In their new study, 170 healthy North Carolina adults took the p16 blood test and answered questions about their lifestyle. Sharpless and colleagues looked for patterns to gauge participants' "molecular age," based on their p16 blood levels.
Source and More
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20090618/how-old-are-you-inside-blood-test-may-tell
Thursday, June 18, 2009
OCD Children Need Special Parenting
For most parents, soothing a child’s anxiety is just part of the job. But for a parent whose child has obsessive-compulsive disorder, soothing anxiety and helping with behaviors linked to the disease could lead to more severe symptoms.
Often, parents of children with OCD will help their children complete rituals related to their obsessions and compulsions, such as excessive bathing or checking things like door locks, according to findings recently published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
These accommodations can be anything that makes the symptoms of OCD less impairing, from reassuring a child that his hands are clean and his baby brother is OK to even doing his homework for him or buying objects that make the child feel safe.
“Parents do that because that is what a parent whose child doesn’t have OCD would do,” said Lisa Merlo, Ph.D., a University of Florida assistant professor of psychiatry and the lead author of the study.
“If your child is upset, you try to comfort them. But what we know is, for patients with OCD, if they get an accommodation, that reinforces the OCD to them.
“It’s validating the OCD in the kid’s mind, and that’s what you don’t want to do.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/18/ocd-children-need-special-parenting/6610.html
Often, parents of children with OCD will help their children complete rituals related to their obsessions and compulsions, such as excessive bathing or checking things like door locks, according to findings recently published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
These accommodations can be anything that makes the symptoms of OCD less impairing, from reassuring a child that his hands are clean and his baby brother is OK to even doing his homework for him or buying objects that make the child feel safe.
“Parents do that because that is what a parent whose child doesn’t have OCD would do,” said Lisa Merlo, Ph.D., a University of Florida assistant professor of psychiatry and the lead author of the study.
“If your child is upset, you try to comfort them. But what we know is, for patients with OCD, if they get an accommodation, that reinforces the OCD to them.
“It’s validating the OCD in the kid’s mind, and that’s what you don’t want to do.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/18/ocd-children-need-special-parenting/6610.html
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wacked Wednesday
Libya records 13 cases of bubonic plague
Thirteen cases of bubonic plague have been recorded in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt, Health Minister Mohamad Hijazi told AFP on Wednesday, stressing the situation was under control.
"Thirteen cases of the plague have been recorded in a village 30 kilometres (20 miles) away from Tobruk. Eleven people have already (been treated and) left hospital," he said, without reporting any deaths.
Libyan media have spoken of between one and three fatalities.
"The situation is under control. We are leading a massive campaign to clean up and disinfect the place," said Hijazi, explaining that the illness was caused by rising rat numbers attracted by livestock being reared near homes.
He said cowsheds had been destroyed and a foreign pest control firm sent to eradicate the rats, in an operation to be supervised by a World Health Organisation (WHO) representative and a French expert.
Hijazi said the illness had previously hit Libya in the 1970s and 1980s.
The plague is "primarily a disease of rodents and their fleas, which can infect humans. It is transmitted between rodents by rodent fleas, and can be transmitted to people when infected rodent fleas bite them," according to WHO.
"Plague is a very severe disease in people, with case fatality rates of 50-60 percent if left untreated."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164458100.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Wrong type of help from parents could worsen child's OCD
For most parents, soothing a child's anxiety is just part of the job. But for a parent whose child has obsessive-compulsive disorder, soothing anxiety and helping with behaviors linked to the disease could lead to more severe symptoms, University of Florida researchers say.
Often, parents of children with OCD will help their children complete rituals related to their obsessions and compulsions, such as excessive bathing or checking things like door locks, according to findings recently published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. These accommodations can be anything that makes the symptoms of OCD less impairing, from reassuring a child that his hands are clean and his baby brother is OK to even doing his homework for him or buying objects that make the child feel safe.
"Parents do that because that is what a parent whose child doesn't have OCD would do," said Lisa Merlo, Ph.D., a UF assistant professor of psychiatry and the lead author of the study. "If your child is upset, you try to comfort them. But what we know is, for patients with OCD, if they get an accommodation, that reinforces the OCD to them.
"It's validating the OCD in the kid's mind, and that's what you don't want to do."
About one in 200 children and teenagers in the United States have OCD, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164458042.html
___________________________________________________________________________
SANE Launches Website For Teens In Families Affected By Mental Illness, Australia
SANE Australia launches a new website - itsallright.org - to support the half a million Australian teenagers affected by mental illness in their family.
Executive Director of SANE Australia Barbara Hocking says, 'this is often the untold story of mental illness - the impact on teenagers who have a brother, sister or parent with a mental illness such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar or an anxiety disorder.
'These teenagers are a high risk group - they're not only managing the confusion and powerlessness of a family member's mental illness but, without support, are also more likely to experience mental illness themselves. This can be a vicious circle that can be difficult to escape. Many may feel they are the only ones this is happening to and that they cannot ask for help.'
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154102.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Chronic Pain and Depression Linked to Gender, Age, Ethnicity
The association between chronic pain and clinical depression is well established; now, a new study shows the connection between pain and depression is strongest in middle-aged women and African-Americans.
Researchers at Wayne State University studied a representative community sample of 1,100 Michigan residents and found that the incidence of chronic pain, defined as pain persisting for six months, was 22 percent. Approximately 35 percent of those with chronic pain said they had depression, but mood problems were not associated with a particular pain condition or pain site.
Researchers evaluated several demographic factors and found that older age was generally related to chronic pain but with comorbid depression. They noted that depression tends to decrease with age while pain tends to increase.
From the data, the authors concluded that in middle-aged women chronic pain might not be the cause of depression but preexisting mood problems could be associated with development of chronic pain. They further concluded that depression can increase vulnerability to experiencing persistent pain.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/17/chronic-pain-and-depression-linked-to-gender-age-ethnicity/6588.html
Thirteen cases of bubonic plague have been recorded in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt, Health Minister Mohamad Hijazi told AFP on Wednesday, stressing the situation was under control.
"Thirteen cases of the plague have been recorded in a village 30 kilometres (20 miles) away from Tobruk. Eleven people have already (been treated and) left hospital," he said, without reporting any deaths.
Libyan media have spoken of between one and three fatalities.
"The situation is under control. We are leading a massive campaign to clean up and disinfect the place," said Hijazi, explaining that the illness was caused by rising rat numbers attracted by livestock being reared near homes.
He said cowsheds had been destroyed and a foreign pest control firm sent to eradicate the rats, in an operation to be supervised by a World Health Organisation (WHO) representative and a French expert.
Hijazi said the illness had previously hit Libya in the 1970s and 1980s.
The plague is "primarily a disease of rodents and their fleas, which can infect humans. It is transmitted between rodents by rodent fleas, and can be transmitted to people when infected rodent fleas bite them," according to WHO.
"Plague is a very severe disease in people, with case fatality rates of 50-60 percent if left untreated."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164458100.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Wrong type of help from parents could worsen child's OCD
For most parents, soothing a child's anxiety is just part of the job. But for a parent whose child has obsessive-compulsive disorder, soothing anxiety and helping with behaviors linked to the disease could lead to more severe symptoms, University of Florida researchers say.
Often, parents of children with OCD will help their children complete rituals related to their obsessions and compulsions, such as excessive bathing or checking things like door locks, according to findings recently published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. These accommodations can be anything that makes the symptoms of OCD less impairing, from reassuring a child that his hands are clean and his baby brother is OK to even doing his homework for him or buying objects that make the child feel safe.
"Parents do that because that is what a parent whose child doesn't have OCD would do," said Lisa Merlo, Ph.D., a UF assistant professor of psychiatry and the lead author of the study. "If your child is upset, you try to comfort them. But what we know is, for patients with OCD, if they get an accommodation, that reinforces the OCD to them.
"It's validating the OCD in the kid's mind, and that's what you don't want to do."
About one in 200 children and teenagers in the United States have OCD, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164458042.html
___________________________________________________________________________
SANE Launches Website For Teens In Families Affected By Mental Illness, Australia
SANE Australia launches a new website - itsallright.org - to support the half a million Australian teenagers affected by mental illness in their family.
Executive Director of SANE Australia Barbara Hocking says, 'this is often the untold story of mental illness - the impact on teenagers who have a brother, sister or parent with a mental illness such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar or an anxiety disorder.
'These teenagers are a high risk group - they're not only managing the confusion and powerlessness of a family member's mental illness but, without support, are also more likely to experience mental illness themselves. This can be a vicious circle that can be difficult to escape. Many may feel they are the only ones this is happening to and that they cannot ask for help.'
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154102.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Chronic Pain and Depression Linked to Gender, Age, Ethnicity
The association between chronic pain and clinical depression is well established; now, a new study shows the connection between pain and depression is strongest in middle-aged women and African-Americans.
Researchers at Wayne State University studied a representative community sample of 1,100 Michigan residents and found that the incidence of chronic pain, defined as pain persisting for six months, was 22 percent. Approximately 35 percent of those with chronic pain said they had depression, but mood problems were not associated with a particular pain condition or pain site.
Researchers evaluated several demographic factors and found that older age was generally related to chronic pain but with comorbid depression. They noted that depression tends to decrease with age while pain tends to increase.
From the data, the authors concluded that in middle-aged women chronic pain might not be the cause of depression but preexisting mood problems could be associated with development of chronic pain. They further concluded that depression can increase vulnerability to experiencing persistent pain.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/17/chronic-pain-and-depression-linked-to-gender-age-ethnicity/6588.html
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Cannabis alters human DNA
A new study published by University of Leicester researchers has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer development in humans.
Using a newly developed highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method, the University of Leicester scientists found clear indication that cannabis smoke damages DNA, under laboratory conditions.
They have now published the findings in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
The research was carried out by Rajinder Singh, Jatinderpal Sandhu, Balvinder Kaur, Tina Juren, William P. Steward, Dan Segerback and Peter B. Farmer from the Cancer Biomarkers and Prevention Group, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine and Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Raj Singh said: “Parts of the plant Cannabis sativa, also known as marijuana, ganja, and various street names, are commonly smoked as a recreational drug, although its use for such purposes is illegal in many countries.
“There have been many studies on the toxicity of tobacco smoke. It is known that tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals of which 60 are classed as carcinogens. Cannabis in contrast has not been so well studied. It is less combustible than tobacco and is often mixed with tobacco in use. Cannabis smoke contains 400 compounds including 60 cannabinoids. However, because of its lower combustibility it contains 50% more carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including naphthalene, benzanthracene, and benzopyrene, than tobacco smoke.”
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164348909.html
Using a newly developed highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method, the University of Leicester scientists found clear indication that cannabis smoke damages DNA, under laboratory conditions.
They have now published the findings in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
The research was carried out by Rajinder Singh, Jatinderpal Sandhu, Balvinder Kaur, Tina Juren, William P. Steward, Dan Segerback and Peter B. Farmer from the Cancer Biomarkers and Prevention Group, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine and Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Raj Singh said: “Parts of the plant Cannabis sativa, also known as marijuana, ganja, and various street names, are commonly smoked as a recreational drug, although its use for such purposes is illegal in many countries.
“There have been many studies on the toxicity of tobacco smoke. It is known that tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals of which 60 are classed as carcinogens. Cannabis in contrast has not been so well studied. It is less combustible than tobacco and is often mixed with tobacco in use. Cannabis smoke contains 400 compounds including 60 cannabinoids. However, because of its lower combustibility it contains 50% more carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including naphthalene, benzanthracene, and benzopyrene, than tobacco smoke.”
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164348909.html
Monday, June 15, 2009
Manic Monday
FDA urges caution in weighing risks of ADHD drugs
Federal health regulators are urging parents to keep their children on attention deficit drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, despite new evidence from a government-backed study that the stimulants can increase the risk of sudden death.
Published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study suggests a link between use of the stimulant drugs and sudden death in children and adolescents. The drugs, used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, already carry warnings about risks of heart attack and stroke in children with underlying heart conditions, but researchers have questioned whether they pose the same risks to children without those problems.
Healthy children taking the medications were more likely to die suddenly for unexplained reasons than those not taking the drugs, according to the study from the National Institute of Mental Health.
The study was partially funded by the Food and Drug Administration, but agency experts said its methods - which relied on interviews with parents and physicians years after the children's deaths - may have caused errors.
"Since the deaths occurred a long time ago, all of this depended on the memory of people - relatives and physicians - involved with the victims," said Dr. Robert Temple, the FDA's director of drug review.
The agency urges parents to discuss safety concerns with their doctor, but to keep children on the treatments.
The study compared a sample of 564 children who died of unexplained causes to 564 children who were killed in car accidents. Among the unexplained deaths, 10 children were taking an ADHD drug compared with two of the patients killed in car accidents.
The researchers used car accident victims as a comparison group because sudden childhood deaths are rare and difficult to track.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164300492.html
Here too
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20090615/adhd-drugs-sudden-death-risk-higher
___________________________________________________________________________
Mental Health America 2009 Media Awards Recognize Excellence In Mental Health Journalism
Mental Health America tomorrow will honor journalists, producers and writers for outstanding coverage of mental health issues at a Media Awards luncheon being held during its Centennial Conference in Washington, D.C.
In addition to awards in print and broadcast categories, Mental Health America will present a special award, The Bell Award for Significant Contributions to Mental Health Journalism, to Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. Lopez is the author of "The Soloist," which inspired the film of the same name. He won a Mental Health America Media Award in 2006 for a series of columns that first chronicled the life and struggles of "The Soloist," Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.
"The Media Awards bring together the very best mental health stories in print and broadcast media during 2008," said David L. Shern, Ph.D., president and CEO of Mental Health America "Informative and thought-provoking journalism is a powerful form of education and we applaud these journalists for helping shape public understanding of these critical issues."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153864.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Male Fertility Suppressed by Depression Meds
New research suggests as many as half of all men taking the antidepressant medication paroxetine (trade names Seroxat, Paxil) may have increased sperm DNA fragmentation — a predictor of compromised fertility.
Research led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center also found that the changes are reversible with normal levels of sperm returning after discontinuation of the drug.
The study is currently published in the online edition of the journal Fertility & Sterility, and represents one of the first scientific investigations into the effect of antidepressants on sperm quality.
“It’s fairly well known that SSRI antidepressants negatively impact erectile function and ejaculation. This study goes one step further, demonstrating that they can cause a major increase in genetic damage to sperm,” says Dr. Peter Schlegel, the study’s senior author.
“Although this study doesn’t look directly at fertility, we can infer that as many as half of men taking SSRIs have a reduced ability to conceive. These men should talk with their physician about their treatment options, including non-SSRI depression medications.”
Dr. Schlegel is chairman of the Department of Urology and professor of reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and urologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/15/male-fertility-suppressed-by-depression-meds/6525.html
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Federal health regulators are urging parents to keep their children on attention deficit drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, despite new evidence from a government-backed study that the stimulants can increase the risk of sudden death.
Published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study suggests a link between use of the stimulant drugs and sudden death in children and adolescents. The drugs, used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, already carry warnings about risks of heart attack and stroke in children with underlying heart conditions, but researchers have questioned whether they pose the same risks to children without those problems.
Healthy children taking the medications were more likely to die suddenly for unexplained reasons than those not taking the drugs, according to the study from the National Institute of Mental Health.
The study was partially funded by the Food and Drug Administration, but agency experts said its methods - which relied on interviews with parents and physicians years after the children's deaths - may have caused errors.
"Since the deaths occurred a long time ago, all of this depended on the memory of people - relatives and physicians - involved with the victims," said Dr. Robert Temple, the FDA's director of drug review.
The agency urges parents to discuss safety concerns with their doctor, but to keep children on the treatments.
The study compared a sample of 564 children who died of unexplained causes to 564 children who were killed in car accidents. Among the unexplained deaths, 10 children were taking an ADHD drug compared with two of the patients killed in car accidents.
The researchers used car accident victims as a comparison group because sudden childhood deaths are rare and difficult to track.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news164300492.html
Here too
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20090615/adhd-drugs-sudden-death-risk-higher
___________________________________________________________________________
Mental Health America 2009 Media Awards Recognize Excellence In Mental Health Journalism
Mental Health America tomorrow will honor journalists, producers and writers for outstanding coverage of mental health issues at a Media Awards luncheon being held during its Centennial Conference in Washington, D.C.
In addition to awards in print and broadcast categories, Mental Health America will present a special award, The Bell Award for Significant Contributions to Mental Health Journalism, to Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. Lopez is the author of "The Soloist," which inspired the film of the same name. He won a Mental Health America Media Award in 2006 for a series of columns that first chronicled the life and struggles of "The Soloist," Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.
"The Media Awards bring together the very best mental health stories in print and broadcast media during 2008," said David L. Shern, Ph.D., president and CEO of Mental Health America "Informative and thought-provoking journalism is a powerful form of education and we applaud these journalists for helping shape public understanding of these critical issues."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153864.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Male Fertility Suppressed by Depression Meds
New research suggests as many as half of all men taking the antidepressant medication paroxetine (trade names Seroxat, Paxil) may have increased sperm DNA fragmentation — a predictor of compromised fertility.
Research led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center also found that the changes are reversible with normal levels of sperm returning after discontinuation of the drug.
The study is currently published in the online edition of the journal Fertility & Sterility, and represents one of the first scientific investigations into the effect of antidepressants on sperm quality.
“It’s fairly well known that SSRI antidepressants negatively impact erectile function and ejaculation. This study goes one step further, demonstrating that they can cause a major increase in genetic damage to sperm,” says Dr. Peter Schlegel, the study’s senior author.
“Although this study doesn’t look directly at fertility, we can infer that as many as half of men taking SSRIs have a reduced ability to conceive. These men should talk with their physician about their treatment options, including non-SSRI depression medications.”
Dr. Schlegel is chairman of the Department of Urology and professor of reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and urologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/15/male-fertility-suppressed-by-depression-meds/6525.html
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Wrap Up On The Week
FDA-Approved Antipsychotic and Bipolar Medications May Soon Be Available for Children
An advisory panel for the FDA has given its approval for three widely prescribed antipsychotic medications to be used for treating children as young as 10 who are suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The drugs—Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Geodon—are already approved for treating adults with these conditions, but the panel has determined after its review that the drugs are safe and effective for children as well.
While the FDA doesn’t have to follow the panel’s recommendation, they will consider their advice and make their final decision for the three medications. Even though the drugs are already being prescribed by some doctors for children, the FDA’s approval would allow drug companies to market their drugs specifically for treating children and teenagers in addition to adults. Pfizer is only seeking approval for its drug Geodon to be used in treating bipolar disorder, while Eli Lily and AstraZeneca are seeking approval of their drugs Zyprexa and Seroquel to be used in treating both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There are already two similar drugs approved for use in children, Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal and Bristol-Meyers Squibb’s Abilify.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/mental-health/fda-approved-antipsychotic-bipolar-medications-may-soon-be-available-children-32
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New Family-Focused Model Of Depression Care Needed To Minimize Risks And Problems For Parents With Depression And Their Children
Health and social service professionals who care for adults with depression should not only tackle their clients' physical and mental health, but also detect and prevent possible spillover effects on their children, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. To achieve this new family-focused model of depression care, federal and state agencies, nonprofits, and the private sector will have to experiment with nontraditional ways of organizing, paying for, and delivering services, said the committee that wrote the report.
Depression affects roughly 7.5 million parents -- about one in five -- in the United States annually, and about 15.6 million children under 18 live with an adult who has had major depression in the past year, the report notes. Effective tools and strategies exist to treat and prevent depression, but only one-third of adult sufferers get treatment. Although many factors affect children's development, parental depression can increase the chances for health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children. The report does not suggest that every parent with depression will inadvertently or deliberately cause harm to their children, but rather that parental depression increases the risks for spillover consequences during critical periods of child and adolescent development.
"To break the vicious circle of depression, we need to refocus our view of this illness through a broader lens that sees the whole family, not just the individual with depression," said committee chair and psychiatrist Mary Jane England, president, Regis College, Weston, Mass. "Our report describes a new vision for depression care that would provide comprehensive services not just to adults, but to their children as well. It will take significant policy changes to make this vision a reality, but the benefits warrant the effort."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153526.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Web-Based Therapy for Depression
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that an Internet-based therapy program is an effective treatment for depression.
Patients in a clinician-assisted Internet-based treatment program experienced rates of recovery similar to those achieved by face-to-face therapy, the research found.
Moreover, the program - dubbed the Sadness program - required an average of only 111 minutes of clinician email contact per person over an eight-week period, significantly less than other comparable clinician-based therapies.
A paper outlining the study appears this week in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
“The results will come as a surprise to many people who believed Internet-based programs wouldn’t work in treating depression,” said lead author of the study, Professor Gavin Andrews, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/12/web-based-therapy-for-depression/6485.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Gray Hair — A Sign of Stress?
Those pesky graying hairs that tend to crop up with age really are signs of stress, reveals a new report in the June 12 issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication.
Researchers have discovered that the kind of “genotoxic stress” that does damage to DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells.
Rather than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves. Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said.
“The DNA in cells is under constant attack by exogenously- and endogenously-arising DNA-damaging agents such as mutagenic chemicals, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation,” said Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/12/gray-hair-a-sign-of-stress/6480.html
An advisory panel for the FDA has given its approval for three widely prescribed antipsychotic medications to be used for treating children as young as 10 who are suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The drugs—Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Geodon—are already approved for treating adults with these conditions, but the panel has determined after its review that the drugs are safe and effective for children as well.
While the FDA doesn’t have to follow the panel’s recommendation, they will consider their advice and make their final decision for the three medications. Even though the drugs are already being prescribed by some doctors for children, the FDA’s approval would allow drug companies to market their drugs specifically for treating children and teenagers in addition to adults. Pfizer is only seeking approval for its drug Geodon to be used in treating bipolar disorder, while Eli Lily and AstraZeneca are seeking approval of their drugs Zyprexa and Seroquel to be used in treating both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There are already two similar drugs approved for use in children, Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal and Bristol-Meyers Squibb’s Abilify.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/mental-health/fda-approved-antipsychotic-bipolar-medications-may-soon-be-available-children-32
___________________________________________________________________________
New Family-Focused Model Of Depression Care Needed To Minimize Risks And Problems For Parents With Depression And Their Children
Health and social service professionals who care for adults with depression should not only tackle their clients' physical and mental health, but also detect and prevent possible spillover effects on their children, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. To achieve this new family-focused model of depression care, federal and state agencies, nonprofits, and the private sector will have to experiment with nontraditional ways of organizing, paying for, and delivering services, said the committee that wrote the report.
Depression affects roughly 7.5 million parents -- about one in five -- in the United States annually, and about 15.6 million children under 18 live with an adult who has had major depression in the past year, the report notes. Effective tools and strategies exist to treat and prevent depression, but only one-third of adult sufferers get treatment. Although many factors affect children's development, parental depression can increase the chances for health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children. The report does not suggest that every parent with depression will inadvertently or deliberately cause harm to their children, but rather that parental depression increases the risks for spillover consequences during critical periods of child and adolescent development.
"To break the vicious circle of depression, we need to refocus our view of this illness through a broader lens that sees the whole family, not just the individual with depression," said committee chair and psychiatrist Mary Jane England, president, Regis College, Weston, Mass. "Our report describes a new vision for depression care that would provide comprehensive services not just to adults, but to their children as well. It will take significant policy changes to make this vision a reality, but the benefits warrant the effort."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153526.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Web-Based Therapy for Depression
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that an Internet-based therapy program is an effective treatment for depression.
Patients in a clinician-assisted Internet-based treatment program experienced rates of recovery similar to those achieved by face-to-face therapy, the research found.
Moreover, the program - dubbed the Sadness program - required an average of only 111 minutes of clinician email contact per person over an eight-week period, significantly less than other comparable clinician-based therapies.
A paper outlining the study appears this week in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
“The results will come as a surprise to many people who believed Internet-based programs wouldn’t work in treating depression,” said lead author of the study, Professor Gavin Andrews, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/12/web-based-therapy-for-depression/6485.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Gray Hair — A Sign of Stress?
Those pesky graying hairs that tend to crop up with age really are signs of stress, reveals a new report in the June 12 issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication.
Researchers have discovered that the kind of “genotoxic stress” that does damage to DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells.
Rather than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves. Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said.
“The DNA in cells is under constant attack by exogenously- and endogenously-arising DNA-damaging agents such as mutagenic chemicals, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation,” said Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/12/gray-hair-a-sign-of-stress/6480.html
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sleep Quality Affects Relationships
A new research abstract suggests a bidirectional association exists between couples’ sleep quality and the quality of their relationship.
In other words, on a day-to-day basis, a couple’s relationship quality affects their sleep, and their sleep also affects their subsequent relationship functioning.
For men, better sleep (as indicated by diary–based sleep efficiency) was associated with more positive ratings of relationship quality the next day.
For women, negative partner interactions during the day were associated with poorer sleep efficiency for both themselves and their partner that night.
“When we look at the data on a day-by-day basis, there seems to be a vicious cycle in which sleep affects next day relationship functioning, and relationship functioning affects the subsequent night’s sleep,” said principal investigator Brant Hasler, clinical psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona.
“In this cycle, conflict with one’s partner during the day leads to worse sleep that night, which leads to more conflict the following day. Although these results are preliminary due to the relatively small sample size and a subjective measure of sleep quality, the woman’s perception of the relationship seems particularly important, as it impacts both her own and her partner’s subjective sleep quality that night.”
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/11/sleep-quality-affects-relationships/6446.html
In other words, on a day-to-day basis, a couple’s relationship quality affects their sleep, and their sleep also affects their subsequent relationship functioning.
For men, better sleep (as indicated by diary–based sleep efficiency) was associated with more positive ratings of relationship quality the next day.
For women, negative partner interactions during the day were associated with poorer sleep efficiency for both themselves and their partner that night.
“When we look at the data on a day-by-day basis, there seems to be a vicious cycle in which sleep affects next day relationship functioning, and relationship functioning affects the subsequent night’s sleep,” said principal investigator Brant Hasler, clinical psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona.
“In this cycle, conflict with one’s partner during the day leads to worse sleep that night, which leads to more conflict the following day. Although these results are preliminary due to the relatively small sample size and a subjective measure of sleep quality, the woman’s perception of the relationship seems particularly important, as it impacts both her own and her partner’s subjective sleep quality that night.”
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/11/sleep-quality-affects-relationships/6446.html
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wacked Wednesday
Bullied Children 'Four Times More Likely To Develop Psychosis'
Children who are bullied at school are up to four times more likely than their peers to develop psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions and paranoia - and the more severe the bullying the more severe the symptoms.
Professor Dieter Wolke, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Warwick Medical School, told the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Liverpool, that around 5 per cent of the general population displayed psychotic-like symptoms - and the vast majority were likely to have been bullied at school.
He told Annual Meeting delegates that bullying in school can be divided into two types: overt bullying, including punching, kicking and physical intimidation; and relational bullying, such as spreading rumours and cyber-bullying which can lead to the victim being ostracised.
Children who experience psychotic symptoms are 16 times more likely to develop full-blown psychosis later in their lives.
Professor Wolke and colleagues analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The long-term study has followed total of 6,437 expectant mothers and their partners since 1991. The parents, and their children, are followed up annually using a range of physical and psychological assessments.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153279.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Babies Need Cuddles, Love And Stimulation To Aid Healthy Brains
Babies that fail to receive stimulation and love in the first year are at risk of poor brain development and social skills, a child health expert has warned.
Dr Cheryl Power, a clinical psychologist at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust told delegates at the Royal College of Psychiatrists annual meeting in Liverpool that health professionals too often focus on the problems of mothers with mental health difficulties, which may make the infant 'invisible'.
However, Dr Power - who is also North West Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Improvement Lead - warned this isolated approach can have a detrimental effect on babies' health and urged health workers including adult and child mental health professionals, midwives, health visitors, GPs, and social workers to focus on the whole mother-baby relationship and whole family.
She said: "A foetus will have approximately 100 billion neurons in their brain, however these neurons are meaningless until after birth when the environment they are exposed to will influence their brain development.
"The infant needs to be exposed to stimulation and social interaction to enable their brains to develop. Mothers with mental health difficulties are compromised in how they are able to provide stimulation and how they are able to interact with infants. That will influence how a baby's brain develops, the relationship between mother and baby and have a negative cycle."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153198.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Risk of Schizophrenia Linked to Prenatal Health
When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring.
Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been substantial concern about this association.
A new study in the June 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that the observed association depends upon a pre-existing vulnerability in the fetus.
Specifically, Dr. Lauren Ellman and colleagues determined that fetal exposure to influenza leads to cognitive problems at age 7 among children who later develop a psychotic disorder in adulthood, but fetal exposure to influenza does not lead to cognitive problems among children who do not later develop a psychotic disorder.
It is important to note that these results were dependent upon the type of influenza, with this association present only after fetal exposure to influenza B as opposed to influenza A.
This research was conducted as part of the Collaborative Perinatal Project, which followed pregnant women and their offspring in the 1950s and ’60s, collecting blood throughout pregnancies for later analyses.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/10/risk-of-schizophrenia-linked-to-prenatal-health/6417.html
Children who are bullied at school are up to four times more likely than their peers to develop psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions and paranoia - and the more severe the bullying the more severe the symptoms.
Professor Dieter Wolke, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Warwick Medical School, told the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Liverpool, that around 5 per cent of the general population displayed psychotic-like symptoms - and the vast majority were likely to have been bullied at school.
He told Annual Meeting delegates that bullying in school can be divided into two types: overt bullying, including punching, kicking and physical intimidation; and relational bullying, such as spreading rumours and cyber-bullying which can lead to the victim being ostracised.
Children who experience psychotic symptoms are 16 times more likely to develop full-blown psychosis later in their lives.
Professor Wolke and colleagues analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The long-term study has followed total of 6,437 expectant mothers and their partners since 1991. The parents, and their children, are followed up annually using a range of physical and psychological assessments.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153279.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Babies Need Cuddles, Love And Stimulation To Aid Healthy Brains
Babies that fail to receive stimulation and love in the first year are at risk of poor brain development and social skills, a child health expert has warned.
Dr Cheryl Power, a clinical psychologist at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust told delegates at the Royal College of Psychiatrists annual meeting in Liverpool that health professionals too often focus on the problems of mothers with mental health difficulties, which may make the infant 'invisible'.
However, Dr Power - who is also North West Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Improvement Lead - warned this isolated approach can have a detrimental effect on babies' health and urged health workers including adult and child mental health professionals, midwives, health visitors, GPs, and social workers to focus on the whole mother-baby relationship and whole family.
She said: "A foetus will have approximately 100 billion neurons in their brain, however these neurons are meaningless until after birth when the environment they are exposed to will influence their brain development.
"The infant needs to be exposed to stimulation and social interaction to enable their brains to develop. Mothers with mental health difficulties are compromised in how they are able to provide stimulation and how they are able to interact with infants. That will influence how a baby's brain develops, the relationship between mother and baby and have a negative cycle."
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153198.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Risk of Schizophrenia Linked to Prenatal Health
When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring.
Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been substantial concern about this association.
A new study in the June 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that the observed association depends upon a pre-existing vulnerability in the fetus.
Specifically, Dr. Lauren Ellman and colleagues determined that fetal exposure to influenza leads to cognitive problems at age 7 among children who later develop a psychotic disorder in adulthood, but fetal exposure to influenza does not lead to cognitive problems among children who do not later develop a psychotic disorder.
It is important to note that these results were dependent upon the type of influenza, with this association present only after fetal exposure to influenza B as opposed to influenza A.
This research was conducted as part of the Collaborative Perinatal Project, which followed pregnant women and their offspring in the 1950s and ’60s, collecting blood throughout pregnancies for later analyses.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/10/risk-of-schizophrenia-linked-to-prenatal-health/6417.html
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Bedtime Linked to Teen Depression
Teenagers who stay up late have a higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens who go to bed at an earlier time set by their parents.
“It is a common perception and societal expectation that adolescents do not need as much sleep as pre-adolescents, yet studies suggests that adolescents may actually require more sleep,” said lead research James Gangwisch, of Columbia University.
“Studies have found that adolescents do not go to bed early enough to compensate for earlier school start times, and transitions to earlier school start times have been shown to be associated with significant sleep deprivation.”
Gangwisch and his colleagues examined data from 15,659 adolescents and their parents who took part in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study of adolescent health between 1994 and 1996.
Teenagers with parental-mandated bedtimes at midnight or later were 25 percent more likely to suffer from depression and 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared with teens who had parent-mandated bedtimes of 10:00 p.m. or earlier. Parent-mandated bedtime teens slept for an average of 8 hours and 10 minutes, while those who were allowed to stay up past midnight slept for approximately 7 and a half hours.
A total of 1,143 teens (7.3 percent) in the study suffered from depression and 2,038 (13 percent) had suicidal thoughts.
According to Gangwisch, the study supports the argument that inadequate sleep could lead to depression.
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/09/bedtime-linked-to-teen-depression/6397.html
“It is a common perception and societal expectation that adolescents do not need as much sleep as pre-adolescents, yet studies suggests that adolescents may actually require more sleep,” said lead research James Gangwisch, of Columbia University.
“Studies have found that adolescents do not go to bed early enough to compensate for earlier school start times, and transitions to earlier school start times have been shown to be associated with significant sleep deprivation.”
Gangwisch and his colleagues examined data from 15,659 adolescents and their parents who took part in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study of adolescent health between 1994 and 1996.
Teenagers with parental-mandated bedtimes at midnight or later were 25 percent more likely to suffer from depression and 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared with teens who had parent-mandated bedtimes of 10:00 p.m. or earlier. Parent-mandated bedtime teens slept for an average of 8 hours and 10 minutes, while those who were allowed to stay up past midnight slept for approximately 7 and a half hours.
A total of 1,143 teens (7.3 percent) in the study suffered from depression and 2,038 (13 percent) had suicidal thoughts.
According to Gangwisch, the study supports the argument that inadequate sleep could lead to depression.
Source and More:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/09/bedtime-linked-to-teen-depression/6397.html
Stem Cell Protein Offers A New Cancer Target
Stem Cell Protein Offers A New Cancer Target
Monday, June 8, 2009
By: Science Daily
Monday, June 8, 2009
By: Science Daily
A protein abundant in embryonic stem cells is now shown to be important in cancer, and offers a possible new target for drug development, report researchers from the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston.
Last year, George Daley, MD, PhD, and graduate student Srinivas Viswanathan, in collaboration with Richard Gregory, PhD, also of the Stem Cell Program at Children's, showed that the protein LIN28 regulates an important group of tumor-suppressing microRNAs known as let-7. Increasing LIN28 production in a cell prevented let-7 from maturing, making the cell more immature and stem-like. Since these qualities also make a cell more cancerous, and because low levels of mature let-7 have been associated with breast and lung cancer, the discovery suggested that LIN28 might be oncogenic.
Now, publishing Advance Online in Nature Genetics on May 31, Daley, Viswanathan and colleagues show directly that LIN28 can transform cells to a cancerous state, and that it is abundant in a variety of advanced human cancers, particularly liver cancer, ovarian cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia, germ cell tumors and Wilm's tumor (a childhood kidney cancer). They believe that overall, LIN28 and a related protein, LIN28B, may be involved in some 15 percent of human cancers. By blocking or suppressing LIN28, it might be possible to revive the let-7 family's natural tumor-suppressing action.
"Linking this protein to advanced cancer is a very exciting new result," says Daley, Director of Stem Cell Transplantation at Children's, and also affiliated with Children's Division of Hematology/Oncology, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. "It gives us a new target to attack, especially in the most resistant and hard-to-treat cases."
LIN28, which is abundant in embryonic stem cells and prevents them from differentiating into specific cell types, was originally discovered to influence embryonic development in worms some 25 years ago. Development, stem cell generation and carcinogenesis are known to be closely related, but until last year's study connected LIN28 to let-7, it hadn't been clear how.
"LIN28 is a fascinating protein that acts both in stem cells and cancers, and is teaching us that cancer is often a disease of stem cells," says Daley.
Viswanathan, Daley and colleagues are busily searching for ways to inhibit LIN28, which could provide promising new drugs for advanced cancer.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the NIH Director's Pioneer Award, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Learn about other stem cell advances by visiting www.MissouriCures.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Manic Monday
Boys with intermittent eye deviation appear more likely to develop mental illness
Children and especially boys diagnosed with intermittent exotropia, a condition in which the eye turns outward (away from the nose) only some of the time, appear more likely to develop mental illness by young adulthood than children without strabismus (when the eyes deviate or are misaligned when looking at an object), according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Intermittent exotropia occurs in approximately 1 percent of developmentally healthy children in the United States and, given its predominance over esodeviations [when the eye turns in] among Asian populations, it may be the most prevalent form of strabismus worldwide," the authors write as background information in the article.
Jeff A. McKenzie, B.A., and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., analyzed the medical records of 183 children younger than 19 in Olmsted County, Minn., who were diagnosed with intermittent exotropia between 1975 and 1994. For each patient, the researchers identified one control child who was the same age but did not have a diagnosis of any type of strabismus. Both groups were followed to an average age of 22.
During the 20-year study period, 97 of the children with intermittent exotropia (53 percent) were diagnosed with a mental health disorder, compared with 55 controls (30.1 percent)—meaning that patients with the condition had an increased risk of developing a psychiatric illness. Mental health disorders were diagnosed in 63 percent of boys (41 of 65) and 47 percent of girls (56 of 118) with intermittent exotropia, compared with 33 percent of boys (22 of 66) and 28 percent of girls (33 of 117) in the control group.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163698042.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Disabilities Increase Risk of Tobacco Dependence
New research discovers the risk of tobacco addiction is especially severe for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
And the medical community often tends to overlook the tobacco-related burdens these people face. An extensive review of published research on this topic appears in the June edition of the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
“This is too important an issue to ignore,” said Dr. Marc L. Steinberg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the article’s lead author.
“Health care professionals often do not ask these individuals about tobacco use or exposure.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/08/disabilities-increase-risk-of-tobacco-dependence/6355.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Bipolar Often Misdiagnosed
Bipolar disorder is misdiagnosed as depression in over a quarter of cases, a new study suggests.
Psychiatrists Dr Krishna Gangineni and Dr Richard Annear, who work in Wales, reviewed the medical notes of people referred to psychiatric services for assessment. Their research was presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ 2009 Annual Meeting in Liverpool.
They found that over 25 percent of the patients with bipolar disorder had initially had their condition misdiagnosed as unipolar depression.
Misdiagnosis often occurs because the symptoms of bipolar disorder overlap with depression and other psychiatric disorders. However, misdiagnosis can cause serious problems. For example, if people are wrongly prescribed antidepressants this can make their bipolar illness worse.
Dr Gangineni and Dr Annear said: “Our study found that bipolar disorder was misdiagnosed as unipolar disorder in more than 25 percent of the patients who first see a mental health professional.
“Recognition of bipolar disorder and its adequate treatment is paramount because bipolar disorder exacts such a high personal and societal toll, with high rates of suicide and interpersonal problems and a substantial economic burden.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/08/bipolar-often-misdiagnosed/6361.html
Children and especially boys diagnosed with intermittent exotropia, a condition in which the eye turns outward (away from the nose) only some of the time, appear more likely to develop mental illness by young adulthood than children without strabismus (when the eyes deviate or are misaligned when looking at an object), according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Intermittent exotropia occurs in approximately 1 percent of developmentally healthy children in the United States and, given its predominance over esodeviations [when the eye turns in] among Asian populations, it may be the most prevalent form of strabismus worldwide," the authors write as background information in the article.
Jeff A. McKenzie, B.A., and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., analyzed the medical records of 183 children younger than 19 in Olmsted County, Minn., who were diagnosed with intermittent exotropia between 1975 and 1994. For each patient, the researchers identified one control child who was the same age but did not have a diagnosis of any type of strabismus. Both groups were followed to an average age of 22.
During the 20-year study period, 97 of the children with intermittent exotropia (53 percent) were diagnosed with a mental health disorder, compared with 55 controls (30.1 percent)—meaning that patients with the condition had an increased risk of developing a psychiatric illness. Mental health disorders were diagnosed in 63 percent of boys (41 of 65) and 47 percent of girls (56 of 118) with intermittent exotropia, compared with 33 percent of boys (22 of 66) and 28 percent of girls (33 of 117) in the control group.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163698042.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Disabilities Increase Risk of Tobacco Dependence
New research discovers the risk of tobacco addiction is especially severe for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
And the medical community often tends to overlook the tobacco-related burdens these people face. An extensive review of published research on this topic appears in the June edition of the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
“This is too important an issue to ignore,” said Dr. Marc L. Steinberg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the article’s lead author.
“Health care professionals often do not ask these individuals about tobacco use or exposure.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/08/disabilities-increase-risk-of-tobacco-dependence/6355.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Bipolar Often Misdiagnosed
Bipolar disorder is misdiagnosed as depression in over a quarter of cases, a new study suggests.
Psychiatrists Dr Krishna Gangineni and Dr Richard Annear, who work in Wales, reviewed the medical notes of people referred to psychiatric services for assessment. Their research was presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ 2009 Annual Meeting in Liverpool.
They found that over 25 percent of the patients with bipolar disorder had initially had their condition misdiagnosed as unipolar depression.
Misdiagnosis often occurs because the symptoms of bipolar disorder overlap with depression and other psychiatric disorders. However, misdiagnosis can cause serious problems. For example, if people are wrongly prescribed antidepressants this can make their bipolar illness worse.
Dr Gangineni and Dr Annear said: “Our study found that bipolar disorder was misdiagnosed as unipolar disorder in more than 25 percent of the patients who first see a mental health professional.
“Recognition of bipolar disorder and its adequate treatment is paramount because bipolar disorder exacts such a high personal and societal toll, with high rates of suicide and interpersonal problems and a substantial economic burden.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/08/bipolar-often-misdiagnosed/6361.html
Saturday, June 6, 2009
People with Intellectual Disabilities Particularly Vulnerable to Effects of Tobacco Use
While tobacco use is an ongoing health hazard for the entire population, its consequences for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities can be especially severe. And the medical community often tends to overlook the tobacco-related burdens these people face. An extensive review of published research on this topic appears in the June edition of the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
“This is too important an issue to ignore,” said Dr. Marc L. Steinberg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the article’s lead author. “Health care professionals often do not ask these individuals about tobacco use or exposure.” Steinberg and his co-authors report that they were able to identify several negative implications of tobacco use that are unique to this population group:
• People with developmental or intellectual disabilities are three times more likely to live in poverty, making them more susceptible to financial distress from tobacco use.
• Tobacco use may decrease the effectiveness of some medications commonly prescribed to this population group.
• Ironically, many of these individuals became addicted to tobacco at the hands of the very institutions that are meant to help them. In the past, hospitals and facilities treating vulnerable populations have even given cigarettes as good behavior ‘rewards’ to mentally ill patients and to those with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
• On the rare occasions when individuals in this population gain access to tobacco treatment programs, they still may “fall through the cracks” because they have difficulty understanding the health information presented to them.
“Like any other patients, this population should be offered resources for quitting if they smoke and offered protection from environmental tobacco smoke if they do not,” said Steinberg.
Source and More:
http://www.physorg.com/news163504386.html
“This is too important an issue to ignore,” said Dr. Marc L. Steinberg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the article’s lead author. “Health care professionals often do not ask these individuals about tobacco use or exposure.” Steinberg and his co-authors report that they were able to identify several negative implications of tobacco use that are unique to this population group:
• People with developmental or intellectual disabilities are three times more likely to live in poverty, making them more susceptible to financial distress from tobacco use.
• Tobacco use may decrease the effectiveness of some medications commonly prescribed to this population group.
• Ironically, many of these individuals became addicted to tobacco at the hands of the very institutions that are meant to help them. In the past, hospitals and facilities treating vulnerable populations have even given cigarettes as good behavior ‘rewards’ to mentally ill patients and to those with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
• On the rare occasions when individuals in this population gain access to tobacco treatment programs, they still may “fall through the cracks” because they have difficulty understanding the health information presented to them.
“Like any other patients, this population should be offered resources for quitting if they smoke and offered protection from environmental tobacco smoke if they do not,” said Steinberg.
Source and More:
http://www.physorg.com/news163504386.html
Friday, June 5, 2009
T.G.I.F.
FDA weighs approval of psychiatric drugs for kids
Three blockbuster psychiatric drugs currently approved for adults also appear to work in adolescents, though federal health officials have concerns about exposing younger patients to the drugs' side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing drugs from AstraZeneca PLC, Eli Lilly & Co. and Pfizer Inc. for use in patients between the ages of 10 and 17. The drugs - already approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania in adults - had combined sales of more than $7.4 billion last year, according to IMS Health.
FDA reviewers on Friday said they were wary of exposing youngsters to the drugs' side effects, including weight gain and high blood sugar, "because they may be exposed for many decades."
"These risks are of particular concern in pediatric patients because of the lifelong nature of these disorders," FDA director for psychiatric products, Dr. Thomas Laughren, wrote in documents posted online.
The FDA released its review of the drugs ahead of a meeting Tuesday where outside experts will weigh in on the drugs' risks and benefits. The agency is not required to follow the group's advice, though it usually does.
Many doctors already prescribe the medications to children and adolescents, although regulators have not officially cleared that use. Physicians are free to prescribe medicines as they see fit, though companies can only promote them for FDA-approved indications.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163421652.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Obama Releases Details of Major Health Care Reform
Upon making a home at the White House, President Barack Obama addressed issues from the economic crisis to an upcoming vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, but one issue that remained consistent from the days of his campaign through the first hundred days of his presidency was the importance he placed on health care reform. And now, only weeks after announcing plans to cut health care costs by $2 trillion dollars, Obama began releasing details and goals for the reform of the U.S. health care system with the hope that change will be put forward sooner rather than later.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/obama-releases-details-major-health-care-reform-3248.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Sedatives and Risk of Suicide In the Elderly
Sleeping tablets have been associated with a four-fold increase in suicide risk in the elderly.
Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Geriatrics have shown that, even after adjusting for the presence of psychiatric conditions, sedatives and hypnotics were both associated with an increased risk of suicide.
Anders Carlsten and Margda Waern from Gothenburg University carried out a case control study to determine whether specific types of psychoactive drugs were associated with suicide risk in later life.
According to Carlsten, “Sedative treatment was associated with an almost fourteen-fold increase of suicide risk in the crude analyses and remained an independent risk factor for suicide even after adjustment for the presence of mental disorders. Having a current prescription for a hypnotic was associated with a four-fold increase in suicide risk in the adjusted model.”
The researchers speculate that the drugs may raise suicide risk by triggering aggressive or impulsive behavior, or by providing the means for people to take an overdose.
They also point out the possibility that these drugs may merely be markers for some other factor related to suicide risk, such as somatic illness, functional disability, alcohol use disorder, interpersonal problems, lack of social network or sleep disturbance.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/05/sedatives-and-risk-of-suicide-in-the-elderly/6331.html
Three blockbuster psychiatric drugs currently approved for adults also appear to work in adolescents, though federal health officials have concerns about exposing younger patients to the drugs' side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing drugs from AstraZeneca PLC, Eli Lilly & Co. and Pfizer Inc. for use in patients between the ages of 10 and 17. The drugs - already approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania in adults - had combined sales of more than $7.4 billion last year, according to IMS Health.
FDA reviewers on Friday said they were wary of exposing youngsters to the drugs' side effects, including weight gain and high blood sugar, "because they may be exposed for many decades."
"These risks are of particular concern in pediatric patients because of the lifelong nature of these disorders," FDA director for psychiatric products, Dr. Thomas Laughren, wrote in documents posted online.
The FDA released its review of the drugs ahead of a meeting Tuesday where outside experts will weigh in on the drugs' risks and benefits. The agency is not required to follow the group's advice, though it usually does.
Many doctors already prescribe the medications to children and adolescents, although regulators have not officially cleared that use. Physicians are free to prescribe medicines as they see fit, though companies can only promote them for FDA-approved indications.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163421652.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Obama Releases Details of Major Health Care Reform
Upon making a home at the White House, President Barack Obama addressed issues from the economic crisis to an upcoming vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, but one issue that remained consistent from the days of his campaign through the first hundred days of his presidency was the importance he placed on health care reform. And now, only weeks after announcing plans to cut health care costs by $2 trillion dollars, Obama began releasing details and goals for the reform of the U.S. health care system with the hope that change will be put forward sooner rather than later.
Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/obama-releases-details-major-health-care-reform-3248.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Sedatives and Risk of Suicide In the Elderly
Sleeping tablets have been associated with a four-fold increase in suicide risk in the elderly.
Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Geriatrics have shown that, even after adjusting for the presence of psychiatric conditions, sedatives and hypnotics were both associated with an increased risk of suicide.
Anders Carlsten and Margda Waern from Gothenburg University carried out a case control study to determine whether specific types of psychoactive drugs were associated with suicide risk in later life.
According to Carlsten, “Sedative treatment was associated with an almost fourteen-fold increase of suicide risk in the crude analyses and remained an independent risk factor for suicide even after adjustment for the presence of mental disorders. Having a current prescription for a hypnotic was associated with a four-fold increase in suicide risk in the adjusted model.”
The researchers speculate that the drugs may raise suicide risk by triggering aggressive or impulsive behavior, or by providing the means for people to take an overdose.
They also point out the possibility that these drugs may merely be markers for some other factor related to suicide risk, such as somatic illness, functional disability, alcohol use disorder, interpersonal problems, lack of social network or sleep disturbance.
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/05/sedatives-and-risk-of-suicide-in-the-elderly/6331.html
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sorry for no new posts
I want to apologize for no new postings as I have been very busy taking care of my girl friend and other real life things. I hope to be posting tomorrow once again.
Keep checking back for new content.
Keep checking back for new content.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
New study shows people with mental health problems receive inadequate medical care
New research led by the University of Leicester and published this week in the British Journal of Psychiatry reveals that people with mental health problems are receiving inferior care for their medical needs.
The study by a team of researchers led by Dr Alex Mitchell from the University of Leicester Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, warns that medical care delivered across most branches of medicine to those with a mental health or substance abuse diagnosis is of inferior quality to the usual standard of care. This important systematic review showed widespread inequalities of care in those with mental health problems.
Dr Mitchell said: "We wished to investigate whether the quality of medical care received by people with mental health conditions, including substance misuse, differs from the care received by people who have no comparable mental disorder.
"We found that despite similar or actually more frequent medical contacts, there are often disparities in the physical healthcare delivered to those with psychiatric illness with frankly poorer care offered to (or accepted by) those with pre-existing mental health problems."
The research was based on analysing 31 valid studies (see notes to editors). Dr Mitchell said: "I work in liaison psychiatry and regularly see people who have received what they report as poor treatment by virtue of their mental illness. Often there is a temptation for clinicians to attribute any physical symptom to the psychiatric diagnosis without necessarily assessing the person thoroughly."
"Perhaps most surprising, our study found that inferior quality medical care did not depend on the presence of current psychiatric symptoms but rather was delivered to anyone with a previous or current mental health diagnosis."
Source and More:
http://www.physorg.com/news163158582.html
The study by a team of researchers led by Dr Alex Mitchell from the University of Leicester Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, warns that medical care delivered across most branches of medicine to those with a mental health or substance abuse diagnosis is of inferior quality to the usual standard of care. This important systematic review showed widespread inequalities of care in those with mental health problems.
Dr Mitchell said: "We wished to investigate whether the quality of medical care received by people with mental health conditions, including substance misuse, differs from the care received by people who have no comparable mental disorder.
"We found that despite similar or actually more frequent medical contacts, there are often disparities in the physical healthcare delivered to those with psychiatric illness with frankly poorer care offered to (or accepted by) those with pre-existing mental health problems."
The research was based on analysing 31 valid studies (see notes to editors). Dr Mitchell said: "I work in liaison psychiatry and regularly see people who have received what they report as poor treatment by virtue of their mental illness. Often there is a temptation for clinicians to attribute any physical symptom to the psychiatric diagnosis without necessarily assessing the person thoroughly."
"Perhaps most surprising, our study found that inferior quality medical care did not depend on the presence of current psychiatric symptoms but rather was delivered to anyone with a previous or current mental health diagnosis."
Source and More:
http://www.physorg.com/news163158582.html
Monday, June 1, 2009
Manic Monday
Wet ear wax and unpleasant body odors signal breast cancer risk
If having malodorous armpits (called osmidrosis) and goopy earwax isn't bad enough, a discovery by Japanese scientists may add a more serious problem for women facing these cosmetic calamities. That's because they've found that a gene responsible for breast cancer causes these physical symptoms. The report describing this finding is featured on the cover of The FASEB Journal's June 2009 print issue, and should arm physicians with another clue for detecting breast cancer risk.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163071095.html
___________________________________________________________________________
When adult patients have anxiety disorder, their children need help too
In what is believed to be the first U.S. study designed to prevent anxiety disorders in the children of anxious parents, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found that a family-based program reduced symptoms and the risk of developing an anxiety disorder among these children.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163058875.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Intervention reduces delinquent teenage pregancy rates
A program aimed at reducing criminal behavior in juvenile justice teens has yielded a surprising side benefit. The program is also reducing the teens' rate of pregnancy, according to a new study out this week.
David Kerr, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Oregon State University, and Leslie Leve and Patricia Chamberlain of the Eugene-based Oregon Social Learning Center, conducted the research, which will be published in the April edition of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Their work was funded in part by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The study was conducted with 166 teen girls ages 13-17 with histories of criminal behavior who had been court-mandated to receive out-of-home treatment. The girls were randomly assigned to either receive the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) program, which involved one-on-one care in the homes of highly trained foster parents, or the services they would have received had they not participated in the study, which was usually treatment in a group care facility.
The results were dramatic, according to lead author Kerr of OSU. About 26 percent of the girls assigned to receive the specialized Treatment Foster Care program became pregnant, compared to almost 47 percent of teens in group care.
"These girls are extremely compromised," Kerr said. "They are not doing well. They have had a hard time in different areas, including criminal behavior, drugs and risky sexual activity. Many of them had already been pregnant before the time of the intervention."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163058743.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Waist size and body mass index are risk factors for sleep disordered breathing in children
A study in the June 1 issue of the journal Sleep found that waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) are consistent, independent risk factors for all severity levels of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in children, suggesting that as with adult SDB, metabolic factors are important risk factors for childhood SDB.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163060925.html
___________________________________________________________________________
The Depression Test
There is a frenzied push by mental health providers--almost all of whom have financial ties to psychotropic drug manufacturers--to persuade government to adopt a policy of screening teenagers and women for depression.
The women being targeted at this juncture are vulnerable: they are either pregnant or have just given birth to a child. In both cases, both mother and infant are at risk of being harmed by pharmacological interventions.
The problem with mental screening starts with the fact that the method for mental screening is an unreliable suggestive questionnaire which is noted for its high rate (84%) for misidentifying normal teens as having mental disorders.
The diagnostic tools used by psychiatrists remain subjective and unscientific. And, overwhelmingly, the "therapeutic" interventions prescribed are dangerous psychotropic drugs that have often aggravated an emotional problem. Indeed, antidepressants increase the risk of suicide--as these drugs' warning labels indicate.
Schools should not be turned into medical fishing terminals; it is devastating for any child to be labeled as having a mental illness as such a label opens the child to a life of stigmatization, discrimination and undesirable status.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152049.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Laughter Lowers Stress, Improves Heart Health
Laughter is not only an effective stress-reliever, but can be heart-healthy, according to research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 56th Annual Meeting in Seattle.
Two separate studies examined the role of a good laugh as it relates to health.
One of the studies took an inverted approach to previous research on the harmful cardiovascular tolls of stress and negative mood. A small group of healthy adults were instructed to watch either a comedy or documentary film, and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films.
Subjects who watched the comedy benefited from improved “arterial compliance,” the amount of blood that moves through the arteries at a given time. Conversely, decreased arterial compliance is often associated with high blood pressure and heart disease.
“Arterial compliance was improved for a full 24 hours after subjects watched a funny movie,” said lead researcher Jun Sugawara.
“Laughing is likely not the complete solution to a healthy heart, but it appears to contribute to positive effects.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/01/laughter-lowers-stress-improves-heart-health/6207.html
If having malodorous armpits (called osmidrosis) and goopy earwax isn't bad enough, a discovery by Japanese scientists may add a more serious problem for women facing these cosmetic calamities. That's because they've found that a gene responsible for breast cancer causes these physical symptoms. The report describing this finding is featured on the cover of The FASEB Journal's June 2009 print issue, and should arm physicians with another clue for detecting breast cancer risk.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163071095.html
___________________________________________________________________________
When adult patients have anxiety disorder, their children need help too
In what is believed to be the first U.S. study designed to prevent anxiety disorders in the children of anxious parents, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found that a family-based program reduced symptoms and the risk of developing an anxiety disorder among these children.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163058875.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Intervention reduces delinquent teenage pregancy rates
A program aimed at reducing criminal behavior in juvenile justice teens has yielded a surprising side benefit. The program is also reducing the teens' rate of pregnancy, according to a new study out this week.
David Kerr, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Oregon State University, and Leslie Leve and Patricia Chamberlain of the Eugene-based Oregon Social Learning Center, conducted the research, which will be published in the April edition of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Their work was funded in part by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The study was conducted with 166 teen girls ages 13-17 with histories of criminal behavior who had been court-mandated to receive out-of-home treatment. The girls were randomly assigned to either receive the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) program, which involved one-on-one care in the homes of highly trained foster parents, or the services they would have received had they not participated in the study, which was usually treatment in a group care facility.
The results were dramatic, according to lead author Kerr of OSU. About 26 percent of the girls assigned to receive the specialized Treatment Foster Care program became pregnant, compared to almost 47 percent of teens in group care.
"These girls are extremely compromised," Kerr said. "They are not doing well. They have had a hard time in different areas, including criminal behavior, drugs and risky sexual activity. Many of them had already been pregnant before the time of the intervention."
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163058743.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Waist size and body mass index are risk factors for sleep disordered breathing in children
A study in the June 1 issue of the journal Sleep found that waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) are consistent, independent risk factors for all severity levels of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in children, suggesting that as with adult SDB, metabolic factors are important risk factors for childhood SDB.
Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news163060925.html
___________________________________________________________________________
The Depression Test
There is a frenzied push by mental health providers--almost all of whom have financial ties to psychotropic drug manufacturers--to persuade government to adopt a policy of screening teenagers and women for depression.
The women being targeted at this juncture are vulnerable: they are either pregnant or have just given birth to a child. In both cases, both mother and infant are at risk of being harmed by pharmacological interventions.
The problem with mental screening starts with the fact that the method for mental screening is an unreliable suggestive questionnaire which is noted for its high rate (84%) for misidentifying normal teens as having mental disorders.
The diagnostic tools used by psychiatrists remain subjective and unscientific. And, overwhelmingly, the "therapeutic" interventions prescribed are dangerous psychotropic drugs that have often aggravated an emotional problem. Indeed, antidepressants increase the risk of suicide--as these drugs' warning labels indicate.
Schools should not be turned into medical fishing terminals; it is devastating for any child to be labeled as having a mental illness as such a label opens the child to a life of stigmatization, discrimination and undesirable status.
Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152049.php
___________________________________________________________________________
Laughter Lowers Stress, Improves Heart Health
Laughter is not only an effective stress-reliever, but can be heart-healthy, according to research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 56th Annual Meeting in Seattle.
Two separate studies examined the role of a good laugh as it relates to health.
One of the studies took an inverted approach to previous research on the harmful cardiovascular tolls of stress and negative mood. A small group of healthy adults were instructed to watch either a comedy or documentary film, and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films.
Subjects who watched the comedy benefited from improved “arterial compliance,” the amount of blood that moves through the arteries at a given time. Conversely, decreased arterial compliance is often associated with high blood pressure and heart disease.
“Arterial compliance was improved for a full 24 hours after subjects watched a funny movie,” said lead researcher Jun Sugawara.
“Laughing is likely not the complete solution to a healthy heart, but it appears to contribute to positive effects.”
Source and More
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/01/laughter-lowers-stress-improves-heart-health/6207.html
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