Sound vs. Silence May Divide Those With Hearing Loss
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No two adolescents with a significant hearing loss in the same class at the Maria H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf here face the very same challenges in coping with the hearing world. This has always been so, but the advent of the cochlear implant has changed the equation.
Kathryn Cleary, who teaches U.S. history and government to high school students, has a mix of students that includes those who are profoundly deaf as well as students who have varying stages of hearing loss. Some students use hearing aids and some students have cochlear implants, but all students are fluent in American Sign Language, or ASL. It is the lingua Franca of the deaf world.
Viagra reverses symptoms of Raynaud’s phenomenon
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Viagra (sildenafil) relieves the symptoms and improves the circulation of patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon that does no response to conventional therapy, German investigators report. In patients with ulcers on their fingers or toes, the treatment leads to healing.
Viagra, developed to treat of male erectile dysfunction, is a phosphodiesterase (PDE)-5 inhibitor that affects very small blood vessels. Studies have shown it improves circulation in other conditions, such as coronary artery disease.
Experts warn of human, financial bird flu cost
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A flu pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion, the World Bank said on Monday, as China asked for international help to double check whether bird flu had killed a 12-year-old girl.
The World Bank set out the possible financial cost at a three-day meeting in Geneva at which hundreds of experts are drawing up a strategy to prevent bird flu from developing into a pandemic in which millions could die.
Hyperactivity drug may help autism
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A drug commonly given to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can help some autistic children with similar symptoms, researchers said on Monday.
Methylphenidate, sold as Ritalin by Novartis AG, dominates the $2.2 billion market for drugs treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, such as an inability to concentrate and impulsive behavior.
ABC launches anti-smoking ad campaign
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It isn’t just ABC News that’s being enlisted in the battle against smoking and lung cancer in the Quit to Live series, which began airing this month on “World News Tonight.”
A public service campaign launched late last week features President Bush, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., former Secretary of State Colin Powell, actress Geena Davis, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and sports stars Lance Armstrong and Tom Brady.
Roche says it’s on track to raise Tamiflu production
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Roche will raise the production of its antiviral drug Tamiflu, the drugmaker said, just as the World Health Organisation warned on Monday that a lethal strain of the avian influenza virus was spreading fast.
The Swiss firm said it is in talks with other drugmakers and with governments to step up the production of Tamiflu—seen as the most effective drug to fight bird flu—as the world braces for the possibility of a catastrophic pandemic among humans.
Methylphenidate shows promise for hyperactivity associated with autism
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Medication commonly used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be effective for treatment of hyperactivity symptoms in children with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Children with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders often also have symptoms of hyperactivity, distractibility and impulsiveness requiring treatment, according to background information in the article. Some previous small studies on the use of medications to treat hyperactivity in these children have shown promise, although side effects have been common, including irritability and social withdrawal.
Specific bacterial markers for bacterial vaginosis discovered
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Findings reported in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine (November 3 issue) highlight promising findings from two Seattle-based researchers on the origins of bacterial vaginosis (BV).
In a collaborative effort to identify specific bacterial markers for bacterial vaginosis in vaginal-fluid samples, David Fredricks, MD, of the Program in Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, of the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle report the detection of three newly recognized bacteria that were highly specific for bacterial vaginosis. Subjects for this study were recruited from Dr. Marrazzo’s Vaginal Health Project and from Public Health-Seattle and King County Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic. Although preliminary, the researchers are hopeful that these findings may contribute to identifying the specific cause of and better treatment for the disease.
Change in neurons’ responsiveness marks newly formed sensory associations during learning
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During our waking hours, our brains are inundated with sensory information that shifts from one moment to the next.
Recognizing meaningful associations between different snippets of this information is a basic form of learning that is essential for survival, even for animals with much simpler brains than our own. For learning to occur, these associations must be made and reinforced in some way at the neuronal level, but how this happens is poorly understood. Research reported this week sheds light on this problem by identifying a group of neurons whose activity changes during the learning process in a way that reflects the new association that is formed between two different sensory stimuli.
Smoking a hookah can damage teeth
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Smoking a hookah also known as a water pipe is becoming an increasingly trendy menu item in Mediterranean restaurants, cafes and bars. People should be warned to “skip this course” according to a study that appeared in the November issue of the Journal of Periodontology.
Researchers found that the impact of water pipe smoking is largely the same magnitude as that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence of periodontal diseases was 30 percent in water pipe smokers, 24 percent in cigarette smokers and eight percent in non-smokers.
Chlamydia pneumoniae may cause vision problems
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Researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) have found that Chlamydia pneumoniae, a bacterium linked to heart disease and capable of causing chronic inflammation, was present in the diseased eye tissue of five out of nine people with neovascular, or “wet,” age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
However, it was not found in the eyes of more than 20 individuals without AMD, providing more evidence that this disease may be caused by inflammation.
Antisocial behavior in children associated with gene variant and environmental risk factors
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For children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), possessing a variant of a gene involved in brain signaling may predict antisocial behavior and increase susceptibility to the effects of lower birth weight, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Biological processes play a key role in the genesis of antisocial behavior with specific evidence of brain involvement and contribution of genetic and early environmental risk factors, including prenatal factors, according to background information in the article. Given the links between deficits in a brain region called the prefrontal cortical and antisocial behavior and between the enzyme catechol O-methyltranferase (COMT) and prefrontal cortical functioning, the authors suggest that a variant of the COMT gene might be associated with antisocial behavior.
Adolescents Who Watch Smoking in Movies More Likely to Try Smoking
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The first national study to look at the connection between smoking in movies and smoking initiation among adolescents shows that exposure to smoking in popular films is a primary risk factor in determining whether young people will start smoking.
The study by researchers from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) appears in the November 7 issues of the journal, Pediatrics. The research, supported by the National Cancer Institute, suggests that exposure to movie smoking accounts for smoking initiation among over one-third of U.S. adolescents. It concludes that limiting exposure of young adolescents to movie smoking could have important public health implications.
Doors cause most childhood amputations
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Hands caught in doors cause most of the childhood amputations in the United States, a study said on Monday, though they most often involve only partial loss of a finger and no hospital stay.
The most serious amputation injuries occur among adolescents and often involve lawn mowers and tools, according to a review of hospital records from 1990 to 2002 done at Ohio State University.
Withdrawn drug may help in Crohn’s disease
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A drug pulled from the market by the manufacturer following reports of serious side effects in patients with multiple sclerosis may help some sufferers of Crohn’s disease, a new study showed.
But in many instances, the drug natalizumab will be no better than a placebo, said the study published in the November 3rd edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
