Children of depressed moms do better when dad is involved, SLU researcher finds
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Children whose mothers are depressed are less likely to develop problem behaviors if their fathers are actively engaged in family life, a Saint Louis University researcher finds.
It is well documented that children living in homes with depressed mothers are at increased risk of developing problems such as aggression, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety. However, an involved father – one who has a positive relationship with his children – may reduce the risk of those behaviors.
Diabetes appears to increase risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes
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Individuals with diabetes and acute coronary syndromes (ACS) such as a heart attack or unstable angina have an increased risk of death at 30 days and one year after ACS, compared with ACS patients without diabetes, according to a study in the August 15 issue of JAMA.
“The presence of elevated blood glucose levels, diabetes mellitus, or both contributes to more than 3 million cardiovascular deaths worldwide each year. With the increase in obesity, insulin resistance, and the metabolic syndrome, the worldwide prevalence of diabetes is expected to double by the year 2030,” the authors write.
Harvard’s New Eating Guide Busts Diet Myths for Diabetes
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Myths abound when it comes to diabetes and food—one of the most common being that there is a “diabetes diet” that prohibits sugar and other items. A new report from Harvard Health Publications dispels this and other misconceptions, and explains what people with diabetes should eat to keep their blood sugar steady. The report includes 40 new recipes.
The advice for people with diabetes is similar to that for the general population, but with extra emphasis on controlling weight, blood sugar, and risk factors for heart disease, explains the report, Healthy Eating for Type 2 Diabetes.
Abnormal fat metabolism underlies heart problems in diabetic patients
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Heart disease hits people with diabetes twice as often as people without diabetes. In those with diabetes, cardiovascular complications occur at an earlier age and often result in premature death, making heart disease the major killer of diabetic people. But why is heart disease so prevalent among diabetics?
To help answer that question, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been analyzing the fat (lipid) composition of heart tissue from laboratory mice with diabetes. They have found that heart cells of diabetic mice lose an important lipid from cellular components that generate energy for the heart, and their latest research shows this happens at the very earliest stages of diabetes.
Traditional Chinese exercises may increase efficacy of flu vaccine
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Move on mosquitoes. Step aside sweat bees. Before long, another unwelcome, but predictable, pest will return: the dreaded, oft-spotted flu bug.
But as this year’s sniffling-sneezing season approaches, there’s also a hint of hope present in the pre-germ-season air. In a study scheduled for publication in the August issue of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, a team of kinesiologists at the University of Illinois suggest that older adults who adopt an exercise regimen combining Taiji and Qigong may get an extra boost from their annual flu shot.
“Fat” hormone sheds new light on obesity
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The hormone, leptin, that tells us we are full also regulates our desire for certain foods, researchers said on Thursday. The finding sheds light on why people gain weight and could lead to new treatments for obesity.
The study showed that patients with a rare genetic disorder who lacked the hormone ate less after receiving injections of the hormone, said I.S. Farooqi, a researcher at Cambridge University who led the study.
Flu killed 68 children this season: CDC
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Influenza killed at least 68 children in America during the latest flu season and a third of them had a worrying new complication, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
The 2006-2007 annual flu season never reached epidemic stage, but doctors should keep a lookout for such dangerous cases in children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Minorities at higher risk of arthritis disability
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Black and Hispanic adults with arthritis are more likely than whites to become disabled from the joint disease, new research findings suggest.
In a study that followed nearly 7,300 Americans with arthritis for six years, researchers found that African-American patients were twice as likely to develop a disability as their white counterparts. The same was true of Hispanic adults who spoke Spanish as their primary language, but not primarily English-speaking Hispanic patients.
Hearing test may spot babies at risk for SIDS
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A subtle difference in responses on a newborn hearing screening test may identify babies who are at risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a new study.
A disruption of the function of the inner ear may interfere with not only hearing but also with a baby’s control of breathing during sleep, the researchers explain in the medical journal Early Human Development. This defect in the inner ear of newborns can be detected with a particular hearing test, called “transient evoked otoacoustic emission” or TEOAE.
“Whispering stroke” symptoms may damage health, lower quality of life
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People who have stroke-like symptoms but no stroke diagnosis incur physical and mental damage that significantly lowers their quality of life, according to a report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In a study reviewing data from more than 21,000 people, those reporting stroke-like symptoms had functional impairment similar to that of people who had a history of transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is sometimes called “mini-stroke.” Because almost 20 percent of people older than age 45 may have vague or “whispering stroke” symptoms, the condition poses a major public health problem, said study author George Howard, Dr.P.H.
Reductive stress linked to heart disease
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Antioxidants are widely considered an important defense against heart disease, but University of Utah researchers have found excessive levels of one antioxidant—reduced glutathione—actually may contribute to the disease.
The findings, published in the Aug. 10 issue of Cell, indicate a new class of drugs can be developed to treat or even prevent heart disease caused by “reductive stress,” according to Ivor J. Benjamin, M.D., Christi T. Smith Chair of Cardiovascular Research, division chief of cardiology at the U School of Medicine and the study’s principal author.
Genetic Variation Helps to Understand Predisposition to Schizophrenia
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Scientists have provided new insight into how a gene is related to schizophrenia. In a study to be published in the August 17 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Amanda J. Law, Medical Research Council Fellow and Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and Visiting Scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with colleagues at NIH describe for the first time a genetic variation that causes a gene to be overexpressed in the human brain. These results may provide a new way to design better drugs to treat schizophrenia.
“Although the exact causes of schizophrenia are yet to be determined, scientists agree that the disease is in part due to genetic variations,” Law says. “These variations are not simple to understand because they don’t directly disturb the function of proteins. In our study, we identified some clues as to what goes wrong with one of these DNA variations.”
Diet foods for children may lead to obesity
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Diet foods and drinks for children may inadvertently lead to overeating and obesity, says a new report from the University of Alberta.
A team of researchers contends that animals learn to connect the taste of food with the amount of caloric energy it provides, and children who consume low-calorie versions of foods that are normally high in calories may develop distorted connections between taste and calorie content, leading them to overeat as they grow up.
Drinking coffee seems to protect the liver
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Data from 10 studies conducted in Europe and Japan suggest that people who drink coffee may be reducing their risk of liver cancer, although the reasons for the apparent protective effect of coffee remain to be determined.
The 10 studies reviewed by Dr. Francesca Bravi from Milan’s Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri” and colleagues included 2,260 cases of HCC. Collectively, the results showed a 41 percent reduction in the risk of liver cancer (or hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) among coffee drinkers compared to those who never drank coffee.
Allergies not linked to asthma in urban adults
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Asthmatic adults living in inner-city areas are often allergic to many triggers, such as dust mites or pets, but this sensitization does not appear to increase the severity of their asthma.
“We were expecting that sensitization would be related to worse asthma outcomes, as in children,” lead investigator Dr. Juan P. Wisnivesky told Reuters Health.
