Three Routines to Help Cut Obesity Risk in Kids
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Experts say one out of every eight kids under the age of five is overweight or obese in this country.
For the first time, a study in the journal Pediatrics outlines three household routines that can dramatically reduce the risk of obesity in your kids.
The first routine is sitting down to dinner every night as a family.
For obese, vaccine needle size matters
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Our ever-expanding waistlines may have outgrown the doctor’s needle, researchers say, in what could be another casualty of the obesity epidemic.
In a new study, the researchers report that using a standard 1-inch needle to immunize obese adolescents against hepatitis B virus produced a much weaker effect than using a longer needle.
“As obesity rises in the US, we need to be aware that the standard of care may have to change to protect obese youth,” study co-author Dr. Amy Middleman of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston told Reuters Health.
Men who eat soy may have lower lung cancer risk
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Men who don’t smoke and eat a lot of soy may have a lower risk of lung cancer, according to a new study.
Soy contains isoflavones, which act similarly to the hormone estrogen, and may have anti-cancer qualities in hormone-related cancers of the breast and prostate, the researchers note in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Cells in the lung have properties that suggest they may also respond to isoflavones.
Dr. Taichi Shimazu, of the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, and colleagues studied more than 36,000 Japanese men and more than 40,000 Japanese women, 45 to 74 years old and free of cancer at the start of the study.
Gene doping a risky route to glory for athletes
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Gene therapy offers Olympic athletes a tempting new way to go for the gold, but the technology is far too risky a way to cheat, a top gene therapy expert said on Thursday.
Gene doping - in which DNA is introduced into the body through an inactivated virus or by other means - can alter a person’s genetic make up and improve athletic performance by building muscle and increasing blood flow.
“We know we can introduce genes now to correct disease. It’s not a great leap to say we can also change genes related to normal human performance, like those required for athletic performance,” said Dr. Ted Friedmann, director of the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California’s San Diego’s School of Medicine.
Costs of obesity too high to ignore
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If improving your physical and mental well being isn’t enough to motivate you to get healthy, consider a financial motivation.
Recently, Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, reported that the United States spends nearly $150 billion a year fighting obesity. That’s more than this nation spends on fighting cancer, and double what it spent to fight obesity 10 years ago.
In fact, $650 million of economic stimulus money is earmarked on programs to fight obesity and smoking.
Obesity The Dangers You Should Be Aware Of
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While almost everyone knows that being obese is not healthy, many people who are obese are not fully aware of how dangerous the consequences really are, and they are more dangerous than they think. It is worth taking some time to learn about this issue, because it will likely affect either yourself or at least one of your friends or family members.
While obesity itself does not technically kill people, somewhere between 100,000 to 400,000 Americans die from the diseases that come with it each year. Even at the lower estimates, it is still a huge death toll; much greater than other causes of death which get a lot more press attention.
So, how do you know if you are obese? A formula called the body mass index (or simply BMI) is used to work out who is obese. While those with BMIs of 25 to 29 are classified as being overweight, those at 30 to 40 are regarded as being obese. Regardless of exactly where you come on this scale, it is important to know the dangers of carrying around too much weight.
Early Artificial Pancreas Trials Show Benefits for Kids, Teenagers with Diabetes While Sleeping Over
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In a landmark study in children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes, JDRF-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that using a first-generation artificial pancreas system overnight can lower the risk of low blood sugar emergencies while sleeping, and at the same time improve diabetes control.
Results from the studies are published in the February 5, 2010 issue of The Lancet, available online at http://www.thelancet.com.
The trials tested the safety and effectiveness of a first-generation artificial pancreas system used overnight in a hospital setting with participants between 5 and 18 years of age with type 1 diabetes. The system combined commercially available blood glucose sensors and insulin pumps, controlled by a sophisticated computer program that determined insulin dosage based on blood glucose levels while the participants slept.
Jackson doctor negotiating surrender - lawyers
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Lawyers for Michael Jackson’s doctor said on Thursday they were negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, amid reports he could face an involuntary manslaughter charge within a day.
Dr. Conrad Murray, who has admitted giving the late pop singer a dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, is expected to be formally charged on Friday with involuntary manslaughter, celebrity website TMZ.com reported.
Murray’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, declined comment on specifics but said in a statement on his legal firm’s website: “We are presently negotiating with the District Attorneys’ office the surrender of Dr. Murray. The specifics have not yet been agreed to and when the agreement is complete we will report further on this website.”
Genes in mother, baby raise risk of preterm birth
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Genes in the mother and the fetus play a role in the risk of preterm labor, a leading cause of infant death and disability, U.S. government researchers said on Thursday.
They said gene variants in the mother and fetus can make them susceptible to an inflammatory response to infections inside the uterus, raising the risk that a baby will be born early - before 37 weeks of gestation.
A preterm baby has a 120 times greater risk of death than a baby born full term, and survivors are at risk of breathing difficulties, bleeding into the brain, and having a significant neurologic handicap such as cerebral palsy.
Medicare cuts damage cancer care, group finds
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Changes to Medicare, the federal health plan for the elderly, may be damaging important aspects of cancer care in the United States, according to a study released on Thursday.
They found that many centers offering cancer care are losing money on patients and predicted that some may be forced out of business.
The Community Oncology Alliance, which commissioned the report, said the findings have implications for healthcare reform in Congress but also require immediate attention from Medicare.
More People Buying Prescription Drugs to Treat Digestive Conditions
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The number of Americans buying prescription drugs to treat digestive conditions climbed over 50 percent, rising from 18.1 million to 29 million people between 1997 and 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Total annual spending for these drugs increased from $7 billion to nearly $19 billion from from 1997 to 2007 ( in 2007 dollars).
Other findings include:
• The proportion of children ages 17 and younger who had at least one prescription drug for a digestive condition purchased rose from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. This trend held true for seniors - increasing from 18.6 percent to 26.6 percent - and for 18 to 64 year olds - rising from 6.4 percent to 8.9 percent.
Medical journal retracts autism paper 12 years on
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The Lancet medical journal formally retracted a paper on Tuesday that caused a 12-year international battle over links between the three-in-one childhood MMR vaccine and autism.
The paper, published in 1998 and written by British doctor Andrew Wakefield, suggested the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot might be linked to autism and bowel disease.
His assertion, since widely discredited, caused one of the biggest medical rows in a generation and led to a steep drop in the number of vaccinations in the United States, Britain and other parts of Europe, prompting a rise in cases of measles.
Parkinson’s disease research uncovers social barrier
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People with Parkinson’s disease suffer social difficulties simply because of the way they talk, a McGill University researcher has discovered. Marc Pell, at McGill’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has learned that many people develop negative impressions about individuals with Parkinson’s disease, based solely on how they communicate. These perceptions limit opportunities for social interaction and full participation in society for those with the disease, reducing their quality of life. Pell’s research offers the public a better understanding of the difficulties these patients face – as well as an opportunity to promote greater inclusiveness.
The research was conducted in collaboration with Abhishek Jaywant, a research trainee in McGill’s Neuropragmatics and Emotion Lab, and with financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec.
Aging adults both with and without Parkinson’s were recorded as they described visual scenes. Their voices were then played to listeners who were unaware of the speaker’s health status. Those with Parkinson’s disease were perceived as less interested, less involved, less happy and less friendly than aging speakers without the disease. Negative impressions of their personality were specifically related to changes in the speaking voices caused by the disease, not the ability to describe the scenes.
Loss of “Guardian Angel” Gene Prompts Premature Birth
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Mutation of a gene that helps protect the body from genetic instability leads to cellular and molecular changes in the pregnant uterus that trigger premature birth, according to a study appearing online Feb. 1 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The research by scientists in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, part of the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, sheds new light on the still poorly understood genetic and physiological reasons for preterm births. The findings could help lead to the development of new strategies for treating and preventing prematurity, according to Sudhansu K. Dey, Ph.D., director of Reproductive Sciences at Cincinnati Children’s and the study’s senior investigator.
“Preterm birth and prematurity are problems that pose huge long-term social and economic liabilities, and there is an urgent need for research with new approaches to combat this public health concern,” Dr. Dey said.
China investigates as melamine-tainted milk reappears
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China has launched nationwide checks for melamine-tainted milk products after the industrial compound, which killed at least six children in 2008, reappeared on shop shelves, an official newspaper said on Tuesday.
Leftovers of milk powder laced with melamine, which can give a fake positive on protein tests, have been reused as raw materials for dairy products despite an earlier crackdown, the People’s Daily said, citing a conference held by the State Food and Drug Administration.
Batches of dairy products made by three Chinese companies were forced off market shelves in the southwestern province of Guizhou last month after testing positive for melamine.
