Passive smoking associated with behavior problems in children and pre-teens
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A new Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study shows that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, even at extremely low levels, is associated with behavior problems in children and pre-teens.
While the study examined 5 to 11 year olds with asthma, the findings most likely could be extrapolated to include children without asthma who “act out” or experience depression and anxiety, according to Kimberly Yolton, Ph.D., a researcher at the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s and the study’s main author
“This study provides further incentive for states to set public health standards to protect children from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke,” says Dr. Yolton.
Experts say bird flu virus survives longer
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Leading influenza experts urged nations not to lower their guard against the deadly and hardy H5N1 virus, saying it now survives longer in higher temperatures and in wet and moist conditions.
Scientists previously found the virus to be most active and transmissible among birds in the cooler months from October to March in the northern hemisphere, and many people were hoping for some respite in the coming summer months.
But influenza expert Robert Webster warned against complacency and underestimating the virus, which made its first documented jump to humans from birds in 1997 in Hong Kong, killing six people.
Melatonin, taken orally can improve ability to sleep
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Researchers from the Divisions of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found in a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical study, that melatonin, taken orally during non-typical sleep times, significantly improves an individual’s ability to sleep.
This finding is particularly important for rotating or night-shift workers, travelers with jet lag and individuals with advanced or delayed sleep phase syndrome.
The findings appear in the May 1, 2006 issue of the journal Sleep.
Suicide risk linked to month of birth
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People born in the spring or early summer in the northern hemisphere have a 17 percent increased risk of committing suicide than those with birthdays in the autumn or early winter, researchers said on Tuesday.
They found that women born in April, May and June were 29.6 percent more likely to take their own lives while men had a 13.7 percent increased risk.
“Our results support the hypotheses that there is a seasonal effect in the monthly birth rates of people who kill themselves and that there is a disproportionate excess of such people born between late spring and midsummer compared with the other months,” Dr. Emad Salib, of Liverpool University, reported in the British Journal of Cancer.
Sleep apnea raises mortality risk after stroke
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Sleep apnea, a common problem involving short periods when breathing stops during sleep, is often seen in stroke patients and appears to be associated with an increased risk of death, Swiss researchers report in the medical journal Stroke.
However, upon further analysis, the only single factor that increased the risk of death after stroke was older age.
Dr. Claudio L. Bassetti of Poliklinik, Zurich and colleagues note that despite being widespread, risk factors and other characteristics of sleep apnea in stroke patients are not widely known.
Successful Treatment of Alcoholism Found in The Doctor’s Office
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Alcoholism can be successfully treated in primary care settings, when brief sessions with health professionals are coupled with either the drug naltrexone or specialized counseling, according to new clinical trial results published in JAMA.
The randomized, controlled trial, called “Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions for Alcoholism,” or COMBINE, is the largest ever conducted of drug and behavioral treatments for alcohol dependence. COMBINE included 1,383 subjects at 11 clinical sites across the country. Brown Medical School oversaw the largest site, enrolling 133 patients through Roger Williams Medical Center.
Robert Swift, M.D., served as principal investigator of the Roger Williams site and is an author of the JAMA report. Swift, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior and associate director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown Medical School and associate chief of staff for research at the Providence V.A. Medical Center, has studied alcoholism and drug addiction for more than 20 years. He said the COMBINE results send a clear message to problem drinkers - and the doctors who care for them.
Low-Intensity Therapy, Meds May Provide More Accessible Alcoholism Treatment
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Low-intensity therapy offered by medical doctors, combined with either medication or specialized behavior therapy, can effectively treat alcoholism, making treatment more readily available to people who need it, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and numerous other sites nationwide.
The study, conducted over the past five years and sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The NIAAA is a component of the National Institutes of Health.
The results show that medical doctors and other health-care professionals who prescribed the medication naltrexone and held nine brief sessions with the patient (called medical management) were as successful in treating alcohol dependence as when the patient also receives intensive behavioral counseling, for example, in an alcohol treatment facility. Medical doctors who held the nine sessions with patients but did not prescribe naltrexone were not as successful as those who did or as those whose patients also received more intensive behavioral counseling.
Nonhormonal Therapies May Offer Relief From Hot Flashes, With Possible Adverse Effects
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A meta-analysis of previously published studies examining the use of nonhormonal therapies for treating menopausal hot flashes finds that some therapies are effective, but less so than estrogen, and have possible adverse effects that may restrict their use, according to an article in the May 3 issue of JAMA.
Hot flashes are the most common symptom related to menopausal transition. They are experienced by more than 50 percent of menopausal women, can persist for several years after menopause, and for some women can interfere with activities or sleep to such a degree that treatment is requested, according to background information in the article. Estrogen has been used as a hormone supplement for nearly 60 years to treat menopausal symptoms. However, recent studies reporting adverse effects such as cardiovascular events and breast cancer have raised important concerns about its use and have led to increased interest in other therapies for improving menopausal symptoms. Evidence of the efficacy and adverse effects of nonhormonal therapies is generally lacking or unclear.
Heidi D. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., of the Oregon Health and Science University and Providence Health System, Portland, Ore., and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to compare the efficacy and adverse effects of nonhormonal therapies for menopausal hot flashes.
CT Colonography Even Safer Than Previously Reported
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The safety profile for CT colonography (CTC) is extremely favorable, particularly for the purposes of screening patients with no symptoms and when distending the colon using an automated carbon dioxide technique, a finding that goes against the higher complication rates for CTC reported by other groups, according to a new study.
For this study, researchers analyzed 21,923 CTC procedures, including both diagnostic and screening procedures. Colonic distention was achieved by manual room air insufflation in 60% of cases and by automated carbon dioxide delivery in 40%. No perforations were recorded in patients undergoing screening CTC or with those who underwent the automated carbon dioxide delivery technique.
International Study Investigating Early Biology of HIV Infection
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In July 2005, the race to find a vaccine that would stem the worldwide rate of 13,000 new cases of HIV infection each day moved from competition among research institutions to a strategy of cooperation.
An international “virtual research center” - the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) - was awarded up to $300 million over seven years to support efforts to develop an HIV vaccine.
The first of several research studies in this collaboration now is under way and is aimed at gaining new knowledge into the biology of HIV infection during its earliest days, before the immune system has produced antibodies to the virus.
Teacher’s verbal abuse can lead to problem behavior
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Verbal abuse by a kindergarten teacher triggered by a child’s inattention or disruptive behavior can produce a “vicious cycle” that boosts the risk of delinquency and learning problems later on, a new study suggests.
The findings are not intended to put the blame on teachers, given that a child’s behavior is also a factor, but instead underscore the need for better support of classroom teachers in dealing with problem kids, Dr. Mara Brendgen of the University of Quebec in Montreal told Reuters Health.
“These are behaviors that cause disorder that make it very difficult for the teachers to manage the classroom,” she said.
Kids may handle family gun unbeknownst to mom
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Parents’ perceptions about their children’s access to guns stored in the home are often inaccurate, according to the results of a survey conducted in a family practice clinic in rural Alabama.
In analyzing responses from 314 parent-child pairs, and 201 (64%) had guns in the house. While the researchers found that 39 percent of parents, particularly mothers, said that their child did not know where they stored the gun and 22 percent said their child had never handled the family gun, this was contradicted by the child’s response.
“Parents who locked their guns away and discussed gun safety with their children were as likely to be contradicted as parents who did not take such safety measures,” report Dr. Frances Baxley from San Francisco General Hospital and Dr. Matthew Miller from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Women with low vitamin D levels have small infants
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Pregnant women with relatively low amounts of vitamin D in their diets tend to give birth to smaller infants, a new study suggests.
Canadian researchers found that pregnant women who drank little milk or had a lower vitamin D intake tended to have smaller babies than women with higher intakes.
Fortified milk is a primary source of vitamin D in Western diets, and the nutrient may be the main reason why women’s milk consumption was linked to birthweight, according to the researchers.
Antidepressants extend time to relapse in diabetics
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Maintenance treatment with the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) after a first episode of depression has resolved extends the time to relapse in patients with diabetes, study results suggest. And sustained remission of depression is associated with improved control of blood sugar.
Depression is highly prevalent among patients with diabetes, Dr. Patrick J. Lustman, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues note, and recurrence after initial successful treatment is common. Depression, in turn, is linked to increased morbidity and mortality among diabetics, they point out in the Archives of General Psychiatry for May.
Previous studies have been limited to no more than 16 weeks of treatment, the authors report. The goal of the current study was to see if continued antidepressant treatment beyond the first remission would be effective in prolonging depression-free periods and improving glycemic (blood sugar) control.
Mom’s troubles up child’s risk of behavior problems
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When a mother suffers from mental health problems and other difficulties during her child’s first year of life, the child is more likely to have behavior problems later on, new research shows. And the more problems a mother faces, the greater the risk.
“The child’s brain is really shaped by the early environment, and mom is a big part of that, especially in the first year of life,” Dr. Robert C. Whitaker of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health.
This study provides “evidence of how early in life there’s a transfer of difficulty from one generation to the next,” Whitaker said, adding: “Early in a child’s life is an opportune time to break that cycle.”
