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Morning sickness in second trimester ups pregnancy risks

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:22:39 -0500

Women with severe morning sickness are at an increased risk for pregnancy complications, especially if the problem occurs during the second trimester, a new study from Sweden suggests.

In the study, mothers-to-be who were hospitalized for severe morning sickness, called hyperemesis gravidarum, during their second trimester were twice as likely to developpreeclampsia, and 1.4 times more likely to give birth to a baby that was small for his or her gestational age, compared with women who didn't suffer from severe morning sickness. The second trimester was defined as being between weeks 12 and 21 of pregnancy.

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Women hospitalized for hyperemesis gravidarum during the second trimester were also about three times more likely to experience placental abruption, which occurs when the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus, compared with women without hyperemesis gravidarum.

Morning sickness severe enough to require hospitalization is very rare. During the study, which included more than 1 million women, just 1.1 percent of women were hospitalized because of the condition.

Hyperemesis gravidarum made international headlines last month when Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge, spent four days in the hospital as a result of the condition. Last week, it was reported that Middleton is receiving hypnotherapy to treat the condition.

Severe morning sickness can cause malnutrition and dehydration in the woman, and has previously been linked to preterm birth. [See 3 Health Risks Linked to Severe Morning Sickness.]

The study findings suggest that hyperemesis gravidarum during the second trimester demands "an increased alertness and supervision during the pregnancy for development of any adverse outcomes," said study researcher Marie Bolin, of Uppsala University's Department of Women's and Children's Health.

While most women experience some nausea and vomiting during early pregnancy, these typically subside after 10 to 16 weeks.

Severe morning sickness is thought to be caused by high levels of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is made by the placenta and produced mainly during the first trimester. High hCG levels during the second trimester could indicate abnormal placenta formation, the researchers said.

The study will be published in the Jan. 30 issue of the journal BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Why really hungry people crave starchy foods

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:49:00 -0400

When finally given a chance to eat after hours of fasting, people tend to reach for high-calorie, starchy foods over nutritious foods, a new study finds.

In the study, 75 percent of participants placed on an 18-hour fast started their next meal with a starch (such as French fries) or a protein (such as chicken) rather than a vegetable, the researchers found. In contrast, the majority of participants who did not fast beforehand started the meal with a vegetable.

The researchers also found that over the meal, participants ate the most calories from the food they consumed first, compared with other foods on their plates, according to the study published today in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

The findings may explain why people who are "food insecure," or who experience uncertainly regarding whether they will be able to get enough food to meet their households' needs, are paradoxically at a higher risk for obesity, Amy Yaroch and Courtney Pinard, both of the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition in Omaha Neb., write in an editorial accompanying the study.

"Food-insecure populations also experience extended periods of hunger, and thus may be more prone to over-consume calorie dense, nutrient-poor foods," Yaroch and Pinard wrote.

Starch over vegetables

Studies on animals have examined the amount of calories consumed after fasting, but not what types of foods animals tend to chose first.

In the new study, Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, and colleagues randomly assigned 128 college students to either an 18-hour fast (from 6:00 pm at night until noon the next day) or no fast.

At lunch after the fast, participants were offered a buffet with their choice of two starches (dinner rolls and French fries), two proteins (chicken and cheese), and two vegetables (carrots and green beans). Scales in the tables measured how much food participants served themselves, and video cameras recorded the order in which participants ate the food.

Thirty-five percent of participants in the fasting group began their meal with a starch, compared with 13 percent of those who did not fast.

Just 25 percent of participants in the fasting group began their meal with a vegetable, compared with 56 percent of those who did not fast.

Participants consumed bout 47 percent more calories from the first food they ate compared with other foods.

The findings also suggest hospitals and cafeterias that make meals for food-deprived people (such as those who have fasted before a surgery) should find ways to make healthy foods more visible and enticing on the plate, and reduce the serving size of starchy foods, the researchers said.

Food insecurity and obesity

Other studies have found a link between obesity and food insecurity, Yaroch and Pinard said.

However, the new study was small and it's not clear whether the findings apply to other populations.

"This study opens the door for further research to be conducted using a more diverse study population (eg, low income, racially diverse individuals from across the lifespan), which could have further implications for the study of factors related to both food insecurity and obesity," Yaroch and Pinardwrote.

Pass it on: People tend to eat starchy foods first after fasting.

Pot Smokers May Have Lower Risk of Obesity

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:33:25 -0400

Despite the tendency of marijuana users to experience the "munchies," pot smokers may have a lower risk of obesity that those who don't use the drug, a new study finds.

The results show the prevalence of obesity is lower among people who frequently smoke pot compared with those who have never inhaled.

The researchers said they were surprised by their initial results, because they expected to find the opposite. So they examined a second sample of people, and found exactly the same result. Together, the two samples studied more than 50,000 people.

The reason behind the link is not clear. It could be that people who use cannabis also engage in other behaviors that lower their obesity risk. Or it may be that pot smokers exercise more or have a specific diet that keeps them thin, said study researcher Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at Louis Mourier Hospital in France.

"On a personal point of view, I would be surprised that cannabis use is associated with a higher rate of physical activity, but this cannot be ruled out," Le Strat told MyHealthNewsDaily.

Another possibility is that components of cannabis may help people lose weight. If this turns out to be the case, researchers should investigate which components these might be and try to put them into drug form, Le Strat said.

Cannabis and obesity

Cannabis use is known to increase appetite. In studies, drugs have been developed to block a receptor in the brain that is activated by cannabis compounds (called the cannabinoid CB1 receptor) in the hope that the drugs would reduce hunger. However, very few studies have looked at the link between cannabis use and obesity.

Le Strat and colleagues examined data from two national surveys in the United States called the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and the National Comorbidity Survey—Replication, involving about 41,600 and 9,100 people, respectively.

Between 4 and 7 percent of participants in these surveys reported using cannabis at least once in the last year.

Obesity was assessed using participants' body mass index (BMI).

The survey showed that about 22 to 25 percent of people who don't smoke pot were obese, while 16 to 17 percent of cannabis users were obese.

Obesity was less common among users who smoked pot more frequently. For instance, the NESARC survey showed about 14 percent of participants who used cannabis three days a week or more were obese, the researchers said. Between 0.7 and 1.8 percent of the sample smoked marijuana this frequently.

The participants reported their own BMI as well as cannabis use, so if they did not give accurate estimates of these measurements, the results could be skewed.

Don't smoke pot

Regardless of the effect of cannabis on obesity, Le Strat said she does not recommend people smoke cannabis to lose weight. Cannabis has well-known physical and mental health consequences, including an increased risk of psychosis.

"As an addiction psychiatrist, I see every day people struggling with cannabis dependence. I would not recommend smoking cannabis for any reason," Le Strat said.

The study was published Aug. 24 in the American Journal of Epidemiology. One of the authors of the study has submitted a patent application in Canada entitled ‘‘Use of Marijuana and Compounds Therein for Treating Obesity."

Pass it on: Obesity is less common in people who smoke cannabis.

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Woman's IVF prevented fatal brain disorder in her children

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 10:30:00 -0500

A woman whose genes put her at high risk for a rare brain disorder was able to avoid passing on the condition to her children through a special in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, according to a new report of the case.

The woman, a 27-year-old in the United States, had undergone genetic testing that showed she had inherited a gene that put her at risk for Gerstmann-Strussler-Scheinker (GSS) syndrome, a rare and fatal brain disorder seen in only a few families in the world. Symptoms of the condition usually appear between ages 35 and 55, and include progressively worsening speech, movement and memory problems.

To have children, the woman and her husband used IVF, an assisted-reproduction technique in which eggs from the mother are fertilized in a laboratory. But before implanting the embryos in the uterus, doctors took an extra step and screened the embryos for the GSS genetic mutation. [7 Diseases You Can Learn About From a Genetic Test]

This screening step is known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a technique that doctors already use to help couples conceive a healthy child if they are at risk for passing down fatal or debilitating conditions, the researchers said. This was the first time the technique had been used for a disease of the GSS type.

Six out of the 12 embryos were mutation free, and the couple chose to implant two embryos. Both embryos implanted successfully, and the woman gave birth to twins after nearly 34 weeks of pregnancy. Because the babies were premature, their weight and head circumference were below normal at birth, but by 3 months of age, they had caught up, the report said. At about 2 years old, the twins were on track with their communication, social and emotional development milestones, the report said.

GSS occurs when normal proteins in the brain, called prions, fold abnormally. Other inherited prion diseases include familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and fatal familial insomnia.

This is the first known case of a mother undergoing IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis to prevent a prion disease in her children, the researchers said. The report shows that preimplantation genetic diagnosis can be an option for couples with genetic prion disorders who want to conceive, the researchers said.

The report, written by researchers at the Institute for Human Reproduction in Chicago, and Duke University in Durham, N.C., was published Feb. 3 in the journal JAMA Neurology.

Snail Shell Could Inspire Better Body Armor

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:23:29 -0500

A snail's shell that protects it from attacks underwater could provide clues for designing improved body armor to guard human soldiers, a new study suggests.

The research involved an unusual sea snail, the so-called "scaly-foot" snail which was first reported in 2003 and makes its home in the harsh environment of a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the Indian Ocean. Past studies of the snail, a type of sea mollusk, revealed its foot was covered in plates of iron-sulfide minerals, and it is now the only known animal today to employ iron sulfides as a structural material.

Like other snails, this one also sports a shell covering its body. Although hard, a typical snail's shell will fracture if persistently squeezed by a predatory crab. Hoping to learn exactly how the scaly-foot snail's shell is designed to resist such crushing, the authors took a close look at the shell's structure, examining it on the nanoscale.

They saw that shell is composed of three layers: a hard outer layer that contains iron sulfides, similar to the ones identified in its foot scales; a more supple middle layer made of organic material; and a stiff inner layer with a large amount of calcium minerals. This arrangement of "rigid-compliant-rigid" layers creates a trilayer, sandwich structure unique to this snail, the researchers say.

Snail protection

After figuring out the shell's structure, the team used a computer model to simulate how the shell faired when subjected to a penetrating force, similar in strength to the pinching of a crab's claws.

"Each layer does something differently," said lead researcher Christine Ortiz, a materials science and engineering professor at the MIT.

The hard outer layer contains small, grain-like particles. When under attack, these granules help to dispel the energy of the blow, spreading it out across the outer region. Any fractures that occur will disperse along jagged lines guided by the granules, forming fissures in the top layer.

"Cracks that form travel extensively throughout the outer layers, thereby protecting the inner layers and mitigating catastrophic fracture," Ortiz said.

The softer middle layer helps protect the brittle inner layer from cracking, Ortiz explained. And the inner layer itself protects the snail's body from injury. Since this inner layer is rigid, it doesn't displace into the animal's body during an assault, which could cause blunt trauma, Ortiz said.

Put together, the three layers work to help prevent penetration of the shell and also withstand bending.

The outer and middle layers also help the snail to survive in the extreme environment characteristic of hydrothermal vents, since these layers are resistant to dissolving in the highly acidic waters. And the middle layer protects the snail from temperature changes at the vents.

Snail-like armor and sporting gear

The shell's structure may one day inspire new and better designs for human protective equipment, from body armor to sporting gear. The three-layer arrangement and curved surface give the shell stability and penetration resistance, highly valued characteristics of materials used for armor, Ortiz said.

Automobiles painted with an iron-based, granular coating similar to the one found in the shell's outer layer could dissipate energy in the same way the shell does when undergoing a predator attack.

However, any bio-inspired design would likely not use the exact same materials found in the snail's shell, which has flaws of its own. Scientist would simply use it as a guide, and improve upon the shells shortcomings.

"Nature only uses what's available to it," said Ortiz. Engineers might use a similar design, but replace some of the components with high performance structural, or ballistic materials, she said.

The results were published online Jan. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hot tubs, spas can spread illness in winter

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:45:34 -0500

Disease outbreaks tied to swimming happen even in the winter, often after people go in hot tubs or spas, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between 2009 and 2010, there were 81 outbreaks and 1,326 cases of illness in the United States linked to recreational water exposure (in pools, lakes, hot tubs, etc.), according to information reported from 28 states and Puerto Rico. (An outbreak is defined as two or more people who visited the same location, around the same time, getting sick.)

Eighteen of these outbreaks (22 percent) were linked with hot tubs or spas, and about 40 percent of the outbreaks occurred in February or March, according to the report. Many of the winter outbreaks occurred in hotels.

One of the most common illnesses linked with hot tub/spa outbreaks is infection with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Healthy people can develop Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, including ear infections or skin rashes, after exposure to hot tubs that have not been properly chlorinated, according to the CDC. Called "hot-tub rash," the infection often appears in the shape of the bathing suit a person is wearing, because the suit holds the contaminated water, said Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist at the CDC's Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch.

Because of the high temperature in hot tubs, it can be hard to keep the level of disinfectant as high as it needs to be, Hlavsa told LiveScience.

As might be expected, most recreational-water outbreaks occurred in the summer months: Of the 57 outbreaks that occurred in treated facilities (such as pools), 25 occurred in July or August.

An additional 24 outbreaks occurred in untreated water (lakes, rivers, etc.), almost all of which occurred in the spring or summer.

The most common cause of illness was Cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrhea.

Awareness of recreational-water outbreaks is "important all year round," Hlavsa said.

Swimmers can protect themselves and others by taking a preswim shower, or not swimming if they have diarrhea, Hlavsa said.

Another tip is to try not to swallow the water in which you're swimming or wading, Hlavsa said. "We all think that chorine kills germs instantly, but it doesn't," Hlavsa said. Most germs are killed in a few minutes, but if someone swallows the water that has been contaminated with germs, they can become sick, Hlavsa said.

The report is published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Kids' electronic media use linked with poorer well-being

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 09:15:41 -0400

The amount of time kids spend watching TV or playing electronic games may affect their well-being in early childhood, including mental health factors like their risk for emotional problems, a new study from Europe suggests.

For girls in the study, each additional hour spent playing electronic games or using a computer on weekdays at age 4 was linked with a two-fold increase in the risk of emotional problems at age 6.

And for both boys and girls, each additional hour of weekday TV watching was linked with an increase in the risk of poor family functioning (such as the child not getting along well with parents). [Too Much of a Good Thing? 7 Addictive Educational iPad Games]

However, the study did not look at whether parents watched TV with their children, and did not consider the content of the TV and electronic games the children played, all of which could affect the results.

Experts say that parental monitoring of children's media use may help mitigate some of the adverse outcomes seen in this and other studies, said Dr. Daniel Coury, a behavioral specialist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, who was not involved in the study.

"Parents should be involved with monitoring the media that their children are watching," Coury said. For example, if children are allowed to watch TV, parents should try to watch with them so that they can put the shows in context and make sure the content is appropriate for the child's age, Coury said.

In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children limit screen time (the hours spent in front of a TV, computer or other screen for recreational purposes) to no more than two hours per day. (And TV is not recommended for children under age 2.)

Making sure that children adhere to these limits, when feasible, may have concrete benefit for kids, Coury said. A second study published in the same journal suggests that parents' monitoring of their child's media use may help reduce the risk of obesity so often tied to activities like TV watching.

Kids and screen time

Previous research on the link between electronic media use and children's well-being has been mixed, and most studies have considered only TV viewing (ignoring use of other forms of media.)

The new study analyzed information from more than 3,600 European children ages 2 to 6 years old, who the study followed for at least two years. Parents answered questions about their child's well-being, including queries about the child's self-esteem, social networks, emotional problems (being worried/unhappy) and peer problems (being picked on/bullied or being "rather solitary").

The link held between electronic media use and some aspects of well-being (such as emotional problems for girls) even after the researchers took into account the family's socioeconomic status and the child's well-being at the study start.

However, some researches criticized the study's design. Alexis Lauricella, a researcher at the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University in Illinois, noted that the questionnaires used in the study were designed for older children, so it's not clear whether using them with younger children is appropriate.

"Considering the very young age of these kids, I worry about the accuracy of parent-report regarding things like 'peer problems,'" for which parents indicated whether their child was "rather solitary," etc., Lauricella said.

Setting limits

The second study, conducted in the United States, found that less monitoring of a child's media use (specifically, less monitoring by the mother) was linked with a higher body mass index (BMI) in the child at age 7.

The findings held true even after the researchers took into account other factors that could affect obesity risk, such as the parent's BMI and level of education.

"Our results suggest that interventions aimed at parental supervision and control of child media exposure may promote healthy child weight development during middle childhood," said the researchers, from the Oregon Social Learning Center.

Both studies are published in the March 17 issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Could Brazilian waxing increase STD risk?

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:23:17 -0400

Brazilian waxing and other methods of removing pubic hair may increase the risk of catching certain skin infections through sex, preliminary research from France suggests.

Specifically, the study looked at the risk of catching Molluscum contagiosum,a skin infection that causes raised, pearl-like spots. The infection can spread through any type of contact and is most commonly seen in children, but in recent years, cases ofMolluscum contagiosum spread through sex have been on the rise in certain parts of the world.

Researchers at a private health clinic in Nice, France wondered whether the increasing popularity of pubic hair removal may have played a role in this increase.

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Of the 30 patients (6 women and 24 men) who visited their clinic with sexually transmitted Molluscum contagiosum in 2011 and 2012, 93 percent had removed their pubic hair, either through shaving (70 percent), clipping (13 percent) or waxing (10 percent). Ten of the 30 patients had at least one other skin condition, such as warts or a bacterial infection.

The researchers only found an association, and cannot prove that removing pubic hair increases the risk of contracting Molluscum contagiosum or other skin infections. The study was limited in that is was small and did not include a comparison group of people who are skin-infection free, so more research is needed to investigate the link.

However, experts not involved with the study say that, in theory, removing pubic hair could increase the risk of genital skin infections.

Small nicks or cuts in the skin, which could occur with hair removal, can make it easier for viruses to establish infections, researchers say.

"The body has a number of defense mechanisms to prevent infection. One of those mechanisms is normal, healthy skin," said Dr. Robert Brodell, chief of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Division of Dermatology. Aberrations in the skin "open the door for catching the infection," Brodell said.

Dr. Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, agreed and said that the herpes virus is known to be more transmissible if small trauma occurs to the skin during sex.

"From my standpoint, it makes sense," Zenilman said of the findings. However, he cautioned that the new study is not conclusive. For instance, it could be that other factors shared by the patients besides pubic hair removal increased their risk Molluscum contagiosum infection.

Dr. Mary Gail Mercurio, an associate professor of dermatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said she often sees Molluscum contagiosum in people who remove pubic hair.

"I instruct the patients to stop shaving until the condition is brought under control, because shaving just spreads it further," Mercurio said. Further studies comparing different methods of hair removal may shed light on the link, she said. For instance, laser hair removal would not be expected to increase the risk of infection because it doesn't abrade the skin.

It may be that shaving increases the risk of Molluscum contagiosum because the razor spreads the virus from one part of the body to another, Brodell said.

Brodell said he has not seen the link in his practice, but plans to ask people with Molluscum contagiosum infections if they've shaved in the recent past.

The new study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Non-stick cookware chemical linked with babies' weights

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:35:58 -0400

A group of compounds used in a variety of products, including non-stick cookware, may influence a baby's growth in the womb and after birth, a new study suggests.

In the study, pregnant women who were exposed to high levels of polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFCs, had babies that were smaller at birth and larger at age 20 months compared with those born to women exposed to lower levels of the compounds.

The results held even after the researchers adjusted for factors that could influence the babies' weights, including the mother's smoking habits and weight before pregnancy.

The findings agree with previous studies on the effect of PFC exposure during in-utero development. A recent study in Denmark found that girls exposed to PFCs in the womb were more likely to be overweight at age 20, said study researcher Michele Marcus, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health.

It's important to note the new study only found an association, and not a cause-effect link.

It's not clear how PFCs might influence growth rates, but it's possible they have an effect on fat metabolism, Marcus said.

Exposure in pregnancy

PFCs have thousands of uses in manufacturing, and most people have the compounds in their bodies. They are slow to break down, and persist for many years in the environment. They are commonly found in coatings of packaging products, as well as water-resistant clothing.

In the new study, Marcus and colleagues analyzed information from about 450 women living in England who were pregnant between 1991 and 1992, and gave birth to daughters.

Blood samples taken during pregnancy from the mothers were tested for the concentration of PFCs. Information about their children's weight and length were collected at birth, and again when they were 20 months old.

All of the mothers in the study had some PFCs in their blood. Girls born to mothers with the highest levels weighed about 5 ounces (140 grams) less on average at birth than girls born to mothers with the lowest levels.

By age 20 months, girls born to mothers with the highest blood levels of PCFs weighed 1.3 pounds (580 grams) more, on average, than girls born to mothers with the lowest levels.

The researchers were not able to examine the children's exposure to PFCs after birth, which may have affected the results, they said.

Because the women in the study had their blood collected about two decades ago, when PFC levels in the environment were higher, the findings do not tell us what the risks of exposure are to women who become pregnant now, said Dr. Magaly Diaz-Barbosa, medical director of neonatal services at Miami Children's Hospital, who was not involved in the study.

"While it would be reasonble for today's pregnant women to try to avoid exposure to these compounds, studies need to be conducted using more recent data before we can draw conclusions about the risks," Diaz-Barbosa said.

How to avoid PFCs

Pregnant women should avoid exposure to chemicals that could interfere with hormone signals, Marcus said.

To do this, Marcus recommended avoiding use of non-stick cookware (use iron or stainless steel instead), and not heating microwave food in its packaging.

"Cardboard food packaging is often coated with PFCs to prevent the food from sticking to the cardboard," Marcussaid.

Marcus also recommended not to heat food in plastic containers in the microwave.

The study was published online Aug. 30 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

90 percent of people with prediabetes don't know it

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:59:15 -0400

Although 79 million people in the U.S. have prediabetes, nearly 90 percent don't know it, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

People with prediabetes have blood sugar levels that are abnormally high, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Prediabetes puts people at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes; about 15 to 30 percent of people with prediabetes who don't take steps to reduce their risk will progress to type 2 diabetes in the following five years, the CDC says.

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In 2005 and 2006, about 7 percent of people with prediabetes in a CDC survey knew they had the condition. To see if awareness had changed in recent years, the CDC analyzed information from a 2009 to 2010 survey of adults ages 20 years and over. Participants gave blood samples and were asked if a doctor had ever told them that they had prediabetes.

Just 11 percent of those with the condition knew that they had it. People taking medication for high blood pressure or high cholesterol were more likely to know that they had prediabetes compared with those not taking such medications (14 percent versus 6 percent). And those who were obese were more likely to know they had the condition compared with those of normal weight (10 percent versus 4 percent).

Strategies to increase awareness of prediabetes are needed so those with the condition can take steps to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes, the CDC said. Eating healthy foods, increasing physical activity and losing weight can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes among those with prediabetes.

The report will be published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Teens' late-night cellphone use linked with mental health problems

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:17:59 -0400

Teens who use their cellphones after "lights out" may be at increased risk for mental health problems, as well as lost sleep, a new study from Japan suggests.

In the study, teens who frequently used their cellphones after going to bed were more likely to have poor mental health and suicidal thoughts, and to have harmed themselves, compared with those who did not use their phones at that time of night.

The link held true even after the researchers took into account other factors known to affect mental health, such as alcohol and drug use.

In addition, among young teens, cellphone use after lights out was linked with shorter time spent asleep, the researchers said.

Researchers caution that the study only found an association, and they cannot say that nighttime cellphone use causes mental health problems or reduced sleep. It could be that teens who use phones after bedtime are a specific group, one already prone to mental health troubles.

However, the findings add to a growing body of research linking poor sleep with mental problems in teens. For instance, a study published last year found that teens who had trouble sleeping were at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

Looking at a bright display and performing tasks that excite the brain may change the production of melatonin, a hormone produced during sleep, and hurt the quality of a night’s rest, the researchers said.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo investigated close to 18,000 adolescents in in junior high and high school in Japan. Participants answered questions designed to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the occurrence of suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

Participants also reported how many hours they slept at night and how often they spoke on their cellphones or sent emails after going to bed.

The findings do not necessarily apply to U.S. children, said Dr. Michael Brody, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Silver Springs, Md. Japan has a different culture and one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

In addition, the researchers do not know the reasons for the nighttime cellphone use. The children could be reaching out to others at night to talk about their problems, Brody said.

"I wonder how many kids have been saved from destructive activity by talking about it," Brody said.

But Lauren Hale, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook University in New York, said the findings were not surprising, given what we know about the link between shortened sleep time and poor mental health.

The cause of that link remains unknown, however. Mental health problems may lead people to stay up late at night and use their phones, for example, Hale said.

In addition, the study failed to take into account other things the children may be doing after lights out. "They watch television, they surf of the web…they play video games, and all of these things are eating into sleep time and may have their own independent consequences," Hale said.

The professor said she is in favor of taking cellphones out of bedrooms. However, further studies will need to be conducted to see if prohibiting late-night cellphone use improves teens' mental health, she said.

The study is published in the October issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

C-sections may boost child's risk of obesity

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 07:50:55 -0500

Babies delivered by Caesarean section may be at increased risk of becoming obese later in life, a new study suggests.

In the research, which included more than 38,000 people from 10 countries, the odds of being obese as an adult were 22 percent higher for those born by C-section, compared with those born by vaginal delivery.

And the odds of being overweight (but not obese) as an adult were 26 percent higher for those born by C-section.

The study adds to a growing body of research linking C-section births to obesity. A 2012 study of children in Massachusetts found that those born by C-section had double the odds of being obese at age 3. The new study is the largest to find a link between Caesarean delivery and weight in adulthood. [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies]

"There are good reasons why C-section may be the best option for many mothers and their babies, and C-sections can on occasion be life-saving," study researcher Dr. Neena Modi, of Imperial College London, said in a statement. "However, we need to understand the long-term outcomes in order to provide the best advice to women who are considering Caesarean delivery."

The study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between C-sections and obesity, however. It's possible that other factors not taken into account by the study, such as whether the mother was obese or had gestational diabetes, could explain the link.

Still, given the rising rates of C-sections worldwide, there is an urgent need to determine what's behind the link, the researchers said. Currently, about a third of babies born in the United States, and a fourth of babies born in England, are delivered by C-section.

In the new study, the researchers reviewed information from 15 previous studies that collected data on individuals' method of delivery when they were born, as well as their body mass index (BMI) in adulthood. (BMI takes into account a person's height and weight, and provides a measure of body fatness.) The average age of participants in these studies ranged from 18 to 70; researchers defined obesity as a BMI of more than 30, and overweight as a BMI between 25 and 30.

The link between C-section delivery and adult obesity was strongest among participants born more recently, indicating that the link may be of growing importance, the researchers said.

It's not clear how the link may work, but one explanation involves gut bacteria. The types of bacteria in the guts of babies born by C-section tend to differ from those born by vaginal delivery, the researchers said.

The study is published Feb. 26 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Why H7N9 bird flu cases arose so quickly

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:00:26 -0400

The H7N9 bird flu virus appears to be particularly well adapted to jump from birds to people, a new study from China finds.

In the study, the H7N9 virus was able to bind to receptors on both human and bird cells. Thats different from the H5N1 bird flu virus, which bound more strongly to receptors on bird cells, and the H1N1 flu virus, which bound more strongly to receptors on human cells.

The ability of H7N9 to bind to both "human type" and "avian type" receptors may be one reason why the virus was able to cause so many cases of infection so quickly, experts say.

"We are seeing more transmission, faster, with this H7N9 than we saw with H5N1," said Robert Webster, a bird flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., who was not involved with the study.

The new virus first showed up in China in February, and so far, has infected 132 people, including 39 who have died.

Webster stressed that the receptor binding ability was not the only factor that makes the virus so worrying. Flu viruses have eight gene segments, and multiple changes in each of the segments are needed to allow the virus to transmit between people. Because of its genetic changes, H7N9 appears to be "closer" to becoming a transmissible virus compared to the H5N1 virus, Webster said.

So far, there have been no reports of sustained human-to-human transmission of H7N9. The new study also suggested one reason why this might be: The virus grows well in lung tissue, but not as well in the trachea where it could be transmitted through a cough or sneeze. If the virus adapts to thrive farther up the respiratory tract, it may more easily pass between people.

The study also found that, as suspected, the general public does not have immunity to H7N9, which means they are at risk for infection.

The pandemic threat of H7N9 "should not be underestimated," the researchers wrote in the July 4 issue of the journal Nature.

However, the outbreak appears to be dwindling this summer there have been no reports of new H7N9 cases since the end of May. Shutting all the poultry markets in Shanghai, an action taken by China health officials, may have contributed to this decline, Webster said. But H7N9 may return in the colder months, he said.

Armpit infection causes man's intense body odor

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 10:45:48 -0400

One man's irrepressible body odor was the result of a bacterial infection of his armpit hair, according to a new report of the case.

The 40-year-old man told his doctors he'd had armpit odor and "dirty" armpit hair for the last four years.

There was a "creamy yellow" substance on the man's armpit hairs. Looking at the hairs under the microscope, the doctors saw that the hairs were surrounded by an "opaque material" that was only on the hair surface. [13 Oddest Medical Cases]

The doctors diagnosed the man with trichomycosis axillaris, which is an infection of hair shafts caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium tenuis, the researchers said. The infection can produce yellow, black or red masses around hair shafts.

The bacteria tend to grow on hair in moist regions of the body mostly armpit hair, but sometimes pubic hair.

The odor that comes with the condition is due, in part, to the ability of the bacteria to metabolize testosterone in sweat into smelly compounds, the researchers said.

The man had his armpit hair shaved, and was treated with aluminum chloride (used to treat sweating) as well as the antibiotic erythromycin. The odor went away several weeks later, his doctors said.

The report, described by researchers in Beijing and Madrid, is published Oct. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Eating healthy fats during pregnancy may reduce baby's autism risk

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:45:17 -0400

Women who eat certain types of "healthy fat" during pregnancy may reduce their risk of having a child with autism, a new study suggests.

In the study, women who consumed high levels of linoleic acid a type of omega-6 fatty acid found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds were 34 percent less likely to give birth to a child with autism compared with women who consumed low levels of the nutrient.

In addition, women who consumed very low levels of omega-3 fatty acids which are found in fish were 53 percent more likely to have a child with autism compared with women who consumed average amounts.

"Our results provide preliminary evidence that increased maternal intake of omega-6 fatty acids could reduce risk of offspring [autism spectrum disorder], and that very low intakes of omega-3 fatty acids and linoleic acid could increase risk," the researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in their study.

The study found only an association, and not a cause-and-effect link, between pregnant women's fatty-acid consumption and a decreased risk of having a child with autism. In addition, the study was small, and future research will be needed to confirm the results, the researchers said.

The reason for the link is not known, but these types of fatty acids have been shown to be important for brain development of the fetus, the researchers said. A woman's supply of fatty acids is used by the fetus toward the end of pregnancy, and is needed for the first two months of life.

The March of Dimes recommends that pregnant women consume about 200 milligrams (0.007 ounces) of the omega-3 fatty acid Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per day. (One 5-ounce serving of salmon provides about 2,100 mg of DHA, so one serving weekly means a person's daily intake would average 300 milligrams.) Though mercury in fish is a concern during pregnancy, fish such as salmon, herring and sardines tend to be low in mercury, and pregnant women can safely eat up to 12 ounces per week, the March of Dimes says. Nuts and vegetable oils (e.g., canola oil, soybean oil and olive oil) can also be good sources of healthy fatty acids.

The new study included 317 mothers who had a child with autism and 17,728 mothers who had a child without autism. Participants answered questions about the types of food they ate. The researchers noted that 5,884 women in the study completed the questionnaire during their pregnancy, while the rest completed it within about a year after being pregnant.

The researchers noted that consuming high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids did not further decrease the risk of autism compared with the risk for women who consumed average amounts.

This suggests that although getting too little omega-3 fatty acids may increase the risk of autism, once a certain threshold is reached, further consumption doesn't provide an extra benefit, the researchers said.

The researchers took into account other factors that might have influenced the risk of autism, such as the mother's age, total calorie intake and smoking status during pregnancy. But it's possible that other factors not included in the study may explain the link.

The study was published online June 27 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Depression and asthma linked in people worldwide

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:37:08 -0400

In countries around the world, people with asthma appear to have an increased risk of depression, a new study finds.

The results show that among people living in 57 countries, those with asthma had more than double the odds of experiencing depression compared with those without asthma.

While previous studies have linked asthma and depression, the majority have been conducted in the Western world, including North America, Australia and Europe. Because countries differ in such factors as common asthma treatments and access to health care, it wasn’t clear whether this link would be found in non-Western nations, the researchers said.

"Despite a range of country differences that could affect the association of asthma with depression…the results of this study indicate that the co-occurrence of asthma and depression is a universal phenomenon," the researchers write in the Aug. 9 issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. Moreover, the link appears to be strongest in non-Western countries, the researchers said.

The findings are important, because people who experience depression along with asthma have worse health, including increased severity of asthma, a greater risk of hospitalization and a higher risk of dying, the researchers say.

However, it's not clear now whether all asthma patients should be screened for depression, because it's not known if treating depression could improve asthma symptoms, the researchers said.

Adrian Loerbroks, of Heidelberg University's Mannheim Institute of Public Health in Germany, and colleagues analyzed information from more than 245,700 people who had completed the 2002 World Health Survey. Participants reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with asthma, or had experienced attacks of wheezing in the last year. They also answered questions intended to diagnose major depression, such as whether, within the last year, they experienced a loss of interest in activities they enjoy.

Overall, about 6.4 percent of people had asthma, and 10.3 percent had wheezing. Rates of asthma ranged from 3.9 percent in Africa to 19 percent in Australia, and rates of wheezing ranged from 8.2 percent in Africa to 19 percent in Australia. About 8.4 percent of people experienced major depression within the last year.

The link between the conditions was strongest among people in South America and Asia, although it was also present in Europe, Australia and Africa.

It's still not clear whether having asthma might cause depression, or vice versa.

It's possible that psychological stress, such as that from depression, affects the immune system in a way that predisposes people to asthma. For instance, stress may increase inflammation in the airway, which could lead to asthma, according to a review published last year in Primary Care Respiratory Journal.

It could also be that asthma patients with depression suffer worse breathing symptoms because they do not adhere to their asthma treatments, or because they perceive their symptoms as more intense, the review says.

Pass it on: The link between asthma and depression holds true no matter where in the world people live.

Sleep-deprived teen drivers more likely to crash

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:15:33 -0400

Too little sleep increases the risk of car crashes for young drivers, a new study confirms.

In the study, drivers ages 17 to 24 who reported sleeping six or fewer hours per night were about 20 percent more likely to be involved in a car crash over a two-year period, compared with those who slept more than six hours a night.

Car crashes among the sleep-deprived were more likely to occur between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. than at other hours.

The findings held even after the researchers took into account factors that affect people's risk of a car crash, such as age, the number of driving hours per week, risky driving behavior such as speeding and a history of car crashes.

Sleep deprivation is known to be a risk factor for car crashes it's estimated that drowsy driving is responsible for 20 percent of all car crashes in the United States, the researchers say. However, most studies to date have not focused on young people.

Young drivers should be a focus of education efforts to prevent drowsy driving "because this group experiences more impairment in alertness, mood and physical performance compared with older age groups with similar sleep deprivation," the researchers said.

The new study involved more than 19,000 young, newly licensed drivers living in New South Wales, Australia, who answered questions about their sleep habits, including how many hours they slept on weeknights and weekends. Researchers then tracked the participants for two years, and obtained police reports to document car crashes.

Among drivers who reported getting six or fewer hours of sleep a night, 9.4 percent were involved in a crash, compared with 6.9 percent of those who reported more than six hours of sleep a night.

The new findings "may help increase awareness of the impact of reduced sleep hours on crash risk and highlight subgroups of young drivers and times of day for targeted intervention," the researchers write in the May 20 issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

The researchers noted that participants were only asked about their sleep habits once during the study, and the exact number of hours participants slept on the day before they were involved in a crash is not known.

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on LiveScience.

One source of China bird flu virus found

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:15:28 -0400

Poultry markets in Shanghai are one likely place where people are contracting the new bird flu virus, a new study from China suggests.

In the study, researchers collected 970 samples from poultry markets and farms in Shanghai, and the Anhui Province in eastern China. The samples included drinking water and soil from the areas, as well as swabs from birds' throats.

Twenty samples tested positive for the H7N9 virus, all from poultry markets in Shanghai. Ten of the positive samples were from chickens, three from pigeons, and seven from the surrounding environment. The H7N9 viruses in the samples were very genetically similar to the viruses that have sickened people in China, suggesting that poultry markets are a source of infections, the researchers said.

So far, health officials know of 108 people who've fallen ill with the new strain of bird flu, 22 of whom have died, according to the World Health Organization. Right now, there are no reports of sustained human-to-human transmission.

The new study provides "evidence for what many people had assumed anyway," which is that people can contract bird flu at poultry markets, said Dr. Richard Webby, a bird flu expert and infectious disease researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital who was not involved in the study. Previously, reports of infection with the H5N1 strain of bird flu were linked to poultry markets, Webby said.

However, the new study does not suggest that the new H7N9 bird flu virus originated in Shanghai poultry markets, or that the markets are the only source of infection, said Dr. Andy Pavia, chief of the University of Utah's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and chair of the influenza advisory committee at the Infectious Disease Society of America.

"It's not clear that markets are the source for the great majority [of infections] — we just don’t know," Pavia said.

In fact, it has been reported that as many as 40 percent of people infected with H7N9 did not have a history of contact with poultry.

New flu viruses can arise when gene segments from different flu strains mix and match. The new study and others suggest that H7N9 had three genetic "parents" that combined to make the new virus, Pavia said. All three of the parent viruses are thought to have infected birds, he said.

Poultry markets may provide a sort of breeding ground for such reassortment to happen.

"It provides a rather unnatural environment where a lot of these different bird species, that may have different [flu] viruses, get together," and perhaps share viruses, Webby said.

Yanzhong Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., said that it's still not certain that the new virus originated in poultry. For instance, pigeons have also been found to be infected with the virus, Huang said.

To control the outbreak, Chinese health officials need a way to eliminate the infected bird population, and limit human exposure to the virus, Pavia said. (Currently, the virus does not appear to make birds ill.)

A diagnostic test for H7N9 would allow health officials to know where people are getting sick with the virus, Pavia said. Health officials will continue to remain vigilant and track the spread of the virus, he said.

In new study is published in the April issue of the journal Chinese Science Bulletin.

How 'disease' label in kids affects treatment

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:55:41 -0400

Once a child's behavior is labeled as a "disease," parents are more willing to use medications to treat their child, even if they are told the medications aren't effective, a new study suggests.

In the study, 175 parents of healthy 1-month-old infants at a clinic in Michigan were asked to imagine that their baby was spitting up and crying frequently. Parents then imagined that took their infant to a doctor, and some were told that the doctor said the child had gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), while others were told the doctor did not diagnose a specific disease.

Parents who were told their child had GERD were interested in treating their infant with medications, even when they were told the medications probably wouldn't help improve the child's symptoms. In contrast, parents who weren't given a disease label by a doctor were not interested in using the medications if they were told the medications were not effective.

While many young children cry and spit up excessively, few actually have GERD, a condition that can only be confirmed when doctors use an instrument called an endoscope to look down a child's throat. However, many doctors unnecessarily diagnose GERD when a child exhibits these normal behaviors, and prescribe unnecessary treatments, the researchers said. Between 1999 and 2004, there was a sevenfold increase in the use of medications to treat GERD, the researchers said.

"Doctors may inadvertently encourage the use of questionable medical interventions and foster medicalization of minor pediatric illnesses by using labels that increase patients’ perceived need for treatment," the researchers write in the April 1 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

In a commentary accompanying the study, Dr. William Carey, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said: "This is compelling evidence that the choice of words by physicians can significantly affect parents' views of their children’s health."

"This paper should reinforce the need to focus attention on pediatric pathogenesis, and strengthen efforts to reduce it," Carey said. The way doctors identify and deal with perhaps annoying yet normal children's behavior, and how doctors discuss children's health with parents "makes a big difference in the quality of care," he added.

An American diet without meat? How we’ll feed 11 billion people in 2100

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:14:52 -0500

Feeding the world's growing population will not be an easy task. By 2100, it's estimated that there will be 11 billion people on the planet, 3 billion more than there are today. And 870 million people worldwide are already chronically hungry.

The planet can definitely produce enough food for 11 billion people, experts say, but whether humans can do it sustainably, and whether consumers will ultimately be able to afford that food, are separate matters. Humans can't rely on a single solution to feed a population of this size, experts say. A number of different strategies will be required, each of which will move humans a little bit closer toward closing the gap between the amount of food they have, and the amount of food they need.

Here are six possible strategies to help feed 11 billion people:

Eat less meat

As society tries to feed the growing population, it will have to pay close attention to the use of the Earth's resources, or risk making the situation worse.

More from LiveScience

What 11 Billion People Mean for the Planet

Americans Eat Nearly a Ton of Food Per Year (infographic)

Can the World Feed 11 Billion People? (Infographic)

Beef in particular is not a very sustainable food to eat, said Jamais Cascio, a distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif. According to Cascio's calculation, the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the production of cheeseburgers in the United States each year is about equal to the greenhouse gas emissions from 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs over a year.

To feed 11 billion people, Americans will need to eat differently than they do today, which may involve eating more vegetables, which take much less energy to produce, and less meat, Cascio said. [What 11 Billion People Mean for Food Security]

Eat fake meat?

Another, perhaps more outlandish, solution may be to eat meat that isn't from an animal at all. Scientists have been working to develop cultured meat, or synthetic meat grown in a lab. Earlier this year, researchers in the Netherlands showcased their lab-grown burger, and allowed a taste test. However, right now, the cost is exorbitant (a single burger costs $325,000), and it does not taste exactly like meat (taste-testers said the burger was dry). But with future research, the price is likely to come down, and the product's taste could improve, Cascio said.

However, some have been skeptical that lab-grown meat would be truly more sustainable than meat from cows. Cultured meat still requires nutrients, and currently, researchers "feed" lab meat, in part, with blood from cow fetuses, according to a 2012 Discover Magazine post by Christina Agapakis, a synthetic biologist at UCLA. Researchers have proposed that they could one day use algae to feed cultured meat, but this has not been proven.

Throw less food away

One big inefficiency in today's food systems is how much food is wasted: One out of every four calories that's produced for human consumption today is not ultimately consumed because it is lost or wasted, according to the World Resource Institute, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect the Earth for current and future generations.

Some 56 percent of global food loss and waste occurs in the developed world. And the average American household loses $1,600 a year on wasted food, WRI says.

At home, Americans can reduce the amount of food they throw away by eating leftovers, or not preparing more food than they'll need for a given meal, said Craig Hanson, director of the People & Ecosystems Program at WRI.

Aquaponics

One up-and-coming idea for sustainable food production is actually based on an ancient concept called aquaponics, a system that combines fish farming with plant farming in water. The fish fertilize the plants, and the plants clean the water for the fish, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which has its own aquaponics project.

"You can eat the fish, you can eat the plants, and it keeps going," Cascio said of the system.
"It gives a much more efficient use of land," he said.

The idea for aquaponics appears to have arisen hundreds of years ago, when farmers in Southeast Asia found that they could add tilapia to their rice paddy fields to improve production yields, according to Michigan Technological University.

Vertical farming

Given the scarcity of new agricultural land to grow food, some have proposed taking farming into the sky: growing crops in so-called vertical farms. Dickson Despommier, an ecologist and professor at Columbia University, said that food grown in skyscrapers would have many advantages. Food produced in vertical farms would not be in danger of being lost due to extreme weather events, and because the farms would be inside cities themselves, crops would not need to be shipped thousands of miles, Despommier wrote in an essay on his website.

However, the idea of vertical farming has not been proven. And some researchers have argued that the cost of lighting indoor vertical farms would be too expensive, according to a 2010 Economist article.

Improve crop production worldwide

Crop production in certain parts of the world is not very efficient, said Jason Clay, an expert in natural resources management at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a conservation organization. Efforts should be made to improve crop production in those areas, using the foods that are already grown and eaten by the people there, Clay said. Some native crops, such as pigeon peas and pulses in South Asia, and cowpeas and millet in Africa, have not yet benefited from plant breeding techniques, which could improve productivity, he said.

"We need to recognize that the best producers in the world of a crop are 100 times better than the worst. Bottom producers [who are the least efficient] have the most to gain," Clay said.

Cholesterol drugs may help ward off Parkinson's

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:48:09 -0400

Taking statins may lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, particularly among people younger than 60, a new study suggests.

Overall, people who took cholesterol-lowering statins had a 26 percent decreased risk of developing Parkinson's disease over a 12-year period. For those under 60, the risk was reduced by 69 percent.

The results held even after the researchers took into account other factors that may heighten the risk of Parkinson's disease, such as smoking.

However, the results should be interpreted with caution, the researchers said. For starters, the calculations they made to determine whether their findings could be due to chance, instead of a real risk-reducing effect, showed that the results met this criteria, but just barely.

In addition, about 30 percent of people categorized as taking statins were likely taking another type of cholesterol-lowering drug.

In addition, statins have been found to lower blood levels of coenzyme Q, a substance that may protect against Parkinson's disease and is actually being tested as a treatment for the condition.

Because of this, and other potentially adverse effects of statins, more studies are needed to clarify the effect of these drugs on Parkinson's disease, including whether only certain types of statins have a beneficial effect.

Previous studies on whether statins reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease have had mixed results, although a 2005 study found that the drugs do not worsen the disease.

In the new study, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston followed 38,000 men and 91,000 women from 1994 to 2006. Participants were periodically asked whether they were taking statins.

During the study period, 644 cases of Parkinson's disease occurred: 593 among the 118,031 people who did not take statins (or 0.5 percent), and 51 among the 11,035 people who did take statins (or 0.46 percent).

For those over 60, there was no link between statin use and a lower risk of Parkinson's disease.

Statins might lower the risk of Parkinson's because they reduce inflammation in the brain, the researchers said.

Among the study's limitations are that it did not take into account the drugs' potencies, doses or abilities to cross into the brain, said Dr. Fatta Nahab, an assistant professor of neurology and neuroscience at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

"Since the brain changes associated with Parkinson disease occur over years to decades, it will also be challenging to design clinical trials to observe the modest differences identified in this study," Nahab said.

The study is published in the March issue of the journal Archives of Neurology. One of the study researchers served as a consultant for Teva Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures a statin. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Future of fertility treatment: 7 ways baby-making could change

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 07:45:23 -0400

More than three decades ago, researchers successfully combined sperm and egg in a lab dish to produce the first children born from in vitro fertilization (IVF), sometimes referred to as "test tube babies." Although the technique seemed futuristic at the time, it has since become commonplace, and has now been used to conceive an estimated 5 million children worldwide.

As technologies continue to advance, experts predict fertility treatments will become better, cheaper and more widespread in the next decade and beyond. In addition to helping infertile couples conceive, such treatments could become a common way for women to extend their fertile years, or for couples to avoid passing on serious conditions to their children.

However, such treatments raise a number of ethical issues, including the idea that parents may be able to select certain desirable traits in their children. Experts say guidelines should be created today to prevent ethical problems in the future. [5 Myths About Fertility Treatments]

"Today it's very important to lay a foundation for what our expectations and acceptable standards will be, as a medical profession and as a society," said Dr. Britton Rink, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Here are seven ways fertility treatments could change in the near, and far, future

Genetic screening will lead to better pregnancy rates

One technology that's already been used today, but will likely become more widespread in the future, is screening of embryos created by IVF before they are implanted to check for genetic abnormalities. Such abnormalities, including extra chromosomes or additions of large sections of DNA, can increase the risk of pregnancy failure (when the embryo does not implant) and miscarriage. Newer screening technologies can detect more of these genetic abnormalities, said Dr. Bala Bhagavath, of the Strong Fertility Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Currently, about 40 to 45 percent of women under age 35 who undergo a single cycle of IVF in the United States become pregnant, Bhagavath said. "We wanted to know, what would lead to 100 percent success?" Bhagavath said. Genetic screening before implantation "is bringing us closer," he said.

Right now, such screening is performed only in select cases, such when the woman has had multiple miscarriages. But as the cost and resources required for the screening go down, it will likely become more common, Bhagavath said.

More women will freeze their eggs

Although egg freezing has been around for many years, it wasn't until recently that researchers came up with a way to freeze eggs that does minimal damage to them.

In the past, eggs were frozen slowly, but because egg cells contain a lot of water, the water would form crystals during the freezing processes that damaged the cell structure, Bhagavath said.

But a new technique, perfected in the last five years or so, allows eggs to be frozen so quickly that crystals do not form. In 2012, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared egg freezing no longer experimental because eggs frozen with the new technique, called vitrification, are similar to fresh eggs in terms of their ability to lead to pregnancy (if the eggs are frozen at a young age).

In the future, it's a real possibility that for women in their early 20s, egg freezing will be a normal thing to do, Bhagavath said. As women grow older, the chances that their eggs contain chromosomal abnormalities goes up, but egg freezing allows women to preserve the fertility they had when they were younger, said Dr. Tomer Singer, a reproductive endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. [Will Egg Freezing Be the Future of Fertility?]

'Three-parent' embryos could prevent certain diseases

In February, the Food and Drug Administration debated whether to allow trials of so-called "three-parent" embryos in people. The procedure is intended to prevent women from passing on diseases that are carried by the mitochondria, the "powerhouse" of the cell that contains its own DNA. Mitochondrial diseases can cause a number of serious conditions, including seizures, muscle weakness, hearing loss and vision impairment, Rink said.

The method involves taking the DNA from the nucleus of an egg from woman with a mitochondrial disease, and putting it into the egg of a second woman, who has healthy mitochondria, and then fertilizing the egg with a man's sperm.

"Mitochondrial diseases are devastating and any potential technique to avoid their transmission would be wonderful," Rink said. However, caution is required going forward because scientists don't have a good understand of the long-term outcomes of manipulating embryos in this way, Rink said. People who undergo the procedure will need to be informed of the potential risks and benefits, she said.

Fertility treatments will use less hormones

IVF requires women to receive daily hormone injections for nearly two weeks to stimulate the ovaries to produce more than the usual number of eggs. Side effects of the treatment can include bloating, abdominal pain, mood swings, headaches and bruising from repeated injections, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But an experimental procedure called in vitro maturation (IVM) uses much lower doses of hormones with fewer injections, and can obtain eggs more quickly, Singer said. The reason for the difference between the two procedures is that IVF requires eggs to mature in the ovaries of the woman, but IVM takes the eggs out early, before they are mature. Researchers then uses techniques to mature the egg in a lab dish.

With fewer hormones needed, IVM is cheaper, does not have some of the side effects of IVF and requires fewer visits to the doctor, Singer said.

About 1,000 babies have been born with IVM worldwide, Singersaid. Currently, eggs obtained through IVM don't result in pregnancy as often as with IVF, so researchers are working on ways to improve the method, Singer said.

Genetic screening could eliminate cancer, increase life span

As researchers identify more and more genes for diseases, the genetic screening of IVF embryos "is going to take a whole new direction," said Dr. Avner Hershlag, chief of the Center for Human Reproduction at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York. Doctors could screen for a slew of genes, including those that increase the risk of cancer, or that are shown to prolong life, Hershlag said.

Doctors already can screen for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which significantly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and some fertility clinics have screened BRCA carriers to select embryos without the gene.

"Hopefully, we will increasingly [find] more and more genes that code for the rest of those cancers so that we can prevent cancer, one of the major killers," Hershlag said.

Stem cells could produce sperm and egg

Experiments in mice show that skin cells of the animals can be turned into stem cells, which can then be turned into the precursor cells for sperm and egg. If these precursor cells are implanted into sterile mice, the mice become fertile, producing sperm and egg that can be used to produce live baby mice.

It could be decades before researchers know if the method works in humans and is safe. But the findings raise the possibility that "women who have run out of eggs and men who dont make sperm may now be able to make new eggs or sperm from stem cells," Hershlag said.

Womb transplants will be an option

Earlier this year, doctors in Sweden said that they had performed uterus transplants in nine women who were either born without a womb, or had their womb removed due to cancer. The wombs were donated to the women from living relatives. The women cannot become pregnant through intercourse, but plan to undergo IVF. It remains to be seen whether the transplants will result in pregnancies.

Womb transplants may be used in select cases in the future, but Bhagavath said he did not think the procedure would become mainstream in countries in which surrogacy is allowed. The procedure requires women to take medications to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ, which can have serious side effects, including effects on the fetus, Bhagavath said.

Designer babies?

Although use of genetic screening for embryos raises the possibility of "designer babies," experts say that the traits that many people would find desirable for their children, such as intelligence and athletic ability, are complex, and it will be many years before we understand which genes lead to a smarter or more athletic person, Rink said.

But it could happen someday, Rink said, so it's important to consider the ethical and legal implications of the technology, and develop guidelines for their use.

"And if we work though that, the technologies will hopefully bring healing and benefit to those who need it," Rink said.

500,000 kids have high lead levels

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:00:31 -0400

More than half a million children in the United States have elevated levels of lead in their blood, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Surveys done between 2007 and 2010 show that about 535,000 children ages 1 to 5, or 2.6 percent of kids in this age group, had blood lead levels equal to or above the recommended 5 micrograms per deciliter (mg/dl), the report says.

That's down from the 8.6 percent seen in earlier surveys done between 1999 and 2002, but disparities remain among minority groups and those from low-income families.

In earlier years, the CDC had used a higher threshold —10 mg/dl or greater — to identify kids with concerning blood lead levels. But last year, the recommendations changed to say that kids with levels at or above 5 mg/dl should identified, because these levels are higher than normal.

The idea behind the change is to identify kids with high levels earlier, so that action can be taken to reduce their lead exposure. Kids need medical treatment (called chelation therapy) for lead exposure if their blood lead levels reach 45 mg/dl, the CDC says.

Even low levels of lead in the blood have been linked with lower IQs and attention problems, and there is no safe level of lead exposure, the CDC says.

The higher blood lead levels seen among minority groups and low-income families can be attributed to differences in housing, nutrition and other environmental factors, the report says.

Most homes made before 1978 have lead paint that can find its way into dust, and from there, into kids' mouths. While public health efforts, such as removing lead from paint, have dramatically reduced children's exposure to lead, continued efforts to increase awareness of lead hazards can further reduce exposures, the CDC says.

Increasing iron and calcium intake can also reduce the amount of lead absorbed by the body, the CDC says.

Vitamin D doesn't help with knee pain

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 07:19:48 -0500

Vitamin D supplements don't appear to ease knee pain in people with kneeosteoarthritis, a new study suggests.

According to the researchers, people with kneeosteoarthritiswho took vitamin D supplements every day for two years did not experience improvements in knee pain compared to people who took a placebo.

Knee osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis in which cartilage in the knee joint breaks down, resulting in bone rubbing on bone. It typically affects men and women over 50 years of age, and occurs most frequently in obese individuals. Symptoms include pain or stiffness in or around the knee, swelling and limited range of motion. Currently, there are no proven treatments to slow the course of the disease, the researchers said.

Vitamin D plays a role in bone health, and previous studies had suggested that knee osteoarthritis progresses more slowly in people with high vitamin D levels.

During the new study, 146 people ages 45 and older who had knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to receive either 2000 International Units (IUs) of vitamin D per day or a placebo. Dosages of vitamin D were periodically increased to more than 2000 IUs so that the amount of the vitamin in the blood reached a level that has been associated with benefits. (The recommended daily dose is 600 IUs for people younger than 70, and 800 IUs for people older than that.)

Every two to four months, subjects rated the pain in their knee on a scale of zero to 20, with 20 representing extreme pain. Researchers also took images of each person's knees using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

After two years, the two groups showed no difference in knee pain: on average, pain scores in both groups decreased by about two points.

In addition, the image results showed that people who took Vitamin D lost just as much cartilage in the knee joint as those who took a placebo.

Unlike earlier studies, the new study was a randomized, controlled clinical trial, the "gold standard" in medical research.

The study is disappointing news for people looking for a magic bullet for osteoarthritis knee pain, said Dr. Robert Graham, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in NY, who was not involved in the study.

However, the new study lasted just two years, and it's possible longer studies might show an effect, Grahamsaid. In addition, the effect may have been too small to be detected in a population of people already taking medication, Grahamsaid. More than half of participants in the study said they were taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, a type of pain medication.

The study researchers cannot say whether or not people who take vitamin D before they develop knee osteoarthritis might experience a benefit. But previous studies have found no link between a person's vitamin D levels and the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis, said study researcher Dr. Timothy McAlindon, a rheumatologist at Tufts University Medical Center in Boston.

Pain medication, as well as physical therapy, may help reduce pain from osteoarthritis, according to the Mayo Clinic. Sometimes, doctors may perform knee replacement surgery to treat the condition. Because being overweight or obese stresses the joints, losing weight may reduce the risk of developing the disease, Graham said.

The new study is published Jan. 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Too much coffee may hurt pregnancy chances with IVF

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:05:20 -0400

Drinking large amounts of coffee may hurt a woman's chances of becoming pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF), a new study from Denmark suggests.

In the study, woman who drank more than five cups of coffee per day were 50 percent less likely to become pregnant through IVF compared with women who did not drink coffee, the researchers said.

Drinking between one and five cups of coffee a day did not affect women's chance of pregnancy with IVF.

The findings suggest that consuming of large amounts of coffee is comparable to smoking in terms of the detriment to IVF success, the researchers said.

However, the study only found an association, and not a cause-effect link. And because there has been limited research on the effects of coffee on IVF, more work is needed to confirm the results.

In general, drinking coffee in moderation while trying to become pregnant in fine, said Dr. Avner Hershlag, chief of the Center For Human Reproduction at the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System in Manhasset, N.Y. However, during pregnancy, doctors recommend that those who've undergone fertility treatments drink hardly any coffee, and so women may want to consider weaning themselves from coffee before their IVF treatment begins, Hershlag said.

Caffeine and pregnancy

Some studies have found caffeine consumption in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, but few have examined the effect of caffeine on IVF success.

In the new study, Dr. Ulrik Schiøler Kesmodel, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues analyzed information from nearly 4,000 women who underwent IVF at a large clinic. At the beginning of each IVF treatment cycle, women were asked how many cups of coffee they drank daily.

The link between drinking more than five cups daily and a reduced chance of pregnancy held even after the researchers took into account factors that could affect the success of IVF, such as the women's age, smoking habits, body mass index, and the reason for infertility treatment.

Stressed population?

But perhaps the coffee itself isn't behind the link.

It's possible that women in the study who drank more than five cups of coffee a day were less likely to become pregnant for reasons other than the amount of caffeine they consumed, Hershlag said. For instance, these women may have experienced high levels of stress, and turned to coffee as a way to cope, Hershlag said.

Women who feel stressed during IVF treatment should try to find other, healthy means of stress relief besides coffee consumption, Hershlag said.

The new study will be presented this week at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

Pass it on: Drinking more than five cups of coffee a day reduces a woman's chances of becoming pregnant with IVF treatment.

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