Wed Feb 28, 11:46 PM ET
(HealthDay News) -- Sunglasses can protect the eyes from damage caused by ultraviolet rays. Frequent or prolonged exposure to UV rays may cause cataracts, macular degeneration and skin cancer around the eyes, Prevent Blindness America says.
To get the best protection for your eyes, the organization recommends sunglasses that:
Reduce glare on the eyes.
Filter between 99 and 100 percent of UV rays.
Fully cover and protect your eyes.
Are comfortable to wear.
Do not distort colors.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Study finds kids gain weight over summer
By RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 28, 8:35 PM ET
INDIANAPOLIS - The nation's schools, under fire for unhealthy school lunches, well-stocked vending machines and phys ed cuts, may actually do a better job than parents in keeping children fit and trim. A study found that 5- and 6-year-olds gained more weight over the summer than during the school year, casting doubt on the assumption that kids are more active during summer vacation.
The findings don't reveal what's behind the out-of-school weight gain, but the researchers speculate it's because the summer months lack the structure of the school year with all its activities and daily comings and goings.
Doug Downey, an Ohio State University sociologist who co-authored the study, said that for many youngsters, the lazy days of summer may offer plenty of free time to eat snacks and lounge about watching TV or playing video games.
He said the study seems to point to the need for parents to be more involved, as well as raising the idea of a longer school year and more after-school programs to keep children active.
And schools should continue their efforts to promote good health, he said.
"Trying to improve the quality of school lunches, getting the soda machines out of schools — those are still good approaches. But clearly the source of children's obesity problems lie outside of the school," Downey said.
For the study, Indiana University and Ohio State researchers studied the growth rates of the body-mass indexes of 5,380 kindergartners and first-graders. The data came from a National Center for Education Statistics survey that ran from fall 1998 to spring 2000 in 310 schools across the country.
The university sociologists discovered that the youngsters' BMIs increased on average more than twice as much during summer break compared with the school year. That increase was even greater among black and Hispanic students and kids who were overweight at the start of kindergarten.
Once kids were back in school, however, the monthly growth rate of their BMIs fell, and the growth rate gap between the overall population and the minority and overweight groups shrank, the researchers found.
The study will appear in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Betsy A. Keller, a professor of exercise and sport sciences at Ithaca College in New York, said the pattern seen in the study's snapshot of the kids' kindergarten year, summer break, and first grade is "irregular" and does not mesh with kids' normal growth in height and weight.
Keller said it clearly points to a summer gain in fat mass, although she said data from later school years is needed to see if that trend continues.
Overall, she said the findings point to the need for parents to become actively involved in encouraging their kids to develop healthy habits even as the push continues for schools to focus more on those same goals.
"The big question in my mind is what are the parents doing with these kids during the summer? Unless they're paying attention to their child's level of activity and diet, with each passing summer they're just adding to the risk of them becoming overweight," she said.
"These are 5- and 6-year-olds, after all. So they're not going to the grocery store — it's their parents who are making these choices."
The study's co-author, Brian Powell, a professor of sociology at Indiana University, said earlier studies have indicated that 5- and 6-year-olds with above average BMI and BMI gains are at increased risk for adult obesity.
Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obese adults are at heightened risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other disorders.
In recent years, criticism has been directed at schools for playing a role in that trend, leading nearly 20 states to enact some form of school nutrition legislation or to emphasize exercise goals.
Nancy Chockley, president of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, said the new research adds to the argument that parents must shoulder more of the responsibility for keeping their children in shape.
Chockley said parents need to make time for regular family bike rides, walks, hikes or other types of exercise during the summer and beyond to help their kids develop good habits.
"I don't think this takes the heat off the schools. I think it spreads the heat around," said Chockley, whose Washington-D.C.-based nonprofit group researches health care issues.
"We ask a lot from the schools, but the fact is that's the easiest environment to reach the most children. Reaching the parents is much harder."
INDIANAPOLIS - The nation's schools, under fire for unhealthy school lunches, well-stocked vending machines and phys ed cuts, may actually do a better job than parents in keeping children fit and trim. A study found that 5- and 6-year-olds gained more weight over the summer than during the school year, casting doubt on the assumption that kids are more active during summer vacation.
The findings don't reveal what's behind the out-of-school weight gain, but the researchers speculate it's because the summer months lack the structure of the school year with all its activities and daily comings and goings.
Doug Downey, an Ohio State University sociologist who co-authored the study, said that for many youngsters, the lazy days of summer may offer plenty of free time to eat snacks and lounge about watching TV or playing video games.
He said the study seems to point to the need for parents to be more involved, as well as raising the idea of a longer school year and more after-school programs to keep children active.
And schools should continue their efforts to promote good health, he said.
"Trying to improve the quality of school lunches, getting the soda machines out of schools — those are still good approaches. But clearly the source of children's obesity problems lie outside of the school," Downey said.
For the study, Indiana University and Ohio State researchers studied the growth rates of the body-mass indexes of 5,380 kindergartners and first-graders. The data came from a National Center for Education Statistics survey that ran from fall 1998 to spring 2000 in 310 schools across the country.
The university sociologists discovered that the youngsters' BMIs increased on average more than twice as much during summer break compared with the school year. That increase was even greater among black and Hispanic students and kids who were overweight at the start of kindergarten.
Once kids were back in school, however, the monthly growth rate of their BMIs fell, and the growth rate gap between the overall population and the minority and overweight groups shrank, the researchers found.
The study will appear in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Betsy A. Keller, a professor of exercise and sport sciences at Ithaca College in New York, said the pattern seen in the study's snapshot of the kids' kindergarten year, summer break, and first grade is "irregular" and does not mesh with kids' normal growth in height and weight.
Keller said it clearly points to a summer gain in fat mass, although she said data from later school years is needed to see if that trend continues.
Overall, she said the findings point to the need for parents to become actively involved in encouraging their kids to develop healthy habits even as the push continues for schools to focus more on those same goals.
"The big question in my mind is what are the parents doing with these kids during the summer? Unless they're paying attention to their child's level of activity and diet, with each passing summer they're just adding to the risk of them becoming overweight," she said.
"These are 5- and 6-year-olds, after all. So they're not going to the grocery store — it's their parents who are making these choices."
The study's co-author, Brian Powell, a professor of sociology at Indiana University, said earlier studies have indicated that 5- and 6-year-olds with above average BMI and BMI gains are at increased risk for adult obesity.
Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obese adults are at heightened risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other disorders.
In recent years, criticism has been directed at schools for playing a role in that trend, leading nearly 20 states to enact some form of school nutrition legislation or to emphasize exercise goals.
Nancy Chockley, president of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, said the new research adds to the argument that parents must shoulder more of the responsibility for keeping their children in shape.
Chockley said parents need to make time for regular family bike rides, walks, hikes or other types of exercise during the summer and beyond to help their kids develop good habits.
"I don't think this takes the heat off the schools. I think it spreads the heat around," said Chockley, whose Washington-D.C.-based nonprofit group researches health care issues.
"We ask a lot from the schools, but the fact is that's the easiest environment to reach the most children. Reaching the parents is much harder."
Monday, February 26, 2007
Strong exercise may cut breast cancer risk
Mon Feb 26, 4:18 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Strenuous exercise -- such as lap swimming, aerobics and running -- appears to cut the risk of some breast cancers in women, a study said on Monday.
While it is still not clear how hard or long women need to exercise, the study adds to a growing body of evidence that rigorous activity lowers breast cancer risk.
The team at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles said exercise may reduce cancer risk through changes in metabolism and the immune system, and by reducing weight gain.
The study, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 110,599 women in California whose health histories were tracked from 1995 onward.
Women who said they engaged in strenuous activity for more than five hours a week had a 20 percent lower risk of invasive breast cancer and a 31 percent lower risk of early stage breast cancer, compared to women who participated in less than 30 minutes of such activity every week.
Through 2002, a total of 2,649 of the women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and 593 with early-stage forms of the disease.
The study is the first to look at the cumulative effect of exercise over time, as opposed to women's reports of whether they had exercised shortly before being diagnosed with breast cancer.
"These results provide additional evidence supporting a protective role for long-term strenuous recreational physical activity on risk of invasive and (early stage) breast cancer, whereas the beneficial effects of moderate activity are less clear," the study concluded.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Strenuous exercise -- such as lap swimming, aerobics and running -- appears to cut the risk of some breast cancers in women, a study said on Monday.
While it is still not clear how hard or long women need to exercise, the study adds to a growing body of evidence that rigorous activity lowers breast cancer risk.
The team at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles said exercise may reduce cancer risk through changes in metabolism and the immune system, and by reducing weight gain.
The study, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 110,599 women in California whose health histories were tracked from 1995 onward.
Women who said they engaged in strenuous activity for more than five hours a week had a 20 percent lower risk of invasive breast cancer and a 31 percent lower risk of early stage breast cancer, compared to women who participated in less than 30 minutes of such activity every week.
Through 2002, a total of 2,649 of the women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and 593 with early-stage forms of the disease.
The study is the first to look at the cumulative effect of exercise over time, as opposed to women's reports of whether they had exercised shortly before being diagnosed with breast cancer.
"These results provide additional evidence supporting a protective role for long-term strenuous recreational physical activity on risk of invasive and (early stage) breast cancer, whereas the beneficial effects of moderate activity are less clear," the study concluded.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Man aged 107 forsakes sex for longevity: paper
Sun Feb 25, 9:24 AM ET
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A 107-year-old Hong Kong villager, who still enjoys an occasional smoke, has attributed his longevity in part to decades of sexual abstinence, a newspaper said on Sunday.
"I don't know why I have lived this long," Chan Chi -- one of Hong Kong's oldest people -- was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post during an annual feast for the city's elders.
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have lived a sex-less life for many years -- since I was 30," said Chan, a widower whose youthful bride perished during the Japanese invasion in World War Two.
Chan, from Hong Kong's less built-up New Territories hinterland, was pictured looking sprightly and eating heartily at the banquet.
A former chef, he said a low-fat diet and regular dawn exercises had helped him fight off the ravages of old age.
But the centenarian, who's had no difficulty living a monastic existence for nearly 80 years, admits the pleasures of tobacco have been harder to resist.
"Now I want to quit," he was quoted as saying of his decades-long cigarette addiction. "Maybe the government should ban cigarette sales so I can give it up," he added.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A 107-year-old Hong Kong villager, who still enjoys an occasional smoke, has attributed his longevity in part to decades of sexual abstinence, a newspaper said on Sunday.
"I don't know why I have lived this long," Chan Chi -- one of Hong Kong's oldest people -- was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post during an annual feast for the city's elders.
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have lived a sex-less life for many years -- since I was 30," said Chan, a widower whose youthful bride perished during the Japanese invasion in World War Two.
Chan, from Hong Kong's less built-up New Territories hinterland, was pictured looking sprightly and eating heartily at the banquet.
A former chef, he said a low-fat diet and regular dawn exercises had helped him fight off the ravages of old age.
But the centenarian, who's had no difficulty living a monastic existence for nearly 80 years, admits the pleasures of tobacco have been harder to resist.
"Now I want to quit," he was quoted as saying of his decades-long cigarette addiction. "Maybe the government should ban cigarette sales so I can give it up," he added.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Tests find salmonella in peanut butter
By ANNA JO BRATTON, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 23, 10:21 AM ET
OMAHA, Neb. — A week after ConAgra Foods Inc. recalled peanut butter from its Georgia plant after a salmonella outbreak, the Center for Disease Control confirmed the presence of the dangerous germ.
No deaths have been confirmed, although a Pennsylvania family filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming a relative died from eating tainted peanut butter.
Opened jars from people who were sickened in New York, Oklahoma and Iowa tested positive for salmonella, said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the
CDC in Atlanta.
"Now the question becomes, how did the salmonella get in the jar," Daigle said.
ConAgra Foods Inc. last week recalled all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at its Sylvester, Ga., plant after federal health officials linked the product to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 329 people from 41 states since August.
Leslea Bennett-Webb, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Health, said the state recovered seven peanut butter jars from 11 cases confirmed by the state, and found the strain of salmonella in at least one.
In Iowa, Kevin Teale, spokesman for the state's Department of Health, said the positive match is from one of the state's six confirmed cases.
At least 51 people were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease between Aug. 1 and Feb. 2, with 60 percent of illnesses beginning after Dec. 1, according to the CDC.
Salmonella, which commonly originates from the feces of birds and animals, sickens about 40,000 people a year in the U.S. and kills about 600. It can cause diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.
ConAgra learned of the test results Thursday, spokesman Chris Kircher said.
Gary Rodkin, chief executive of Omaha-based ConAgra, said Thursday that the company will take "all reasonable steps to remedy the situation."
"We are truly sorry for any harm that our peanut butter products may have caused," Rodkin said in a news release.
Government and industry officials have said the contamination may have been caused by dirty jars or equipment. Peanuts are usually heated to high, germ-killing temperatures during the manufacturing process. The only known salmonella outbreak in peanut butter — in Australia during the mid-1990s — was blamed on unsanitary plant conditions.
ConAgra has said none of its previous routine testing of plant equipment and peanut butter has tested positive for salmonella. The
Food and Drug Administration last inspected the plant in February 2005 and found no problems.
The Sylvester plant is the sole maker of the nationally distributed Peter Pan brand, and the recall covers all peanut butter produced by the plant since May 2006. Shoppers are being asked to toss out jars having a product code on the lid beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant. The jars or their lids can be returned to the store where they were purchased for a refund.
Great Value peanut butter is a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. house brand made by several manufacturers. Great Value peanut butter that does not have the "2111" code is not included in the recall.
The family of Roberta Barkay alleges in a negligence and wrongful-death lawsuit against ConAgra that salmonella-tainted peanut butter killed Barkay and sickened her husband and daughter.
Barkay, 76, had been hospitalized with gastrointestinal problems, then developed a bacterial infection before she died Jan. 30, said her lawyer, Rob Peirce.
Her husband, William, was sick with similar symptoms late last year, after the Barkays bought the peanut butter, according to the lawyer and the lawsuit. Their daughter also got sick after eating the peanut butter while at her parents' home for her mother's funeral, Peirce said.
Roberta Barkay was not tested for salmonella, but Peirce said the peanut butter the family ate was part of the batch ConAgra recalled last week. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Kircher, the ConAgra spokesman, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.
"We're working to get in touch with that plaintiff's attorney to learn all we can," Kircher said Thursday.
Across the country, at least four other lawsuits claim negligence by the company led to the salmonella illnesses.
___
To get a refund, consumers can return the product at the place of purchase or mail in lids with their names and addresses to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103. For more information, call (866) 344-6970 or visit ConAgra's Web site at http://www.conagrafoods.com
OMAHA, Neb. — A week after ConAgra Foods Inc. recalled peanut butter from its Georgia plant after a salmonella outbreak, the Center for Disease Control confirmed the presence of the dangerous germ.
No deaths have been confirmed, although a Pennsylvania family filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming a relative died from eating tainted peanut butter.
Opened jars from people who were sickened in New York, Oklahoma and Iowa tested positive for salmonella, said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the
CDC in Atlanta.
"Now the question becomes, how did the salmonella get in the jar," Daigle said.
ConAgra Foods Inc. last week recalled all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at its Sylvester, Ga., plant after federal health officials linked the product to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 329 people from 41 states since August.
Leslea Bennett-Webb, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Health, said the state recovered seven peanut butter jars from 11 cases confirmed by the state, and found the strain of salmonella in at least one.
In Iowa, Kevin Teale, spokesman for the state's Department of Health, said the positive match is from one of the state's six confirmed cases.
At least 51 people were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease between Aug. 1 and Feb. 2, with 60 percent of illnesses beginning after Dec. 1, according to the CDC.
Salmonella, which commonly originates from the feces of birds and animals, sickens about 40,000 people a year in the U.S. and kills about 600. It can cause diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.
ConAgra learned of the test results Thursday, spokesman Chris Kircher said.
Gary Rodkin, chief executive of Omaha-based ConAgra, said Thursday that the company will take "all reasonable steps to remedy the situation."
"We are truly sorry for any harm that our peanut butter products may have caused," Rodkin said in a news release.
Government and industry officials have said the contamination may have been caused by dirty jars or equipment. Peanuts are usually heated to high, germ-killing temperatures during the manufacturing process. The only known salmonella outbreak in peanut butter — in Australia during the mid-1990s — was blamed on unsanitary plant conditions.
ConAgra has said none of its previous routine testing of plant equipment and peanut butter has tested positive for salmonella. The
Food and Drug Administration last inspected the plant in February 2005 and found no problems.
The Sylvester plant is the sole maker of the nationally distributed Peter Pan brand, and the recall covers all peanut butter produced by the plant since May 2006. Shoppers are being asked to toss out jars having a product code on the lid beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant. The jars or their lids can be returned to the store where they were purchased for a refund.
Great Value peanut butter is a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. house brand made by several manufacturers. Great Value peanut butter that does not have the "2111" code is not included in the recall.
The family of Roberta Barkay alleges in a negligence and wrongful-death lawsuit against ConAgra that salmonella-tainted peanut butter killed Barkay and sickened her husband and daughter.
Barkay, 76, had been hospitalized with gastrointestinal problems, then developed a bacterial infection before she died Jan. 30, said her lawyer, Rob Peirce.
Her husband, William, was sick with similar symptoms late last year, after the Barkays bought the peanut butter, according to the lawyer and the lawsuit. Their daughter also got sick after eating the peanut butter while at her parents' home for her mother's funeral, Peirce said.
Roberta Barkay was not tested for salmonella, but Peirce said the peanut butter the family ate was part of the batch ConAgra recalled last week. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Kircher, the ConAgra spokesman, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.
"We're working to get in touch with that plaintiff's attorney to learn all we can," Kircher said Thursday.
Across the country, at least four other lawsuits claim negligence by the company led to the salmonella illnesses.
___
To get a refund, consumers can return the product at the place of purchase or mail in lids with their names and addresses to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103. For more information, call (866) 344-6970 or visit ConAgra's Web site at http://www.conagrafoods.com
Thursday, February 22, 2007
No need to diet AND exercise to lose weight?
Thu Feb 22, 9:23 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.
"For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a press release.
"What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise."
Thirty-five overweight but otherwise healthy adults -- 16 men and 19 women -- completed the 6-month study. Twelve were assigned to a diet-only group; they reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Twelve were assigned to diet plus exercise; they reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their exercise by 12.5 percent. The remaining 11 subjects made no significant diet or exercise changes.
Redman and colleagues found that the diet-only group and the diet plus exercise group lost roughly the same amount of weight, albeit by different means. They lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass and 27 percent of their abdominal "visceral" fat -- the deep internal fat linked to heart disease risk.
Therefore, if the goal is purely shedding pounds, diet or exercise will work, according to this study. However, as the researchers point out, regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
The study also found that exercise did little to tone specific areas of the body. Fat was reduced consistently across the whole body and not more in any one trouble spot.
"Our study then would indicate that weight loss cannot override the way in which any individual stores fat. Perhaps an apple will always be an apple, and a pear, a pear," Redman concludes.
This suggests that people are "genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot be easily overcome by weight loss," the authors note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.
"For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a press release.
"What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise."
Thirty-five overweight but otherwise healthy adults -- 16 men and 19 women -- completed the 6-month study. Twelve were assigned to a diet-only group; they reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Twelve were assigned to diet plus exercise; they reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their exercise by 12.5 percent. The remaining 11 subjects made no significant diet or exercise changes.
Redman and colleagues found that the diet-only group and the diet plus exercise group lost roughly the same amount of weight, albeit by different means. They lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass and 27 percent of their abdominal "visceral" fat -- the deep internal fat linked to heart disease risk.
Therefore, if the goal is purely shedding pounds, diet or exercise will work, according to this study. However, as the researchers point out, regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
The study also found that exercise did little to tone specific areas of the body. Fat was reduced consistently across the whole body and not more in any one trouble spot.
"Our study then would indicate that weight loss cannot override the way in which any individual stores fat. Perhaps an apple will always be an apple, and a pear, a pear," Redman concludes.
This suggests that people are "genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot be easily overcome by weight loss," the authors note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2007.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Math anxiety saps working memory needed to do math
By Julie Steenhuysen Tue Feb 20, 2:29 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Worrying about how you'll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
Math anxiety -- feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math -- can sap the brain's limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcraft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who studies the problem.
"It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person's working memory," said Ashcraft, who spoke on a panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Ashcraft said while easy math tasks such as addition require only a small fraction of a person's working memory, harder computations require much more.
Worrying about math takes up a large chunk of a person's working memory stores as well, spelling disaster for the anxious student who is taking a high-stakes test.
Stress about how one does on tests like college entrance exams can make even good math students choke. "All of a sudden they start looking for the short cuts," said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Although test preparation classes can help students overcome this anxiety, they are limited to students whose families can afford them.
Ultimately, she said, "It may not be wise to rely completely on scores to predict who will succeed."
While the causes of math anxiety are unknown, Ashcraft said people who manage to overcome math anxiety have completely normal math proficiency.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Worrying about how you'll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
Math anxiety -- feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math -- can sap the brain's limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcraft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who studies the problem.
"It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person's working memory," said Ashcraft, who spoke on a panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Ashcraft said while easy math tasks such as addition require only a small fraction of a person's working memory, harder computations require much more.
Worrying about math takes up a large chunk of a person's working memory stores as well, spelling disaster for the anxious student who is taking a high-stakes test.
Stress about how one does on tests like college entrance exams can make even good math students choke. "All of a sudden they start looking for the short cuts," said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Although test preparation classes can help students overcome this anxiety, they are limited to students whose families can afford them.
Ultimately, she said, "It may not be wise to rely completely on scores to predict who will succeed."
While the causes of math anxiety are unknown, Ashcraft said people who manage to overcome math anxiety have completely normal math proficiency.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Lying to doctor can mean health risks
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago, 02/16/2007
CHICAGO - There's an open secret in medicine: Patients lie.
They lie about how much they smoke and whether they're taking their medicine. They understate how much they drink and overstate how much they exercise. They feign symptoms to get appointments quicker and ask doctors to hide the truth from insurance companies.
"Doctors have a rule of thumb. Whatever the patient says they're drinking, multiply it by three," said Dr. Bruce Rowe, a family doctor in suburban Milwaukee. "If they say two drinks a day, assume they have six."
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is said to have warned his students around 400 B.C. that patients often dissemble when they say they've taken their medicine. TV's fictional Dr. Gregory House repeats the same message to his crack team: "Everybody lies."
But lying can lead to expensive diagnostic procedures and unneeded referrals to specialists. It also can have disastrous results.
"I definitely learned my lesson. I could have ended up in a coma," said Michael Levine, a 28-year-old financial adviser in Los Angeles, who lied to a specialist he saw for a wrist injury. Misguided pride, he said, kept him from mentioning the Xanax he was taking for anxiety. He didn't think the doctor needed to know.
"He wasn't my regular doctor. He was treating my wrist," Levine explained.
The doctor prescribed the pain reliever Vicodin and Levine took it on top of Xanax. The next few days vanished in a cloud of grogginess. Levine slept through ringing phones and alarms and woke up exhausted. His wrist pain was easing, but he could barely function. Eventually, he stopped the Vicodin, returned to the doctor and, under questioning, confessed.
"The doctor said, 'Why didn't you tell me? I never would have prescribed you that,'" said Levine, who now realizes how easily he could have overdosed and died. "For the future, I will always 'fess up."
Why do patients lie? The examination room itself is an environment that discourages honesty, said Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy.
"You're naked in a gown and you have a guy standing there clothed, with a coat on and there's all sorts of things in his pocket. And you're sitting there, basically naked ... that makes it hard to come clean," Sophy said. On top of that, the doctor may be rushed.
Researchers say patients often lie to save face. They want to be "good patients" in their doctors' eyes. But that's a misguided and risky practice. For example, a woman who doesn't want to admit she smokes and then is prescribed birth control pills is at greater risk for blood clots.
Some researchers estimate more than half of patients tell their doctors they're taking their medicine exactly as prescribed when they're not. In reality, they don't like the side effects, can't afford the pills or didn't understand the instructions.
A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found a big gap between what patients said and what they did. Researchers looked at how patients with breathing problems used an inhaler equipped with a device that recorded the date and time of use and compared that with what the patients said.
Seventy-three percent of patients reported using the inhaler on average three times a day, but only 15 percent actually were using it that often. And 14 percent apparently deliberately emptied their inhalers before their appointments to make it look as if they were good patients.
Some doctors are seeking approaches that encourage more honesty. Dr. Zach Rosen, medical director of New York's Montefiore Family Health Center, asks his patients a series of questions to determine whether they're taking their medicine.
"I ask, 'What medications are you taking?' At first, I just want the names," he said. "They say, 'I'm taking X, Y or Z.' Then I'll say, 'That's great. How often are you taking that medication?' ... Then I'll say, 'Are you experiencing any problem in taking your medications?'"
Asking several questions takes more time. But the approach elicits better, more honest responses than a single question, Rosen believes.
Doctors also should avoid phrases that sound judgmental, said Nate Rickles, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Northeastern University. There's a big difference between "Why aren't you taking the medication as prescribed?" and "A number of my patients don't take their medication as prescribed and they do it for a variety of reasons. What do you think might be going on with you?"
When alcoholics seek detox treatment from Dr. Akikur Mohammad, an addiction specialist at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, they must tell him exactly how much they've been drinking so he can give them the right dose of medication to treat withdrawal.
"I tell them, 'You can lie to your friend, you can lie to your family members, but you came here for help and your report will determine the treatment plan. If I undermedicate you, you may have seizures and die,'" Mohammad said. Despite the warnings, patients still sometimes mislead him, he said.
Cyndi Smith, a 45-year-old Weight Watchers leader in suburban Chicago, admits her own lying past when it came to questions about her exercise and eating habits. She says she lied because she was fooling herself.
"You convince yourself of certain things and it becomes true, when in reality it's not," she said. If her doctor had questioned her more thoroughly, she says she might have told the truth.
"I think doctors could be a little more point-blank," she said. "And we need to be a little more honest."
CHICAGO - There's an open secret in medicine: Patients lie.
They lie about how much they smoke and whether they're taking their medicine. They understate how much they drink and overstate how much they exercise. They feign symptoms to get appointments quicker and ask doctors to hide the truth from insurance companies.
"Doctors have a rule of thumb. Whatever the patient says they're drinking, multiply it by three," said Dr. Bruce Rowe, a family doctor in suburban Milwaukee. "If they say two drinks a day, assume they have six."
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is said to have warned his students around 400 B.C. that patients often dissemble when they say they've taken their medicine. TV's fictional Dr. Gregory House repeats the same message to his crack team: "Everybody lies."
But lying can lead to expensive diagnostic procedures and unneeded referrals to specialists. It also can have disastrous results.
"I definitely learned my lesson. I could have ended up in a coma," said Michael Levine, a 28-year-old financial adviser in Los Angeles, who lied to a specialist he saw for a wrist injury. Misguided pride, he said, kept him from mentioning the Xanax he was taking for anxiety. He didn't think the doctor needed to know.
"He wasn't my regular doctor. He was treating my wrist," Levine explained.
The doctor prescribed the pain reliever Vicodin and Levine took it on top of Xanax. The next few days vanished in a cloud of grogginess. Levine slept through ringing phones and alarms and woke up exhausted. His wrist pain was easing, but he could barely function. Eventually, he stopped the Vicodin, returned to the doctor and, under questioning, confessed.
"The doctor said, 'Why didn't you tell me? I never would have prescribed you that,'" said Levine, who now realizes how easily he could have overdosed and died. "For the future, I will always 'fess up."
Why do patients lie? The examination room itself is an environment that discourages honesty, said Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy.
"You're naked in a gown and you have a guy standing there clothed, with a coat on and there's all sorts of things in his pocket. And you're sitting there, basically naked ... that makes it hard to come clean," Sophy said. On top of that, the doctor may be rushed.
Researchers say patients often lie to save face. They want to be "good patients" in their doctors' eyes. But that's a misguided and risky practice. For example, a woman who doesn't want to admit she smokes and then is prescribed birth control pills is at greater risk for blood clots.
Some researchers estimate more than half of patients tell their doctors they're taking their medicine exactly as prescribed when they're not. In reality, they don't like the side effects, can't afford the pills or didn't understand the instructions.
A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found a big gap between what patients said and what they did. Researchers looked at how patients with breathing problems used an inhaler equipped with a device that recorded the date and time of use and compared that with what the patients said.
Seventy-three percent of patients reported using the inhaler on average three times a day, but only 15 percent actually were using it that often. And 14 percent apparently deliberately emptied their inhalers before their appointments to make it look as if they were good patients.
Some doctors are seeking approaches that encourage more honesty. Dr. Zach Rosen, medical director of New York's Montefiore Family Health Center, asks his patients a series of questions to determine whether they're taking their medicine.
"I ask, 'What medications are you taking?' At first, I just want the names," he said. "They say, 'I'm taking X, Y or Z.' Then I'll say, 'That's great. How often are you taking that medication?' ... Then I'll say, 'Are you experiencing any problem in taking your medications?'"
Asking several questions takes more time. But the approach elicits better, more honest responses than a single question, Rosen believes.
Doctors also should avoid phrases that sound judgmental, said Nate Rickles, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Northeastern University. There's a big difference between "Why aren't you taking the medication as prescribed?" and "A number of my patients don't take their medication as prescribed and they do it for a variety of reasons. What do you think might be going on with you?"
When alcoholics seek detox treatment from Dr. Akikur Mohammad, an addiction specialist at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, they must tell him exactly how much they've been drinking so he can give them the right dose of medication to treat withdrawal.
"I tell them, 'You can lie to your friend, you can lie to your family members, but you came here for help and your report will determine the treatment plan. If I undermedicate you, you may have seizures and die,'" Mohammad said. Despite the warnings, patients still sometimes mislead him, he said.
Cyndi Smith, a 45-year-old Weight Watchers leader in suburban Chicago, admits her own lying past when it came to questions about her exercise and eating habits. She says she lied because she was fooling herself.
"You convince yourself of certain things and it becomes true, when in reality it's not," she said. If her doctor had questioned her more thoroughly, she says she might have told the truth.
"I think doctors could be a little more point-blank," she said. "And we need to be a little more honest."
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Study: Office desks havens for bacteria
28 minutes ago, 02/14/2007
TUCSON, Ariz. - Your office desk harbors far more bacteria than your workplace restroom, and if you're a woman, chances are your workspace has more germs than your male co-workers', a new research report shows.
Women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items as men do, the study by University of Arizona professor Charles Gerba showed. Gerba, a professor of soil, water and environmental sciences, tested more than 100 offices on the UA campus and in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon and Washington, D.C. The $40,000 study was commissioned by the Clorox Co.
"I thought for sure men would be germier," Gerba said. "But women have more interactions with small children and keep food in their desks. The other problem is makeup."
Don't get Gerba wrong: Women's desks typically looked cleaner. But the knickknacks are more abundant, and cosmetics and hand lotions make prime germ-transfer agents, Gerba said. Makeup cases also make for fine germ homes, along with phones, purses and desk drawers.
Food in desk drawers also harbors lots of microorganisms, and it is more abundant among female office workers. Gerba found 75 percent of women had munchies in their desks.
"I was really surprised how much food there was in a woman's desk," he said. "If there's ever a famine, that's the first place I'll look for food."
The news isn't all negative for the fairer sex.
Gerba found the worst overall office germ offender is men's wallets.
"It's in your back pocket where it's nice and warm, it's a great incubator for bacteria," Gerba said.
Another hot spot for bacteria in men's offices: the personal digital assistant.
"Men tend to play with their Palm Pilots more," Gerba said. "I think they're playing video games or something."
The average office desktop has 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat, Gerba said.
Gerba said using a hand sanitizer and using a disinfectant on office surfaces helps, with 25 percent fewer bacteria found on surfaces that were regularly disinfected. Once-a-day use should be sufficient.
"You don't have to go crazy with it, but with the key areas, desktops, phones and keyboards probably need to be disinfected once in a while," he said.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Your office desk harbors far more bacteria than your workplace restroom, and if you're a woman, chances are your workspace has more germs than your male co-workers', a new research report shows.
Women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items as men do, the study by University of Arizona professor Charles Gerba showed. Gerba, a professor of soil, water and environmental sciences, tested more than 100 offices on the UA campus and in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon and Washington, D.C. The $40,000 study was commissioned by the Clorox Co.
"I thought for sure men would be germier," Gerba said. "But women have more interactions with small children and keep food in their desks. The other problem is makeup."
Don't get Gerba wrong: Women's desks typically looked cleaner. But the knickknacks are more abundant, and cosmetics and hand lotions make prime germ-transfer agents, Gerba said. Makeup cases also make for fine germ homes, along with phones, purses and desk drawers.
Food in desk drawers also harbors lots of microorganisms, and it is more abundant among female office workers. Gerba found 75 percent of women had munchies in their desks.
"I was really surprised how much food there was in a woman's desk," he said. "If there's ever a famine, that's the first place I'll look for food."
The news isn't all negative for the fairer sex.
Gerba found the worst overall office germ offender is men's wallets.
"It's in your back pocket where it's nice and warm, it's a great incubator for bacteria," Gerba said.
Another hot spot for bacteria in men's offices: the personal digital assistant.
"Men tend to play with their Palm Pilots more," Gerba said. "I think they're playing video games or something."
The average office desktop has 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat, Gerba said.
Gerba said using a hand sanitizer and using a disinfectant on office surfaces helps, with 25 percent fewer bacteria found on surfaces that were regularly disinfected. Once-a-day use should be sufficient.
"You don't have to go crazy with it, but with the key areas, desktops, phones and keyboards probably need to be disinfected once in a while," he said.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Video Games Can Improve Your Vision
James Niccolai, IDG News Service 1 hour, 32 minutes ago,02/07/2007
Playing high-action video games for a few hours each day can improve your vision, according to researchers in the U.S.
The researchers from the University of Rochester in New York found that people who play video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month can improve certain aspects of their vision by about 20 percent.
Playing the games changes the pathways in the brain responsible for visual processing, as the brain adapts to the additional pressure that playing such games puts on the visual system, they said.
The researchers found a group of students who played little or no video games-- which was a challenge in itself-- and gave them a test that measured how well they could discern the orientation of a letter "T" within a crowd of other, distracting symbols.
They then divided the students into two groups. One group was told to play the shoot-em-up game "Unreal Tournament" for an hour each day for a month, while a control group played "Tetris," a less visually complex game.
After about a month, the students playing the action game could determine the orientation of the "T" much more easily than before, while the Tetris players showed no improvement, the researchers said.
The T test measures visual acuity, or the clarity or clearness of a person's vision. The results suggest that people with visual defects could improve their visual acuity with special software that mimics the need to identify objects quickly in an action game, the researchers said.
The research, by professor of brain and cognitive sciences Daphne Bavelier and graduate student Shawn Green, is due to appear in next week's Psychological Science journal.
Playing high-action video games for a few hours each day can improve your vision, according to researchers in the U.S.
The researchers from the University of Rochester in New York found that people who play video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month can improve certain aspects of their vision by about 20 percent.
Playing the games changes the pathways in the brain responsible for visual processing, as the brain adapts to the additional pressure that playing such games puts on the visual system, they said.
The researchers found a group of students who played little or no video games-- which was a challenge in itself-- and gave them a test that measured how well they could discern the orientation of a letter "T" within a crowd of other, distracting symbols.
They then divided the students into two groups. One group was told to play the shoot-em-up game "Unreal Tournament" for an hour each day for a month, while a control group played "Tetris," a less visually complex game.
After about a month, the students playing the action game could determine the orientation of the "T" much more easily than before, while the Tetris players showed no improvement, the researchers said.
The T test measures visual acuity, or the clarity or clearness of a person's vision. The results suggest that people with visual defects could improve their visual acuity with special software that mimics the need to identify objects quickly in an action game, the researchers said.
The research, by professor of brain and cognitive sciences Daphne Bavelier and graduate student Shawn Green, is due to appear in next week's Psychological Science journal.
Study: Moral beliefs may sway docs' care
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago, 02/07/2007
A disturbing number of doctors do not feel obligated to tell patients about medical options they oppose morally, such as abortion and teen birth control, and believe they have no duty to refer people elsewhere for such treatments, researchers say.
The survey of 1,144 doctors around the country is the first major look at how physicians' religious or moral beliefs might affect patients' care.
The study, conducted by University of Chicago researchers, found 86 percent of those responding believe doctors are obligated to present all treatment options, and 71 percent believe they must refer patients to another doctor for treatments they oppose. Slightly more than half the rest said they had no such obligation; the others were undecided.
"That means that there are a lot of physicians out there who are not, in fact, doing the right thing," said David Magnus, director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics.
According to an American Medical Association policy statement, doctors can decline to give a treatment sought by an individual that is "incompatible with the physician's personal, religious or moral beliefs." But the physician should try to ensure the patient has "access to adequate health care."
The survey did not examine whether these doctors act on their beliefs — that is, whether they actually withhold information or refuse to refer patients. But the researchers calculated that tens of millions of Americans might be going to such doctors.
"Conscientious objection is fine ... as long as it doesn't conflict with the rights of the patient," Magnus said. "You can't abandon the patient or essentially coerce the patient by saying you won't do the procedure or refer them to someone else."
The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and led by Dr. Farr Curlin, a University of Chicago ethicist and internist. The findings were based on a survey mailed to 1,820 practicing U.S. family doctors and specialists, chosen randomly from a national database; 63 percent responded.
Doctors describing themselves as very religious, particularly Protestants and Catholics, were much less likely than others to feel obligated to tell patients about controversial treatments or refer them to other doctors, and were far more likely to tell patients if they had moral objections.
Overall, 52 percent said they oppose abortion, 42 percent opposed prescribing birth control to 14- to 16-year-olds without parental approval, and 17 percent objected to sedating patients near death.
Female doctors were much more likely than male ones to feel obligated to refer patients for treatments they personally oppose, far less likely to present their own objections to a patient and slightly more likely to disclose all treatment options.
Dr. Jeffrey Ecker, chairman of the committee on ethics at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said he was encouraged that most doctors agreed patients deserve to be told about all appropriate medical options and referred to other doctors when needed.
"There is reason to be concerned about those that don't do it," Ecker said. He added that it is possible many doctors in the survey who opposed such disclosures and referrals may be practicing in specialties where they don't face those issues.
He said doctors must let patients explicitly know if they are opposed to particular services.
One big problem area, Magnus said, involves emergency room doctors and emergency contraception for rape victims. He said it is considered standard care to offer the morning-after pill, but that is not done in some Catholic hospitals, according to one small study. Ecker said doctors opposed to emergency contraception should avoid working in an ER for that reason.
Curlin noted prior research by his team found doctors may be a bit more religious than others — 46 percent of doctors said they attend religious services at least twice a month, compared with 40 percent of the general public. But he found doctors are less likely to carry their religious beliefs into their daily work, with 58 percent saying they do so, versus 73 percent of the general public.
Curlin said that in light of the new survey findings, if a patient "anticipates wanting a controversial treatment and they don't know already if their physician opposes it, then they should ask."
"I hope it leads to more substantive conversations between doctors and their patients," he said
40 minutes ago, 02/07/2007
A disturbing number of doctors do not feel obligated to tell patients about medical options they oppose morally, such as abortion and teen birth control, and believe they have no duty to refer people elsewhere for such treatments, researchers say.
The survey of 1,144 doctors around the country is the first major look at how physicians' religious or moral beliefs might affect patients' care.
The study, conducted by University of Chicago researchers, found 86 percent of those responding believe doctors are obligated to present all treatment options, and 71 percent believe they must refer patients to another doctor for treatments they oppose. Slightly more than half the rest said they had no such obligation; the others were undecided.
"That means that there are a lot of physicians out there who are not, in fact, doing the right thing," said David Magnus, director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics.
According to an American Medical Association policy statement, doctors can decline to give a treatment sought by an individual that is "incompatible with the physician's personal, religious or moral beliefs." But the physician should try to ensure the patient has "access to adequate health care."
The survey did not examine whether these doctors act on their beliefs — that is, whether they actually withhold information or refuse to refer patients. But the researchers calculated that tens of millions of Americans might be going to such doctors.
"Conscientious objection is fine ... as long as it doesn't conflict with the rights of the patient," Magnus said. "You can't abandon the patient or essentially coerce the patient by saying you won't do the procedure or refer them to someone else."
The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and led by Dr. Farr Curlin, a University of Chicago ethicist and internist. The findings were based on a survey mailed to 1,820 practicing U.S. family doctors and specialists, chosen randomly from a national database; 63 percent responded.
Doctors describing themselves as very religious, particularly Protestants and Catholics, were much less likely than others to feel obligated to tell patients about controversial treatments or refer them to other doctors, and were far more likely to tell patients if they had moral objections.
Overall, 52 percent said they oppose abortion, 42 percent opposed prescribing birth control to 14- to 16-year-olds without parental approval, and 17 percent objected to sedating patients near death.
Female doctors were much more likely than male ones to feel obligated to refer patients for treatments they personally oppose, far less likely to present their own objections to a patient and slightly more likely to disclose all treatment options.
Dr. Jeffrey Ecker, chairman of the committee on ethics at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said he was encouraged that most doctors agreed patients deserve to be told about all appropriate medical options and referred to other doctors when needed.
"There is reason to be concerned about those that don't do it," Ecker said. He added that it is possible many doctors in the survey who opposed such disclosures and referrals may be practicing in specialties where they don't face those issues.
He said doctors must let patients explicitly know if they are opposed to particular services.
One big problem area, Magnus said, involves emergency room doctors and emergency contraception for rape victims. He said it is considered standard care to offer the morning-after pill, but that is not done in some Catholic hospitals, according to one small study. Ecker said doctors opposed to emergency contraception should avoid working in an ER for that reason.
Curlin noted prior research by his team found doctors may be a bit more religious than others — 46 percent of doctors said they attend religious services at least twice a month, compared with 40 percent of the general public. But he found doctors are less likely to carry their religious beliefs into their daily work, with 58 percent saying they do so, versus 73 percent of the general public.
Curlin said that in light of the new survey findings, if a patient "anticipates wanting a controversial treatment and they don't know already if their physician opposes it, then they should ask."
"I hope it leads to more substantive conversations between doctors and their patients," he said
Breast-feeding enhances kids' eyesight
By David Douglas Wed Feb 7, 3:06 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breast-fed children are significantly more likely to do well in measures of stereoscopic vision than are those who received formula during infancy, according to UK researchers.
"Our study," Dr. Atul Singhal of the Institute of Child Health, London, told Reuters Health, "adds to the growing evidence that breast-feeding has long-term benefits for visual development."
A higher concentration of the fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in breast milk than in formula has been proposed as one explanation for this effect, Singhal and colleagues note in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and this has been a rationale for adding DHA to infant formula.
To further investigate, the team studied 78 previously breast-fed and 184 previously formula-fed children ages 4 to 6 years who were followed prospectively from birth. In the first 6 months of life, the formula-fed group was randomly assigned to formula with or without supplementation with DHA or arachidonic acid.
When they were tested, breast-fed children were significantly more likely to have greater stereo-acuity than did children in either formula-fed group. There were no significant differences between children who did or did not receive formula containing DHA.
The researchers conclude that "these findings support the hypothesis that breast-feeding benefits long-term stereoscopic development."
Singhal added, "We don't know the mechanisms involved, but this benefit does not seem to be explained by the presence of certain omega 3 fatty acids -- DHA -- in human milk."
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breast-fed children are significantly more likely to do well in measures of stereoscopic vision than are those who received formula during infancy, according to UK researchers.
"Our study," Dr. Atul Singhal of the Institute of Child Health, London, told Reuters Health, "adds to the growing evidence that breast-feeding has long-term benefits for visual development."
A higher concentration of the fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in breast milk than in formula has been proposed as one explanation for this effect, Singhal and colleagues note in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and this has been a rationale for adding DHA to infant formula.
To further investigate, the team studied 78 previously breast-fed and 184 previously formula-fed children ages 4 to 6 years who were followed prospectively from birth. In the first 6 months of life, the formula-fed group was randomly assigned to formula with or without supplementation with DHA or arachidonic acid.
When they were tested, breast-fed children were significantly more likely to have greater stereo-acuity than did children in either formula-fed group. There were no significant differences between children who did or did not receive formula containing DHA.
The researchers conclude that "these findings support the hypothesis that breast-feeding benefits long-term stereoscopic development."
Singhal added, "We don't know the mechanisms involved, but this benefit does not seem to be explained by the presence of certain omega 3 fatty acids -- DHA -- in human milk."
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Obesity poses larger diabetes risk than inactivity
By David Douglas Fri Feb 2, 6:22 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although obesity and lack of physical activity both raise the risk of type 2 diabetes in women, obesity appears to be the more important factor, researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.
Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues note that the relative contribution of obesity and inactivity to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes remains controversial.
To investigate further, the researchers monitored 68,907 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study, a large ongoing study that is evaluating women's health over time. The women in the current trial had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer at study entry. During 16 years of follow-up, there were 4,030 incident cases of type 2 diabetes.
After allowing for age, smoking, and other diabetes-associated factors, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased progressively with increasing body mass index (BMI - the ratio of height to weight often used to determine if someone is overweight or too thin). The risk also increased with waist circumference, and decreased with physical activity levels.
Using women who had a healthy weight (BMI of less than 25) and were physically active as the reference group, the relative risks of type 2 diabetes were 16.75 in women with a BMI of 30 or more and were inactive. The corresponding risk in obese women who were active was 10.74. In women who were lean but inactive, the relative risk was 2.08.
Although both variables were significant predictors of type 2 diabetes, the researchers found that the association for waist circumference was substantially stronger than that for physical inactivity.
They researchers conclude that "the magnitude of risk contributed by obesity is much greater than that imparted by lack of physical activity," and therefore "weight loss and maintenance of healthy weight should be emphasized as an eventual goal to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, January 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although obesity and lack of physical activity both raise the risk of type 2 diabetes in women, obesity appears to be the more important factor, researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.
Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues note that the relative contribution of obesity and inactivity to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes remains controversial.
To investigate further, the researchers monitored 68,907 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study, a large ongoing study that is evaluating women's health over time. The women in the current trial had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer at study entry. During 16 years of follow-up, there were 4,030 incident cases of type 2 diabetes.
After allowing for age, smoking, and other diabetes-associated factors, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased progressively with increasing body mass index (BMI - the ratio of height to weight often used to determine if someone is overweight or too thin). The risk also increased with waist circumference, and decreased with physical activity levels.
Using women who had a healthy weight (BMI of less than 25) and were physically active as the reference group, the relative risks of type 2 diabetes were 16.75 in women with a BMI of 30 or more and were inactive. The corresponding risk in obese women who were active was 10.74. In women who were lean but inactive, the relative risk was 2.08.
Although both variables were significant predictors of type 2 diabetes, the researchers found that the association for waist circumference was substantially stronger than that for physical inactivity.
They researchers conclude that "the magnitude of risk contributed by obesity is much greater than that imparted by lack of physical activity," and therefore "weight loss and maintenance of healthy weight should be emphasized as an eventual goal to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, January 2007.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Texas mandates cervical cancer vaccine for girls
By Jim Forsyth Fri Feb 2, 7:26 PM ET
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas became the first U.S. state to require that all 11- and 12-year-old girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer, the governor's office said on Friday.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring the HPV vaccine be added to the list of vaccines that students must have to be enrolled in the state's public schools.
The issue has generated fierce debate, with some religious organizations and parents' groups arguing such widespread vaccination programs could encourage premarital sex.
Perry said in a statement, "The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer." The vaccine is most effective in young women who are not yet sexually active.
He added that parents could opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their children if they objected for reasons including religious beliefs.
The girls will be vaccinated with Merck & Co. Inc.'s Gardasil, which won U.S. approval last June as the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a disease that kills about 300,000 women worldwide each year.
The vaccine, which targets four HPV types believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts, is cleared for use in girls and young women aged 9 to 26. In clinical trials, Gardasil was shown to be 100 percent effective against two of the most common HPV strains.
Perry's order comes as state lawmakers across the country are being lobbied by Merck and a national group, Women in Government, made up of female state legislators, to make the Gardasil vaccine required in most school districts.
Merck supports the Women in Government effort with funding and a Merck representative sits on its business council. Legislation is pending in more than a dozen other states to mandate Gardasil vaccinations.
The vaccine will be made available immediately to all girls aged 9 through 18 eligible under the Texas Vaccines for Children Program. Women from 19 to 21 enrolled in Medicaid in Texas also will be eligible immediately, the order said.
Cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women aged 35 to 54, and Texas has the second highest number of women suffering from cervical cancer in the United States, according to the Texas governor's office.
(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York and Hillary Hylton in Austin)
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas became the first U.S. state to require that all 11- and 12-year-old girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer, the governor's office said on Friday.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring the HPV vaccine be added to the list of vaccines that students must have to be enrolled in the state's public schools.
The issue has generated fierce debate, with some religious organizations and parents' groups arguing such widespread vaccination programs could encourage premarital sex.
Perry said in a statement, "The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer." The vaccine is most effective in young women who are not yet sexually active.
He added that parents could opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their children if they objected for reasons including religious beliefs.
The girls will be vaccinated with Merck & Co. Inc.'s Gardasil, which won U.S. approval last June as the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a disease that kills about 300,000 women worldwide each year.
The vaccine, which targets four HPV types believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts, is cleared for use in girls and young women aged 9 to 26. In clinical trials, Gardasil was shown to be 100 percent effective against two of the most common HPV strains.
Perry's order comes as state lawmakers across the country are being lobbied by Merck and a national group, Women in Government, made up of female state legislators, to make the Gardasil vaccine required in most school districts.
Merck supports the Women in Government effort with funding and a Merck representative sits on its business council. Legislation is pending in more than a dozen other states to mandate Gardasil vaccinations.
The vaccine will be made available immediately to all girls aged 9 through 18 eligible under the Texas Vaccines for Children Program. Women from 19 to 21 enrolled in Medicaid in Texas also will be eligible immediately, the order said.
Cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women aged 35 to 54, and Texas has the second highest number of women suffering from cervical cancer in the United States, according to the Texas governor's office.
(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York and Hillary Hylton in Austin)
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Big baby causes sensation in Cancun
Thu Feb 1, 8:53 AM ET
CANCUN, Mexico - He is called "Super Tonio," and at a whopping birth weight of 14.5 pounds, the little fellow is causing a sensation in this Mexican resort city.
Cancun residents have crowded the nursery ward's window to see Antonio Vasconcelos, who was born early Monday by Caesarean section. The baby drinks 5 ounces of milk every three hours, and measures 22 inches in length.
"We haven't found any abnormality in the child, there are some signs of high blood sugar, and a slight blood infection, but that is being controlled so that the child can get on with his normal life in a few more days," Narciso Perez Bravo, the hospital's director, said on Wednesday.
In Brazil, a baby born in January 2005 in the city of Salvador weighed 16 pounds, 11 ounces at birth. According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother was a boy weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces, born in Aversa, Italy, in September 1955.
Antonio's mother, Teresa Alejandra Cruz, 23, and father, Luis Vasconcelos, 38, said they were proud of the boy, and noted that Cruz had given birth to a baby girl seven years ago who weighed 11.46 pounds.
CANCUN, Mexico - He is called "Super Tonio," and at a whopping birth weight of 14.5 pounds, the little fellow is causing a sensation in this Mexican resort city.
Cancun residents have crowded the nursery ward's window to see Antonio Vasconcelos, who was born early Monday by Caesarean section. The baby drinks 5 ounces of milk every three hours, and measures 22 inches in length.
"We haven't found any abnormality in the child, there are some signs of high blood sugar, and a slight blood infection, but that is being controlled so that the child can get on with his normal life in a few more days," Narciso Perez Bravo, the hospital's director, said on Wednesday.
In Brazil, a baby born in January 2005 in the city of Salvador weighed 16 pounds, 11 ounces at birth. According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother was a boy weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces, born in Aversa, Italy, in September 1955.
Antonio's mother, Teresa Alejandra Cruz, 23, and father, Luis Vasconcelos, 38, said they were proud of the boy, and noted that Cruz had given birth to a baby girl seven years ago who weighed 11.46 pounds.
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