NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Twenty minutes of exercise may help kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) settle in to read or solve a math problem, new research suggests.
The small study, of 40 eight- to 10-year-olds, looked only at the short-term effects of a single bout of exercise. And researchers caution that they are not saying exercise is the answer to ADHD.
But it seems that exercise may at least do no harm to kids' ability to focus, they say. And further studies should look into whether it's a good option for managing some children's ADHD.
'This is only a first study,' said lead researcher Matthew B. Pontifex, of Michigan State University in East Lansing.
'We need to learn how long the effects last, and how exercise might combine with or compare to traditional ADHD treatments' like stimulant medications, Pontifex explained.
He noted that there's been a lot of research into the relationship between habitual exercise and adults' thinking and memory, particularly older adults'. But little is known about kids, even though some parents, teachers and doctors have advocated exercise for helping children with ADHD.
So for their study, Pontifex and his colleagues recruited 20 children with diagnosed or suspected ADHD, and 20 ADHD-free kids of the same age and family-income level.
All of the children took a standard test of their ability to ignore distractions and stay focused on a simple task at hand - the main 'aspect of cognition' that troubles kids with ADHD, Pontifex noted. The kids also took standard tests of reading, spelling and math skills.
Each child took the tests after either 20 minutes of treadmill exercise or 20 minutes of quiet reading (on separate days).
Overall, the study found, both groups of children performed better after exercise than after reading.
On the test of focusing ability, the ADHD group was correct on about 80 percent of responses after reading, versus about 84 percent after exercise. Kids without ADHD performed better - reaching about a 90 percent correct rate after exercise.
Similarly, both groups of kids scored higher on their reading and math tests after exercise, versus post-reading.
It's hard to say what those higher one-time scores could mean in real life, according to Pontifex, who published his results in The Journal of Pediatrics.
One of the big questions is whether regular exercise would have lasting effects on kids' ability to focus or their school performance, he said.
And why would exercise help children, with or without ADHD, focus? 'We really don't know the mechanisms right now,' Pontifex said.
But there is a theory that the attention problems of ADHD are related to an 'underarousal' of the central nervous system. It's possible that a bout of exercise helps kids zero in on a specific task, at least in the short term.
Parents and experts alike are becoming more and more interested in alternatives to drugs for ADHD, Pontifex noted. It's estimated that 44 percent of U.S. children with the disorder are not on any medication for it.
And even when kids are using medication, additional treatments may help them cut down their doses. Pontifex said future studies should look at whether exercise fits that bill.
'We're not suggesting that exercise is a replacement, or that parents should pull their kids off of their medication,' Pontifex said.
But, he added, they could encourage their child to be active for the overall health benefits, and talk with their doctor about whether exercise could help manage ADHD specifically.
'Exercise is beneficial for all children,' Pontifex noted. 'We're providing some evidence that there's an additional benefit on cognition.'
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RR5Dh3 The Journal of Pediatrics, online October 19, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by GOING GREEN NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Kids who smoke menthol more likely to get hooked
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who experiment with menthol cigarettes are more likely to become habitual smokers than their peers who start out with the regular variety, new research findings suggest.
In a study of tens of thousands of U.S. students, researchers found that kids who were dabbling with menthol cigarettes were 80 percent more likely to become regular smokers over the next few years, versus those experimenting with regular cigarettes.
Menthol is added to cigarettes to give them a minty 'refreshing' flavor. Critics have charged that menthol makes cigarettes more palatable to new smokers - many of whom are kids - and may be especially likely to encourage addiction.
'This study adds additional evidence that menthol cigarettes are a potential risk factor for kids becoming established, adult smokers,' said study leader James Nonnemaker, of the research institute RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Still, the findings, which appear in the journal Addiction, do not prove that menthol cigarettes are to blame.
'The study's subject to a number of limitations,' Nonnemaker said. 'This shows an association, not cause-and-effect.'
One issue, he said, is that the study was not set up specifically to answer the question of whether menthol might encourage habitual smoking.
The findings come from three years' worth of surveys of over 47,000 U.S. middle school and high school students. That included almost 1,800 kids who had just started smoking during the first or second survey - one-third of whom had opted for menthol cigarettes.
By the third-year survey, more than half of those experimenters had quit smoking. Another third were still occasional smokers, and 15 percent had become habitual smokers.
The odds of becoming a regular smoker, the study found, were 80 percent higher for kids who'd started off with menthol cigarettes. That was with the kids' age, gender and race taken into account.
The results are consistent with the idea that menthol cigarettes encourage kids to get hooked because of menthol's 'sensory properties,' according to Nonnemaker.
But, he said, more studies are needed. One question is whether the findings might vary by race. This study included mostly white students. But it's known that young African Americans and Asian Americans are especially likely to smoke menthol varieties.
Last year, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said taking mentholated cigarettes off the shelves may benefit public health.
But studies have varied on the possible effects of the cigarettes versus regular ones.
One recent study found that menthol smokers had a higher stroke rate than those who favored the non-menthol variety. Another, however, found no higher risk of lung cancer, and no evidence that menthol fans had a harder time kicking the smoking habit.
Of course, not smoking at all is the wisest choice. The risks of the habits go beyond lung cancer, and include a range of other cancers, emphysema and heart disease - the number-one killer of Americans.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking any type of cigarettes increases a person's risk of heart disease two- to four-fold compared to non-smokers.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/TlBpP3 Addiction, online October 18, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
In a study of tens of thousands of U.S. students, researchers found that kids who were dabbling with menthol cigarettes were 80 percent more likely to become regular smokers over the next few years, versus those experimenting with regular cigarettes.
Menthol is added to cigarettes to give them a minty 'refreshing' flavor. Critics have charged that menthol makes cigarettes more palatable to new smokers - many of whom are kids - and may be especially likely to encourage addiction.
'This study adds additional evidence that menthol cigarettes are a potential risk factor for kids becoming established, adult smokers,' said study leader James Nonnemaker, of the research institute RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Still, the findings, which appear in the journal Addiction, do not prove that menthol cigarettes are to blame.
'The study's subject to a number of limitations,' Nonnemaker said. 'This shows an association, not cause-and-effect.'
One issue, he said, is that the study was not set up specifically to answer the question of whether menthol might encourage habitual smoking.
The findings come from three years' worth of surveys of over 47,000 U.S. middle school and high school students. That included almost 1,800 kids who had just started smoking during the first or second survey - one-third of whom had opted for menthol cigarettes.
By the third-year survey, more than half of those experimenters had quit smoking. Another third were still occasional smokers, and 15 percent had become habitual smokers.
The odds of becoming a regular smoker, the study found, were 80 percent higher for kids who'd started off with menthol cigarettes. That was with the kids' age, gender and race taken into account.
The results are consistent with the idea that menthol cigarettes encourage kids to get hooked because of menthol's 'sensory properties,' according to Nonnemaker.
But, he said, more studies are needed. One question is whether the findings might vary by race. This study included mostly white students. But it's known that young African Americans and Asian Americans are especially likely to smoke menthol varieties.
Last year, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said taking mentholated cigarettes off the shelves may benefit public health.
But studies have varied on the possible effects of the cigarettes versus regular ones.
One recent study found that menthol smokers had a higher stroke rate than those who favored the non-menthol variety. Another, however, found no higher risk of lung cancer, and no evidence that menthol fans had a harder time kicking the smoking habit.
Of course, not smoking at all is the wisest choice. The risks of the habits go beyond lung cancer, and include a range of other cancers, emphysema and heart disease - the number-one killer of Americans.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking any type of cigarettes increases a person's risk of heart disease two- to four-fold compared to non-smokers.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/TlBpP3 Addiction, online October 18, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Hurricane Babies: Myths and Realities
Robyn Moreno, due to give birth, paid little attention to Hurricane Sandy, until police circled her Battery Park City neighborhood in Lower Manhattan and ordered mandatory evacuations in anticipation of a record tidal surge.
Just before the historic storm hit New York City, the 36-year-old freelance writer and her husband had talked about taking a short vacation in the Hamptons, on Long Island's East End, before the baby arrived.
'I was looking forward to a relaxing week,' said Moreno. 'We fixed the nursery, and put the crib together and suddenly the big rainstorm came. Holy cow - what are we going to do? I am going to have a baby in the middle of a storm, and I live in Zone A?'
Along with Manhattan's Battery Park City, Zone A includes Coney Island in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens, and other low-lying areas on Staten Island.
'We had to be prepared to have the baby,' Moreno said. 'I had to pack a hospital bag and a baby bag, a car seat - literally seven bags of stuff.'
Having a baby in the midst of a natural disaster takes on mythical proportions in the world of medicine. Some say that the plummeting barometric pressure can trigger labor. Others say mammals instinctively forestall labor in a stressful environment.
'After delivering over 1,000 babies as an obstetrician, I can tell you that most OBs have heard the saying that storms and full moons often mean a busier day or night on labor and delivery,' said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, an obstetrician in Englewood, N.J. 'The theory is that a drop in barometric pressure is associated with the rupturing of the membranes of the amniotic sac, causing a pregnant woman to 'break her water.''
Although hard scientific evidence is nonexistent, Ashton said that one retrospective study published in a midwifery journal reported a 'significant increase in deliveries' in the 24 hours after a storm compared with before a storm.
'The link between weather and lunar cycles extends beyond childbirth; there are associations between migraines, other headaches and musculoskeletal pain,' said Ashton.
Dr. Jacques Moritz, director of the division of gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, debunks the storm theory as a myth. 'Mammals in general have stress hormones that prevent them going into labor,' he said. 'Generally, they don't have babies when there is stress outside.'
But both doctors confirm conventional wisdom that nine months after an event such as Hurricane Sandy, which had been reduced to a post-tropical cyclone when it finally made landfall just south of Atlantic City, N.J., Monday evening, will result in an uptick in pregnancies.
'At the hospital, we were just saying that nine months from now business will be busier than hell,' Moritz said. 'That's probably for sure. Everybody is cooped up inside. ... I would not be surprised. It happened after 9/11.'
That, too, has been upended by at least two university studies. The theory arose after New York City's blackout on Nov. 9, 1965, when The New York Times reported 'a sharp increase in births' nine months afterward.
The newspaper quoted Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which explained, 'Sexuality is a very powerful force, and people would normally indulge in sex if they didn't have anything else to do.'
Still, hurricanes hold an allure, particularly when it comes to naming a baby.
Monday afternoon, at the height of the storm, Moritz delivered blue-eyed, black-haired Isla Rose O'Flynn, who was almost named Sandy.
'I actually like Frankie better [for Frankenstorm],' said Isla's mother, Corinna Durland. 'I do think Frances is great, but we had something else in mind.'
Durland, 38, was scheduled to have labor induced next week because she was two weeks past her due date. 'But with the storm coming on, they wanted to get going and do this for me,' she said. 'I was right at the edge.'
She texted a friend this morning to tell her she would be going to the hospital, only to learn that her friend had gone into labor. 'We were kind of joking around, but I got to see her new baby, Max, this morning.'
Durland said her daughter's birth, in the midst of a storm, was, if not auspicious, a 'pretty dramatic story.'
'There is a full moon, my dad's birthday was yesterday, the hurricane is starting and we are on the edge of Halloween,' she said. 'We think maybe she waited on purpose. She was out and perfect before the full storm.'
Doctors say that aside from the myths, women should pay attention to the weather if their due date is approaching.
'Women close to their due date who think they are in early labor should not wait until they feel the baby's head come out,' said obstetrician Ashton. 'Call your doctor or go to the hospital sooner, rather than later.'
Hospitals will also consider 'soft admissions' for women who are not actually in labor, according to Ashton. 'They just don't want to take chances that women get stranded before they can get to the hospital.'
But one 31-year-old mother from New Jersey didn't feel the need to panic. Alice, who did not want to share her last name, is 37 weeks pregnant, and has a 2-year-old at home.
'I have no contingency plans,' she said. 'I'm just hoping I don't go into labor! My first one was close to on time, so I'm hoping my second one will be too. . [The hospital] is a five-minute drive, though I wouldn't look forward to making that drive in this weather.
Monday night, her husband said, 'Thank you for not going into labor.'
Also Read
This news article is brought to you by GADGETS NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Just before the historic storm hit New York City, the 36-year-old freelance writer and her husband had talked about taking a short vacation in the Hamptons, on Long Island's East End, before the baby arrived.
'I was looking forward to a relaxing week,' said Moreno. 'We fixed the nursery, and put the crib together and suddenly the big rainstorm came. Holy cow - what are we going to do? I am going to have a baby in the middle of a storm, and I live in Zone A?'
Along with Manhattan's Battery Park City, Zone A includes Coney Island in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens, and other low-lying areas on Staten Island.
'We had to be prepared to have the baby,' Moreno said. 'I had to pack a hospital bag and a baby bag, a car seat - literally seven bags of stuff.'
Having a baby in the midst of a natural disaster takes on mythical proportions in the world of medicine. Some say that the plummeting barometric pressure can trigger labor. Others say mammals instinctively forestall labor in a stressful environment.
'After delivering over 1,000 babies as an obstetrician, I can tell you that most OBs have heard the saying that storms and full moons often mean a busier day or night on labor and delivery,' said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, an obstetrician in Englewood, N.J. 'The theory is that a drop in barometric pressure is associated with the rupturing of the membranes of the amniotic sac, causing a pregnant woman to 'break her water.''
Although hard scientific evidence is nonexistent, Ashton said that one retrospective study published in a midwifery journal reported a 'significant increase in deliveries' in the 24 hours after a storm compared with before a storm.
'The link between weather and lunar cycles extends beyond childbirth; there are associations between migraines, other headaches and musculoskeletal pain,' said Ashton.
Dr. Jacques Moritz, director of the division of gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, debunks the storm theory as a myth. 'Mammals in general have stress hormones that prevent them going into labor,' he said. 'Generally, they don't have babies when there is stress outside.'
But both doctors confirm conventional wisdom that nine months after an event such as Hurricane Sandy, which had been reduced to a post-tropical cyclone when it finally made landfall just south of Atlantic City, N.J., Monday evening, will result in an uptick in pregnancies.
'At the hospital, we were just saying that nine months from now business will be busier than hell,' Moritz said. 'That's probably for sure. Everybody is cooped up inside. ... I would not be surprised. It happened after 9/11.'
That, too, has been upended by at least two university studies. The theory arose after New York City's blackout on Nov. 9, 1965, when The New York Times reported 'a sharp increase in births' nine months afterward.
The newspaper quoted Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which explained, 'Sexuality is a very powerful force, and people would normally indulge in sex if they didn't have anything else to do.'
Still, hurricanes hold an allure, particularly when it comes to naming a baby.
Monday afternoon, at the height of the storm, Moritz delivered blue-eyed, black-haired Isla Rose O'Flynn, who was almost named Sandy.
'I actually like Frankie better [for Frankenstorm],' said Isla's mother, Corinna Durland. 'I do think Frances is great, but we had something else in mind.'
Durland, 38, was scheduled to have labor induced next week because she was two weeks past her due date. 'But with the storm coming on, they wanted to get going and do this for me,' she said. 'I was right at the edge.'
She texted a friend this morning to tell her she would be going to the hospital, only to learn that her friend had gone into labor. 'We were kind of joking around, but I got to see her new baby, Max, this morning.'
Durland said her daughter's birth, in the midst of a storm, was, if not auspicious, a 'pretty dramatic story.'
'There is a full moon, my dad's birthday was yesterday, the hurricane is starting and we are on the edge of Halloween,' she said. 'We think maybe she waited on purpose. She was out and perfect before the full storm.'
Doctors say that aside from the myths, women should pay attention to the weather if their due date is approaching.
'Women close to their due date who think they are in early labor should not wait until they feel the baby's head come out,' said obstetrician Ashton. 'Call your doctor or go to the hospital sooner, rather than later.'
Hospitals will also consider 'soft admissions' for women who are not actually in labor, according to Ashton. 'They just don't want to take chances that women get stranded before they can get to the hospital.'
But one 31-year-old mother from New Jersey didn't feel the need to panic. Alice, who did not want to share her last name, is 37 weeks pregnant, and has a 2-year-old at home.
'I have no contingency plans,' she said. 'I'm just hoping I don't go into labor! My first one was close to on time, so I'm hoping my second one will be too. . [The hospital] is a five-minute drive, though I wouldn't look forward to making that drive in this weather.
Monday night, her husband said, 'Thank you for not going into labor.'
Also Read
This news article is brought to you by GADGETS NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Slimmer future for heavy kids who get help early
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Weight-loss programs can help even very young children slim down, and it appears that acting early may improve the odds of success, according to a pair of new studies.
'What they are showing is a pretty consistent trend that if we were to intervene early, we could really have an effect on changing the trajectory of weight gain in children,' said Dr. Elsie Taveras, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, who co-wrote an editorial on the findings.
In one study, Dutch scientists found that heavy three- to five-year-olds saw continued benefits from a weight-loss intervention at least several months after it ended.
And a report from Sweden shows overweight and obese children under 10 were much more likely to slow their weight gain than were adolescents getting similar behavioral treatments.
The two studies were released Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Excessive pounds in childhood often stay on into adulthood, where they have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.
Taveras said there is mounting evidence that paying attention to young kids may be a promising way to stem the global obesity epidemic. In 2008, more than a third of U.S. youths were either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The numbers have also been on the rise in Europe, although they are still lower than in the U.S.
The Dutch researchers, led by Dr. Gianni Bocca of Beatrix Children's Hospital in Groningen, studied 75 heavy children who had been randomly assigned to get either usual care or an intensive weight-loss program. The program lasted four months and involved 25 sessions with dietary advice, exercise and, for the parents only, behavioral counseling.
A year after the study began, kids in the intervention group had gained 4.2 pounds on average, and those who got usual care had added another 6.8 pounds.
While that difference could have been due to chance, there was a statistically reliable difference in body mass index, or BMI, a measure of height in relation to weight.
Children in the intervention group went one unit down in BMI, while the others saw no change. In adults, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25.
'The magnitude of the effect, especially initially after the intervention, wasn't very large, but what needs to be taken into account was that these children were growing,' Taveras told Reuters Health.
'What these interventions are showing is that you can have an effect, and hopefully these interventions are changing the trajectory the children were headed towards.'
PARTICULARLY TOUGH CASES?
She also cautioned that the Swedish findings, led by Pernilla Danielsson of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, were based on observations instead of an experiment.
That means it's possible that the youngsters between 14 and 16, who saw no or little effect of the behavioral treatment, could have been particularly tough cases.
Still, Taveras said, there is good evidence that heavy kids who start weight-loss programs early have an easier time slimming down.
Weight-loss programs for kids are available from healthcare providers across the country and are often covered by insurance, she said, adding that interested families could ask their pediatrician or check with local public health departments.
The government is also funding research that takes a more comprehensive approach to keeping children's weight healthy. The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration, for example, includes sites in three states and attacks the problem at various levels. At the Massachusetts site, Taveras said primary care doctors, child care centers and schools are all involved in the efforts.
'I hope that in a few years there will be more examples of programs that aren't just clinical that we can send families to,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/PogxGc Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online October 29, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
'What they are showing is a pretty consistent trend that if we were to intervene early, we could really have an effect on changing the trajectory of weight gain in children,' said Dr. Elsie Taveras, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, who co-wrote an editorial on the findings.
In one study, Dutch scientists found that heavy three- to five-year-olds saw continued benefits from a weight-loss intervention at least several months after it ended.
And a report from Sweden shows overweight and obese children under 10 were much more likely to slow their weight gain than were adolescents getting similar behavioral treatments.
The two studies were released Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Excessive pounds in childhood often stay on into adulthood, where they have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.
Taveras said there is mounting evidence that paying attention to young kids may be a promising way to stem the global obesity epidemic. In 2008, more than a third of U.S. youths were either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The numbers have also been on the rise in Europe, although they are still lower than in the U.S.
The Dutch researchers, led by Dr. Gianni Bocca of Beatrix Children's Hospital in Groningen, studied 75 heavy children who had been randomly assigned to get either usual care or an intensive weight-loss program. The program lasted four months and involved 25 sessions with dietary advice, exercise and, for the parents only, behavioral counseling.
A year after the study began, kids in the intervention group had gained 4.2 pounds on average, and those who got usual care had added another 6.8 pounds.
While that difference could have been due to chance, there was a statistically reliable difference in body mass index, or BMI, a measure of height in relation to weight.
Children in the intervention group went one unit down in BMI, while the others saw no change. In adults, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25.
'The magnitude of the effect, especially initially after the intervention, wasn't very large, but what needs to be taken into account was that these children were growing,' Taveras told Reuters Health.
'What these interventions are showing is that you can have an effect, and hopefully these interventions are changing the trajectory the children were headed towards.'
PARTICULARLY TOUGH CASES?
She also cautioned that the Swedish findings, led by Pernilla Danielsson of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, were based on observations instead of an experiment.
That means it's possible that the youngsters between 14 and 16, who saw no or little effect of the behavioral treatment, could have been particularly tough cases.
Still, Taveras said, there is good evidence that heavy kids who start weight-loss programs early have an easier time slimming down.
Weight-loss programs for kids are available from healthcare providers across the country and are often covered by insurance, she said, adding that interested families could ask their pediatrician or check with local public health departments.
The government is also funding research that takes a more comprehensive approach to keeping children's weight healthy. The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration, for example, includes sites in three states and attacks the problem at various levels. At the Massachusetts site, Taveras said primary care doctors, child care centers and schools are all involved in the efforts.
'I hope that in a few years there will be more examples of programs that aren't just clinical that we can send families to,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/PogxGc Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online October 29, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
"Good bacteria" during pregnancy may ward off eczema: study
(Reuters) - Babies were less likely to get the itchy skin rash eczema when their mothers took probiotics during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, according to a study from Finland.
Researchers said it's possible that probiotics - which are thought to help balance bacteria populations in the gut and prevent disease-causing strains from spreading - may influence babies' health through immune cells that cross the placenta and later are passed in breast milk.
'Prevention regimen with specific probiotics administered to the pregnant and breast-feeding mother, that is, prenatally and postnatally, is safe and effective in reducing the risk of eczema in infants with allergic mothers,' wrote lead author Samuli Rautava of Turku University Central Hospital, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
For the study, Rautava and his colleagues assigned 241 pregnant women to take one of two different probiotic combinations, given as a powder mixed with water once daily, or a bacteria-free placebo powder.
All of the mothers-to-be had a history of allergies, so their babies were at extra-high risk of eczema and other allergic reactions.
The women drank their assigned concoction for the last two months of pregnancy and their first two months of breastfeeding. Researchers then tracked their babies' health for two years to see how many developed rashes.
By the end of the study, 71 percent of babies in the placebo group had had eczema at least once, compared to 29 percent of babies whose mother took either probiotic combination.
Chronic eczema was diagnosed in 26 percent of placebo kids, compared to 10 percent and six percent, respectively, of those in the two probiotic groups.
However, by age two there was no difference in kids' sensitivities to a range of allergens, including milk, wheat, soy and dog and cat dander, based on whether their mothers had taken the supplements. About one quarter of the children had a positive 'skin prick' test for sensitivity to an allergen.
'(The study) really shows a reduction in eczema from probiotics, which is such a simple and easy intervention for mothers,' said Ruchi Gupta, an allergy an eczema researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
But she said it was still too soon to see if that reduction in eczema will be tied to a drop in asthma and more serious allergies later on, and Rautava himself said it was still not yet possible to make recommendations for routine use of probiotics.
Rautava and his colleagues didn't find any evidence of probiotic-related side-effects, and while there have been reports of infections attributed to probiotics in babies, giving the supplements to the mothers instead may reduce that risk.
But some researchers questioned whether the supplements sold on drugstore shelves have any real health benefits, especially including all the different strains available.
'The results look encouraging, but this is a controversial area and confirmation is needed,' said James Gem, a pediatric allergy researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RYnbVw
(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Researchers said it's possible that probiotics - which are thought to help balance bacteria populations in the gut and prevent disease-causing strains from spreading - may influence babies' health through immune cells that cross the placenta and later are passed in breast milk.
'Prevention regimen with specific probiotics administered to the pregnant and breast-feeding mother, that is, prenatally and postnatally, is safe and effective in reducing the risk of eczema in infants with allergic mothers,' wrote lead author Samuli Rautava of Turku University Central Hospital, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
For the study, Rautava and his colleagues assigned 241 pregnant women to take one of two different probiotic combinations, given as a powder mixed with water once daily, or a bacteria-free placebo powder.
All of the mothers-to-be had a history of allergies, so their babies were at extra-high risk of eczema and other allergic reactions.
The women drank their assigned concoction for the last two months of pregnancy and their first two months of breastfeeding. Researchers then tracked their babies' health for two years to see how many developed rashes.
By the end of the study, 71 percent of babies in the placebo group had had eczema at least once, compared to 29 percent of babies whose mother took either probiotic combination.
Chronic eczema was diagnosed in 26 percent of placebo kids, compared to 10 percent and six percent, respectively, of those in the two probiotic groups.
However, by age two there was no difference in kids' sensitivities to a range of allergens, including milk, wheat, soy and dog and cat dander, based on whether their mothers had taken the supplements. About one quarter of the children had a positive 'skin prick' test for sensitivity to an allergen.
'(The study) really shows a reduction in eczema from probiotics, which is such a simple and easy intervention for mothers,' said Ruchi Gupta, an allergy an eczema researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
But she said it was still too soon to see if that reduction in eczema will be tied to a drop in asthma and more serious allergies later on, and Rautava himself said it was still not yet possible to make recommendations for routine use of probiotics.
Rautava and his colleagues didn't find any evidence of probiotic-related side-effects, and while there have been reports of infections attributed to probiotics in babies, giving the supplements to the mothers instead may reduce that risk.
But some researchers questioned whether the supplements sold on drugstore shelves have any real health benefits, especially including all the different strains available.
'The results look encouraging, but this is a controversial area and confirmation is needed,' said James Gem, a pediatric allergy researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RYnbVw
(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
"Good bacteria" during pregnancy may ward off eczema
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies were less likely to get an itchy skin rash when their mothers took probiotics during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, in a new study from Finland.
Known as eczema, the rash is caused by an allergic reaction and hints at future problems with allergies and asthma.
Researchers said it's possible that probiotics - which are thought to help balance bacteria populations in the gut and prevent disease-causing strains from spreading - may influence babies' health through immune cells that cross the placenta and later are passed in breast milk.
Still, it's too early to send all pregnant women out to buy 'good bacteria' supplements, some researchers said.
'While our results are promising, it is not yet possible to make recommendations for routine use of probiotics to reduce the risk of eczema,' the study's lead author told Reuters Health in an email.
For the new study, Dr. Samuli Rautava of Turku University Central Hospital and his colleagues assigned 241 pregnant women to take one of two different probiotic combinations, given as a powder mixed with water once daily, or a bacteria-free placebo powder.
All of those mothers-to-be had a history of allergies, so their babies were at extra-high risk of eczema and other allergic reactions.
The women drank their assigned concoction for the last two months of pregnancy and their first two months of breastfeeding. Researchers then tracked their babies' health for two years to see how many developed rashes.
By the end of the study, 71 percent of babies in the placebo group had had eczema at least once, compared to 29 percent of babies whose mothers took either probiotic combination. Chronic eczema was diagnosed in 26 percent of placebo kids, compared to 10 percent and six percent, respectively, of those in the two probiotic groups.
However, by age two there was no difference in kids' sensitivities to a range of allergens, including milk, wheat, soy and dog and cat dander, based on whether their mothers had taken the supplements. About one-quarter of kids had a positive 'skin prick' test for sensitivity to an allergen, the researchers reported last week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Dr. Ruchi Gupta, an allergy and eczema researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, called the study 'fascinating.'
'It really shows a reduction in eczema from probiotics, which is such a simple and easy intervention for mothers,' said Gupta, who wasn't involved in the research.
But she said it's too soon to tell if that reduction in eczema will also be tied to a drop in asthma and more serious allergies later on.
The probiotic strains used in the study were donated by Nestle, which markets probiotics in infant formula and other products.
Rautava and his colleagues didn't find any evidence of probiotic-related side effects. Stomach complaints, in particular, were just as common in mothers and kids in the placebo group as in the probiotic study arms.
The researcher said there have been reports of infections attributed to probiotics in babies, but that giving the supplements to mothers-to-be instead of to the babies themselves, as his team did, may reduce that risk.
Gupta thinks the side effects tied to probiotics have been so minimal that the supplements are worth taking for many people, especially pregnant and lactating women.
'We can safely advocate and encourage pregnant women of the potential advantages of taking probiotics,' she told Reuters Health.
Probiotics, now sold by a range of companies to support immune and digestive health, run about 25 cents per day.
Some researchers have questioned whether the supplements sold on drugstore shelves have any real health benefit - especially given the number of different bacteria strains available, all with potentially different functions.
'The results look encouraging, but this is a controversial area and confirmation is needed,' Dr. James Gern, a pediatric allergy researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health in an email.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies probiotics as a food or dietary supplement. That means the products don't have to be proven to work before they're marketed, but they can't be billed to treat or prevent any specific disease.
SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online October 18, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Known as eczema, the rash is caused by an allergic reaction and hints at future problems with allergies and asthma.
Researchers said it's possible that probiotics - which are thought to help balance bacteria populations in the gut and prevent disease-causing strains from spreading - may influence babies' health through immune cells that cross the placenta and later are passed in breast milk.
Still, it's too early to send all pregnant women out to buy 'good bacteria' supplements, some researchers said.
'While our results are promising, it is not yet possible to make recommendations for routine use of probiotics to reduce the risk of eczema,' the study's lead author told Reuters Health in an email.
For the new study, Dr. Samuli Rautava of Turku University Central Hospital and his colleagues assigned 241 pregnant women to take one of two different probiotic combinations, given as a powder mixed with water once daily, or a bacteria-free placebo powder.
All of those mothers-to-be had a history of allergies, so their babies were at extra-high risk of eczema and other allergic reactions.
The women drank their assigned concoction for the last two months of pregnancy and their first two months of breastfeeding. Researchers then tracked their babies' health for two years to see how many developed rashes.
By the end of the study, 71 percent of babies in the placebo group had had eczema at least once, compared to 29 percent of babies whose mothers took either probiotic combination. Chronic eczema was diagnosed in 26 percent of placebo kids, compared to 10 percent and six percent, respectively, of those in the two probiotic groups.
However, by age two there was no difference in kids' sensitivities to a range of allergens, including milk, wheat, soy and dog and cat dander, based on whether their mothers had taken the supplements. About one-quarter of kids had a positive 'skin prick' test for sensitivity to an allergen, the researchers reported last week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Dr. Ruchi Gupta, an allergy and eczema researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, called the study 'fascinating.'
'It really shows a reduction in eczema from probiotics, which is such a simple and easy intervention for mothers,' said Gupta, who wasn't involved in the research.
But she said it's too soon to tell if that reduction in eczema will also be tied to a drop in asthma and more serious allergies later on.
The probiotic strains used in the study were donated by Nestle, which markets probiotics in infant formula and other products.
Rautava and his colleagues didn't find any evidence of probiotic-related side effects. Stomach complaints, in particular, were just as common in mothers and kids in the placebo group as in the probiotic study arms.
The researcher said there have been reports of infections attributed to probiotics in babies, but that giving the supplements to mothers-to-be instead of to the babies themselves, as his team did, may reduce that risk.
Gupta thinks the side effects tied to probiotics have been so minimal that the supplements are worth taking for many people, especially pregnant and lactating women.
'We can safely advocate and encourage pregnant women of the potential advantages of taking probiotics,' she told Reuters Health.
Probiotics, now sold by a range of companies to support immune and digestive health, run about 25 cents per day.
Some researchers have questioned whether the supplements sold on drugstore shelves have any real health benefit - especially given the number of different bacteria strains available, all with potentially different functions.
'The results look encouraging, but this is a controversial area and confirmation is needed,' Dr. James Gern, a pediatric allergy researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health in an email.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies probiotics as a food or dietary supplement. That means the products don't have to be proven to work before they're marketed, but they can't be billed to treat or prevent any specific disease.
SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online October 18, 2012.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
CDC panel OKs Glaxo's meningitis vaccine for at-risk infants
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Wednesday to recommend the use of GlaxoSmithKline's newly approved vaccine for bacterial meningitis in babies at increased risk of the infection.
The vote is not related to the ongoing outbreak of fungal meningitis that has been linked to tainted steroid injections and has so far killed 24 people.
Children at increased risk include those with sickle cell disease and an immune system disorder known as complement component deficiency.
The CDC panel said the vaccine could also be used in babies 2 months through 18 months who live in communities battling an outbreak of meningococcal disease caused by serogroup C and Y.
The vaccine, known as MenHibrix, targets two common causes of bacterial meningitis, a serious infection of the thin lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It can cause severe brain damage, and it is fatal in 50 percent of cases if untreated.
The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC, voted 13 to 1, with 1 abstention, to recommend the vaccine for use in infants at greater risk for meningococcal disease, with 4 doses starting at 2, 4, 6 months and 12 through 15 months.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June.
The vaccine is intended to prevent disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis serogroups C and Y, two of the three most common causes of meningococcal disease in the United States.
It also protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b or Hib bacteria. Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children under the age of 5 before vaccines for the strain became common.
About 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis occurred in the United States each year from 2003 to 2007, the most recent data available, and 500 people died from the disease, according to the CDC. Infants are at highest risk.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
The vote is not related to the ongoing outbreak of fungal meningitis that has been linked to tainted steroid injections and has so far killed 24 people.
Children at increased risk include those with sickle cell disease and an immune system disorder known as complement component deficiency.
The CDC panel said the vaccine could also be used in babies 2 months through 18 months who live in communities battling an outbreak of meningococcal disease caused by serogroup C and Y.
The vaccine, known as MenHibrix, targets two common causes of bacterial meningitis, a serious infection of the thin lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It can cause severe brain damage, and it is fatal in 50 percent of cases if untreated.
The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC, voted 13 to 1, with 1 abstention, to recommend the vaccine for use in infants at greater risk for meningococcal disease, with 4 doses starting at 2, 4, 6 months and 12 through 15 months.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June.
The vaccine is intended to prevent disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis serogroups C and Y, two of the three most common causes of meningococcal disease in the United States.
It also protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b or Hib bacteria. Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children under the age of 5 before vaccines for the strain became common.
About 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis occurred in the United States each year from 2003 to 2007, the most recent data available, and 500 people died from the disease, according to the CDC. Infants are at highest risk.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Pediatricians call for strict gun laws to protect kids
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pediatricians Thursday called for the strictest possible regulation of gun sales, as well as more education for parents on the dangers of having a gun at home, to prevent deaths of kids and teens.
In a policy statement published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers representing the American Academy of Pediatrics said the number of gun-related deaths in youth has dropped nationally since the mid-1990s, but is still many times higher than rates in other wealthy countries.
The report was released to coincide with the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.
Its most important purpose, according to co-lead author Dr. Robert Sege from Boston Medical Center, is to reiterate that kids and teens are at risk if they have access to guns.
'Most children who get injured or killed from firearms get their firearms from home,' he told Reuters Health.
That is because young kids are by nature curious, he said, and teenagers are by nature impulsive - including when it comes to guns.
'There's new, better data that although the safest home for children is a home without guns, that parents can protect their child simply by keeping a gun unloaded and locked, with the ammunition locked separately,' Sege said.
He and the rest of the AAP's Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention Executive Committee found that as of 2009, between 11 and 12 of every 100,000 older teens were being killed every year by gunshots. About two-thirds of those were homicides, with suicides and accidental deaths accounting for the rest.
Guns were responsible for almost 85 percent of all teen homicides that year, the researchers added. They were also the most common method of teen suicide.
SUICIDE LINK
The high death rate in suicide attempts using guns - compared to pills or sharp objects - makes at-home access to firearms especially dangerous for impulsive teens, according to the pediatrician group.
'For 98 percent of families every year, whether you have a gun or not is irrelevant. Most of the time nothing happens, the way that most of the time when you ride around without a seat belt, nothing bad happens,' said David Hemenway, head of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center in Boston. He was not involved in drafting the policy statement.
The AAP committee also called for restoration of a controversial U.S. ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. President Barack Obama suggested at a presidential debate earlier this week that he would renew a ban on assault weapons - a position not backed by his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Assault weapons include military-style guns designed to fire rapidly and from close range, such as semiautomatic AK-47s.
The AAP cited the cost of gun-related assaults and homicides at over $17 billion a year, due to lost productivity and medical bills. But Hemenway said the true financial burden is much higher.
'When guns are used for homicide it can destroy not only someone's life and their ability to work and so forth ... but it can destroy communities,' he said. For example, businesses do not want to move into communities that have had a few shootings, and families that can afford to will move out.
He said the consensus among injury researchers has been that the best thing to do for a child's safety is to keep guns out of the house. But each family has to make that decision on its own.
'If you decide to have a gun, and it's an individual choice, what you really want to do is store it safely,' Hemenway said.
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Jackie Frank)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
In a policy statement published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers representing the American Academy of Pediatrics said the number of gun-related deaths in youth has dropped nationally since the mid-1990s, but is still many times higher than rates in other wealthy countries.
The report was released to coincide with the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.
Its most important purpose, according to co-lead author Dr. Robert Sege from Boston Medical Center, is to reiterate that kids and teens are at risk if they have access to guns.
'Most children who get injured or killed from firearms get their firearms from home,' he told Reuters Health.
That is because young kids are by nature curious, he said, and teenagers are by nature impulsive - including when it comes to guns.
'There's new, better data that although the safest home for children is a home without guns, that parents can protect their child simply by keeping a gun unloaded and locked, with the ammunition locked separately,' Sege said.
He and the rest of the AAP's Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention Executive Committee found that as of 2009, between 11 and 12 of every 100,000 older teens were being killed every year by gunshots. About two-thirds of those were homicides, with suicides and accidental deaths accounting for the rest.
Guns were responsible for almost 85 percent of all teen homicides that year, the researchers added. They were also the most common method of teen suicide.
SUICIDE LINK
The high death rate in suicide attempts using guns - compared to pills or sharp objects - makes at-home access to firearms especially dangerous for impulsive teens, according to the pediatrician group.
'For 98 percent of families every year, whether you have a gun or not is irrelevant. Most of the time nothing happens, the way that most of the time when you ride around without a seat belt, nothing bad happens,' said David Hemenway, head of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center in Boston. He was not involved in drafting the policy statement.
The AAP committee also called for restoration of a controversial U.S. ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. President Barack Obama suggested at a presidential debate earlier this week that he would renew a ban on assault weapons - a position not backed by his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Assault weapons include military-style guns designed to fire rapidly and from close range, such as semiautomatic AK-47s.
The AAP cited the cost of gun-related assaults and homicides at over $17 billion a year, due to lost productivity and medical bills. But Hemenway said the true financial burden is much higher.
'When guns are used for homicide it can destroy not only someone's life and their ability to work and so forth ... but it can destroy communities,' he said. For example, businesses do not want to move into communities that have had a few shootings, and families that can afford to will move out.
He said the consensus among injury researchers has been that the best thing to do for a child's safety is to keep guns out of the house. But each family has to make that decision on its own.
'If you decide to have a gun, and it's an individual choice, what you really want to do is store it safely,' Hemenway said.
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Jackie Frank)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Some parents misunderstand kids' cancer studies
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with incurable cancer can take part in early trials of a new drug's safety, but many parents may misunderstand the goals of those studies, new research finds.
When researchers test new drugs on humans, they start with phase 1 clinical trials. Those studies aren't aimed at seeing whether a drug works; instead, researchers are looking at the drug's safety, and trying to figure out the highest dose that people can tolerate without troublesome side effects.
Then the drug can move on to larger trials testing its effectiveness.
With it comes to childhood cancer treatments, kids may be eligible for a phase 1 trial if their own cancer is terminal.
So essentially, those children are doing the trials to benefit other kids with cancer in the future, explained Dr. Eric D. Kodish of the Cleveland Clinic, who worked on the new study. But it has not been clear whether parents fully understand the point of phase 1 trials.
Kodish and his colleagues found that they often do not.
In interviews with 60 parents, they found that only one-third seemed to have a 'substantial understanding' of the scientific purpose of phase 1 trials. And 35 percent showed little to no understanding.
That was despite the fact that all of the parents had just met with their child's oncologist for an 'informed consent conference' on enrolling in a phase 1 trial.
It's not certain whether some parents thought their child could potentially be cured by the experimental drug, according to Kodish. But that is a worry, he said.
The study, which appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, included families at six U.S. hospitals that run phase 1 pediatric cancer trials. Kodish's team recorded the informed consent conferences, then interviewed parents about a week later.
They looked at how often doctors explained three main 'scientific concepts' of phase 1 trials: testing drug safety, finding the best dose and dose escalation - where one group of kids in the study gets a certain dose, and then if that dose is safe, the next group of kids gets a higher one.
Overall, doctors explained those concepts only about a quarter to half of the time. Only days later, many parents couldn't describe the three concepts during interviews.
Kodish said it's not clear if those parents actually thought the trial offered a chance at a cure - or if they would've kept their child out of the study if their understanding had been better. (Almost all of the families ended up enrolling their child in a phase 1 trial.)
But the findings show that doctors 'should be trained in strategies and techniques' for better explaining phase 1 trials, the researchers write.
'We need to help parents understand that the logical reason to participate is to help future kids with cancer,' Kodish said.
He added that minority parents and those with less education might need particular attention. In this study, they were less likely to understand the goals of the trials than white and better educated parents were.
Phase 1 trials are necessary for new treatments to be developed. 'This study is not saying that these trials are unethical,' Kodish stressed.
He added that families often say they are glad they participated. 'After their child has passed away, parents say they get some comfort from knowing they've helped other kids.'
But it's very important, he added, that families are fully informed before enrolling their child in such a trial. They need to weigh that choice against the other options for their child; if they want to travel or spend time with relatives, a phase 1 trial might not be the choice for them.
And, Kodish said, families may instead want to choose hospice or palliative care, which is aimed at making a child as comfortable as possible at the end of life.
A 'surprising' finding, Kodish noted, is that in nearly all cases, parents brought their child to the informed consent conference.
Kodish said that in the 1980s, when he did his training, you would not see kids at these meetings. He thinks the big shift shows how much adults' attitudes have changed, so that children are now part of the decision-making.
But that also means everyone, parents and kids, need to fully understand what phase 1 trials are, he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/U5kPZP Journal of Clinical Oncology, online October 15, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
When researchers test new drugs on humans, they start with phase 1 clinical trials. Those studies aren't aimed at seeing whether a drug works; instead, researchers are looking at the drug's safety, and trying to figure out the highest dose that people can tolerate without troublesome side effects.
Then the drug can move on to larger trials testing its effectiveness.
With it comes to childhood cancer treatments, kids may be eligible for a phase 1 trial if their own cancer is terminal.
So essentially, those children are doing the trials to benefit other kids with cancer in the future, explained Dr. Eric D. Kodish of the Cleveland Clinic, who worked on the new study. But it has not been clear whether parents fully understand the point of phase 1 trials.
Kodish and his colleagues found that they often do not.
In interviews with 60 parents, they found that only one-third seemed to have a 'substantial understanding' of the scientific purpose of phase 1 trials. And 35 percent showed little to no understanding.
That was despite the fact that all of the parents had just met with their child's oncologist for an 'informed consent conference' on enrolling in a phase 1 trial.
It's not certain whether some parents thought their child could potentially be cured by the experimental drug, according to Kodish. But that is a worry, he said.
The study, which appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, included families at six U.S. hospitals that run phase 1 pediatric cancer trials. Kodish's team recorded the informed consent conferences, then interviewed parents about a week later.
They looked at how often doctors explained three main 'scientific concepts' of phase 1 trials: testing drug safety, finding the best dose and dose escalation - where one group of kids in the study gets a certain dose, and then if that dose is safe, the next group of kids gets a higher one.
Overall, doctors explained those concepts only about a quarter to half of the time. Only days later, many parents couldn't describe the three concepts during interviews.
Kodish said it's not clear if those parents actually thought the trial offered a chance at a cure - or if they would've kept their child out of the study if their understanding had been better. (Almost all of the families ended up enrolling their child in a phase 1 trial.)
But the findings show that doctors 'should be trained in strategies and techniques' for better explaining phase 1 trials, the researchers write.
'We need to help parents understand that the logical reason to participate is to help future kids with cancer,' Kodish said.
He added that minority parents and those with less education might need particular attention. In this study, they were less likely to understand the goals of the trials than white and better educated parents were.
Phase 1 trials are necessary for new treatments to be developed. 'This study is not saying that these trials are unethical,' Kodish stressed.
He added that families often say they are glad they participated. 'After their child has passed away, parents say they get some comfort from knowing they've helped other kids.'
But it's very important, he added, that families are fully informed before enrolling their child in such a trial. They need to weigh that choice against the other options for their child; if they want to travel or spend time with relatives, a phase 1 trial might not be the choice for them.
And, Kodish said, families may instead want to choose hospice or palliative care, which is aimed at making a child as comfortable as possible at the end of life.
A 'surprising' finding, Kodish noted, is that in nearly all cases, parents brought their child to the informed consent conference.
Kodish said that in the 1980s, when he did his training, you would not see kids at these meetings. He thinks the big shift shows how much adults' attitudes have changed, so that children are now part of the decision-making.
But that also means everyone, parents and kids, need to fully understand what phase 1 trials are, he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/U5kPZP Journal of Clinical Oncology, online October 15, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Analysis : The meds stop working so WebMD needs a makeover
(Reuters) - Parents worried about their toddlers have long turned to the WebMD website to check symptoms, but the popular site now needs a doctor itself as WebMD Health Corp suffers from a fall in advertising by budget-slashing pharmaceutical companies.
The ad crunch comes as WebMD struggles to overcome issues with the way consumers use its sites -- jumping straight to the information on diabetes, for example, and then not hanging around once they get the information they want.
'What WebMD needs to do is figure out how can they get the next level of user engagement and in turn use that data in a way that can help pharmaceutical companies realize that there is real value in the platform,' said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve Rubis.
The company collection of website, led by flagship www.webmd.com, was ranked No. 1 in health in the United States by online data tracker comScore Inc in September, but competitors such as EverydayHealth (www.everydayhealth.com) are better at turning eyeballs into revenue.
WebMd's latest quarterly report in July showed that while the number of unique users rose 29 percent to 106.9 million and page views grew by 25 percent, the company posted a loss and its advertising revenue fell 20 percent.
WebMD is trying to improve the 'stickiness' of its sites, which also include www.MedicineNet.com, www.eMedicineHealth.com and www.RxList.com, to make them more attractive to advertisers. The changes include adding general well-being tips and advice, and creating mobile apps to help users track their health.
'Nowadays there is a lot more emphasis on the return-on-investment and being able to show exactly what you are getting for your advertising dollar,' said well-known pharma marketing blogger John Mack, also known as 'Pharmaguy'.
DATA IS KING
The slide in advertising coincides with the end of patent protection on many blockbuster drugs and the pharmaceutical industry's increased focus on niche treatments, which are better promoted by tightly targeted advertising.
Drug companies also want assurance that advertising works.
EverydayHealth, ranked no. 2 by comScore among health sites and WebMD's closest rival, uses data to show clients how advertising with its site leads to an increase in prescriptions.
'We use that data to make sure that the advertising is targeted, and then to prove that our marketing actually works,' EverydayHealth Chief Executive and Co-founder Ben Wolin said.
Plans for a similar approach by WebMD, in which activist investor Carl Icahn last reported a stake of 13.3 percent, is aimed at helping to convince clients that marketing translates into sales.
Most of WebMD's current revenue comes from its consumer portal business. The company also owns a subscription-based site for physicians and health professionals, Medscape.com, and provides private health portals to employers and health plans.
WebMD has already started to highlight more consumer-friendly and lifestyle-related content -- such as ways to include more whole wheat in your diet, the pros and cons of birth control pills, and offering makeup tips.
'In September, we updated our healthy living site with additional content and a new look,' WebMD Chief Executive Cavan Redmond, who took over in June, told Reuters. 'We are providing more editorial content that matches individuals who are looking to stay healthy and looking for health tips.'
The company has made similar changes to its Facebook page and has issued apps for mobile devices that help users track their weight, fitness and overall health
Redmond, a former Pfizer executive, said WebMD has launched two applications designed to get users to come back regularly.
'Baby App' keeps track of a baby's growth, sleep and feeding patterns and how often a diaper change is needed. It also stores photos and videos than can be shared via social networking sites. 'Pain Coach' logs pain levels and triggers, and provides pain management tips approved by WebMD doctors.
TWEAKING THE MODEL
One of WebMD's biggest strengths -- its reputation for reliable information -- is also one of its biggest challenges, however, as it is expensive to produce.
Producing cheaper content is not an option as the company is also competing with non-profit websites such as those run by the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School as well as MedlinePlus, a site run by the National Institutes of Health.
'WebMD is competing for quality with websites who have different business models,' said Kurt Kessler of sales and marketing consulting firm ZS Associates.
'The Harvard or the Mayo Clinic do not rely on advertising dollars as it is not their core business.'
One way to derive more revenue from content would be to syndicate WebMd's information to other websites, although this runs the risk of diluting its brand. Another option would be to expand e-commerce tie-ups with retailers.
'Maybe if they partner with Walgreen, like (they did with) Boots in the United Kingdom ... that's the only type of e-commerce that would work,' Stifel's Rubis said.
In its collaboration with Alliance Boots, WebMD provides healthcare information to customers of pharmacy chain Boots. Alliance Boots is 45 percent owned by Walgreen Co.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce and Ted Kerr)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
The ad crunch comes as WebMD struggles to overcome issues with the way consumers use its sites -- jumping straight to the information on diabetes, for example, and then not hanging around once they get the information they want.
'What WebMD needs to do is figure out how can they get the next level of user engagement and in turn use that data in a way that can help pharmaceutical companies realize that there is real value in the platform,' said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve Rubis.
The company collection of website, led by flagship www.webmd.com, was ranked No. 1 in health in the United States by online data tracker comScore Inc in September, but competitors such as EverydayHealth (www.everydayhealth.com) are better at turning eyeballs into revenue.
WebMd's latest quarterly report in July showed that while the number of unique users rose 29 percent to 106.9 million and page views grew by 25 percent, the company posted a loss and its advertising revenue fell 20 percent.
WebMD is trying to improve the 'stickiness' of its sites, which also include www.MedicineNet.com, www.eMedicineHealth.com and www.RxList.com, to make them more attractive to advertisers. The changes include adding general well-being tips and advice, and creating mobile apps to help users track their health.
'Nowadays there is a lot more emphasis on the return-on-investment and being able to show exactly what you are getting for your advertising dollar,' said well-known pharma marketing blogger John Mack, also known as 'Pharmaguy'.
DATA IS KING
The slide in advertising coincides with the end of patent protection on many blockbuster drugs and the pharmaceutical industry's increased focus on niche treatments, which are better promoted by tightly targeted advertising.
Drug companies also want assurance that advertising works.
EverydayHealth, ranked no. 2 by comScore among health sites and WebMD's closest rival, uses data to show clients how advertising with its site leads to an increase in prescriptions.
'We use that data to make sure that the advertising is targeted, and then to prove that our marketing actually works,' EverydayHealth Chief Executive and Co-founder Ben Wolin said.
Plans for a similar approach by WebMD, in which activist investor Carl Icahn last reported a stake of 13.3 percent, is aimed at helping to convince clients that marketing translates into sales.
Most of WebMD's current revenue comes from its consumer portal business. The company also owns a subscription-based site for physicians and health professionals, Medscape.com, and provides private health portals to employers and health plans.
WebMD has already started to highlight more consumer-friendly and lifestyle-related content -- such as ways to include more whole wheat in your diet, the pros and cons of birth control pills, and offering makeup tips.
'In September, we updated our healthy living site with additional content and a new look,' WebMD Chief Executive Cavan Redmond, who took over in June, told Reuters. 'We are providing more editorial content that matches individuals who are looking to stay healthy and looking for health tips.'
The company has made similar changes to its Facebook page and has issued apps for mobile devices that help users track their weight, fitness and overall health
Redmond, a former Pfizer executive, said WebMD has launched two applications designed to get users to come back regularly.
'Baby App' keeps track of a baby's growth, sleep and feeding patterns and how often a diaper change is needed. It also stores photos and videos than can be shared via social networking sites. 'Pain Coach' logs pain levels and triggers, and provides pain management tips approved by WebMD doctors.
TWEAKING THE MODEL
One of WebMD's biggest strengths -- its reputation for reliable information -- is also one of its biggest challenges, however, as it is expensive to produce.
Producing cheaper content is not an option as the company is also competing with non-profit websites such as those run by the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School as well as MedlinePlus, a site run by the National Institutes of Health.
'WebMD is competing for quality with websites who have different business models,' said Kurt Kessler of sales and marketing consulting firm ZS Associates.
'The Harvard or the Mayo Clinic do not rely on advertising dollars as it is not their core business.'
One way to derive more revenue from content would be to syndicate WebMd's information to other websites, although this runs the risk of diluting its brand. Another option would be to expand e-commerce tie-ups with retailers.
'Maybe if they partner with Walgreen, like (they did with) Boots in the United Kingdom ... that's the only type of e-commerce that would work,' Stifel's Rubis said.
In its collaboration with Alliance Boots, WebMD provides healthcare information to customers of pharmacy chain Boots. Alliance Boots is 45 percent owned by Walgreen Co.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce and Ted Kerr)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Extra shut-eye may improve kids' conduct: study
(Reuters) - Maybe parents should let their children sleep in a little more - it may help improve their behavior and make them less restless in school, according to a Canadian study.
On the flip side, few parents are likely to be surprised to know that cutting back on children's sleep time seems to make them more likely to cry, lose their temper and become frustrated, according to the researchers, who published their findings in Pediatrics.
'You can think about it from a lot of different angles,' said Reut Gruber, of Montreal's McGill University and Douglas Research Center, who led the study. 'What we are showing here is that it can go both ways in terms of behavior and academic performance.'
While Gruber's team is not the first to link sleep and behavior, few studies have looked at whether more sleep actually leads to better behavior in school children.
For the study, they recruited 33 children between seven and 11 years old to be followed over two weeks.
For the first week, the researchers monitored how long the children slept - about 9.3 hours, which is short of the 10 hours suggested by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The children were split into two groups for the second week. One group's parents were told to add an hour to their kids' usual time asleep, while the other group was told to cut their sleep time by an hour.
Half of the children did lose an hour of sleep each night, but the other group was only able to add about 30 minutes. Still, that seemed long enough for teachers to notice an improvement in the kids' behavior.
After the first week of monitoring, the teachers answered questions that rated the children's emotions, moodiness and restlessness at school on a scale from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating worse behavior and scores above 60 indicating a behavioral problem.
The baseline score for both groups before the sleep manipulation began was about 50, but after a week of the experimental sleep changes teachers, who did not know which group any of the children were in, rated the kids again.
The children who got the extra 30 minutes of sleep during the second week scored, on average, about 47, meaning their behavior had improved. But the children who lost an hour of sleep each night were scored about 54.
Gruber said that while the study only included 33 kids, it was still able to show that more sleep leads to better behavior. But the parents' reporting of sleepiness and behavior may have been influenced because of course they had to know how much more sleep their children were getting.
But she said it could be hard to add extra sleep in the evening, given how busy children's lives have become, and that perhaps adding just a little more in both morning and evening would help. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RwOI3p
(Reporting from New York by Andrew Seaman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
On the flip side, few parents are likely to be surprised to know that cutting back on children's sleep time seems to make them more likely to cry, lose their temper and become frustrated, according to the researchers, who published their findings in Pediatrics.
'You can think about it from a lot of different angles,' said Reut Gruber, of Montreal's McGill University and Douglas Research Center, who led the study. 'What we are showing here is that it can go both ways in terms of behavior and academic performance.'
While Gruber's team is not the first to link sleep and behavior, few studies have looked at whether more sleep actually leads to better behavior in school children.
For the study, they recruited 33 children between seven and 11 years old to be followed over two weeks.
For the first week, the researchers monitored how long the children slept - about 9.3 hours, which is short of the 10 hours suggested by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The children were split into two groups for the second week. One group's parents were told to add an hour to their kids' usual time asleep, while the other group was told to cut their sleep time by an hour.
Half of the children did lose an hour of sleep each night, but the other group was only able to add about 30 minutes. Still, that seemed long enough for teachers to notice an improvement in the kids' behavior.
After the first week of monitoring, the teachers answered questions that rated the children's emotions, moodiness and restlessness at school on a scale from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating worse behavior and scores above 60 indicating a behavioral problem.
The baseline score for both groups before the sleep manipulation began was about 50, but after a week of the experimental sleep changes teachers, who did not know which group any of the children were in, rated the kids again.
The children who got the extra 30 minutes of sleep during the second week scored, on average, about 47, meaning their behavior had improved. But the children who lost an hour of sleep each night were scored about 54.
Gruber said that while the study only included 33 kids, it was still able to show that more sleep leads to better behavior. But the parents' reporting of sleepiness and behavior may have been influenced because of course they had to know how much more sleep their children were getting.
But she said it could be hard to add extra sleep in the evening, given how busy children's lives have become, and that perhaps adding just a little more in both morning and evening would help. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RwOI3p
(Reporting from New York by Andrew Seaman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Extra sleep may improve kids' conduct
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Letting kids sleep a little longer may help improve their behavior and make them less restless in school, according to a new study.
On the flip side, cutting back on kids' time asleep seems to make them more likely to cry, lose their temper and become frustrated, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Pediatrics on Monday.
'You can think about it from a lot of different angles. What we are showing here is that it can go both ways in terms of behavior and academic performance,' said Reut Gruber, of Montreal's McGill University and Douglas Research Center, who led the study.
While Gruber's team is not the first to link sleep and behavior, few studies have looked at whether more sleep actually leads to better behavior in school children.
For the study, they recruited 33 children between seven and 11 years old to be followed over two weeks.
For the first week, the researchers monitored how long the kids slept - about 9.3 hours, which is short of the 10 hours suggested by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The children were then split into two groups for the second week.
One group's parents were told to add an hour to their kids' usual time asleep, while the other group was told to cut their kids' sleep by an hour.
Half of the children did lose an hour of sleep each night, but the other group was only able to add about 30 minutes.
Still, that half hour seemed long enough for teachers to notice an improvement in the kids' behavior.
After the first week of monitoring, the teachers answered questions that rated the children's emotions, moodiness and restlessness at school on a scale from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating worse behavior and scores above 60 signaling a behavioral problem.
The baseline score for both groups of kids before the sleep manipulation began was about 50.
After a week of the experimental sleep changes, teachers - who did not know which group any of the children were in - rated the kids again.
The children who got that extra 30 minutes of sleep during the second week scored, on average, about 47, meaning their behavior had improved.
Meanwhile, teachers rated the kids who lost an hour of sleep each night at about 54, indicating their behavior had gotten worse.
Neither of those changes signals an extreme difference in the children's behaviors, said Gruber. But, she added, it would be enough of a difference to make the teachers notice.
Unsurprisingly, the parents of those who got an extra 30 minutes of sleep also said their children weren't as tired throughout the day, while the opposite was true for parents in the other group.
ELIMINATE INTERFERENCES
'The thing that was surprising was how little sleep extension could affect functioning on a day-to-day basis,' said Dr. Umakanth Khatwa, sleep lab director at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts, who was not involved with the new study.
Gruber told Reuters Health that while the study only included 33 kids, it was still able to show more sleep leads to better behavior.
However, the researchers do write that not all of the study's participants were blinded as to which children lost or gained an hour of sleep, because the parents had to be in the know. That may have influenced the parents' reporting of sleepiness throughout the day, they say.
Gruber said that it can be hard for parents to add time to their kids' sleep schedule, but she said one of the keys is to eliminate interferences, such as late-night sports practice.
Khatwa agreed. 'A lot of practices are going into evening now. And by the time you're done, your body is riled up and you need time to wind down,' he said.
Gruber said one way to add the extra sleep could be to add 15 extra minutes of sleep at night and in the morning.
'Once it becomes a routine, the children won't really care about it,' she said.
But Khatwa said it's also important for parents to know their children's specific sleep needs.
'I don't want parents to take this and force their kids to sleep longer. Parents need to have realistic expectations,' he added. 'You need to let them sleep long enough so they can function normally.'
Gruber said that it's important for schools to educate children that getting enough sleep is just as important as eating right and getting enough exercise.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RwOI3p Pediatrics, online October 15, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by WOMEN'S BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
On the flip side, cutting back on kids' time asleep seems to make them more likely to cry, lose their temper and become frustrated, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Pediatrics on Monday.
'You can think about it from a lot of different angles. What we are showing here is that it can go both ways in terms of behavior and academic performance,' said Reut Gruber, of Montreal's McGill University and Douglas Research Center, who led the study.
While Gruber's team is not the first to link sleep and behavior, few studies have looked at whether more sleep actually leads to better behavior in school children.
For the study, they recruited 33 children between seven and 11 years old to be followed over two weeks.
For the first week, the researchers monitored how long the kids slept - about 9.3 hours, which is short of the 10 hours suggested by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The children were then split into two groups for the second week.
One group's parents were told to add an hour to their kids' usual time asleep, while the other group was told to cut their kids' sleep by an hour.
Half of the children did lose an hour of sleep each night, but the other group was only able to add about 30 minutes.
Still, that half hour seemed long enough for teachers to notice an improvement in the kids' behavior.
After the first week of monitoring, the teachers answered questions that rated the children's emotions, moodiness and restlessness at school on a scale from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating worse behavior and scores above 60 signaling a behavioral problem.
The baseline score for both groups of kids before the sleep manipulation began was about 50.
After a week of the experimental sleep changes, teachers - who did not know which group any of the children were in - rated the kids again.
The children who got that extra 30 minutes of sleep during the second week scored, on average, about 47, meaning their behavior had improved.
Meanwhile, teachers rated the kids who lost an hour of sleep each night at about 54, indicating their behavior had gotten worse.
Neither of those changes signals an extreme difference in the children's behaviors, said Gruber. But, she added, it would be enough of a difference to make the teachers notice.
Unsurprisingly, the parents of those who got an extra 30 minutes of sleep also said their children weren't as tired throughout the day, while the opposite was true for parents in the other group.
ELIMINATE INTERFERENCES
'The thing that was surprising was how little sleep extension could affect functioning on a day-to-day basis,' said Dr. Umakanth Khatwa, sleep lab director at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts, who was not involved with the new study.
Gruber told Reuters Health that while the study only included 33 kids, it was still able to show more sleep leads to better behavior.
However, the researchers do write that not all of the study's participants were blinded as to which children lost or gained an hour of sleep, because the parents had to be in the know. That may have influenced the parents' reporting of sleepiness throughout the day, they say.
Gruber said that it can be hard for parents to add time to their kids' sleep schedule, but she said one of the keys is to eliminate interferences, such as late-night sports practice.
Khatwa agreed. 'A lot of practices are going into evening now. And by the time you're done, your body is riled up and you need time to wind down,' he said.
Gruber said one way to add the extra sleep could be to add 15 extra minutes of sleep at night and in the morning.
'Once it becomes a routine, the children won't really care about it,' she said.
But Khatwa said it's also important for parents to know their children's specific sleep needs.
'I don't want parents to take this and force their kids to sleep longer. Parents need to have realistic expectations,' he added. 'You need to let them sleep long enough so they can function normally.'
Gruber said that it's important for schools to educate children that getting enough sleep is just as important as eating right and getting enough exercise.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/RwOI3p Pediatrics, online October 15, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by WOMEN'S BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Kids with ADHD have dimmer prospects: study
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with ADHD symptoms tend to fare worse as adults than do kids without problems in school, according to the longest follow-up study of the disorder to date.
They have less education and lower income, on average, and higher rates of divorce and substance abuse, according to findings released today in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
'A lot of them do fine, but there is a small proportion that is in a great deal of difficulty,' said Rachel Klein, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. 'They go to jail, they get hospitalized.'
Klein and her colleagues followed 135 white men who had been rated hyperactive by their school teachers back in the 1970s and referred to the hospital. According to Klein, the children did not have aggressive or antisocial behaviors and would have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder today.
They all came from ordinary middle-class homes, Klein said, and had 'well-meaning' parents. When the boys were 18, the researchers established a comparison group of age-matched white boys who had visited their medical center for unrelated reasons and had not had any problems at school.
Based on interviews done when the men were 41 years old, on average, Klein's team found that those who'd had ADHD symptoms as kids left school 2.5 years before the comparison group. Only four percent had higher degrees versus 29 percent of their peers.
In both groups, salaries went as high as $1.5 million a year. But in the comparison group, the average salary was about $175,000, compared to $93,000 in the troubled children.
More than one in five of the hyperactive boys were diagnosed with ADHD three decades later, versus one in 20 in the comparison group. And about a third had been in jail at some point - about three times the comparison rate.
They were also more likely to be divorced, abuse drugs and be labeled with antisocial behavior disorder. However, they weren't more likely to have mood or anxiety disorders.
SLIPPERY SLOPE
It's not clear from the study that ADHD, per se, puts people at risk. But Klein said it's likely to be a slippery slope, with ADHD-linked impulsiveness making youngsters more likely to use drugs and spiral downward into crime and other antisocial behaviors.
'When you see signs of antisocial behavior you really have to step in,' she told Reuters Health. 'You have to keep treating these kids as long as they face problems.'
It's estimated that between three and seven percent of school-aged children in the U.S. have ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fewer than half will have lasting problems; for the rest, the outlook is better.
'The ones who had made it through adolescence were no different from ordinary kids,' Klein said. 'Most of them are married, most of them are employed. I think that is a silver lining.'
J. Russell Ramsay, who studies ADHD at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, pointed out that although the kids fared worse than the comparison group, they still were within the normal range in many cases.
'We are not talking about awful outcomes necessarily,' Ramsay, who was not involved in the research, told Reuters Health.
'There are different outcomes for different individuals with ADHD based on severity and complexity,' he added. 'This is sort of a reminder to pay attention to the unique needs of the child, the educational environment and the home environment.'
Treatment options include both stimulant medications such as Ritalin or Adderall and behavioral coping strategies that can help address a child's specific difficulties.
'The going phrase is that pills don't teach skills,' said Ramsay. 'It is really an individualized treatment planning decision.'
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/K3aQdr Archives of General Psychiatry, online October 15, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
They have less education and lower income, on average, and higher rates of divorce and substance abuse, according to findings released today in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
'A lot of them do fine, but there is a small proportion that is in a great deal of difficulty,' said Rachel Klein, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. 'They go to jail, they get hospitalized.'
Klein and her colleagues followed 135 white men who had been rated hyperactive by their school teachers back in the 1970s and referred to the hospital. According to Klein, the children did not have aggressive or antisocial behaviors and would have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder today.
They all came from ordinary middle-class homes, Klein said, and had 'well-meaning' parents. When the boys were 18, the researchers established a comparison group of age-matched white boys who had visited their medical center for unrelated reasons and had not had any problems at school.
Based on interviews done when the men were 41 years old, on average, Klein's team found that those who'd had ADHD symptoms as kids left school 2.5 years before the comparison group. Only four percent had higher degrees versus 29 percent of their peers.
In both groups, salaries went as high as $1.5 million a year. But in the comparison group, the average salary was about $175,000, compared to $93,000 in the troubled children.
More than one in five of the hyperactive boys were diagnosed with ADHD three decades later, versus one in 20 in the comparison group. And about a third had been in jail at some point - about three times the comparison rate.
They were also more likely to be divorced, abuse drugs and be labeled with antisocial behavior disorder. However, they weren't more likely to have mood or anxiety disorders.
SLIPPERY SLOPE
It's not clear from the study that ADHD, per se, puts people at risk. But Klein said it's likely to be a slippery slope, with ADHD-linked impulsiveness making youngsters more likely to use drugs and spiral downward into crime and other antisocial behaviors.
'When you see signs of antisocial behavior you really have to step in,' she told Reuters Health. 'You have to keep treating these kids as long as they face problems.'
It's estimated that between three and seven percent of school-aged children in the U.S. have ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fewer than half will have lasting problems; for the rest, the outlook is better.
'The ones who had made it through adolescence were no different from ordinary kids,' Klein said. 'Most of them are married, most of them are employed. I think that is a silver lining.'
J. Russell Ramsay, who studies ADHD at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, pointed out that although the kids fared worse than the comparison group, they still were within the normal range in many cases.
'We are not talking about awful outcomes necessarily,' Ramsay, who was not involved in the research, told Reuters Health.
'There are different outcomes for different individuals with ADHD based on severity and complexity,' he added. 'This is sort of a reminder to pay attention to the unique needs of the child, the educational environment and the home environment.'
Treatment options include both stimulant medications such as Ritalin or Adderall and behavioral coping strategies that can help address a child's specific difficulties.
'The going phrase is that pills don't teach skills,' said Ramsay. 'It is really an individualized treatment planning decision.'
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/K3aQdr Archives of General Psychiatry, online October 15, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Low Income Kids Prescribed Medication to Boost Academic Performance
This news article is brought to you by ADVANCED DATING ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Medication Prescribed to Low-Income Kids to Boost Academic Performance
This news article is brought to you by CELEBRITY MUSIC NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Drug shortage led to spike in kids' infections
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When there was a shortage of a drug used to prevent IV-related infections in kids, the frequency of those infections increased almost ten-fold at one Michigan hospital, a new study shows.
Known as ethanol lock therapy, the preventive drug is given to kids with bowel problems who require an IV feeding line because their intestines don't absorb enough nutrients.
Those children are at higher risk of infection to begin with because their gut bacteria don't have as much practice killing off germs, researchers said.
Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, then the sole supplier of ethanol, or dehydrated alcohol, voluntarily stopped manufacturing the drug between April and September, 2011 after scrutiny of pharmaceutical facilities by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The details of the production halt were not made public.
Up until early 2011, kids being treated at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor were given daily ethanol lock therapy in their catheters to prevent infection. But with the shortage, that was cut back to weekly prophylaxis for most young patients.
The new study, published this week in Pediatrics, covers eight children ranging in age from 22 months to 18 years who'd been diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis or other intestinal conditions requiring an IV line.
When ethanol was readily available, there was an average of one catheter-related infection per child every four years.
But when the dosing frequency dropped, seven of the eight children developed catheter-related infections in just a few months. Six of them needed to be hospitalized as a result and spent more than two weeks in the hospital, on average. Treating them cost over $100,000 per patient, and two of the youths ended up in the intensive care unit.
'We definitely had concerns that rationing (ethanol) or decreasing the amount of time we used it could lead to an increase in infection,' said lead author Dr. Matthew Ralls, from Mott and the University of Michigan Medical School.
But the researchers said the spike in infections was far greater than what they'd expected.
'We had basically a complete failure in prophylaxis,' Ralls told Reuters Health. 'We reverted back to the numbers from before we even used ethanol.'
He said he and his colleagues hope that in the future, the FDA can come to an agreement with companies that are the sole producers of important drugs to only shut down some of their production facilities at any given time, for example.
'This had a profound effect on these kids,' Ralls said. 'Some of the complications were pretty devastating for some of these children.'
A press officer at the FDA said the agency hadn't reviewed the new study.
But, Sarah Clark-Lynn told Reuters Health in an email, 'the FDA is working hard with pharmaceutical companies to prevent and resolve drug shortages. Drug shortages (are) a top priority issue for the FDA and we are working hard to help assure that patients in the United States have access to the high quality medications they need.'
She added that another company, Akorn Pharmaceuticals, is now manufacturing ethanol lock therapy. 'We do not anticipate any further shortage issues at this time for this drug,' she said.
Luitpold did not respond to a request for comment.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/TCaBQi Pediatrics, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Known as ethanol lock therapy, the preventive drug is given to kids with bowel problems who require an IV feeding line because their intestines don't absorb enough nutrients.
Those children are at higher risk of infection to begin with because their gut bacteria don't have as much practice killing off germs, researchers said.
Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, then the sole supplier of ethanol, or dehydrated alcohol, voluntarily stopped manufacturing the drug between April and September, 2011 after scrutiny of pharmaceutical facilities by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The details of the production halt were not made public.
Up until early 2011, kids being treated at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor were given daily ethanol lock therapy in their catheters to prevent infection. But with the shortage, that was cut back to weekly prophylaxis for most young patients.
The new study, published this week in Pediatrics, covers eight children ranging in age from 22 months to 18 years who'd been diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis or other intestinal conditions requiring an IV line.
When ethanol was readily available, there was an average of one catheter-related infection per child every four years.
But when the dosing frequency dropped, seven of the eight children developed catheter-related infections in just a few months. Six of them needed to be hospitalized as a result and spent more than two weeks in the hospital, on average. Treating them cost over $100,000 per patient, and two of the youths ended up in the intensive care unit.
'We definitely had concerns that rationing (ethanol) or decreasing the amount of time we used it could lead to an increase in infection,' said lead author Dr. Matthew Ralls, from Mott and the University of Michigan Medical School.
But the researchers said the spike in infections was far greater than what they'd expected.
'We had basically a complete failure in prophylaxis,' Ralls told Reuters Health. 'We reverted back to the numbers from before we even used ethanol.'
He said he and his colleagues hope that in the future, the FDA can come to an agreement with companies that are the sole producers of important drugs to only shut down some of their production facilities at any given time, for example.
'This had a profound effect on these kids,' Ralls said. 'Some of the complications were pretty devastating for some of these children.'
A press officer at the FDA said the agency hadn't reviewed the new study.
But, Sarah Clark-Lynn told Reuters Health in an email, 'the FDA is working hard with pharmaceutical companies to prevent and resolve drug shortages. Drug shortages (are) a top priority issue for the FDA and we are working hard to help assure that patients in the United States have access to the high quality medications they need.'
She added that another company, Akorn Pharmaceuticals, is now manufacturing ethanol lock therapy. 'We do not anticipate any further shortage issues at this time for this drug,' she said.
Luitpold did not respond to a request for comment.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/TCaBQi Pediatrics, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Three Ohio cities deemed best in U.S. for working moms: Forbes
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Women seeking the best place to work and raise children in the United States may want to head to Ohio, where three of its cities have been voted among the 10 best for working mothers.
Columbus topped the ranking by Forbes, edging past New Orleans and Hartford, Connecticut and their surrounding areas. Cincinnati and its suburb of Middletown came in fourth, just ahead of Providence and neighboring towns in Rhode Island.
With a population of 1.8 million, Columbus scored high marks for its higher than average salaries for women, who make up 44 percent of the city's workforce.
The city also boasts a jobless rate of 5.7 percent, much lower than the national 7.8 percent, and good schools and childcare, according to Forbes.
'Pairing the excellent unemployment rate with an affordable but impressive quality of living makes the city an attractive locale for savvy working moms,' Forbes said.
Another Ohio city, Cleveland, came in seventh, while Buffalo, New York, which topped the list last year, dropped to eighth place.
New Orleans' affordable childcare and higher per-pupil spending helped to propel it into the top 10. Families in the city, known as the Big Easy, pay about $5,900 annually for childcare, while New Yorkers have to budget more than double that amount - roughly $13,000.
Although working mothers are paid among the highest salaries in Boston and Washington D.C., both cities dropped out of the top 10 this year because the cost of living and childcare are above average, according to Forbes.
And like New York, where people spend as much as 80 minutes commuting each day, workers in Boston and the nation's capital also have lengthy trips back and forth to work.
To compile the list, Forbes ranked the cities on job opportunities and earning potential, cost of living, commuting times, cost of childcare, quality of schools, crime rates and healthcare.
It used data from various sources including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI Uniform Crime Report, the National Association of Child Care Research and Referral Agencies and the ACCRA Cost of Living Index.
The full list can be found at http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/10/10/the-best-cities-for-working-mothers-2012/
(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Jill Serjeant and Richard Chang)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Columbus topped the ranking by Forbes, edging past New Orleans and Hartford, Connecticut and their surrounding areas. Cincinnati and its suburb of Middletown came in fourth, just ahead of Providence and neighboring towns in Rhode Island.
With a population of 1.8 million, Columbus scored high marks for its higher than average salaries for women, who make up 44 percent of the city's workforce.
The city also boasts a jobless rate of 5.7 percent, much lower than the national 7.8 percent, and good schools and childcare, according to Forbes.
'Pairing the excellent unemployment rate with an affordable but impressive quality of living makes the city an attractive locale for savvy working moms,' Forbes said.
Another Ohio city, Cleveland, came in seventh, while Buffalo, New York, which topped the list last year, dropped to eighth place.
New Orleans' affordable childcare and higher per-pupil spending helped to propel it into the top 10. Families in the city, known as the Big Easy, pay about $5,900 annually for childcare, while New Yorkers have to budget more than double that amount - roughly $13,000.
Although working mothers are paid among the highest salaries in Boston and Washington D.C., both cities dropped out of the top 10 this year because the cost of living and childcare are above average, according to Forbes.
And like New York, where people spend as much as 80 minutes commuting each day, workers in Boston and the nation's capital also have lengthy trips back and forth to work.
To compile the list, Forbes ranked the cities on job opportunities and earning potential, cost of living, commuting times, cost of childcare, quality of schools, crime rates and healthcare.
It used data from various sources including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI Uniform Crime Report, the National Association of Child Care Research and Referral Agencies and the ACCRA Cost of Living Index.
The full list can be found at http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/10/10/the-best-cities-for-working-mothers-2012/
(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Jill Serjeant and Richard Chang)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Kids' surgery uses bone products not approved for children
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly one in ten U.S. children undergoing spine fusion surgery get injections with bioengineered bone-growth proteins that have not been approved for that use by health regulators, researchers have found.
So-called 'off-label' use of medical therapies is legal, but has triggered concerns because its risks and benefits are not well understood. What's more, the orthopedic products add more than $4,000 in hospital charges for the surgery, according to a new study published on Tuesday in Journal of the American Medical Association.
For the full study, see: http://bit.ly/MvXYT6
'It is expensive, we don't know if it's effective, and we don't know what the long-term implications are,' said Dr. Emily Dodwell, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who led the research.
Bone-growth proteins speed up bone formation and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for limited use in adults.
They have a troubled history.
Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors who were paid millions of dollars by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc had failed to report serious complications linked to the company's product Infuse, also known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 or BMP-2.
Those complications include increased cancer risk, sterility in men, infections, bone dissolution and worsened back and leg pain, among others.
While it's unclear whether children would experience similar side effects, a particular concern is how BMPs would interact with a still-growing skeleton, Dodwell told Reuters Health. Her study did not identify specific products.
There are also no good data on whether or not the products help youngsters, who are less likely to have healing problems than adults after spine surgeries, according to the new report.
At about 4,100 hospitals that are part of the national registry studied by the researchers, 9.2 percent of more than 8,000 spine fusions in people 18 years and younger involved BMPs.
'Most people would feel this is a high number,' Dodwell noted, although she stopped short of saying BMP should never be used in minors.
In cases where BMP was used, patients' hospital bills amounted to $47,136 on average, compared to $43,126 when surgeons didn't use the product.
There was no difference in the number of complications seen during the hospital stay in the two groups, although Dodwell and her colleagues cautioned that long-term complications are the main concern. She said her team is currently analyzing data from another registry to see how kids fare after they leave the hospital.
The researchers also found that doctors more frequently used BMP in the Midwest, which is home to Medtronic. Medtronic officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
(Editing by Ivan Oransky, Michele Gershberg and Andrew Hay)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
So-called 'off-label' use of medical therapies is legal, but has triggered concerns because its risks and benefits are not well understood. What's more, the orthopedic products add more than $4,000 in hospital charges for the surgery, according to a new study published on Tuesday in Journal of the American Medical Association.
For the full study, see: http://bit.ly/MvXYT6
'It is expensive, we don't know if it's effective, and we don't know what the long-term implications are,' said Dr. Emily Dodwell, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who led the research.
Bone-growth proteins speed up bone formation and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for limited use in adults.
They have a troubled history.
Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors who were paid millions of dollars by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc had failed to report serious complications linked to the company's product Infuse, also known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 or BMP-2.
Those complications include increased cancer risk, sterility in men, infections, bone dissolution and worsened back and leg pain, among others.
While it's unclear whether children would experience similar side effects, a particular concern is how BMPs would interact with a still-growing skeleton, Dodwell told Reuters Health. Her study did not identify specific products.
There are also no good data on whether or not the products help youngsters, who are less likely to have healing problems than adults after spine surgeries, according to the new report.
At about 4,100 hospitals that are part of the national registry studied by the researchers, 9.2 percent of more than 8,000 spine fusions in people 18 years and younger involved BMPs.
'Most people would feel this is a high number,' Dodwell noted, although she stopped short of saying BMP should never be used in minors.
In cases where BMP was used, patients' hospital bills amounted to $47,136 on average, compared to $43,126 when surgeons didn't use the product.
There was no difference in the number of complications seen during the hospital stay in the two groups, although Dodwell and her colleagues cautioned that long-term complications are the main concern. She said her team is currently analyzing data from another registry to see how kids fare after they leave the hospital.
The researchers also found that doctors more frequently used BMP in the Midwest, which is home to Medtronic. Medtronic officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
(Editing by Ivan Oransky, Michele Gershberg and Andrew Hay)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Controversial bone product often used in kids
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly one in ten U.S. children undergoing spine fusion surgery get injections with bioengineered bone-growth proteins that have not been green-lighted for that use by health regulators, researchers have found.
So-called 'off-label' use of medical therapies is legal, but has triggered concerns because its risks and benefits are not well understood. Yet the new study shows the orthopedic products add more than $4,000 in hospital charges for the surgery.
'It is expensive, we don't know if it's effective, and we don't know what the long-term implications are,' said Dr. Emily Dodwell, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who led the research.
Bone-growth proteins speed up bone formation and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for limited use in adults. But they have a troubled history.
Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors paid millions of dollars by Minneapolis-based Medtronic had failed to report serious complications linked to the company's product Infuse, also known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 or BMP-2.
Those complications include increased cancer risk, sterility in men, infections, bone dissolution and worsened back and leg pain, among others.
While it's unclear whether children would experience similar side effects, a particular concern is how BMPs would interact with a still-growing skeleton, Dodwell told Reuters Health.
What's more, there are no good data on whether or not the products help youngsters, who are less likely to have healing problems than adults after spine surgeries, according to the new report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
At about 4,100 hospitals that are part of the national registry studied by the researchers, 9.2 percent of more than 8,000 spine fusions in people 18 years and younger involved BMPs.
'I think most people would feel this is a high number,' Dodwell noted, although she stopped short of saying BMP should never be used in minors.
In cases where BMP was used, patients racked up hospital bills of $47,136 on average, compared to $43,126 when surgeons didn't use the product.
There was no difference in the number of complications seen during the hospital stay in the two groups, although Dodwell and her colleagues cautioned that long-term complications are the main concern. She said her team is currently analyzing data from another registry to see how kids fare after they leave the hospital.
The researchers also found that doctors more frequently used BMP in the Midwest, which is home to both Medtronic and Stryker, another manufacturer. Medtronic could not be immediately reached for comment.
Dodwell said this finding is 'quite possibly related to industry relationships and the training of the surgeons.'
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MvXYT6 Journal of the American Medical Association, online October 9, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by MUSIC UNITED 1 - where latest news are our top priority.
So-called 'off-label' use of medical therapies is legal, but has triggered concerns because its risks and benefits are not well understood. Yet the new study shows the orthopedic products add more than $4,000 in hospital charges for the surgery.
'It is expensive, we don't know if it's effective, and we don't know what the long-term implications are,' said Dr. Emily Dodwell, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who led the research.
Bone-growth proteins speed up bone formation and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for limited use in adults. But they have a troubled history.
Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors paid millions of dollars by Minneapolis-based Medtronic had failed to report serious complications linked to the company's product Infuse, also known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 or BMP-2.
Those complications include increased cancer risk, sterility in men, infections, bone dissolution and worsened back and leg pain, among others.
While it's unclear whether children would experience similar side effects, a particular concern is how BMPs would interact with a still-growing skeleton, Dodwell told Reuters Health.
What's more, there are no good data on whether or not the products help youngsters, who are less likely to have healing problems than adults after spine surgeries, according to the new report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
At about 4,100 hospitals that are part of the national registry studied by the researchers, 9.2 percent of more than 8,000 spine fusions in people 18 years and younger involved BMPs.
'I think most people would feel this is a high number,' Dodwell noted, although she stopped short of saying BMP should never be used in minors.
In cases where BMP was used, patients racked up hospital bills of $47,136 on average, compared to $43,126 when surgeons didn't use the product.
There was no difference in the number of complications seen during the hospital stay in the two groups, although Dodwell and her colleagues cautioned that long-term complications are the main concern. She said her team is currently analyzing data from another registry to see how kids fare after they leave the hospital.
The researchers also found that doctors more frequently used BMP in the Midwest, which is home to both Medtronic and Stryker, another manufacturer. Medtronic could not be immediately reached for comment.
Dodwell said this finding is 'quite possibly related to industry relationships and the training of the surgeons.'
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MvXYT6 Journal of the American Medical Association, online October 9, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by MUSIC UNITED 1 - where latest news are our top priority.
Mother's fish, mercury intake tied to kids' ADHD risk: study
(Reuters) - Children's risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) later in life may be tied to how much fish their mothers ate while pregnant, according to a U.S. study.
Researchers writing in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that eating at least two servings of fish per week was linked to about a 60 percent lower risk of kids developing certain ADHD-like symptoms.
But elevated mercury levels, which can also come from eating more fish - depending on the fish - were tied to a higher risk of developing the symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.
Though the study did not prove cause and effect, and did not use a formal diagnosis of ADHD, it may offer insights into a condition that's estimated to have an impact on one in 10 children in the United States, researchers say.
'The really important message is to eat fish,' said Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health.
'Just stay away from mercury-containing fish, because these protective effects are pretty important.'
Sagiv said it's best to stay away from 'big fishes,' such as tuna and swordfish, which typically contain the most mercury. Instead, stick to fishes such as haddock and salmon.
Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD have produced conflicting results.
For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children who were born near New Bedford, Massachusetts, between 1993 and 1998. They used hair samples taken from the mothers right after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they ate.
Then, once the children were about 8 years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the kids' behaviors to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.
After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair - about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis - was tied to about a 60 percent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.
But there was no link below 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.
Sagiv added that the negative effects from lower levels of mercury may be canceled out by the benefits from eating fish. The children appeared to be 60 percent less likely to exhibit impulsive or hyperactive behaviors if their mothers ate two or more servings of fish per week.
That finding conflicts with the U.S. government's recommendation that says pregnant women should eat no more than two six-ounce servings of fish per week to limit their exposure to mercury.
'I think it does call into question those guidelines, but this is only one study and the results should be confirmed,' Sagiv told Reuters health.
In an editorial that appeared with the study, Bruce Lanphear at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, echoed Sagiv's advice on avoiding 'big fishes.'
In the long term, we have to really find ways to fight contamination levels in fish so years from now we don't have to give this advice,' he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ms92Cy
(Reporting from New York by Andrew Seaman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Researchers writing in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that eating at least two servings of fish per week was linked to about a 60 percent lower risk of kids developing certain ADHD-like symptoms.
But elevated mercury levels, which can also come from eating more fish - depending on the fish - were tied to a higher risk of developing the symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.
Though the study did not prove cause and effect, and did not use a formal diagnosis of ADHD, it may offer insights into a condition that's estimated to have an impact on one in 10 children in the United States, researchers say.
'The really important message is to eat fish,' said Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health.
'Just stay away from mercury-containing fish, because these protective effects are pretty important.'
Sagiv said it's best to stay away from 'big fishes,' such as tuna and swordfish, which typically contain the most mercury. Instead, stick to fishes such as haddock and salmon.
Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD have produced conflicting results.
For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children who were born near New Bedford, Massachusetts, between 1993 and 1998. They used hair samples taken from the mothers right after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they ate.
Then, once the children were about 8 years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the kids' behaviors to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.
After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair - about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis - was tied to about a 60 percent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.
But there was no link below 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.
Sagiv added that the negative effects from lower levels of mercury may be canceled out by the benefits from eating fish. The children appeared to be 60 percent less likely to exhibit impulsive or hyperactive behaviors if their mothers ate two or more servings of fish per week.
That finding conflicts with the U.S. government's recommendation that says pregnant women should eat no more than two six-ounce servings of fish per week to limit their exposure to mercury.
'I think it does call into question those guidelines, but this is only one study and the results should be confirmed,' Sagiv told Reuters health.
In an editorial that appeared with the study, Bruce Lanphear at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, echoed Sagiv's advice on avoiding 'big fishes.'
In the long term, we have to really find ways to fight contamination levels in fish so years from now we don't have to give this advice,' he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ms92Cy
(Reporting from New York by Andrew Seaman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Mom's fish, mercury intake tied to kids' ADHD risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children's risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) later on in life may be tied to how much fish their mothers ate while pregnant, according to a new study.
Researchers found that eating at least two servings of fish per week was linked to about a 60 percent lower risk of kids developing certain ADHD-like symptoms. However, elevated mercury levels, which can come from eating more fish, were tied to a higher risk of developing the symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.
While the study cannot prove cause and effect and did not use a formal diagnosis of ADHD, it may offer insights into a condition that's estimated to impact one in 10 children in the United States, researchers say.
'The really important message is to eat fish. Just stay away from mercury containing fish, because these protective effects are pretty important,' said Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health in Massachusetts.
Sagiv said it's best to stay away from 'big fishes,' which typically contain the most mercury. Those are fishes like tuna and swordfish. Instead, she said, stick to fishes like haddock and salmon.
Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD have produced conflicting results, which is why Sagiv and her fellow researchers, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, decided to look at this issue.
For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children who were born near New Bedford, Massachusetts, between 1993 and 1998.
The researchers used hair samples taken from the mothers right after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they ate.
Then, once the children were about 8 years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the kids' behaviors to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.
After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair - about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis - was tied to about a 60 percent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.
The researchers saw no link below 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.
She added that the negative effects from lower levels of mercury may be canceled out by the benefits from eating fish.
In the study, children appeared to be 60 percent less likely to exhibit impulsive or hyperactive behaviors if their mothers ate two or more servings of fish per week.
That finding conflicts with the U.S. government's recommendation that says pregnant women should eat no more than two six-ounce servings of fish per week to limit their exposure to mercury.
'I think it does call into question those guidelines, but this is only one study and the results should be confirmed,' Sagiv told Reuters Health.
Dr. Bruce P. Lanphear, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, echoed Sagiv's advice on avoiding 'big fishes.'
But Lanphear, of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, also told Reuters Health that there are other ways to solve the problem.
'In the long term we have to really find ways to fight contamination levels in fish so years from now we don't have to give this advice,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ms92Cy Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Researchers found that eating at least two servings of fish per week was linked to about a 60 percent lower risk of kids developing certain ADHD-like symptoms. However, elevated mercury levels, which can come from eating more fish, were tied to a higher risk of developing the symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.
While the study cannot prove cause and effect and did not use a formal diagnosis of ADHD, it may offer insights into a condition that's estimated to impact one in 10 children in the United States, researchers say.
'The really important message is to eat fish. Just stay away from mercury containing fish, because these protective effects are pretty important,' said Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health in Massachusetts.
Sagiv said it's best to stay away from 'big fishes,' which typically contain the most mercury. Those are fishes like tuna and swordfish. Instead, she said, stick to fishes like haddock and salmon.
Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD have produced conflicting results, which is why Sagiv and her fellow researchers, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, decided to look at this issue.
For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children who were born near New Bedford, Massachusetts, between 1993 and 1998.
The researchers used hair samples taken from the mothers right after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they ate.
Then, once the children were about 8 years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the kids' behaviors to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.
After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair - about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis - was tied to about a 60 percent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.
The researchers saw no link below 1 microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.
She added that the negative effects from lower levels of mercury may be canceled out by the benefits from eating fish.
In the study, children appeared to be 60 percent less likely to exhibit impulsive or hyperactive behaviors if their mothers ate two or more servings of fish per week.
That finding conflicts with the U.S. government's recommendation that says pregnant women should eat no more than two six-ounce servings of fish per week to limit their exposure to mercury.
'I think it does call into question those guidelines, but this is only one study and the results should be confirmed,' Sagiv told Reuters Health.
Dr. Bruce P. Lanphear, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, echoed Sagiv's advice on avoiding 'big fishes.'
But Lanphear, of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, also told Reuters Health that there are other ways to solve the problem.
'In the long term we have to really find ways to fight contamination levels in fish so years from now we don't have to give this advice,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ms92Cy Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Study finds "dramatic" rise in kids' CT scans
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Emergency rooms across the U.S. have seen a steep increase in CT scans of kids presenting with belly ache, while the appendicitis rate hasn't budged, new research shows.
The x-ray-based scans offer doctors a high-resolution peek into the body, but their growing popularity has been trailed by concerns over cancer risks down the road.
The new findings, out Monday in the journal Pediatrics, show CT scans in children with abdominal pain rose from less than one percent to more than 15 percent between 1998 and 2008.
'That is basically saying for every six or seven kids that go to the ER for belly ache, one is going to get a CT scan,' Dr. Jahan Fahimi, who led the new work, told Reuters Health.
'There have been a lot of studies showing we use CT scans a lot more,' he said, 'but it's unclear whether we are actually making a significant impact on the care we provide.'
It's estimated that getting two or three scans - variously known as CT, CAT or computed tomography scans - can damage cells enough to raise a person's cancer risk, particularly in children. But the extra risk is still very small from an individual's perspective.
'I tell my patients that the CAT scan I do today has a chance of causing cancer at some point down the road,' said Fahimi, an emergency physician at the University of California, San Francisco. 'That risk may be one in 500, it may be one in 1,000, but it's not zero.'
CT scans typically cost between a few and several hundred dollars.
Based on a large national database, Fahimi and his colleagues found the number of children showing up with belly ache at ERs held steady at around six percent; the rate of diagnosed appendicitis - the major concern in such cases - fluctuated between two and eight percent without a clear pattern.
The use of other kinds of medical imaging, such as traditional x-rays and ultrasound, also didn't change.
'The only thing that has changed is CAT scans have gone up,' said Fahimi, also of Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. 'There is probably some benefit to it, but I don't know if that benefit tracks with the risk.'
Dr. Brigitte Baumann, an emergency physician at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, said she was not surprised by the findings.
'The rate of CTs that we are doing at this point is clearly very high and it is concerning,' said Baumann, who was not involved in the new work. 'It sort of is a one-stop-shopping imaging modality.'
Whether or not it makes sense to use CT imaging depends on the specific case, Baumann and Fahimi agreed.
Both said ultrasound, which doesn't carry cancer risks, is often the better alternative. But it, too, has its limitations, such as being operator-dependent and often not available around the clock.
The study also showed black children and uninsured were less likely to get a CT scan for belly aches. That's concerning, said Fahimi, but 'you can't really say if it's a good thing or a bad thing,' given the unclear risk-benefit balance of the technology.
Fahimi said the scan's popularity could have something to do with doctors trying to guard themselves against malpractice lawsuits.
'A missed appendicitis is one of the top three reasons why emergency physicians will get sued,' he told Reuters Health.
Baumann added that doctors might also be less inclined to do surgery today if they aren't certain it's appendicitis.
So what should parents do with all that uncertainty about risks and benefits? Fahimi said that before doing a CT scan, he often suggests waiting four to eight hours to see if the child gets better on its own, unless it looks really sick.
'I think it's fairly safe to wait if the pain is not so severe,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
The x-ray-based scans offer doctors a high-resolution peek into the body, but their growing popularity has been trailed by concerns over cancer risks down the road.
The new findings, out Monday in the journal Pediatrics, show CT scans in children with abdominal pain rose from less than one percent to more than 15 percent between 1998 and 2008.
'That is basically saying for every six or seven kids that go to the ER for belly ache, one is going to get a CT scan,' Dr. Jahan Fahimi, who led the new work, told Reuters Health.
'There have been a lot of studies showing we use CT scans a lot more,' he said, 'but it's unclear whether we are actually making a significant impact on the care we provide.'
It's estimated that getting two or three scans - variously known as CT, CAT or computed tomography scans - can damage cells enough to raise a person's cancer risk, particularly in children. But the extra risk is still very small from an individual's perspective.
'I tell my patients that the CAT scan I do today has a chance of causing cancer at some point down the road,' said Fahimi, an emergency physician at the University of California, San Francisco. 'That risk may be one in 500, it may be one in 1,000, but it's not zero.'
CT scans typically cost between a few and several hundred dollars.
Based on a large national database, Fahimi and his colleagues found the number of children showing up with belly ache at ERs held steady at around six percent; the rate of diagnosed appendicitis - the major concern in such cases - fluctuated between two and eight percent without a clear pattern.
The use of other kinds of medical imaging, such as traditional x-rays and ultrasound, also didn't change.
'The only thing that has changed is CAT scans have gone up,' said Fahimi, also of Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. 'There is probably some benefit to it, but I don't know if that benefit tracks with the risk.'
Dr. Brigitte Baumann, an emergency physician at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, said she was not surprised by the findings.
'The rate of CTs that we are doing at this point is clearly very high and it is concerning,' said Baumann, who was not involved in the new work. 'It sort of is a one-stop-shopping imaging modality.'
Whether or not it makes sense to use CT imaging depends on the specific case, Baumann and Fahimi agreed.
Both said ultrasound, which doesn't carry cancer risks, is often the better alternative. But it, too, has its limitations, such as being operator-dependent and often not available around the clock.
The study also showed black children and uninsured were less likely to get a CT scan for belly aches. That's concerning, said Fahimi, but 'you can't really say if it's a good thing or a bad thing,' given the unclear risk-benefit balance of the technology.
Fahimi said the scan's popularity could have something to do with doctors trying to guard themselves against malpractice lawsuits.
'A missed appendicitis is one of the top three reasons why emergency physicians will get sued,' he told Reuters Health.
Baumann added that doctors might also be less inclined to do surgery today if they aren't certain it's appendicitis.
So what should parents do with all that uncertainty about risks and benefits? Fahimi said that before doing a CT scan, he often suggests waiting four to eight hours to see if the child gets better on its own, unless it looks really sick.
'I think it's fairly safe to wait if the pain is not so severe,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online October 8, 2012.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
South Korea "Baby box" pastor says new law brings more babies
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean pastor who runs a 'baby box' where mothers can leave unwanted infants has seen a sharp increase in the number of newborns being left there because, the pastor says, of a new law aimed at protecting the rights of children.
South Korea is trying to shed a reputation of being a source of babies for adoption by people abroad. It is encouraging domestic adoption and tightening up the process of a child's transfer from birth mother to adoptive parents.
The law that took effect in August is aimed at ensuring adoption is more transparent and makes it mandatory for parents to register newborns if they want to give them up.
But the regulation aimed at seeing more thorough records are kept, though well intentioned, has sparked a surge of undocumented babies being abandoned, said Pastor Lee Jong-rak.
'If you look at the letters that mothers leave with their babies, they say they have nowhere to go, and it's because of the new law,' Lee told Reuters.
Lee, who opened his 'baby box' for unwanted infants three years ago, said he had seen the number being left there shoot up from an average of five a month to 10 in August and 14 in September.
Despite the new law, Lee said he never forced mothers to provide information about the babies they leave in the box, built into the wall of his church in Nangok, a tough working-class neighborhood in the capital, Seoul.
Many of the babies abandoned in the box have physical or mental disabilities. Lee has adopted 10 of them himself and is in the process of adopting four more.
On a recent sunny afternoon, a bell rang in his church to signal a new baby had been left in the box, a boy about two weeks old wrapped in a blanket.
'In the past, babies used to be abandoned at night but nowadays babies are abandoned in the daytime as well,' Lee said with a sigh.
At the moment, Lee is looking after 20 children, aged between 2 and 26, in his cramped two-storey house. Among them, his own son.
But a Ministry of Health and Welfare official questioned Lee's assertion that the new law had led to more babies being dropped in the box.
'It's hard to say there's a specific causal relationship between the law and babies being abandoned in the box,' said the official, who declined to be identified.
'The sudden surge of the babies could be due to many reasons,' said the official.
Lee has been criticized by some people who say his box encourages desperate mothers to give up their babies. But Lee says he will not close the box until he was sure the government can offer adequate protection for abandoned babies.
(Editing by Jack Kim)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
South Korea is trying to shed a reputation of being a source of babies for adoption by people abroad. It is encouraging domestic adoption and tightening up the process of a child's transfer from birth mother to adoptive parents.
The law that took effect in August is aimed at ensuring adoption is more transparent and makes it mandatory for parents to register newborns if they want to give them up.
But the regulation aimed at seeing more thorough records are kept, though well intentioned, has sparked a surge of undocumented babies being abandoned, said Pastor Lee Jong-rak.
'If you look at the letters that mothers leave with their babies, they say they have nowhere to go, and it's because of the new law,' Lee told Reuters.
Lee, who opened his 'baby box' for unwanted infants three years ago, said he had seen the number being left there shoot up from an average of five a month to 10 in August and 14 in September.
Despite the new law, Lee said he never forced mothers to provide information about the babies they leave in the box, built into the wall of his church in Nangok, a tough working-class neighborhood in the capital, Seoul.
Many of the babies abandoned in the box have physical or mental disabilities. Lee has adopted 10 of them himself and is in the process of adopting four more.
On a recent sunny afternoon, a bell rang in his church to signal a new baby had been left in the box, a boy about two weeks old wrapped in a blanket.
'In the past, babies used to be abandoned at night but nowadays babies are abandoned in the daytime as well,' Lee said with a sigh.
At the moment, Lee is looking after 20 children, aged between 2 and 26, in his cramped two-storey house. Among them, his own son.
But a Ministry of Health and Welfare official questioned Lee's assertion that the new law had led to more babies being dropped in the box.
'It's hard to say there's a specific causal relationship between the law and babies being abandoned in the box,' said the official, who declined to be identified.
'The sudden surge of the babies could be due to many reasons,' said the official.
Lee has been criticized by some people who say his box encourages desperate mothers to give up their babies. But Lee says he will not close the box until he was sure the government can offer adequate protection for abandoned babies.
(Editing by Jack Kim)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
New Test Can Diagnose Genetic Disorders in Infants in 50 Hours
Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., may have hit upon a way to dramatically speed up how fast an infant can be tested for genetic disorders, according to reports by the Associated Press and other media outlets. The hospital announced on Wednesday that it had discovered a way to use a combination of gene-analyzing machinery, computer software, and a baby's symptoms to rapidly narrow down the list of possible causes for the infant's illness.
The initial study conducted by the hospital was small, involving just a few children. The results of the testing model were so promising, however, that the hospital plans to begin using it to help diagnose all ill infants that end up in its neonatal intensive care unit by the end of the year.
Here is some of the key information regarding this new way to use genome-mapping to help diagnose genetic disorders in infants.
* Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, who is the head of the pediatric genome center at Children's Mercy Hospital, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that in addition to using the test in their own hospital, researchers may offer it for use by other hospitals around the country as well, even though the research itself is ongoing.
* Children's Mercy Hospital's test can provide results in a little over two days, at 50 hours from the moment that blood was drawn. Current technology allows for diagnosis in an average of 12 to 14 days, according to Fox News.
* According to a BBC News report, up to one-third of all infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units are there because of genetic disorders, 3,500 of which have been tied to specific genes, some of which can be rare, making diagnosis very difficult.
* Researchers hope to be able to use this new testing model to be able to help determine a course of treatment for ill newborns far earlier, or to be able to determine that treatment would be futile. Currently, about 500 of the 7,500 known genetic disorders are treatable, according to a New York Times report.
* The Fox News report pointed out that while some genetic disorders are untreatable, others, like phenylketonuria (PKU), can be treated if caught early enough. The new test could theoretically greatly increase the time in which doctors could begin providing treatment by catching rare disorders like PKU faster.
* Researchers reportedly first used the test on babies whose genetic disorder had been discovered during autopsy. After the test correctly pinpointed which genetic disorder had killed the infants, it was then used on four more babies in Children's Mercy Hospital's neonatal unit, where it correctly identified the root cause of three of the four infants' illnesses.
* While the test will continue to undergo further study, Dr. Joe Gray, who works in genome analysis for Oregon Health and Science University, told the New York Times on Wednesday that it was "a good step in the right direction."
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
The initial study conducted by the hospital was small, involving just a few children. The results of the testing model were so promising, however, that the hospital plans to begin using it to help diagnose all ill infants that end up in its neonatal intensive care unit by the end of the year.
Here is some of the key information regarding this new way to use genome-mapping to help diagnose genetic disorders in infants.
* Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, who is the head of the pediatric genome center at Children's Mercy Hospital, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that in addition to using the test in their own hospital, researchers may offer it for use by other hospitals around the country as well, even though the research itself is ongoing.
* Children's Mercy Hospital's test can provide results in a little over two days, at 50 hours from the moment that blood was drawn. Current technology allows for diagnosis in an average of 12 to 14 days, according to Fox News.
* According to a BBC News report, up to one-third of all infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units are there because of genetic disorders, 3,500 of which have been tied to specific genes, some of which can be rare, making diagnosis very difficult.
* Researchers hope to be able to use this new testing model to be able to help determine a course of treatment for ill newborns far earlier, or to be able to determine that treatment would be futile. Currently, about 500 of the 7,500 known genetic disorders are treatable, according to a New York Times report.
* The Fox News report pointed out that while some genetic disorders are untreatable, others, like phenylketonuria (PKU), can be treated if caught early enough. The new test could theoretically greatly increase the time in which doctors could begin providing treatment by catching rare disorders like PKU faster.
* Researchers reportedly first used the test on babies whose genetic disorder had been discovered during autopsy. After the test correctly pinpointed which genetic disorder had killed the infants, it was then used on four more babies in Children's Mercy Hospital's neonatal unit, where it correctly identified the root cause of three of the four infants' illnesses.
* While the test will continue to undergo further study, Dr. Joe Gray, who works in genome analysis for Oregon Health and Science University, told the New York Times on Wednesday that it was "a good step in the right direction."
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Two-day test can spot gene diseases in newborns
WASHINGTON (AP) - Too often, newborns die of genetic diseases before doctors even know what's to blame. Now scientists have found a way to decode those babies' DNA in just days instead of weeks, moving gene-mapping closer to routine medical care.
The idea: Combine faster gene-analyzing machinery with new computer software that, at the push of a few buttons, uses a baby's symptoms to zero in on the most suspicious mutations. The hope would be to start treatment earlier, or avoid futile care for lethal illnesses.
Wednesday's study is a tentative first step: Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., mapped the DNA of just five children, and the study wasn't done in time to help most of them.
But the hospital finds the results promising enough that by year's end, it plans to begin routine gene-mapping in its neonatal intensive care unit - and may offer testing for babies elsewhere, too - while further studies continue, said Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, director of the pediatric genome center at Children's Mercy.
'For the first time, we can actually deliver genome information in time to make a difference,' predicted Kingsmore, whose team reported the method in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Even if the diagnosis is a lethal disease, 'the family will at least have an answer. They won't have false hope,' he added.
More than 20 percent of infant deaths are due to a birth defect or genetic diseases, the kind caused by a problem with a single gene. While there are thousands of such diseases - from Tay-Sachs to the lesser known Pompe disease, standard newborn screening tests detect only a few of them. And once a baby shows symptoms, fast diagnosis becomes crucial.
Sequencing whole genomes - all of a person's DNA - can help when it's not clear what gene to suspect. But so far it has been used mainly for research, in part because it takes four to six weeks to complete and is very expensive.
Wednesday, researchers reported that the new process for whole-genome sequencing can take just 50 hours - half that time to perform the decoding from a drop of the baby's blood, and the rest to analyze which of the DNA variations uncovered can explain the child's condition.
That's an estimate: The study counted only the time the blood was being decoded or analyzed, not the days needed to ship the blood to Essex, England, home of a speedy new DNA decoding machine made by Illumina, Inc. - or to ship back the results for Children's Mercy's computer program to analyze. Kingsmore said the hospital is awaiting arrival of its own decoder, when 50 hours should become the true start-to-finish time.
Specialists not involved with the study said it signals the long-promised usefulness of gene-mapping to real-world medicine finally is close.
'Genomic sequencing like this is very practical and very real now,' said Dr. Arthur Beaudet of the Baylor College of Medicine, which also is working to expand genomic testing in children. 'Fast forward a year, and I think this kind of thing will probably be pretty routine.'
Kingsmore said the speedy test should cost $13,500, and more study is needed for insurers to cover it. But keeping a newborn in ICU costs $8,000 a day, and one question is if the rapid gene-mapping could shorten those stays or avoid futile care, he said.
Among the babies tested was one born with his organs on the wrong side of his body and needing emergency heart surgery. His parents had been told that it was a fluke that his older brother was born the same way, but the new test found an inherited genetic culprit that Kingsmore said will help doctors predict both boys' future treatment needs.
Three other newborns in the study died and the new test uncovered the cause of death for two of them. Kingsmore said that allowed researchers to tell parents that nothing they did during pregnancy was to blame, and to counsel them about the risks of future pregnancies.
After the study concluded, the team has performed rapid gene-mapping with additional families. It uncovered the cause of a mother's two stillbirths, allowing for assisted reproduction to help her next pregnancy be healthy, said Children's Mercy laboratory director Dr. Carol Saunders.
Another study of genetic diagnosis, also published Wednesday, shows that analyzing more than 21,000 genes can often find the cause of unexplained cases of severe mental disability.
Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that in 16 of 100 patients, they were able to identify genetic mutations that caused the condition. The mutations were not inherited from parents, but rather occurred spontaneously in the egg or sperm.
Joris Veltman, a study author from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said such an analysis can help families understand the cause and prognosis of the disease. Finding a non-inherited mutation 'tells the parents that this was just bad luck, and tells the mother that she is not to blame for this, nothing went wrong during the pregnancy,' he wrote in an email. It also reveals that the chance of the same mutation affecting a future child would be very low, he said.
Dr. Leslie Biesecker, chief of the genetic disease research branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, who did not participate in the study, said he expected scientists will be able to identify mutations in a higher fraction of cases as more research is done.
___
AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter contributed to this story from New York.
___ Online:
New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
The idea: Combine faster gene-analyzing machinery with new computer software that, at the push of a few buttons, uses a baby's symptoms to zero in on the most suspicious mutations. The hope would be to start treatment earlier, or avoid futile care for lethal illnesses.
Wednesday's study is a tentative first step: Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., mapped the DNA of just five children, and the study wasn't done in time to help most of them.
But the hospital finds the results promising enough that by year's end, it plans to begin routine gene-mapping in its neonatal intensive care unit - and may offer testing for babies elsewhere, too - while further studies continue, said Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, director of the pediatric genome center at Children's Mercy.
'For the first time, we can actually deliver genome information in time to make a difference,' predicted Kingsmore, whose team reported the method in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Even if the diagnosis is a lethal disease, 'the family will at least have an answer. They won't have false hope,' he added.
More than 20 percent of infant deaths are due to a birth defect or genetic diseases, the kind caused by a problem with a single gene. While there are thousands of such diseases - from Tay-Sachs to the lesser known Pompe disease, standard newborn screening tests detect only a few of them. And once a baby shows symptoms, fast diagnosis becomes crucial.
Sequencing whole genomes - all of a person's DNA - can help when it's not clear what gene to suspect. But so far it has been used mainly for research, in part because it takes four to six weeks to complete and is very expensive.
Wednesday, researchers reported that the new process for whole-genome sequencing can take just 50 hours - half that time to perform the decoding from a drop of the baby's blood, and the rest to analyze which of the DNA variations uncovered can explain the child's condition.
That's an estimate: The study counted only the time the blood was being decoded or analyzed, not the days needed to ship the blood to Essex, England, home of a speedy new DNA decoding machine made by Illumina, Inc. - or to ship back the results for Children's Mercy's computer program to analyze. Kingsmore said the hospital is awaiting arrival of its own decoder, when 50 hours should become the true start-to-finish time.
Specialists not involved with the study said it signals the long-promised usefulness of gene-mapping to real-world medicine finally is close.
'Genomic sequencing like this is very practical and very real now,' said Dr. Arthur Beaudet of the Baylor College of Medicine, which also is working to expand genomic testing in children. 'Fast forward a year, and I think this kind of thing will probably be pretty routine.'
Kingsmore said the speedy test should cost $13,500, and more study is needed for insurers to cover it. But keeping a newborn in ICU costs $8,000 a day, and one question is if the rapid gene-mapping could shorten those stays or avoid futile care, he said.
Among the babies tested was one born with his organs on the wrong side of his body and needing emergency heart surgery. His parents had been told that it was a fluke that his older brother was born the same way, but the new test found an inherited genetic culprit that Kingsmore said will help doctors predict both boys' future treatment needs.
Three other newborns in the study died and the new test uncovered the cause of death for two of them. Kingsmore said that allowed researchers to tell parents that nothing they did during pregnancy was to blame, and to counsel them about the risks of future pregnancies.
After the study concluded, the team has performed rapid gene-mapping with additional families. It uncovered the cause of a mother's two stillbirths, allowing for assisted reproduction to help her next pregnancy be healthy, said Children's Mercy laboratory director Dr. Carol Saunders.
Another study of genetic diagnosis, also published Wednesday, shows that analyzing more than 21,000 genes can often find the cause of unexplained cases of severe mental disability.
Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that in 16 of 100 patients, they were able to identify genetic mutations that caused the condition. The mutations were not inherited from parents, but rather occurred spontaneously in the egg or sperm.
Joris Veltman, a study author from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said such an analysis can help families understand the cause and prognosis of the disease. Finding a non-inherited mutation 'tells the parents that this was just bad luck, and tells the mother that she is not to blame for this, nothing went wrong during the pregnancy,' he wrote in an email. It also reveals that the chance of the same mutation affecting a future child would be very low, he said.
Dr. Leslie Biesecker, chief of the genetic disease research branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, who did not participate in the study, said he expected scientists will be able to identify mutations in a higher fraction of cases as more research is done.
___
AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter contributed to this story from New York.
___ Online:
New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)