Autism And Suicide

Autism And Suicide.
Children with autism may have a higher-than-average peril of contemplating or attempting suicide, a recent study suggests. Researchers found that mothers of children with autism were much more likely than other moms to require their child had talked about or attempted suicide: 14 percent did, versus 0,5 percent of mothers whose kids didn't have the disorder. The behavior was more universal in older kids (aged 10 and up) and those whose mothers observation they were depressed, as well as kids whose moms said they were teased. An autism superb not involved in the research, however, said the study had limitations, and that the findings "should be interpreted cautiously".

One percipience is that the information was based on mothers' reports, and that's a limitation in any study, said Cynthia Johnson, big cheese of the Autism Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Johnson also said mothers were asked about suicidal and "self-harming" jibber-jabber or behavior. "A lot of children with autism horse feathers about or engage in self-harming behavior," she said. "That doesn't mean there's a suicidal intent".

Still, Johnson said it makes suspect that children with autism would have a higher-than-normal gamble of suicidal tendencies. It's known that they have increased rates of depression and anxiety symptoms, for example. The broadcasting of suicidal behavior in these kids "is an important one," Johnson said, "and it deserves further study".

Autism spectrum disorders are a association of developmental brain disorders that obstruct a child's ability to communicate and interact socially. They range from severe cases of "classic" autism to the extent mild form called Asperger's syndrome. In the United States, it's been estimated that about one in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder.

This week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised that rule to as altered consciousness as one in 50 children. The additional findings, reported in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, are based on surveys of nearly 800 mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder, 35 whose kids were unhindered of autism but suffered from depression, and nearly 200 whose kids had neither disorder.

The children ranged in seniority from 1 to 16, and the autism spectrum brawl cases ranged in severity. Non-autistic children with depression had the highest place of suicidal talk and behavior, according to mothers - 43 percent said it was a problem at least "sometimes".

Americans Suffer High Blood Pressure

Americans Suffer High Blood Pressure.
High blood constraint is a preventable and treatable peril factor for heart attack and stroke, but about one-quarter of adults don't skilled in they have it, according to a large new study. Among those who do know they have the condition, many are not likely to have it under control, said about researcher Dr Uchechukwu Sampson, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical School in Nashville. "Despite all the advance we have made in having available treatment options, more than half of the commonality we studied still have uncontrolled high blood pressure.

The study is published in the January issue of the record Circulation: Cardiovascular and Quality Outcomes. One in three US adults has high blood pressure, according to the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Any reading over 140/90 millimeters of mercury is considered cheerful blood pressure. The muse about findings coincided with the Dec 18, 2013 issuing of strange guidelines for blood pressure management by experts from the institute's eighth Joint National Committee.

Among other changes, the imaginative guidelines recommend that fewer rank and file take blood pressure medicine. Older adults, under the new guidelines, wouldn't be treated until their blood bring pressure to bear topped 150/90, instead of 140/90. In Sampson's study, the researchers evaluated how collective high blood pressure was in more than 69000 men and women. Overall, 57 percent self-reported that they had drugged blood pressure.

Scientists Have Discovered A Mutant Gene Causes Cancer Of The Brain

Scientists Have Discovered A Mutant Gene Causes Cancer Of The Brain.
A gene deviation that is proximate in one of every four patients with glioblastoma wit cancer has been identified by researchers. The mutation - a gene deletion known as NFKBIA - contributes to tumor development, promotes stubbornness to treatment and significantly worsens the chances of survival of patients with glioblastoma, the most inferior and deadly type of adult brain cancer, senior initiator Dr Griffith Harsh, a professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a Stanford flash release.

For this study, researchers analyzed several hundred tumor samples sedate from glioblastoma patients and found NFKBIA deletions in 25 percent of the samples. The study, which appears online Dec 22, 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the at the outset to tie the NFKBIA deletion with glioblastoma.

The Gene Responsible For Alzheimer's Disease

The Gene Responsible For Alzheimer's Disease.
Data that details every gene in the DNA of 410 citizenry with Alzheimer's contagion can now be studied by researchers, the US National Institutes of Health announced this week. This earliest batch of genetic data is now available from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project, launched in February 2012 as leave of an intensified national essay to find ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease. Genome sequencing outlines the sort of all 3 billion chemical letters in an individual's DNA, which is the entire set of genetic data every man carries in every cell.

And "Providing raw DNA sequence data to a wide range of researchers is a powerful, crowd-sourced procedure to find genomic changes that put us at increased risk for this devastating disease," NIH Director Dr Francis Collins said in an commence news release. "The genome contrive is designed to identify genetic risks for late onset of Alzheimer's disease, but it could also determine versions of genes that protect us," Collins said.

Genotype Of School Performance

Genotype Of School Performance.
When it comes to factors affecting children's equip performance, DNA may trump haunt life or teachers, a new British retreat finds. "Children differ in how easily they learn at school. Our research shows that differences in students' enlightening achievement owe more to nature than nurture," lead researcher Nicholas Shakeshaft, a PhD devotee at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said in a college telecast release. His team compared the scores of more than 11000 identical and non-identical twins in the United Kingdom who took an exam that's given at the end of compulsory edification at age 16.

Identical twins cut 100 percent of their genes, while non-identical (fraternal) twins share half their genes, on average. The scrutinize authors explained that if the identical twins' exam scores were more alike than those of the non-identical twins, the inequality in exam scores would have to be due to genetics, rather than the environment.

For English, math and science, genetic differences between students explained an mediocre of 58 percent of the differences in exam scores, the researchers reported. In contrast, shared environments such as schools, neighborhoods and families explained only 29 percent of the differences in exam scores. The unused differences in exam scores were explained by environmental factors one of a kind to each student.

Efficiency Of Breast-Feeding On Brain Activity Of The Baby

Efficiency Of Breast-Feeding On Brain Activity Of The Baby.
Breast-feeding is outstanding for a baby's brain, a additional study says in June 2013. Researchers worn MRI scans to examine brain growth in 133 children ranging in grow old from 10 months to 4 years. By age 2, babies who were breast-fed exclusively for at least three months had greater levels of circumstance in key parts of the brain than those who were fed formulary only or a combination of formula and breast milk. The extra growth was most evident in parts of the wit associated with things such as language, emotional function and thinking skills, according to the study published online May 28 in the annal NeuroImage.

So "We're finding the difference in white material growth is on the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breast-fed and the non-breast-fed kids," muse about author Sean Deoni, an assistant professor of engineering at Brown University, said in a university newscast release. "I think it's astounding that you could have that much difference so early".

Cancer Risk From CT Scans Lower Than Previously Thought

Cancer Risk From CT Scans Lower Than Previously Thought.
The endanger of developing cancer as a sequel of radiation exposure from CT scans may be mark down than previously thought, new research suggests. That finding, scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the annual junction of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, is based on an eight-year critique of Medicare records covering nearly 11 million patients. "What we found is that overall between two and four out of every 10000 patients who submit to a CT scan are at risk for developing secondary cancers as a result of that emanation exposure," said Aabed Meer, an MD candidate in the department of radiology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. "And that risk, I would say, is belittle than we expected it to be," said Meer.

As a result, patients who lack a CT scan should not be fearful of the consequences, Meer stated. "If you have a hint and need a CT scan of the head, the benefits of that scan at that mo outweigh the very minor possibility of developing a cancer as a result of the scan itself," he explained. "CT scans do awesome things in terms of diagnosis. Yes, there is some radiation risk. But that tight-fisted risk should always be put in context".

The authors set out to quantify that risk by sifting through the medical records of elderly patients covered by Medicare between 1998 and 2005. The researchers separated the matter into two periods: 1998 to 2001 and 2002 to 2005. In the earlier period, 42 percent of the patients had undergone CT scans. For the term 2002 to 2005, that mould rose to 49 percent, which was not surprising given the increasing use of scans in US medical care.

Within each group, the enquiry group reviewed the number and type of CT scans administered to see how many patients received low-dose shedding (50 to 100 millisieverts) and how many got high-dose radiation (more than 100 millisieverts). They then estimated how many cancers were induced using paragon cancer risk models.

The Human Papilloma Virus Can Cause Cancer

The Human Papilloma Virus Can Cause Cancer.
Figuring out when to be screened for this cancer or that can withdraw women's heads spinning. Screening guidelines have been changing for an array of cancers, and at times even the experts don't accord on what screenings need to be done when. But for cervical cancer, there seems to be more of a heterogeneous consensus on which women need to be screened, and at what ages those screenings should be done.

The out-and-out cause of cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV), according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HPV is very prevalent, and most kinsfolk will be infected with the virus at some point in their lives, according to Dr Mark Einstein, a gynecologic oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "But, it's only in very few community that HPV will go on to cause cancer," Einstein explained. "That's what makes this exemplar of cancer very amenable to screening.

Plus, it takes a large time to develop into cancer. It's about five to seven years from infection with HPV to precancerous changes in cervical cells". During that stage, he said, it's viable that the inoculated system will take care of the virus and any abnormal cells without any medical intervention. Even if the precancerous cells linger, it still loosely takes five or more additional years for cancer to develop.

Dr Radhika Rible, an aide-de-camp clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles, agreed that HPV is often nothing to be concerned about. "HPV is very, very prevalent, but most women who are babyish and healthy will clear the virus with no consequences," Rible said. "It rarely progresses to cancer, so it's not anything to be disquieted or scared about, but it's important to stick with the guidelines because, if it does cause any problems, we can quit it early".

Two tests are used for cervical cancer screening, according to the American Cancer Society. For a Pap test, the more buddy-buddy of the two, a doctor collects cells from the cervix during a pelvic exam and sends them to a lab to settle on whether any of the cells are abnormal. The other test, called an HPV screen, looks for data of an HPV infection.

Victims Of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Can Often Be Saved By Therapeutic Hypothermia

Victims Of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Can Often Be Saved By Therapeutic Hypothermia.
For kinsmen smitten with sudden cardiac arrest, doctors often resource to a brain-protecting "cooling" of the body, a procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. But imaginative research suggests that physicians are often too quick to terminate potentially lifesaving supportive care when these patients' brains misfire to "re-awaken" after a standard waiting period of three days. The dig into suggests that these patients may need care for up to a week before they regain neurological alertness.

And "Most patients receiving conventional care - without hypothermia - will be neurologically awake by day 3 if they are waking up," explained the be conducive to author of one study, Dr Shaker M Eid, an subordinate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. However, in his team's study, "patients treated with hypothermia took five to seven days to trace up," he said. The results of Eid's inspect and two others on therapeutic hypothermia were scheduled to be presented Saturday during the appointment of the American Heart Association in Chicago.

For over 25 years, the prophecy for recovery from cardiac arrest and the decision to withdraw care has been based on a neurological exam conducted 72 hours after beginning treatment with hypothermia, Eid pointed out. The untrained findings may cast doubt on the wisdom of that approach, he said.

For the Johns Hopkins report, Eid and colleagues well-thought-out 47 patients who survived cardiac arrest - a sudden downfall of heart function, often tied to underlying heart disease. Fifteen patients were treated with hypothermia and seven of those patients survived to health centre discharge. Of the 32 patients that did not receive hypothermia therapy, 13 survived to discharge.

Within three days, 38,5 percent of patients receiving established custody were alert again, with only mild mental deficits. However, at three days none of the hypothermia-treated patients were lookout and conscious.

But things were different at the seven-day mark: At that point, 33 percent of hypothermia-treated patients were active and had only mild deficits. And by the time of their sickbay discharge, 83 percent of the hypothermia-treated patients were alert and had only mild deficits, the researchers found. "Our details are preliminary, provocative but not robust enough to prompt change in clinical practice," Eid stated.

The Relationship Between Asthma And Chronic Nasal Congestion

The Relationship Between Asthma And Chronic Nasal Congestion.
A redesigned Swedish inspect shows that severe asthma seems to be more common than previously believed. It also reports that those afflicted by it have a higher extensiveness of blocked or runny noses, a possible standard that physicians should pay more attention to nasal congestion and similar issues. In the study, researchers surveyed 30000 common man from the west of Sweden and asked about their health, including whether they had physician-diagnosed asthma, took asthma medication, and if so, what indulgent of symptoms they experienced.

And "This is the first day that the prevalence of severe asthma has been estimated in a population study, documenting that approximately 2 percent of the denizens in the West Sweden is showing signs of severe asthma," study co-author Jan Lotvall, professor at Sahlgrenska Academy's Krefting Research Center, said in a hearsay release from the University of Gothenburg. "This argues that more demanding forms of asthma are far more common than previously believed, and that trim care professionals should pay extra attention to patients with such symptoms," Lotvall added.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Gives A Higher Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Gives A Higher Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease.
Veterans hardship from post-traumatic accent disorder, or PTSD, appear to be at higher peril for heart disease. For the first time, researchers have linked PTSD with severe atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), as uniform by levels of calcium deposits in the arteries. The condition "is emerging as a significant gamble factor," said Dr Ramin Ebrahimi, co-principal investigator of a reflect on on the issue presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Chicago. The authors are hoping that these and other, alike findings will prompt doctors, particularly primary anxiety physicians, to more carefully screen patients for PTSD and, if needed, follow up aggressively with screening and treatment.

Post-traumatic anxiety disorder - triggered by experiencing an event that causes intense fear, helplessness or queasiness - can include flashbacks, emotional numbing, overwhelming guilt and shame, being surely startled, and difficulty maintaining close relationships. "When you go to a doctor, they ask questions about diabetes, stiff blood pressure and cholesterol," said Ebrahimi, who is a research scientist at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration Center. "The purpose would be for PTSD to become part of routine screening for soul disease risk factors".

Although PTSD is commonly associated with war veterans, it's now also everywhere linked to people who have survived traumatic events, such as rape, a severe accident or an earthquake, inundation or other natural disaster. The authors reviewed electronic medical records of 286,194 veterans, most of them manful with an average age 63, who had been seen at Veterans Administration medical centers in southern California and Nevada. Some of the veterans had latest been on active duty as far back as the Korean War.

Researchers also had access to coronary artery calcium CT c con images for 637 of the patients, which showed that those with PTSD had more calcium built up in their arteries - a jeopardize factor for heart disease - and more cases of atherosclerosis. About three-quarters of those diagnosed with PTSD had some calcium build-up, versus 59 percent of the veterans without the disorder. As a group, the veterans with PTSD had more simple affliction of their arteries, with an average coronary artery calcification provocation of 448, compared to a score of 332 in the veterans without PTSD - a significantly higher reading.

Sometimes, Kissing Cases Of Allergic Reactions

Sometimes, Kissing Cases Of Allergic Reactions.
The orbit of unadulterated love may not run smoothly for some people with highly sensitive allergies, experts say, since kissing or other associate contact can pose risks for sometimes serious reactions. In fact, allergens can dawdle in a partner's saliva up to a full day following ingestion, irrespective of toothbrushing or other interventions, according to Dr Sami Bahna, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), which is holding its annual gathering this week in Phoenix. Allergic reactions from kissing are extent uncommon, but they do occur.

And "We're talking about those few whose unaffected system can react vigorously to a minute amount of allergen," well-known Bahna, who also serves as chief of allergy and immunology at Louisiana State University Medical School in Shreveport. "For these people, yes, a very not much quantity of food or medicine on the lips or the vent or the saliva can cause a problem. And for these people we're not just talking about a passionate kiss. Even a non-passionate buss on the cheek or the forehead can cause a severe reaction to this kind of extremely sensitive allergic individual".

The ACAAI estimates that more than 7 million Americans let from food allergies - about 2 percent to 3 percent of adults and 5 percent to 7 percent of children. It's not exceptional for common man with allergies to experience a reaction in the form of lip-swelling, throat-swelling, rash, hives, itching, and/or wheezing forthwith after kissing a partner who has consumed an identified allergen. Bahna said some enthusiastically sensitive people can be affected hours after their partner has absorbed the culprit substance, because the partner's saliva is still excreting allergen.

One superb said that when it comes to preventing kissing-related allergic reactions, truthfulness - and a little proactive guidance - is key. "People poverty to know that intimate contact with individuals who've eaten or consumed suspect foods or medicines can also cause problems," said Dr Clifford W Bassett, a clinical don at New York University's School of Medicine, New York City, and an attending doctor in the allergy and immunology office of Long Island College Hospital. "So, for people with a significant food allergy it's always better to engage it safe by making sure that everyone knows that in all situations these foods are strictly off-limits".

Danger Of Portable Beds

Danger Of Portable Beds.
Caution is required when using vest-pocket bed rails because they put occupy at risk for falling or becoming trapped, the US Food and Drug Administration warns Dec 27, 2013. Portable bed rails lay hold of to a normal, adult-sized bed, often by sliding a composition of the rail under the mattress or by using the floor for support. People can get trapped in or around the rail, including between the bed-rail bars, between the foot-rail and the mattress, or between the rail and the headboard, said Joan Todd, a older nurse-consultant at the FDA.

And "Consumers need to realize that even when bed rails are well designed and used correctly, they can provide a hazard to certain individuals - particularly to people with physical limitations or who have an altered disturbed status, such as dementia or confusion," Todd said in an FDA news release. Between January 2003 and September 2012, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission received reports of 155 deaths and five injuries tied up to little bed rails designed for matured use, according to the news release.

More than 90 percent of the deaths were caused by entrapment. Of the 155 deaths, 129 occurred in nation aged 60 or older and 94 occurred at home. About half of the victims had a medical health such as heart disease, Alzheimer's condition or dementia. The FDA has a new website on bed-rail safety that offers information about the concealed hazards and advice for safe use.

New Rules For The Control Of Food Safety

New Rules For The Control Of Food Safety.
A further regulation to protect the nation's food supply from terrorism has been introduced by the US Food and Drug Administration, the intercession announced Friday in Dec 2013. The proposed statute would require the largest food businesses in the United States and in other nations to take steps to foster facilities from attempts to contaminate the food supply. The FDA said it does not know of any cases where the aliment supply was intentionally tainted with the aim of inflicting widespread harm, and added that such events are implausible to occur.

Yoga Helps With Heart Disease

Yoga Helps With Heart Disease.
Chances are that you've heard adequate things about yoga. It can put one's feet up you. It can get you fit - just look at the bodies of some celebrities who pipe yoga's praises. And, more and more, yoga is purported to be able to cure numerous medical conditions. But is yoga the panacea that so many credence in it to be? Yes and no, remark the experts Dec 2013. Though yoga certainly can't cure all that ails you, it does extend significant benefits.

And "Yoga is great for flexibility, for strength, and for posture and balance," said Dr Rachel Rohde, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and an orthopedic surgeon for the Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich. "Yoga can staff with a lot of musculoskeletal issues and pain, but I wouldn't state it cures any orthopedic condition. Most practitioners would certain you that yoga isn't just about erection muscle or strength.

"One of the issues in this country is that people think of yoga only as exercise and hear to do the most physically hard poses possible," explained Dr Ruby Roy, a chronic sickness physician at LaRabida Children's Hospital in Chicago who's also a certified yoga instructor. "That may or may not employee you, but it also could hurt you," she noted. "The right yoga can help you," Roy said. "One of the basic purposes of a yoga practice is relaxation.

Your heart take to task and your blood pressure should be lower when you finish a class, and you should never be short of breath. Whatever kind of yoga relaxes you and doesn't know like exercise is a good choice. What really matters is, are you in your body or are you current into a state of mindfulness? You want to be in the pose and aware of your breaths".

Roy said she uses many of the principles of yoga, especially the breathing aspects, to helper children sleep, reduce anxiety, hand with post-traumatic stress disorder, for asthma, autism and as support and pain management during procedures. "I may or may not call dow a appeal to it yoga. I may say, 'Let's do some exercises to relax you for sleep,'" she said. Bess Abrahams, a yoga psychiatrist with the Integrative Medicine and Palliative Care Team at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City, also uses yoga to servant children who are in the hospital for cancer healing and other serious conditions.