Health News

Spending Time With Parents Has Benefits For A Teenager's Well-Being

Date: Aug-23-2012
It's thought that children grow increasingly distant and independent from their parents during their teen years. But a new longitudinal study has found that spending time with parents is important to teens' well-being. The study, conducted at the Pennsylvania State University, appears in the journal Child Development. Researchers studied whether the stereotype of teens growing apart from their parents and spending less time with them captured the everyday experiences of families by examining changes in the amount of time youths spent with their parents from early to late adolescence...

Study Shows Impact Of 'Chain Of Violence' On Palestinian And Israeli Children

Date: Aug-23-2012
Children exposed to ethnic and political violence in the Middle East are more aggressive than other children, a new study shows. And the younger children are, the more strongly they are affected, in a "chain of violence" that goes from political and ethnic strife, to violence in communities, schools, and families, and ends with their own aggressive behavior. "Our results have important implications for understanding how political struggles spill over into the everyday lives of families and children," says psychologist Paul Boxer, lead author of the study...

Radiotherapy After Breast Surgery May Not Be Recommended For Older Women

Date: Aug-23-2012
A Rhode Island Hospital radiation oncologist says in a new editorial that research exploring the impact of radiotherapy in older women with low risk of breast cancer recurrence has little effect on actual clinical decisions. The editorial written by David E. Wazer, M.D., chief of the department of radiation oncology, is published in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Breast-conserving therapy (BCT) has shown to have comparable outcomes to mastectomy, allowing women to preserve their breast without compromising their chance of being cured of cancer...

Significant Disparities And Misperceptions Of People With Diabetes And Healthcare Providers Highlighted By New Survey

Date: Aug-23-2012
People with Diabetes Report Incidence and Impact of Nerve Pain is Double the Amount Estimated by Healthcare Providers The American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) in collaboration with Pfizer Inc announced recently results of a new survey that shed light on a communication gap between people with one of the most common complications of diabetes - diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) - and healthcare providers...

Study Raises Serious Concerns About Defibrillator Leads

Date: Aug-23-2012
The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, an international leader in cardiovascular research, has announced the online publication of a study in EP Europace that raises serious concerns about St. Jude Medical defibrillator leads. The study found that a new copolymer of silicone and polyurethane (Optim™) might not prevent insulation abrasions that can result in electronic malfunction...

It Is Safe For People Over 50 To Run Marathons

Date: Aug-22-2012
Researchers have found that marathon runners above the age of 50 have similar temporary effects than those aged between 18 and 40 years, and that any cardiac abnormalities during a marathon disappears within a week after completing a race. The study is published online in the Journal of Cardiovascular MRI, and shows that it is safe for people over 50 to run a marathon. First author of the study, Davinder Jassal, an associate professor of medicine, radiology and physiology in the Faculty of Medicine at Manitoba University, who led the research at St...

What Is A Phobia? What Causes Phobia?

Date: Aug-22-2012
A phobia is an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing. People with a phobia go to great lengths to avoid a perceived danger which is much greater in their minds than in real life. If confronted with the source of their phobia, the person will suffer enormous distress, which can interfere with their normal function; it can sometimes lead to total panic. For some people, even thinking about their phobia is immensely distressing...

Decisions Made In Womb Associated With Children's Body Fat

Date: Aug-22-2012
Among primates, newborn human infants have the largest brains and also the highest proportion of body fat. However, if the baby does not receive sufficient nutrients via the placenta during pregnancy, a dilemma occurs: should resources be allocated to fat deposition for use as energy after birth or to brain growth?  According to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at the University of Southampton have demonstrated that this decision could have an impact on children's body fatness...

Dads Should Get Fit Before Reproducing To Assist With Fetal Development

Date: Aug-22-2012
A father's obesity negatively impacts sperm, which results in smaller fetuses, poor pregnancy success and decreased placental development, according to a team of experts at the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology. The study urges men to get 'match fit' before getting their women pregnant to help with fetal development. Scientists are now encouraging men to shape up, even though health risks of obesity and pregnancy are usually focused on overweight moms...

Anxious Fathers May Pass Psychological Disorders Onto Their Female Offspring

Date: Aug-22-2012
According to a study of mice, conducted by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) in Boston and published in Biological Psychiatry, a woman's risk of developing out-of-the-norm social behavior and anxiety or stress may be partly due to the events which took place in her father's life when he was younger. The researchers state that when young men are exposed to unstable lifestyles, their sperm cells change, therefore increasing the risk of anxiety as they get older and increasing the risk of psychiatric disorders in their daughters throughout coming generations...