Exercise might lower kids’ hay fever risk
Regular physical activity might offer children some protection from the sniffs and sneezes of hay fever, a study suggests.
German researchers found that among the 1,700 children they followed for up to 12 years, those who were inactive at the study’s start were 50 percent more likely to develop hay fever, compared with their regularly active peers.
According to the researchers, their findings are unlikely to be a case of “reverse causality,” where hay fever caused some children to avoid outdoor activities. For one, the study followed the children over time, documenting new cases of hay fever. In addition, sedentary children were inactive year-round, not only during pollen season.
“No R movies” rule may curb kids’ smoking, drinking
Parents may help prevent the early use of cigarettes and alcohol by their preteen kids by outlawing R-rated movies. Many parents don’t, however.
The findings come from a study by Dr. Madeline A. Dalton of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire and colleagues, who looked at the role of parents in monitoring and limiting children’s exposure to R-rated movies and whether this was associated with a lower risk of teen drinking and smoking.
Evidence suggests, the investigators point out in the medical journal Pediatrics, that portrayals of cigarette smoking and drinking in the movies, particularly R-rated movies, may fuel tobacco and alcohol use among children and adolescents who may see it as okay or cool.
‘Muscle’ protein drives prostate cancer
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have for the first time implicated the muscle protein myosin VI in the development of prostate cancer and its spread.
In a series of lab studies with human prostate cancer cells, the Hopkins scientists were surprised to find overproduction of myosin VI in both prostate tumor cells and precancerous lesions. When the scientists genetically altered the cells to “silence” myosin VI, they discovered the cells were less able to invade in a test tube.
“Our results suggest that myosin VI may be critical in starting and maintaining the malignant properties of the majority of human prostate cancers diagnosed today,” says Angelo M. De Marzo, M.D., Ph.D., a study coauthor and associate professor of pathology, urology and oncology.
Touch, massage may aid dementia patients
Gentle massage therapy shows some promise for easing dementia patients’ agitation and anxiety, though there have been too few well-conducted studies to recommend the treatment yet, according to researchers.
In a review of two clinical trials, Danish researchers found that hand massage helped calm dementia patients’ agitation levels, while gentle touch and “verbal encouragement” at mealtime improved their food intake.
The findings suggest that human touch could help allay the agitation, anxiety and other behavioral and emotional problems that come with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Patient’s Worldwide Bill of Rights for Eating Disorders Demands Proof of Results
An international professional society has issued a patient’s bill of rights for the treatment of eating disorders, conditions that affect an estimated 30 million Americans, most of them young women. For 2 million, symptoms will progress to full-blown anorexia nervosa and approximately 10 percent will die from the disease. Treatment is often complex and typically involves not only the patient, but friends and family as well.
The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), which created the bill of rights, warns that in recent years treatment programs have flourished which can make choosing among treatment options difficult for parents and patients. Dr. Cynthia Bulik, AED fellow, distinguished professor of eating disorders in the department of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, said patients and their parents should know three things:
Gene Therapy Inhibits Epilepsy in Animals
For the first time, researchers have inhibited the development of epilepsy after a brain insult in animals. By using gene therapy to modify signaling pathways in the brain, neurology researchers found that they could significantly reduce the development of epileptic seizures in rats.
“We have shown that there is a window to intervene after a brain insult to reduce the risk that epilepsy will develop,” said one of the lead researchers, Amy R. Brooks-Kayal, M.D., a pediatric neurologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and associate professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “This provides a ‘proof of concept’ that altering specific signaling pathways in nerve cells after a brain insult or injury could provide a scientific basis for treating patients to prevent epilepsy.”
Dr. Brooks-Kayal and Shelley J. Russek, Ph.D., of Boston University School of Medicine were senior authors of the study in the Nov. 1 Journal of Neuroscience.
Cancer risk from arthritis drugs overstated-study
Two biotech drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis—Abbott Laboratories Inc.’s Humira and Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade—may raise the risk of cancer and infections but not as much as was feared, researchers said on Tuesday.
A series of letters published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that several teams have taken a fresh look at the safety of the two drugs and find that they may double the risk of cancer and infections.
Most of the researchers, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, agree that patients need to know about the risks but say the benefits mean the drugs should stay on the market.
10 million people a year are affected by zoonotic viruses spread by non-human hosts
Doctors and veterinarians need to work together to tackle the increasing global threat of zoonotic viral diseases spread by non-human vertebrate hosts - including dogs, cattle, chickens and mosquitoes - according to a review in the November issue of Journal of Internal Medicine.
An estimated 50 million people acquired zoonotic diseases between 2000 and 2005 and up to 78,000 have died, reports Dr Jonathan Heeney, Chair of the Department of Virology at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands.
And the diseases responsible for the majority of zoonotic illnesses, and a third of the deaths in the study period, appear to be increasing. This is particularly worrying because there are no effective vaccines for some of the most common zoonotic viruses.
Anabolic steroids and antisocial behaviour go together
Swedish researchers have found that there could well be a link between the use of anabolic steroids and antisocial behaviour.
Anabolic steroids are drugs related to male sex hormones and can be taken through injections or orally; many athletes, bodybuilders and others, both male and female, use steroids without a prescription to build muscle bulk and strength in order to look better.
Steroids can cause serious side effects, including liver cancer, and kidney disease.
