Health & WellnessS


Pills

US Kids Represent Psychiatric Drug Goldmine

Evelyn Pringle
Truthout
Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:54 UTC
Prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased 50 percent with children in the US, and 73 percent among adults, from 1996 to 2006, according to a study in the May/June 2009 issue of the journal Health Affairs. Another study in the same issue of Health Affairs found spending for mental health care grew more than 30 percent over the same ten-year period, with almost all of the increase due to psychiatric drug costs.

On April 22, 2009, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that in 2006 more money was spent on treating mental disorders in children aged 0 to 17 than for any other medical condition, with a total of $8.9 billion. By comparison, the cost of treating trauma-related disorders, including fractures, sprains, burns, and other physical injuries, was only $6.1 billion.
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Arrow Down

135,000 Uninsured Americans Will Die Before Health Reform Takes Effect, Analysis Finds

Brad Jacobson
Raw Story
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:49 UTC
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© Unknown
Over 6,600 uninsured veterans will die by 2013: estimate

If Democrats manage to pull off efforts to reform the US healthcare system and ensure coverage for millions who are currently without insurance, the new system -- by design -- will likely still leave tens of thousands to die without insurance before reforms kick in.

A Raw Story analysis, based on a recent Harvard Medical School study, estimates that 135,000 American citizens and over 6,600 US veterans will die due to a lack of health insurance before current proposed healthcare reform measures would take effect.

One hundred and thirty-five thousand US lives far exceeds the total number of Americans who died in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the attacks of 9/11 combined. The lives of over 6,600 US veterans is more -- by over 1,300 -- than the total number of US soldiers who have thus far died in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
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People

Gaps Found in Young People's Sex Knowledge

Elizabeth Landau
CNN
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:03 UTC
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© Getty ImagesMyths about pregnancy and sexual activity continue to permeate circles of young people.
Most sexually active unmarried young adults believe pregnancy should be planned, but about half do not use contraception regularly, according to a study published Tuesday.

The survey of 1,800 people age 18 to 29 was conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

"What is surprising is just how wide the gap is between single young adults' intentions and behavior on this very important issue," said Bill Albert, chief program officer at the organization.

Also, 29 percent of women and 42 percent of men said it is at least slightly likely they will have unprotected sex in the next three months -- and it's quite likely or extremely likely for 17 percent of women and 19 percent of men.

The discrepancy between both wanting to plan pregnancy and having unprotected sex may have something to do with a focus in recent years on abstinence-only education, said Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute.
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Reducing TV Time Helps Adults Burn More Calories, Study Finds


ScienceDaily
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:00 UTC
Adults who used an electronic lock-out system to reduce their television time by half did not change their calorie intake but did expend more energy over a three-week period, according to a report in the December 14/28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The average adult watches almost five hours of television per day, according to background information in the article. Some efforts to prevent and reduce obesity have focused on modifying diet and physical activity, but newer strategies have involved reducing sedentary behaviors such as TV watching. Not only may reducing TV time allow time for more active endeavors, it may also help alleviate chronic sleep deprivation, potentially linked to obesity.

Jennifer J. Otten, Ph.D., R.D., then of the University of Vermont, Burlington, and now of Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif., and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial of 36 adults who had a body mass index between 25 and 50 and reported watching at least three hours of TV per day. Between January and July 2008, all participants underwent a three-week observation period during which their daily TV time was assessed. A group of 20 individuals was then randomly assigned to receive an electronic device that shut off the TV after they had reached a weekly limit of 50 percent of their previously measured TV viewing time. An additional 16 participants served as a control group.
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Link Between Sirtuins and Life Extension Strengthened


ScienceDaily
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:00 UTC
A new paper from MIT biology professor Leonard Guarente strengthens the link between longevity proteins called sirtuins and the lifespan-extending effects of calorie restriction.

For decades, it has been known that cutting normal calorie consumption by 30 to 40 percent can boost lifespan and improve overall health in animals such as worms and mice. Guarente believes that those effects are controlled by sirtuins -- proteins that keep cells alive and healthy in the face of stress by coordinating a variety of hormonal networks, regulatory proteins and other genes.

In his latest work, published Dec. 15 in the journal Genes and Development, Guarente adds to his case by reporting that sirtuins bring about the effects of calorie restriction on a brain system, known as the somatotropic signaling axis, that controls growth and influences lifespan length.
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Magic Wand

Milk Thistle Cuts Liver Toxicity from All Chemotherapy

John Gever
MedPage Today
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:13 UTC
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An extract from the milk thistle plant significantly reduced some signs of liver inflammation in children receiving chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and showed favorable trends in other measures, researchers said.

After 56 days of oral treatment with milk thistle in capsule form, children in a placebo-controlled trial showed significantly lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and trends toward lower alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and bilirubin, according to Kara M. Kelly, MD, of Columbia University, and colleagues.

The study "provides preliminary evidence that milk thistle may be a safe, effective, supportive-care agent," the researchers concluded in an online report in Cancer.
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Family

Freedom Foods

Nora Lawrence
Cultural Survival
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:40 UTC
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© Nora Lawrence
Food does more than nourish our bodies. It lifts our spirits, nurtures our minds, and comforts our souls.

As any weary traveler who has ever longed for a home-cooked meal can attest, food connects us to our families and communities by reminding us where we come from and - just for a moment - transports us back to a place of familiarity, trust, and comfort.

But in many Indigenous communities across North America, this pivotal aspect of both health and culture is slipping away. Knowledge of traditional agricultural techniques, food sources, and preparation has become increasingly scarce as the pressures of urbanization, poverty, and modern lifestyles push many individuals and communities towards processed and artificial foods.

This phenomenon has caused more than the obvious health problems like diabetes and obesity; it has also hindered the ability of many communities to observe their religious and spiritual ceremonies and has driven a generational wedge between those community members who connect to traditional food and those who have never known its importance or pleasure.
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Coffee

Drinking Coffee, Decaf and Tea Regularly Associated With a Reduced Risk of Diabetes


ScienceDaily
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphotoNew research suggests that drinking more coffee (regular or decaffeinated) or tea appears to lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Drinking more coffee (regular or decaffeinated) or tea appears to lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to an analysis of previous studies reported in the December 14/28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, JAMA.

By the year 2025, approximately 380 million individuals worldwide will be affected by type 2 diabetes.

Despite considerable research attention, the role of specific dietary and lifestyle factors remains uncertain, although obesity and physical inactivity have consistently been reported to raise the risk of diabetes mellitus. A previously published meta-analysis suggested drinking more coffee may be linked with a reduced risk, but the amount of available information has more than doubled since.

Rachel Huxley, D.Phil, of The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues identified 18 studies involving 457,922 participants and assessing the association between coffee consumption and diabetes risk published between 1966 and 2009.
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Witnesses to Bullying May Face More Mental Health Risks Than Bullies and Victims


ScienceDaily
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00 UTC
Students who watch as their peers endure the verbal or physical abuses of another student could become as psychologically distressed, if not more so, by the events than the victims themselves, new research suggests.

Bullies and bystanders may also be more likely to take drugs and drink alcohol, according to the findings, which are reported in the December issue of School Psychology Quarterly, published by the American Psychological Association.

"It's well documented that children and adolescents who are exposed to violence within their families or outside of school are at a greater risk for mental health problems than those children who are not exposed to any violence," said the study's lead author, Ian Rivers, PhD. "It should not be a surprise that violence at school will pose the same kind of risk."
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Sand Playground Surfaces Reduce Risk of Arm Fractures from Falls, Study Shows


ScienceDaily
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00 UTC
School playgrounds fitted with granite sand surfacing significantly reduce the risk of children fracturing arms in comparison with wood fibre surfaces, according to a randomized trial published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine.

Even in well maintained playgrounds there is always a risk of injury -- in the United States alone, 200,000 children are treated for playground injuries a year. Andrew Howard (of the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada) and colleagues examined the rate of arm fracture as a result of falls on to two types of playground surface -- granite sand and engineered wood fibre. Despite standards for the type and depth of surfaces used in school playgrounds, there is little information about the ability of different surfaces to prevent injuries. The researchers took advantage of planned playground replacement by the Toronto School District Board in a number of schools to perform a randomized controlled trial of the two surfaces in preventing injuries.

Over two and a half years, the researchers found that of the 19 schools that complied with the surface they were randomly assigned to, falls from height onto wood fibre surface resulted in more arm fractures than falls from height onto granite sand. The risk of an arm fracture was 4.9 times higher on a wood fibre surface compared to a granite sand playground. The rate of arm fracture and other injuries that were not as a result of falling from height did not vary between the surfaces.
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