Health & WellnessS


Attention

Psychopathy is on the rise: Almost 90 percent of Israeli children reported experiencing sexual violence

Almost 90% of teenagers aged 12-18 claim to have been victims of some level of sexual violence, according to a study conducted jointly by the University of Haifa and Ben Gurion University. The research surveyed 1,036 high school students. Additionally, 82% of the boys and 76% of the girls reported said that they had been subjects of violent physical assault.

Prof. Rachel Lev-Wiesel from the University of Haifa's School of Social Work, one of the authors of the study, noted that the results showed a distressing increase in the incidence of violence - both sexual and physical - over the past few years. The number of criminal files opened by the police for assault against children rose from 6,370 in 1998 to 8,805 in 2005. According to the National Council for the Child, the number of children treated for suspected violent attacks or abuse in 2005 stood at more than 37,000, a rise of 120% over the past decade. Of the 37,000, 30.5% were reported physical violence, 9.9% sexual, 13% psychological and 36.8% varying degrees of neglect.

Ambulance

Two reports show "superbug" bacteria spread in U.S.

Two drug-resistant "superbugs" are becoming more common across the United States including one that causes hard-to-treat ear infections in children, researchers reported on Tuesday.

©REUTERS/Alexandra Winkler
In this file photo a medical technical assistant holds a dish of bacteria culture at the Robert Koch scientific Institute in Berlin October 31, 2001.

Heart

Garlic Boosts Hydrogen Sulfide To Relax Arteries

Eating garlic is one of the best ways to lower high blood pressure and protect yourself from cardiovascular disease. A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) shows this protective effect is closely linked to how much hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is produced from garlic compounds interacting with red blood cells.

Bell

Maternal mortality shames superpower U.S.

Despite its enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind other industrialised countries -- and even some developing ones -- in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth.

The U.S. ranks 41st in a new analysis of maternal mortality rates in 171 countries released by a group of U.N. public health experts on Friday. The survey shows that even a developing country like South Korea is ahead of the United States.

"Women are unnecessarily dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications because the U.S. is moving in a wrong direction," said Beneva Schulte of Women Deliver, a Washington-based group campaigning for women's reproductive rights and access to public health care.

House

Prescribe 'the pill' at middle school?

Student health officials say a broad contraceptive program is 'totally needed.'

Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School Committee will consider Wednesday.


Red Flag

Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths



©AP
Graphic shows staph infection incident rates by age and race and percentage of infections by incident type; two sizes; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101.6 mm; 1c x 6 1/4 inches; 46.5 mm x 158.8 mm

CHICAGO - More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.

Info

Brain Aberrations Provide Clues to Origins of Violent Behavior

Although the biological underpinnings of violence in people with antisocial personality and schizophrenia share certain similarities, differences, such as cortical thinning in the prefrontal cortex, do exist.

Where in the depths of the human brain does violent behavior have its inception? Scientists are not sure, but reduced prefrontal gray matter and decreases in total brain volume and temporal-lobe volume have been linked with violent behavior in some people with antisocial personality disorder. In addition, poor orbitofrontal functioning, an abnormally large putamen, and abnormally small amygdalae and hippocampi have been linked with violent behavior in some schizophrenia patients.

Comment: There have also been other studies that also demonstrate a connection between physical brain aberrations and violent or psychopathic behaviour.


Info

Anemia affects infants' cognition, memory

New research reinforces earlier connections that have been found between iron-deficiency anemia in infants and their neurophysiological development.

Iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) in infancy appears associated with deficits in attention and memory development.

The study findings, reported in the August Pediatrics, reinforce previous research that found lower cognitive test scores among infants with iron deficiency than among those with healthy levels of iron.

People

Fruit compound fights head and neck cancer

Lupeol, a compound in fruits like mangoes, grapes and strawberries, appears to be effective in killing and curbing the spread of cancer cells in the head and neck, a study in Hong Kong has found.

©REUTERS/Fatih Saribas
Grapes at a vineyard near Tekirdag in western Turkey August 18, 2007.

Bell

Flashback Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th Century