Health & WellnessS


Health

Don't look to a doctor for understanding


Los Angeles Times
Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:52 UTC
Doctors provide little in the way of empathy, even when their patients seem to ask for it, according to a study in the Sept. 22 Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers looked at real doctor/patient encounters between 137 patients and their oncologists or thoracic surgeons from a Veterans Affairs hospital.

Doctors could respond to concrete concerns, such as that a patient was feeling physical pain, or was having trouble getting an appointment. But they largely ignored patients' emotional concerns -- even when that concern was an outcome of surgery, or how long they had left to live.

Here's a sample of an encounter reported in the study when the patient received the diagnosis:
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Nuke

Children will be using brain-boosting drugs 'in a generation'

Aislinn Simpson
The Telegraph (UK)
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:59 UTC
The drugs, known as "cognition enhancers" could improve brain performance in a number of ways, from sharpening short-term memory and increasing speed of thought.

The Academy of Medical Sciences has already advised ministers that the use of such drugs - commonly known as "cogs" - would be so widespread that they would need to be regulated.

Now Futurelab, an education think-tank, has taken the concept one stage further, warning that schools must be prepared to subsidise poorer children's use of such drugs to ensure they do not fall behind more affluent classmates.
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Cow

Update: Chinese Children Ill From Bad Milk Jumps to 53,000


Associated Press
Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:07 UTC
The tally of children sickened by tainted milk in China jumped to nearly 53,000 as the government vowed to crack down on those responsible for the scandal, which has raised more questions about the safety of the country's food chain.

More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger, the Health Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late Sunday. The statement said most consumed infant formula from one company, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of one of China's worst food safety scandals in years.

Another 39,965 children received outpatient treatment at hospitals and were considered "basically recovered," the ministry said.
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Health

'Friendly' bacteria protect against type 1 diabetes, Yale researchers find


scienceblog.com
Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:11 UTC
In a dramatic illustration of the potential for microbes to prevent disease, researchers at Yale University and the University of Chicago showed that mice exposed to common stomach bacteria were protected against the development of Type I diabetes.
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Health

Nearly 12,900 Chinese children sick from milk

Scott McDonald
Associated Press
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:37 UTC
Beijing - The number of children in China sickened by dairy products tainted with the banned industrial chemical melamine has doubled to nearly 12,900, the government said Sunday as it vowed to crack down on those responsible for one of China's worst food safety scandals in years.

Image
©AFP
Chinese families with their babies rush to a hospital for checkups on possible affect from the tainted milk, in Chongqing. China said nearly 13,000 children were in hospital Sunday after drinking toxic milk powder in a dramatic escalation of Beijing's latest safety scandal.

More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger, the Health Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late Sunday. Four children have died.

The Health Ministry said that most of the hospitalized were sickened by powdered milk and baby formula. It said most of the sick children consumed baby formula from one company, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co. The dairy is at the center of the scandal.

"The hospitalized children basically consumed Sanlu brand infant milk powder. No cases have been found from ingesting liquid milk," said the ministry statement.
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Health

Reproductive Justice and Gender Kids Shouldn't Be Learning About Sex from TV

Kelli Conlin
Alter Net.
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:53 UTC
The New York streets are filled with posters advertising the return of the hit TV show Gossip Girl: photogenic teens embrace beneath a quote proclaiming that the show is "Every parent's nightmare." While Gossip Girl may be filled with the endless sexual encounters of high school students, the fictionalized private school is not this parent's September nightmare. My real-life nightmare is that kids are once again beginning a school year that will most likely not provide them with comprehensive sex education, leaving them at the mercy of shows such as Gossip Girl and the revamped 90210.
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Health

Tanning Beds Are Not Safe, Cause Skin Cancer, Studies Warn

Anna Boyd
eFluxMedia
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:37 UTC
Tanning beds have been a subject of controversy for many years with many dermatologists warning about the risk of developing skin cancer, and still, many people, especially women, are not convinced about the harmful effects of tanning. It is amazing how many of us choose a chocolate-like skin over a healthy skin although there is plenty of evidence that ultraviolet rays, no matter their source, cause skin cancer.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 60,000 people each year die from overexposure to ultraviolet light, mostly from malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the US, with 1 million new cases in 2008. Also one in five people is estimated to develop some type of skin cancer during their lifetime.
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Health

Salt Raises Blood Pressure, Vitamin C Lowers It

Ben Wasserman
Foodconsumer.org
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:30 UTC
A study presented at the American Heart Association's Fall Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, in Atlanta shows too much dietary salt can contribute to resistant high blood pressure.

Another study also presented at the same conference showed that vitamin C intravenously delivered can lower blood pressure by acting on an overactive central nervous system. Read Vitamin C lowers blood pressure for details.

Resistant hypertension refers to a condition where blood pressure remains above the target level even when three medications are used in an effort to lower it. High blood pressure is also called resistant to treatment if the condition can only get controlled by taking four or more medications.
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Cut

Chelation Study for Autism Called Off

Salynn Boyles
WebMD
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:01 UTC
Controversial Trial Too Risky, Panel Says

Federal officials have abandoned a proposed study of a controversial alternative therapy for autism, leaving parents who believe in the treatment disappointed and angry about the move.

Comment: What a poor excuse to shelve a promising therapy, while failing to offer any alternatives for autism sufferers.

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People

New study: Overbearing parents foster obsessive children


University of Montreal
Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:40 UTC
New Université de Montréal study correlates parenting and a child's relationship to his or her hobby.

A new study has found that parental control directly influences whether a child will develop a harmonious or obsessive passion for their favorite hobby. Conducted by Professor Geneviève Mageau, of the Université de Montréal's Department of Psychology, the study will be published this fall edition of the Journal of Personality.

Mageau focused on 588 musicians and athletes between the ages of six and 38 who practice their hobby at different levels (beginner, intermediate and expert). Mageau used a Likert-type scale to measure how parents support the autonomy of their child.
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