Health & WellnessS


Heart - Black

Flashback Antisocial Children: Twin Study Provides More Proof that Psychopathy Is Inherited

Evidence is mounting in support of a genetic basis for anti-social behavior.

A study of twins, published in June 2005 issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, revealed that anti-social behavior is strongly inherited in children with psychopathic tendencies such as callousness and reduced emotional capacity.

Health

Cash carrot for obese people to lose pounds

Obese and overweight adults in England could be paid to lose weight under plans being considered by the Government. The new strategy to tackle poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles includes the suggestion that people should receive financial rewards or shopping vouchers for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

Bulb

Kids learn more when mom is listening

Kids may roll their eyes when their mother asks them about their school day, but answering her may actually help them learn. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom.

"We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help," Bethany Rittle-Johnson, the study's lead author and assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt's Peabody College of education and human development, said. "In this study, we just had the children's mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We've found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn."

People

Hungry mothers risk addiction in their adult children

Prenatal exposure to the 1944-45 Dutch 'hunger winter' and addiction later in life.

Babies conceived during a period of famine are at risk of developing addictions later in life, according to new research published in the international journal Addiction. Researchers from the Dutch mental health care organisation, Bouman GGZ, and Erasmus University Rotterdam studied men and women born in Rotterdam between 1944 and 1947, the time of the Dutch 'hunger winter'. Those whose mothers had suffered severe food shortages and starvation during their early pregnancy were significantly more likely to be receiving treatment for addictive disorders.

Health

Do Jerusalem's Arabs and Jews receive a different quality of medical care?

Researchers Amit Tirosh, Bmed, Ronit Calderon-Margalit, MD, MPH, Marianna Mazar, MD and Zvi Stern, MD compared the quality of care delivered to Jewish and Arab diabetes sufferers who were admitted to four major hospital emergency rooms in Jerusalem, to evaluate whether differences existed between the two groups and, if they did, their causes, given the common basis of health insurance coverage. The researchers found significant differences. As compared to the Jewish patients, Arab patients received:

* less diet counseling
* fewer recommendations and less support for physical activity
* less guidance in performing self foot examinations
* fewer medications prescribed

Syringe

Dental Decay: The Hidden Health Crisis

Last Spring, following the death of twelve-year old Deamonte Driver of Maryland whose untreated tooth infection spread to his brain, I wrote about the national epidemic of dental disease and the lack of access to dental care faced by the poor and working class. Last month, an article in The New York Times painted a horrifying picture of the state of dental care, where bootleggers sell dentures that would otherwise be unaffordable to many people missing teeth; where low Medicaid reimbursement rates perpetuate a dearth of participating dentists; where untreated cavities are a leading cause of kids missing school, people use Krazy Glue to reattach broken teeth, or swish rubbing alcohol to treat an infection, "burning the gums and creating ulcers."

Magic Hat

The helmet that could turn back the symptoms of Alzheimer's

An experimental helmet which scientists say could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease within weeks of being used is to be tried out on patients.

The strange-looking headgear - which has to be worn for ten minutes every day - bathes the brain with infra-red light and stimulates the growth of brain cells.

Its creators believe it could reverse the symptoms of dementia - such as memory loss and anxiety - after only four weeks.

Alzheimer's disease charities last night described the treatment as "potentially life- changing" - but stressed that the research was still at the very early stages.

Wine

Alcohol-related deaths 'rising'

The number of people in the UK dying from alcohol-related problems is continuing to rise.

Office for National Statistics figures show there were 13.4 alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 population in 2006 - up from 12.9 in 2005.

The mortality rate in men (18.3/100,000) was more than twice the rate for females (8.8/100,000).

The overall death rate has almost doubled from 6.9 deaths per 100,000 people in 1991.

Syringe

University of Manitoba researcher links asthma, early vaccinations

Children who have their routine vaccinations delayed by two months or more cut their risk of asthma by half, a University of Manitoba researcher has found.

Health

New bird flu outbreak found in Northern Thailand

BANGKOK -- A new bird flu outbreak has been detected at a farm in Thailand's lower northern province Nakhon Sawan, Thai livestock officials said Thursday.

Thailand's Livestock Development Department director-general Sakchai Sriboonsue said the laboratory found the virus H1N1 in the dead chicken samples from a farm in Chumsaeng district, Nakhon Sawan on Jan. 22.

More than 4,000 chickens died suspiciously on Jan. 18 at the Sri Thai Farm and the farm owner informed local animal husbandry officials to collect samples of dead chickens for lab tests.