Mi Choza De Nipa

China faces sperm donor dearth

2011-12-20T11:12:00.002+08:00

This seems like an irony, in my opinion... China losing out on reproduction?
-----

By Kristine Lim
Posted: 15 November 2011

SHANGHAI, China: China faces a shortage of sperm donors, and the quality of sperm adds to the infertility problem as more couples seek out sperm banks.

Only about five to 10 per cent of sperm donations make the mark.

The hectic pace of life, stress at work, as well as a changing environment with more pollution and exposure to elements such as radiation affect fertility.

In Shanghai, about 2,500 couples seek out the sperm bank each year.

They can wait up to three years for a donor.

Shanghai Human Sperm Bank head Li Zheng said: "If you come to the hospital and take a look at the men without sperm or who are infertile, you will see how much stress they have.

"For me, it is really difficult to break the news that he cannot have children at the end of the treatment.

"It is a huge blow to the men. They face a lot of pressure and the only way they can make their wife pregnant and build a family is by seeking out a sperm donation."

But the sperm bank is unable to find enough suitable donations to meet demand.

Because the sperm is frozen at low temperatures in liquid nitrogen, donated sperm has to be of high quality.

Donors with genetic diseases or HIV will also be screened out.

The entire sperm-donation process takes about nine months.

Apart from the initial checkups, donors have to return six months after donation for further HIV tests.

But with an increasingly mobile population in China, many do not turn up for the last step, which means all the previous efforts would go to waste.

The traditional mindset is also stopping many from coming forward as donors.

Awkwardness and shyness are some of the reasons Chinese men cited for not stepping forward.

One man said: "I am going to get married soon; I don't wish to have other children elsewhere in future. What if they come to acknowledge me as their father?"

Another added: "You don't know when you'll see someone looking a lot like you on the streets, then discover he is your child."

However, others are a little more open to the idea.

One man said: "Perhaps I will consider but for now, I don't have much time apart from work to do this form of charity."

"I think it is okay. It's like donating blood," said another.

About 85 per cent of current sperm donors are university students.

But the sperm bank hopes others, such as married men with children, can come forward as donors.

- CNA/wk

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
China faces sperm donor dearth

Some birth control shows higher clot risk

2011-11-29T16:25:00.002+08:00

Posted: 28 October 2011

WASHINGTON: Some birth control products, including contraceptive pills, rings and patches for women, carry a significantly higher risk of blood clot than low-dose medications, US regulators said Thursday.

The US Food and Drug Administration said in its review of studies that have included more than 800,000 women that the higher risks are posed by products such as the pill Yaz, the transdermal Ortho Evra patch, and the NuvaRing vaginal insert.

All three methods are "associated with an increased risk of VTE (deep venous thrombosis) relative to the standard low-dose" pills, the FDA said.

Featured in the study were pills that contain drospirenone, as opposed to another type of progestin known as levonorgestrel. Some brand names include Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz, Ocella, Loryna, Gianvi, Safyral, Syeda and Zarah.

Yaz is the second biggest selling product made by the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, with 1.56 billion in global sales.

NuvaRing is a once-a-month vaginal insert made by Merck pharmaceuticals, and the weekly Ortho Evra patch is made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The finding about clot risk associated with patches and rings are new and need to be replicated, the FDA said. A full discussion on the matter is scheduled for December.

These "continuous exposure" birth control methods "potentially result in higher sustained exposure to estrogen and hence, increased thromboembolic risk," the FDA warned.

The European Medicines Agency concluded on May 27 that such birth control pills carry a higher risk of venous thromboembolism and that warning labels should be updated accordingly.

However it noted the overall risk of blood clot from any birth control method remains small and stopped short of advising women to stop taking pills containing drospirenone.

The pills have been the focus of numerous lawsuits, including one lodged earlier this year on behalf of a teenager who died from a blood clot allegedly linked to the German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer's Yaz contraceptive.

Michelle Pfleger, an 18-year-old college student in North Carolina, died of cardiac arrest last September after taking Yaz, also known as Yasmin or Ocella, to treat acne, according to the complaint.

Two studies out this year in the British Medical Journal found that drugs like Yaz and Yasmin increase the risk of serious blood clots three-fold or two-fold compared to earlier-generation oral contraceptives.

The official Yaz website says the drug is associated with "increased risks of several serious side effects, including blood clots, stroke, and heart attack."

According to Glenn Jacobowitz, vice-chair of the division of vascular surgery at New York University, doctors have been aware of the risks of Yaz and similar pills for some time.

"The information on NuvaRing and Ortho Evra would be a new, but similar finding. This is certainly worrisome, particularly for women over age 35 and for smokers," he said.

-AFP/vl

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Some birth control shows higher clot risk

US doctors discourage videos for babies under two

2011-11-28T10:54:00.002+08:00

Now this is really an eye-opener; we've known this for some time, but i think many more don't know this. So how about the iPad? I've heard parents say that it is a 'boost' to their child's learning the alphabets and numbers.

Maybe it is just the videos after all. Think so?
-----

Posted: 18 October 2011

WASHINGTON: Watching television or videos is discouraged for babies under age two because studies suggest it could harm their development, a US paediatricians' group said on Tuesday.

Instead of allowing infants to watch videos or screens, parents should talk to them and encourage independent play, said the first guidelines issued in more than a decade by the American Academy of Paediatrics.

The advice is the same as that issued in 1999 by United States' largest association of paediatricians, but this time it also warns parents of how their own screen-watching habits may delay their children's ability to talk.

"This updated policy statement provides further evidence that media - both foreground and background - have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children younger than two years," it said.

"Thus the AAP reaffirms its recommendation to discourage media use in this age group."

The latest guidelines do not refer to interactive play such as video games on smartphones or other devices, but to media watched passively on any kind of screen, be it phone, computer, television or other.

Paediatrician Ari Brown said the update was needed because of the explosion of baby DVDs targeting the 0-2 age group, and because as many as 90 percent of parents acknowledge that their infants watch some sort of electronic media.

"Clearly, no one is listening to this message," she told AFP. "In this ubiquitous screen world, I think we need to find a way to manage it, and make it a healthy media diet."

The AAP urges paediatricians to discuss media use with new parents, and says adults should be aware of how distracted they become when the television is on.

"I like to call it second-hand TV," said Brown, who is the lead author of the AAP guidelines.

Studies cited in the guidelines say that parents interact less with children when the television is on, and a young child at play will glance at the TV - if it is on, even in the background - three times per minute.

"When the TV is on the parent is talking less," Brown told AFP. "There is some scientific evidence that shows that the less talk time a child has, the poorer their language development is."

Though about 50 studies have been done in the past decade on media viewing by tots, none have followed heavy television watchers into later childhood or adulthood, so any long-term effects are not known. Heavy media use is defined as a household in which the television is on all or most of the time.

Also, the AAP guidelines point out that research to date suggests a "correlation between television viewing and developmental problems, but they cannot show causality."

Even so-called educational videos are not benefiting kids under two because they are too young to be able to understand the images on the screen, said the AAP.

"The educational merit of media for children younger than two years remains unproven despite the fact that three quarters of the top-selling infant videos make explicit or implicit educational claims," it said.

Paediatricians are therefore discouraging any screen viewing for infants, and urging parents to limit media viewing to under two hours per day for children two and over.

"Unstructured playtime is more valuable for the developing brain than any electronic media exposure," the AAP guidelines said.

- AFP/cc

-----
Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
US doctors discourage videos for babies under two

Premature babies 5x more likely to be autistic

2011-11-24T22:55:00.002+08:00

Posted: 17 October 2011

WASHINGTON: Babies who are born early and small are five times as likely as normal infants to develop autism, according to a two-decade-long US study released Monday.

Premature babies have long been known to risk a host of health problems and cognitive delays, but the study in the journal Pediatrics is the first to establish a link between low birth weight and autism.

US researchers tracked 862 children from birth to young adulthood. Those in the study were born between 1984 and 1987 in three counties in New Jersey.

The children weighed between 500 and 2,000 grams (1.1 to 4.4 pounds) at birth.

Over time, five percent of the low-birth weight babies were diagnosed with autism, compared to the one percent prevalence in the general population.

"As survival of the smallest and most immature babies improves, impaired survivors represent an increasing public health challenge," said lead author Jennifer Pinto-Martin, director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

"Cognitive problems in these children may mask underlying autism," she added, urging parents to get their child tested if they suspect autism spectrum disorder.

"Early intervention improves long-term outcome and can help these children both at school and at home."

Autism is the term for an array of conditions ranging from poor social interaction to repetitive behaviors and entrenched silence. The condition is rare, predominantly affecting boys, and its causes are fiercely debated.

- AFP/cc

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Premature babies 5x more likely to be autistic

100,000 HIV infections stopped by safe-sex scheme

2011-11-22T15:02:00.002+08:00

I'm not sure if I would be glad with this kind of story... I mean, I find this simply a workaround to the root cause, rather than stopping the issue from the source. Just my 2 cents worth...
-----

Posted: 11 October 2011

PARIS: A scheme in six Indian states that concentrated safe-sex campaigns on a few niche groups prevented 100,000 HIV infections over five years, according to estimates published in The Lancet on Tuesday.

The so-called Avahan project was launched in 2003 in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, along with the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland, using a massive grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

These states, with a total population of 300 million, had the highest prevalences of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in India at the time.

Avahan's goal was to boost prevention among prostitutes and their customers, gays, injecting drug users and truck drivers to stop HIV from leaping from high-risk groups to the wider population.

Tactics included one-on-one safe-sex counselling, free condoms, exchanging used needles for sterilised ones, clinics to treat sexually-transmitted disease and advocacy work within the community.

"Overall, we estimated that 100,178 HIV infections were averted at the population level from 2003 up to 2008 as a result of Avahan," says the study.

Its estimate derives from HIV prevalence in key districts in the six states.

The campaign was most effective in districts that received the most resources but also worked better in the heavily-populated southern states rather than in the remote northeastern ones, say the authors.

Overall, a targeted strategy -- as opposed to a generalised effort spread across the population -- was a big success and a useful lesson for other countries, they say.

Prevention has been in the doldrums in recent years, given the success of antiretroviral drugs that treat HIV but do not cure it.

But experts caution that drugs alone are not enough to roll back the global pandemic. As the infection tally rises higher, so does the drugs bill, as the medication has to be taken daily for the rest of one's life.

Avahan was launched at a time when India was gripped by fears that as many as 25 million of its people could be infected by HIV by 2010.

These projections were eventually cut back sharply. In 2009, India had an estimated 2.4 million people with HIV in 2009.

Avahan gained Gates funding of 258 million dollars for 2003-2008, a sum that sparked criticism in some quarters that this was too lavish and poor value for money.

But the paper disputes this, saying that the cost per HIV infection averted, "is in a similar range" to the government scheme, run by the National AIDS Control Programme of India.

The national programme had funding of 460 million dollars form 1999-2006, which rose to 2.5 billion for 2007-2012, of which two-thirds were allocated for HIV prevention.

The study's authors were funded by the Gates Foundation. However, The Lancet is a peer-reviewed journal, which means that data proposed for publication is vetted by outside experts.

In 2009, the Gates Foundation promised an additional 80 million dollars into Avahan to help it integrate with the government's AIS programme by 2013.

-AFP/vl

-----
Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
100,000 HIV infections stopped by safe-sex scheme

Look on bright side, not such a bright idea

2011-11-15T21:52:00.002+08:00

Posted: 10 October 2011

PARIS: If you are always seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, be warned -- it could be an oncoming train.

So says a study published Sunday in Nature Neuroscience which concludes that our well-known penchant for donning rose-tinted glasses may be a failure to store risk awareness in a key part of the brain.

Tali Sharot, a professor at University College London, was intrigued as to why so many people -- even when facing long odds or bleak prospects -- remain stubbornly, even pathologically, optimistic.

To learn more, 19 volunteers were asked to take part in an experiment.

Sharot and colleagues monitored subjects in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner as they were confronted with life situations ranging from unpleasant to catastrophic.

Having their car stolen, getting fired from their job, developing Parkinson's disease or cancer were among 80 scenarios evoked.

After each hypothetical disaster, the volunteers were asked to estimate the odds of the misfortune happening to them. While still in the scanner, they were then informed of the true average probability of the risk.

Sometime later, the volunteers once again quantified the odds for personally experiencing each scenario.

The researchers found that the volunteers updated their initial estimates -- but only when the true figures were less gloomy.

If, for example, they had predicted a 40 percent chance of contracting cancer but the average likelihood turned out to be 30 percent, they were far more likely to adjust their estimate sharply downward.

But if the odds were worse than originally thought, the volunteers simply ignored the true statistics.

"Our study suggests that we pick and choose the information that we listen too," said Sharot.

"The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information about the future," said Sharot.

Why so?

In the brain scans, all participants showed increased activity in their frontal lobes -- which is strongly associated with emotional control -- whenever the real numbers were better than expected.

The activity indicated that the new information was being processed and stored.

But when the news was more dire than the first guesstimate, respondents who had rated highest for "optimism" in a personality test, taken beforehand, showed the least activity in their frontal lobe.

Sharot said the work showed that unbridled optimism had unperceived risks.

"Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty can be a positive thing -- it can lower stress and anxiety, and be good for our health and well-being," she said.

"But it can also mean that we are less likely to take precautionary action, such as practising safe sex or saving up for retirement," she said.

Many experts, she pointed out, believe that the financial crisis that began in the fall of 2008 was in large part caused by wishful thinking about rising property values and the ability to play down or dismiss levels of debt.

-AFP/vl

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Look on bright side, not such a bright idea

Female hormonal contraception linked to higher HIV risk

2011-11-14T23:23:00.002+08:00

Posted: 04 October 2011

PARIS: Women who use hormonal birth control are roughly twice as likely to become infected with HIV or pass on the AIDS virus to their partner, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The research was carried out among 3,790 heterosexual couples in Africa where one partner had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while the other was uninfected.

The findings, if confirmed, could have huge repercussions for policies on contraception and HIV prevention.

The authors say it strengthens the need for safe-sex messages, in which the condom is promoted as a shield against the AIDS pathogen.

The couples were monitored for an average of 18 months during which 167 individuals became infected, 73 of them women, according to the paper appearing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Transcribed into a benchmark of prevalence, HIV transmissions were 6.61 per 100 person-years in couples where women used hormonal contraception, compared to 3.78 per 100 person-years among those who did not.

Rates of infection from women to men were 2.61 per 100 person-years among women who used hormonal contraception, but 1.51 per 100 person-years among those who did not.

Most of the women who took hormone contraceptives used an injectable, long-lasting form such as the Depo-Provera shot. Only a small number used the Pill; in this group, there was an increase in HIV risk but not big enough to be conclusive.

Over the last two decades, scientists have launched several investigations into whether hormonal contraceptive use affects HIV risk, but the probes have returned conflicting results.

This is the first large-scale study, using an ambitious design, to return clear proof of the risk. It is also the first to highlight an apparent risk to men.

The investigators noted that women who took injectable contraceptives had "raised concentrations" of HIV genetic material in their cervical secretions.

If this is a mechanism for handing on the virus to men, further work is urgently needed to test the theory, they said.

In practical terms, doctors should advise women of the potentially increased risk and warn them of "dual protection" with condoms, says the probe, led by Renee Heffron of the University of Washington in Seattle.

The study was conducted between 2004 and 2010 in Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia as part of a trial of a therapy against the herpes simplex virus, which is common among people with HIV.

In a commentary also carried by the journal, clinical scientist Charles Morrison spoke of a "tragic" dilemma.

Promoting hormonal birth control in Africa could be contributing to the HIV epidemic; yet limiting this highly effective form of contraception would also boost rates of maternal death and sickness, underweight babies and orphans.

"The time to provide a more definitive answer to this critical public health question is now," through a randomised trial of volunteers, he wrote.

In 2009, more than 33 million people were living with HIV and 2.6 million people became newly infected, according to figures released last year by UNAIDS.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Female hormonal contraception linked to higher HIV risk

Laughter really is the best medicine

2011-10-26T19:30:00.003+08:00

Posted: 14 September 2011

PARIS: A rattling good laugh with friends will help you deal with pain thanks to opiate-like chemicals that flood the brain, according to a British study released on Wednesday.

Researchers carried out lab experiments in which volunteers watched either comedy clips from "Mr Bean" or "Friends," or non-humorous items such as golf or wildlife programmes, while their resistance to mild pain was monitored.

Another test was conducted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where the volunteers watched either a stand-up comedy show or a theatrical drama.

In lab conditions, the pain came from a deep-frozen wine-cooler sleeve which was slipped onto the arm or from a blood-pressure cuff that was pumped to the threshold of tolerance.

For the Fringe Festival, the volunteers were asked to do a tough exercise - leaning against the wall with their legs at right angles, as if sitting on a straight-backed chair - before and immediately after the performance, to see if laughter had helped with the pain.

Just 15 minutes of laughter increased the level of pain tolerance by around 10 percent, the study found.

In the lab experiments, the neutral, non-funny programming had no pain-alleviating effect at all. Nor did watching drama at the Fringe Festival.

However, the study notes two important distinctions.

The only laughter that worked was relaxed, unforced laughter that creases the eyes, as opposed to a polite titter.

And this kind of belly laugh is far likelier to happen when you are with others, rather than being alone.

"Very little research has been done into why we laugh and what role it plays in society," said Robin Dunbar, head of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

"Using microphones, we were able to record each of the participants and found that in a comedy show, they laughed for about a third of the time, and their pain tolerance rose as a consequence."

The protection apparently comes from endorphins, a complex chemical that helps to transmit messages between neurons but also dulls signals of physical pain and psychological stress.

Endorphins are the famous product of physical exercise - they help create the "buzz" that comes from running, swimming, rowing, yoga and so on.

In laughter, the release comes from an involuntary, repeated muscular exertion that comes from exhaling without drawing a breath, the scientists believe. The exertion leaves us exhausted and thereby triggers the endorphins.

Great apes are also believed to be able to laugh but, unlike humans, they breathe in as well as out when they do so.

The investigators believe the experiments help to understand the physiological and social mechanism of how laughter is generated.

The group seems vital in unleashing the right kind of endorphin-making laughter, they contend.

Previous studies have focussed more on why humans laugh, as opposed to how they do it.

One theory is that laughter helps transmit mating signals or cements bonding between individuals.

Another idea is that, in a group setting, laughter promotes social cooperation and collective identity. It is thus an evolutionary tool to help survival.

The paper appears in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a journal published by Britain's de-facto academy of sciences.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Laughter really is the best medicine

Parents who lose a baby can die of a broken heart

2011-10-26T19:20:00.003+08:00

This is just sad...
-----

Posted: 08 September 2011

PARIS: Parents who lose a new baby run a high risk themselves of dying prematurely, according to a British study published on Thursday.

Investigators delved into a random sample of national death registrations for the years 1971 to 2006.

They compared deaths among parents who had been bereaved in the first year of a child's life or whose child had been stillborn, against deaths among parents whose baby had survived beyond the first year.

Bereaved parents were between two and four times likelier to die or become widowed in the first 10 years of the child's death compared with non-bereaved counterparts.

Mothers in particular were at threat.

Bereaved mothers in England and Wales were four times likelier to die prematurely, and bereaved mothers in Scotland six times likelier, than women whose child had survived beyond the first year of life.

The risk for mothers lessened slightly over time, but was still significant -- 50 percent higher -- after 25 years. After 35 years, it was 20 percent higher.

The reasons for the mortality are unclear because the data do not give the details.

The authors speculate there could be a link with alcohol abuse among bereaved parents, and suicide, too, may be a factor.

Alternatively, stillbirth and infant deaths could be more common among parents who themselves are in poor health.

The research, headed by Mairi Harper of the University of York in northern England, appears in the specialist journal BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care.

- AFP/cc

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Parents who lose a baby can die of a broken heart

Half of teens shy, but for a few it's more serious

2011-10-19T19:28:00.002+08:00

Image via WikipediaOctober 17, 2011

(AP) WASHINGTON — Does your teen show normal nerves about the weekend party, or always stay home?

Nearly half of teenagers say they're shy, perhaps a bit surprising in our say-anything society. But a government study finds a small fraction of those teens show signs of a troubling anxiety disorder that can be mistaken for extreme shyness.

The report challenges criticism that the terms "social phobia" or "social anxiety disorder" medicalize normal shyness.

"Shyness is a normal human temperament," says lead researcher Dr. Kathleen Merikangas of the National Institute of Mental Health, whose teachers always noted her own childhood shyness on her report cards.

But just as it can be hard to tell when feeling sad turns into depression, "there is a blurred boundary between people who describe themselves as shy and clinically significant impairment," Merikangas adds.

The difference: The shy can be drawn out and adapt, while teens or adults with full-fledged social anxiety become so paralyzed during social situations that it interferes with everyday functioning.

"I didn't go out on dates or do any of the things that other kids did," recalls Cynthia Kipp of Tehachapi, Calif., who shared her story of years struggling with social phobia with the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. Now 48, she thinks her first anxiety symptoms began in fourth grade, when she can remember hiding under her coat in class, but worsened in high school when she tried drugs and alcohol for relief. Eventually she found treatment that worked.

The report also opens a window into the broader field of temperament research. Even garden-variety shyness worries parents, particularly fathers of boys, says Dr. Nancy Snidman of Children's Hospital Boston.

In school-age boys especially, "shyness isn't very well tolerated in the United States," says Snidman who wasn't involved with the new research.

Snidman and colleagues at Harvard Medical School have tracked infants to their college years, and know that babies who react very negatively to new people and objects tend to grow into shy children. That's not a bad thing — caution is considered an important evolutionary adaptation.

Usually, the clinging tot does just fine as he or she grows older and finds a niche, Snidman says. Girls may think the shy teen boy is nice because he's not macho, for example, or the shy kids wind up on the school newspaper so they can write instead of do public speaking. Many outgrow their shyness.

Yet a very shy child is considered more at risk than others of later developing some type of anxiety disorder — just as the opposite extreme, a very outgoing child, can be at greater risk for attention or conduct disorders, she says.

The new study, published by the journal Pediatrics, is based on in-person surveys of more than 10,000 U.S. teens about a variety of mental health issues. More than 6,000 of their parents were surveyed, too.

About 47 percent of the teens identified themselves as shy around peers they don't know well. More than 62 percent of parents thought their teens were shy, perhaps a reflection of parental worry.

Then Merikangas' team analyzed how many teens appeared to meet the American Psychiatric Association's criteria for social anxiety disorder or social phobia. Roughly 1 in 10 of the self-described shy kids did.

Social phobia tends to appear during adolescence when kids take their first real steps toward independence, but there's little information about how often. The National Institutes of Health estimates it affects about 15 million adults.

The surveyed teens weren't formally diagnosed; Boston's Snidman cautions that what a specialist observes can be quite different from what a teen recalls.

Still, those identified as potentially socially phobic were more likely to have another mental health problem, such as depression or substance abuse. But they were no more likely than the other teens to be taking psychiatric medications.

There are anxiety-treating medications but the main treatment is behavioral therapy, exposing people very gradually to fear-inducing situations and teaching them coping techniques

What's a worried parent to watch for? This isn't standard stage fright, where you get sweaty palms before a speech but each one you do becomes easier. People with social anxiety disorder experience a more out-of-proportion fear that can make them shake, their hearts pound, or even cause a panic attack during a range of social situations. They start avoiding those scenarios.

The question is whether an anxious or shy teen is doing things typical of that age — participating in class, getting together with friends, going to group activities, says Dr. Chris Mauro, a Duke University psychologist. Try to get them into a group, whether it's sports or music or Scouts, because belonging is protective, he says.

The NIH's Merikangas recommends keeping an eye on social media, too. Sure it encourages electronic communication, but it may further isolate those already on that path, she says.

Teachers may notice a problem first, and shouldn't single out kids who won't participate in class but encourage them through group activities, she advises.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press.

Online:

NIH info: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/social-phobia-social-anxiety-disorder/index.shtml

Anxiety Disorders Association of America: http://www.adaa.org

Taken from CBSNews.com: HealthWatch; source article is below:
Half of teens shy, but for a few it's more serious

Rare Condition Drives Girl to Eat Light Bulb

2011-10-18T20:04:00.005+08:00

Image via Wikipedia(TERRA HAUTE, Ind.) -- Natalie Hayhurst looks like your average adorable 3-year-old. She plays with makeup, loves Justin Bieber, and loves playing with her big brother on their farm outside Terre Haute, Ind. But when it comes to food, she's anything but average. Most kids her age are a little picky. Natalie likes everything -- literally.

"Well, I first noticed it was a problem...[when] she had actually eaten my vinyl blinds that hang out to cover your sliding door. She took two bites out of them," said Natalie's mother, Colleen Hayhurst.

Natalie suffers from a rare condition called Pica that creates a compulsion to eat things that aren't food.

"She prefers the wood, paper products, cardboard, sticks," said Colleen. "She'll eat rocks, dirt; she's had a bite out of a Diet Coke can; she's eaten the little magnet out of the shower curtain, plastic bottles, toys."

"You can't take your eye off of her, 'cause if you do she knows it, and she'll try to eat something when she knows you're not looking," said Colleen.

In February Natalie was rushed to the emergency room after eating a light bulb.

"She had moved her entertainment center and pulled the light bulb out of the night light while I was doing dishes," Colleen said. "She was in bed; I assumed she was asleep. She had eaten all the glass. I was pretty much hysterical."

Doctors performed surgery to help remove the glass.

When Colleen took Natalie to the pediatrician for a checkup and explained what was going on, the doctor, Dr. Lily Dela Cruz, knew this was something that went beyond typical toddler behavior. She referred them to a developmental behavioral specialist.

Although Pica is more common in young children -- more than 10 percent of kids aged 1 to 6 are believed to have some form of the disorder -- adults are not immune.

Pica is the Latin word for magpie, a bird that will eat anything. Doctors say these unusual cravings can be triggered by a lack of certain nutrients like iron or zinc. Some with Pica crave the texture of some materials in their mouths.

In the case of Natalie, who has a healthy appetite for regular food, Pica is thought to be psychological. Pica is a symptom of autism, but Natalie has not been tested for the condition. She does suffer from insomnia and ADHD. As she gets older, she understands more what she is doing is wrong, but she can't seem to help herself.

In addition to working with a therapist to curb her cravings, at home Colleen sprays Natalie's tongue with a sour spray that helps satisfy her constant need to put things in her mouth. Natalie also chews on biting sticks. And she has what her family calls her Pica Box full of textured toys that stimulate her senses.

Colleen is reaching out to help other mothers and their children in this predicament.

"There are nights I have cried myself to sleep, because you feel helpless," Colleen said. "My kids are my world...and I care about helping other people who are in the same boat as me."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Taken from WTMA.com; source article is below:
Rare Condition Drives Girl to Eat Light Bulb

Study: More Kids Suffer Firearm Injuries than Previously Believed

2011-10-18T20:04:00.004+08:00

Image via Wikipedia(BOSTON) -- Each year, more than 20,000 children go to U.S. emergency rooms with gun injuries, a new study estimates. That number is 30 percent higher than what researchers had previously found.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston analyzed reports from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of U.S. emergency department visits from 1999 to 2007. In those eight years, they counted nearly 186,000 children, from newborns to 19-year-olds, who had been treated for firearm injuries. About 8,300 of those injuries proved fatal.

The study found that non-Caucasian boys age 12 and older were most likely to be injured by a gun. Forty-seven percent of the injuries they counted were in the South, but the Midwestern states had the highest proportion of firearm injuries relative to the population size.

Dr. Saranya Srinivasan, one of the study's authors, said the pediatric emergency physicians have kept track of the numbers of children injured by guns for many years, but the higher numbers her study found were surprising.

"Perhaps the scope of this problem is much larger than what we had originally thought," she said.

The study, which Srinivasan and her colleagues were to present Monday at the American Academy of Pediatrics' annual conference, found that 63 percent of the firearm injuries were intentional -- from homicides, suicide attempts, or encounters with law enforcement. The remaining 37 percent were unintentional injuries that could have resulted from accidents in homes or on hunting trips.

"If one-third of these injuries are unintentional, that means they're possibly preventable through things like more careful firearm storage and better education about gun safety," said Dr. Lois Lee, one of the study's authors.

The study indicated that more children have been injured not just from gun accidents but also from violence involving firearms.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says the best way for parents to keep their children from being injured by guns is to keep them out of homes. But for parents who do have guns in the house, the AAP says they should be kept unloaded and locked away, bullets should be locked and stored separately from the guns, and the keys to gun lock boxes should be hidden from children.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Taken from WTMA.com; source article is below:
Study: More Kids Suffer Firearm Injuries than Previously Believed

Heart disease boosts maternal death 100-fold

2011-10-18T19:27:00.002+08:00

This is a sobering truth - the start of one life is the threat to another...
-----

Posted: 31 August 2011

PARIS: Pregnant women with heart disease face a 100-fold increased risk of death, with the danger for offspring multiplied by 10, according to figures released on Tuesday at a medical congress in Paris.

Analysing data on 1,300 women gathered since 2008 from 28 countries across Europe, researchers reported 13 maternal deaths - one percent of the cohort - among expectant women with pre-existing heart conditions.

In healthy women, the average rate of maternal mortality in Europe is about one in 10,000.

Of the 1,300 women, 869 had congenital heart disease, 333 were vascular heart patients, 79 had cardiomyopathy and 24 suffered from ischaemic heart disease.

Cardiomyopathy causes the heart muscle to become thicker and more rigid than normal, while ischaemic heart disease is characterised by reduced blood supply to the heart.

There were 59 cases of foetal deaths, or 4.5 percent of the total, about 10 times the normal rate of mortality for European nations.

Data on the relationship between heart disease and maternal mortality is scarce, and randomised clinical trials are not possible, noted Jolien Roos-Hesselink, chairman of a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) data registry set up in 2006.

"The only way to improve our knowledge of the factors which determine outcome in pregnant women with heart disease is to gather data on a large number of pregnancies and try to find patterns of outcome which correlate with management strategies," he said in a statement.

Roos-Hesselink said the figures, reported at the ESC's annual congress, which ends on Wednesday, was an interim analysis, and that more data was needed for a better understanding of which types of heart disease pose the highest risk and what treatment may be most effective.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Heart disease boosts maternal death 100-fold

HK study finds molecule that offers fertility hope

2011-10-16T18:18:00.002+08:00

Posted: 26 August 2011

HONG KONG: Hong Kong scientists said on Friday they have discovered a molecule that binds human sperm to an egg, in a breakthrough which offers new hope for infertile couples.

The study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) found a key molecule on the coating of the human egg, called sialyl-LewisX (SLeX), which acts as a binding agent to help the sperm and egg stick together.

"This research provides an enlightening answer to a basic important question and human fertilisation -- how does a sperm bind to an egg?" William Yeung, one of the researchers, told AFP.

"But this is only a first step that will lead to more discoveries," said Yeung, who is also a professor at HKU's department of obstetrics and gynaecology.

The identification of SLeX will help to pinpoint patients whose infertility results from a lack of the substance.

Armed with this information, they will then be able to choose a fertility treatment known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which directly injects a single sperm into the egg, said the researcher.

The study, which began in 2009, found SLeX on 70 percent of all the 195 unfertilised eggs tested. The eggs were donated by patients.

Researchers expect the discovery to be put into clinical use in two years.

The study was conducted jointly with research groups from Imperial College in Britain, Academia Sinica in Taiwan and University of Missouri in the United States.

The study said that infertility affects about 15 per cent of couples of reproductive age, citing figures from the World Health Organization.

- AFP/ck

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
HK study finds molecule that offers fertility hope

Not too late for pregnant smokers to butt out

2011-09-05T12:30:00.002+08:00

Posted: 07 July 2011

STOCKHOLM: Women who quit smoking once they find out they are pregnant can give birth to a baby weighing the same as a child born to a non-smoker, a British expert told a European fertility meeting Wednesday.

"Once you find you're pregnant, its not too late to do something about your smoking," Nick Macklon, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Southampton, told AFP.

"If you stop smoking, you can have a baby with the same birth weight as if you'd never smoked," he explained, adding birth weight was an important predictor of long-term health.

But "if you find you're pregnant and you continue smoking, that will have a major effect on the birth weight of your child," he warned.

Macklon's findings, presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm, are based on a study of more than 50,000 pregnant women in Southampton between 2002 and 2010.

Researchers have known for many years that smoking is detrimental to foetal health, but Macklon said this is the largest study to date showing how stopping smoking improves pregnancy outcomes.

Adjusted for gestational age, maternal age, BMI (body mass index) and socio-economic class, the probe found that those babies whose mothers had stopped smoking around the time of getting pregnant or as soon the pregnancy was confirmed had a baby with a significantly higher birth weight, the researchers said in a statement.

The study showed that women who quit smoking once they discovered they were pregnant had babies that weighed an average of 300 grammes (10.6 ounces) more than babies born to women who smoked throughout their pregnancy.

"I think that's very encouraging news," said Macklon, who also works at Southampton's Complete fertility centre.

"While many couples will try to prepare themselves for pregnancy and adjust their lifestyle, still the majority of pregnancies are unplanned... What we are able to say is 'even if you haven't planned it, it's still not too late to do something about it'."

The researchers started following the women at the time of the first pregnancy-related medical visit, or about seven or eight weeks into term.

Outwardly, this might suggest that women can smoke almost two months into their pregnancy and still give birth to normal-weight babies.

But Macklon stressed the negative effects of tobacco on an unborn child were far greater than only birth weight.

Foetal abnormalities and cleft lip were among the effects that could be caused by a woman smoking before she realises she is expecting -- and even before the baby is conceived.

"The message ought to be 'stop smoking before you conceive,' but in the real world, many people fall pregnant unplanned, and therefore there is still a positive a message for them," he added.

-AFP/ac

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Not too late for pregnant smokers to butt out

15: The best number of eggs for IVF success

2011-06-07T12:19:00.002+08:00

Posted: 11 May 2011

PARIS: Retrieving about 15 eggs from a woman's ovaries in a single cycle gives the best chance of having a baby through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), researchers reported on Wednesday.

Investigators led by Arri Coomarasamy of the University of Birmingham in central England looked at data from more than 400,000 IVF cycles in Britain between 1991 and 2008.

Harvesting around 15 eggs in one go gave the best statistical chance of a live birth, they found.

This finding is in line with middle-range doses of powerful hormones to stimulate egg production, they found.

The chances of a baby level off between 15 and 20 eggs and then steadily decline beyond 20 eggs.

The success rate for 15 eggs in 2006-2007 was 40 percent among women aged 18-34, 36 percent for those aged 35-37, 27 percent for those aged 38-39 and 16 percent for women aged 40 or more.

The findings should be a useful tool for fertility doctors who want to make IVF as efficient as possible, avoid wasting precious eggs and limit the risk of dangerously overstimulating the ovaries, say the authors.

Previous research has looked at the link between egg numbers and pregnancy rates, but this is the first to explore the outcome in terms of live births.

The study appears in a European journal, Human Reproduction.

"Live birth" was defined as an event in which at least one baby was born alive.

IVF treatments entail taking eggs and fertilising them in a lab dish with sperm. Several early-stage embryos are then implanted in the uterus in the hope that one will result in a live birth, although multiple births sometimes result.

Embryos that are not immediately implanted are usually frozen, so that they can be thawed for future IVF attempts.

The data used in the study did not distinguish between live births that resulted from fresh or thawed embryos.

-AFP/ck

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below: 15: The best number of eggs for IVF success

Sex ed website disgusting

2011-05-16T08:33:00.002+08:00

This article is in its entirety, without addition or subtraction. Read with discretion and caution.
-----

By Bob Salsberg
Associated Press
April 26, 2011

BOSTON—Massachusetts public health officials said Tuesday they would be willing to consider changes in the content of a sexual education website aimed at teens, after critics in the Legislature complained that the site had graphic and "disgusting" descriptions of sex acts and downplayed the risks of abortion.

The lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick asking him cut off state funding for www.mariatalks.com, which is maintained by the independent AIDS Action Committee with the help of a $100,000 annual grant from the state Department of Public Health.

"Gov. Patrick, take down this website," demanded state Rep. Marc Lombardo, R-Billerica, one of about 20 members of a bipartisan group that held a Statehouse news conference.

Patrick himself offered no immediate comment, but the public health agency said in a statement that it would be willing to meet with critics in the coming days and, if necessary, take steps to improve the content of the site.

But the department also said its goal was to make accurate health information available to the public and that the site was "an important tool to help us do that."

Some lawmakers defended the site, including state Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, who said it provided useful information and "speaks the language that teenagers speak."

The site features "Maria" and other fictional teens who discuss topics including sex, birth control, pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.

Critics object to graphic descriptions of sexual contact and slang terms used for sexual acts.

"The language that is used on this site is disgusting. There are words that I would find difficult to speak," said Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, R-North Attleborough.

Critics also decried the wording of the abortion section of the website.

In one passage, the character says her aunt, an obstetrician, told her that abortions are "safe and effective, though some people may experience temporary discomfort."

In response to the question "Can I get an abortion if I am under 18?" the character says that while the information can be confusing and intimidating, "I promise you the reality of getting an abortion is much easier than it sounds here."

Massachusetts law requires that unmarried girls under 18 get consent from a parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion. They may also seek permission from a judge to have an abortion if their parents refuse to give permission or if they feel they cannot talk to their parents about it.

The site tells girls who are seeking an abortion that they can call a Planned Parenthood hotline and speak to counselors who could help them discuss the issue with their parents, or refer them to a free lawyer who will help them go through the courts.

"This website describes abortion in an extremely insensitive manner, downplays the medical and psychological damages and advises teenage girls on how to circumvent parental notification requirements," Lombardo said.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life, an anti-abortion group, also has called on Patrick to shut down the site.

Supporters of the site point out that it includes a lengthy section on abstinence titled "I Want to Wait," as well as information about adoption as an alternative to abortion.

Michael Falcone, political director for NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, said critics were not looking at the material in its entirety.

"They are here strictly to politicize family planning and use it as a bargaining chip in the public debate," Falcone said. "Mariatalks is a comprehensive website that has information for many young adults."

-----

Taken from boston.com; source article is below:
Mass. lawmakers say sex ed website 'disgusting'

Family Violence May Lead To Bullying

2011-05-09T12:21:00.002+08:00

Image via WikipediaFamily violence doesn't affect only immediate family members...
-----

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Multiple studies have shown an association between substance abuse, poor academic achievement, mental health issues, and bullying. Now, a study suggests that family violence is also associated with bullying.

Schoolyard bullies, and their victims, are more likely than not to live with violence at home, according to the new report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Violent family encounters were most common in youth who identified as someone who has both bullied and had been the victim of bullying, according to the report.

To assess this association, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and CDC analyzed data from the 2009 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey.

The CDC report sums up the results of that analysis, which showed significant differences in risk factors for persons in three distinct bullying categories -- bullies, victims, and bully-victims -- compared with persons reporting neither being bullies nor victims.

The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for middle school students for being physically hurt by a family member were 2.9 for victims, 4.4 for bullies, and 5.0 for bully-victims. For those witnessing violence in the family, the AORs were 2.6 for victims, 2.9 for bullies, and 3.9 for bully-victims, after adjusting for differences by age group, sex, and ethnicity.

For high school students, the AORS for being physically hurt by a family member were 2.8 for victims, 3.8 for bullies, and 5.4 for bully-victims, and for witnessing violence in the family were 2.3, 2.7, and 6.8, respectively.

Massachusetts has been at the heart of the bullying debate since the widely reported suicides of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley last year and 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover of Springfield in 2009.

The state passed anti-bullying laws in May 2010 which prohibits bullying in school and on the Internet . The state also mandates school-developed bullying prevention and intervention plans.

The Massachusetts Youth Health Survey is an anonymous survey conducted biennially. The survey has two stages.

In the first stage, schools are randomly selected to participate. In the second stage, classes are randomly selected for participation, and all students in those classes are invited to participate.

The 2009 survey was conducted during January to June and completed during a single class period in 138 public middle and high schools. The sample sizes of the survey were 2,859 students from middle schools and 2,948 students from high schools.

Response rates among students were 90.6 percent for middle schools and 87.2 percent for high schools. Cooperation rates were 61.6 percent for middle schools and 76.5 percent for high schools. A weight was applied to each survey record to adjust for school non-response, student non-response, and distribution of students by grade, sex, and race/ethnicity.

Students were asked two questions pertaining to bullying.

Responses to the questions were combined to create four exclusive categories Bullies, victims of bullying, bully-victims, and neither of the two. Students with missing responses to the questions were excluded from the analysis -- 55 middle school students and 39 high school students.

Percentages of bullies, victims, bully-victims, and neither were calculated for each of several risk factors, including violence at home.

The survey found that exposure to violent family encounters was more common among bully-victims than among bullies, and more common among bullies than victims of bullying. Among middle school students, 23.2 percent of bully-victims reported being physically hurt by a family member and 22.8 percent reported witnessing violence in the home, compared with 19.4 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, among bullies and 13.6 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively, among victims of bullying. Comparisons were similar for high school students.

The 2009 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey and CDC analysis was published online in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for April 22.

“A comprehensive approach that encompasses school officials, students and their families is needed to prevent bullying among middle school and high school students,” CDC researchers told Reuters.

The report, which CDC said was the first state-specific analysis of risk factors and bullying, also noted that significant numbers of bullies and bully-victims said they had recently used alcohol or drugs.

-----

Taken from redorbit.com; source article is below:
Family Violence May Lead To Bullying

Pregnant mothers' diet linked to child obesity: study

2011-04-28T13:26:00.002+08:00

So much depends on the mother...
-----

Posted: 19 April 2011

WELLINGTON: An expectant mother's diet during pregnancy can alter her baby's DNA in the womb, increasing its risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in later life, an international study has found.

Researchers said the study provided the first scientific evidence linking pregnant women's diet to childhood obesity, with major implications for public health.

"This a a major breakthrough because for the first time it gives us the potential to work out the optimal diet a mother should eat," Professor Peter Gluckman from Auckland University's Liggins Institute told AFP.

"That's likely to vary slightly from mother to mother, but it could be a major tool in addressing the obesity epidemic."

The study, conducted by scientists in Britain, New Zealand and Singapore, showed that what a mother ate during pregnancy could change the function of her child's DNA through a process called epigenetic change.

Children with a high degree of epigenetic change were more likely to develop a metabolism that "lays down more fat" and become obese, researchers found.

Such children were around three kilograms (6.6 pounds) heavier than their peers by the time they were aged six to nine, Gluckman said.

"That's a hell of a lot of extra weight at that age," he said, adding that the extra fat was likely to be carried into adulthood, raising the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease.

The researchers used umbilical cord tissue to measure the rate of epigenetic change in 300 babies, then examined whether it was linked to the children's weight when they were aged six to nine.

"The correlation was very strong, we didn't believe it at first, so we replicated it again and again," Gluckman said.

The study found the effect was not linked to either the mother or the baby's weight at birth, meaning a slim woman could deliver a small baby which still went on to became obese because of changes triggered by diet in the womb.

Gluckman said the rate of epigenetic change was possibly linked to a low carbohydrate diet in the first three months of pregnancy but it was too early to draw a definitive conclusion and further studies were needed.

He said one theory was that an embryo fed a diet containing few carbohydrates - which provide the body with energy - assumed it would be born into a carbohydrate-poor environment and altered its metabolism accordingly.

This meant it stored more fat, which could be used as fuel when food was scarce.

Gluckman said the study, which will be published in the journal Diabetes next week, confirmed long-held suspicions that poor prenatal nutrition could have a major impact on adult heath.

This meant health officials battling soaring obesity rates should look at policies designed to improve the health of expectant mothers, rather than simply focusing on trying to help overweight adults, he said.

"It provides the most compelling argument yet to give greater weight to improving maternal and infant health as a means of reducing the burden of chronic disease."

- AFP/fa

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Pregnant mothers' diet linked to child obesity: study

Toddlers' sleep, eating problems often go together

2011-04-06T08:37:00.002+08:00

Image by MoonSoleil via Flickr

NEW YORK | Thu Mar 3, 2011

(Reuters Health) - Parents who have a hard time getting their babies and toddlers to sleep at night may also often have trouble at mealtime, new study findings suggest.

So-called behavioral insomnia, where a young child regularly resists bedtime or has trouble staying asleep, is common -- seen in up to 30 percent of children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years.

A similar percentage have problems at mealtime, ranging from being an overly "fussy" eater to having a full-fledged "feeding disorder" - in which, for instance, parents can't get their child to follow any regular eating schedule, or the food refusal affects a child's weight.

It might not be surprising to many parents that sleeping and eating issues often go hand-in-hand. But the new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to show this may be true.

Among parents of 681 healthy kids 6 months to 3 years old, Israeli researchers found that those whose child had behavioral insomnia were more likely than other parents to say their child had eating issues as well.

And parents whose children were diagnosed with a feeding disorder were more likely to say they had trouble getting their child to sleep at night.

When asked if mealtime was a "problem," one-quarter of parents of children with insomnia said that it was; that compared with nine percent of other parents.

Similarly, 37 percent of parents whose children had an eating problem said that sleep was also an issue. In contrast, only 16 percent of other parents said the same.

Young children's eating and sleeping habits are the two most common concerns parents bring to their pediatricians, write the researchers, led by Dr. Riva Tauman of Tel Aviv Medical Center.

The current findings, they say, suggest that doctors should be aware that the two issues commonly go together, and help parents find ways to manage both.

The standard way to address behavioral insomnia is for parents to change their children's nighttime routine. That usually means setting a regular bedtime and certain rituals, like reading a story, that let a young child know bedtime is coming.

With eating problems, experts generally suggest that parents try to get kids interested in mealtime from an early age -- gradually introducing a variety of healthy, colorful foods, for instance, and making the eating environment pleasant but without any distractions like TV.

The current findings are based on 58 children who had been diagnosed with behavioral insomnia, 76 with a feeding disorder, and 547 who were studied for comparison.

Parents of children with insomnia were more likely to also report feeding "problems" -- worrying, for example, that their child was not eating enough or not growing properly.

Similarly, parents of children with feeding disorders were often worried about their child's sleep; and compared with other parents, they reported that their children got to bed almost an hour later, and slept for fewer hours each night.

It's possible, according to Tauman's team, that parents of young children with feeding disorders are more sensitive to sleep issues -- and vice-versa.

Taken from Reuters.com; source article is below:

Toddlers' sleep, eating problems often go together

Non-conducive classroom leads to low learning curve

2011-03-21T16:06:00.002+08:00

Image via WikipediaHere is one article that relates the classroom environment to the reception or learning curve of students. Hopefully this can be remedied - and in the long term, solved.
-----

Negative environment leads to lows in classroom

by Shari' N. Welton
March 10, 2011

Students in classrooms lacking sufficient materials and whose teachers feel stressed and unappreciated by colleagues fare worse academically and are more likely to experience mental health issues, according to a study released Wednesday by University of Maryland researchers.  

“In essence, we’re looking at the class environment and how that matters for children’s well-being,” said Melissa A. Milkie, sociology professor at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md.  

The study, “Classroom Learning Environments and the Mental Health of First-Grade Children,” appears in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. The research included a sample of about 10,700 first- graders throughout the U.S. and interviews with their parents and teachers.  

Based on a rating system, researchers examined how the classroom environment affected mental health, ranging from learning and interpersonal behavior, to the internalization and externalization of problems.   

Overall, there was an approximate 20 percent increase in these problems in students whose classrooms often or never had adequate resources versus students in classrooms who always had sufficient resources, said Catharine Warner, a sociology doctorate candidate and researcher at the University of Maryland.   

Resources referenced in the study included textbooks, computers, materials for children with disabilities and proper heating and air conditioning.

Researchers evaluated learning problems based on how well students paid attention in class and stayed on task. Warner said they found the problems were 17 percent higher among students in classrooms without adequate resources.

Also, interpersonal issues rose by about 15 percent in students whose classrooms were often without or completely lacking materials, according to Warner. These issues covered difficulties making friends and expressing feelings.
Internalization included anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem and sadness. External problems focused on the rate of students arguing, fighting, disturbing ongoing activities and acting spontaneously.   

Milkie, lead researcher, said the scarcity of resources was important in evaluating and addressing mental issues in the students involved in the study. “The teachers need to be provided with adequate resources,” she said. “We found that the greater the inadequacy, the more problems the kids tended to have.”   

Students who never had adequate materials showed an 18 percent increase in problem behaviors compared with students that always had adequate resources, according to Warner.  

Of the first-grade teachers surveyed, 22 percent reported rarely or never having adequate resources in the classroom, while only about 4 percent reported always having adequate resources, Warner said.

Gabrielle Herndon, principal of Caroline Sibley School in south suburban Calumet City, said proper resources have also posed problems for her and her staff. “Some school districts give their teachers a whole lot of stuff they can’t use or don’t know how to use,” she said.

The study also highlighted the “trickle-down effect,” which Milkie said happens between educators and students. If teachers are frustrated, overworked or disrespected, they may offer little patience or kindness when interacting with their students. This stress can then transfer to students, according to the study.  

“Our belief is that this is a stress crossover,” Milkie said, “If the teachers are stressed from the demands made on them or feel a lack of support, they aren’t as effective as teachers.

"  The best way to improve negative learning environments is not changing the curriculum. but recruiting effective educators, said Milkie. 

“Teachers in these early grades are essential because kids are with them most of the day,” Milkie said. “I think leadership within schools is really key, attracting strong principals and enhancing leadership.”

Herndon, former teacher turned principal, said some of the ways she has established a healthy classroom community including making the classroom visually stimulating, showing compassion, establishing relationships with students, enforcing rules and expressing care outside of the classroom.

Despite its importance, the focus for the overall development of students may start with behavior and should be geared toward more than academic performance, according to Milkie.

“Looking at improvements to the well-being of the whole child over test scores would be an improvement in understanding kids’ lives and what’s important for them,” she said.

Taken from Medill Reports, Chicago; source article is below:
Negative environment leads to lows in classroom

DNA test could reveal incest

2011-03-08T08:26:00.002+08:00

Okay, so it is said. The DNA test could accidentally reveal incest, but I would disagree in all points that the incest is accidental, eh?

Who says that our science today is no longer discovering new things? And while this discovery on DNA test 'revelation' thing is new, the thing about incest is not.

Read on, and find out more.
-----

Posted: 11 February 2011

PARIS: DNA tests designed to pinpoint development disorders in children can also inadvertently reveal whether a child was conceived through incest, a letter published by The Lancet on Friday warned.

Doctors led by Arthur Beaudet at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said the discovery opens thorny ethical and legal problems for clinicians.

The test, known as DNA microarray analysis, looks for patterns of single changes in the genetic code that can point to known disorders.

But the patterns can also reveal details about the donor's parentage without the parents having to undergo a test.

The letter gives the example of a three-year-old boy with multiple development problems where there was a telltale homogeneity, or a lack of variation, at key points in his chromosomes.

"These regions accounted for about a quarter of the genome - a finding most consistent with the child having been conceived by first-degree relatives," the letter said.

"Disabilities are known to be frequent in children born of incestuous parentage."

The discovery poses a dilemma for doctors that will amplify as microarray analysis becomes used more widely, the authors said.

In some jurisdictions, a doctor is required to report a likely incestuous relationship to the police or child protection services if the mother of the child is a minor.

In cases where the mother is an adult, the doctor's legal obligation is less clear, although there remains ethical concerns about whether she had been a victim of sexual abuse by her father or a brother.

The letter calls on medical institutions to compile a list of guidelines for doctors, drawing on the expertise of geneticians and ethics committees.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:DNA tests could also accidentally reveal incest

Better technology, but worse spelling

2011-03-02T13:50:00.002+08:00

Image via WikipediaParents, this is something to be wary of... technology isn't bad - we need it. Just don't over-need it, and become over-dependent on it
-----

February 28 2011 at 10:00am
By John Walshe

London - The increasing use of technology in cellphones and music players is having a detrimental effect on teenagers' language and maths skills.

School managers claim the increasing use of mobile phone texting, for example, is eroding standards of spelling and punctuation. In addition, the widespread availability of electronic calculators in phones, watches, music players and computers is eroding students' abilities in basic arithmetic.

“Television and other technology-based entertainment are shortening everyone's attention span,” the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents 400 secondary schools, said.

In a submission to the Department of Education the JMB said the technology-driven culture of young people is serious challenge to teachers and is cited as one reason for the decline in reading and maths standards reported in an OECD study last year.

The department has plans to improve literacy and numeracy, but the managers criticised the impression given that they were to address an 'underperforming' workforce.

“If this perception is not actively and immediately refuted by the Minister, the Chief Inspector and government in general, failure to achieve even the most fundamental reform is guaranteed,” it warned.

The managers called for well- stocked and attractive libraries in all schools and greater emphasis on the use of information and communications technologies to improve literacy and numeracy.

Their submission pointed out that cuts were taking place at a time when more investment was needed.

English as an additional language provision had been reduced, special needs assistant numbers had been capped and the recruitment of educational psychologists had been halted. - Irish Independent

Taken from iolscitech; source article is below:
Techie kids having a bed spell

Mental Health, Parenthood, and Poverty

2011-02-01T10:49:00.002+08:00

The mental health issue keeps on being discussed and debated, and I've seen one article that relates mental health problems with poverty, and goes on to say why.

And there is one other aspect of the article that I like: insisting that parents take a stand on child-rearing despite the odd facts of life.

I can't repost the article here due to copyright issues, so if you are getting interested, click below for the article:

Behavioral, mental health problems play big role in other childhood issues

Write to destress

2011-01-21T16:54:00.001+08:00

Image via WikipediaAnxiety, excessive worrying, is the symptoms when we’re stressed. In general, these symptoms can occur when you deal with important events such as exams or job interviews. There are easy ways to overcome this is by writing.

Research has shown that writing a few things that can cause anxiety is very effective to clear the mind and helps you to better focus on the challenges you will face. This technique has been shown to improve the skills of students by 20 percent when compared with students who are not doing anything at the time seized with anxiety.

To continue, follow the link for the full article:
Write to eliminate anxiety

Mi Choza De Nipa

China faces sperm donor dearth

Related articles

Some birth control shows higher clot risk

Related articles

US doctors discourage videos for babies under two

Related articles

Premature babies 5x more likely to be autistic

Related articles

100,000 HIV infections stopped by safe-sex scheme

Related articles

Look on bright side, not such a bright idea

Related articles

Female hormonal contraception linked to higher HIV risk

Related articles

Laughter really is the best medicine

Related articles

Parents who lose a baby can die of a broken heart

Related articles

Half of teens shy, but for a few it's more serious

Related articles

Rare Condition Drives Girl to Eat Light Bulb

Related articles

Study: More Kids Suffer Firearm Injuries than Previously Believed

Related articles

Heart disease boosts maternal death 100-fold

Related articles

HK study finds molecule that offers fertility hope

Related articles

Not too late for pregnant smokers to butt out

Related articles

15: The best number of eggs for IVF success

Related articles

Sex ed website disgusting

Related articles

Family Violence May Lead To Bullying

Related articles

Pregnant mothers' diet linked to child obesity: study

Related articles

Toddlers' sleep, eating problems often go together

Related articles

Non-conducive classroom leads to low learning curve

Negative environment leads to lows in classroom

by Shari' N. Welton March 10, 2011

Related articles

DNA test could reveal incest

Related articles

Better technology, but worse spelling

Related articles

Mental Health, Parenthood, and Poverty

Behavioral, mental health problems play big role in other childhood issues

Related articles

Write to destress

Related articles

by Shari' N. Welton
March 10, 2011