Health

Reading with mom can boost kindergarten readiness

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, June 17th, 4:08 pm

Home learning experiences such as reading books with parents can improve low-income preschool children's readiness to start school, researchers say.

The new study included more than 1,850 U.S. children and their mothers in families with household incomes at or below the federal poverty line. During home visits when the children were ages 1, 2, 3 and 5 years, the New York University researchers looked at how often the children took part in literary activities (such as shared book reading), the quality of the mothers' interactions with their children (such as exposing children to frequent and varied adult speech), and the availability of learning materials, including children's books.

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Dad's good parenting may help daughters avoid risky sex

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, June 17th, 9:34 am

The daughters of fathers with good parenting skills are less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, a new study finds.

"When it comes to girls and their decisions about sex, it turns out a father's influence really does matter," lead author Bruce J. Ellis, of the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona, said in a university news release.

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FDA issues rules on sunscreens

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 14th, 4:28 pm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will require new labeling for sunscreens to identify products that are best for reducing the risk of skin cancer, early skin aging and helping to prevent sunburn.

Under the new rule, sunscreens that protect against both ultraviolet A rays (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays can be labeled "Broad Spectrum." UVB rays and UVA rays both can cause sunburn, skin cancer, and premature skin aging; UVB rays are the main source of sunburn, FDA officials explained.

The new rules will also require sunscreens to have a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more or they won't be able to claim that they help prevent sunburn and possibly reduce the threat of premature skin aging and skin cancer -- if used with other measures to protect against the sun.

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Insect stings hold deadly risk for some

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, June 13th, 10:06 am

For most people, insect stings are a painful annoyance, but they can be deadly for those who are allergic to them, researchers warn.

Each year in the United States, more than half a million people have to go to emergency departments after suffering insect stings, and at least 50 die, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, which recently released updated guidelines for diagnosing and treating people with hypersensitivity to insect stings.

Its three key recommendations for people who are allergic to stings:

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Treatment for abuse of anti-anxiety drugs tripled over 10 years

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 9th, 10:23 am

Admissions for treatment of benzodiazepine abuse nearly tripled in the United States between 1998 and 2008, while overall admissions for substance abuse rose only 11 percent, according to a government study released Thursday.

Benzodiazepines -- a class of drugs prescribed to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizure disorders -- include Valium, Halcion, Xanax, Ativan and Librium. Abuse of benzodiazepines, which were introduced in the 1950s to replace barbiturates, can lead to addiction, injury and death.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study found that admissions for treatment of benzodiazepine abuse among patients 12 and older rose from 22,400 in 1998 to 60,200 a decade later. Benzodiazepine-related admissions accounted for 3.2 percent of all substance abuse admissions in 2008, compared with 1.3 percent in 1998.

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In U.S., salmonella is on the rise while E. coli retreats

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 8th, 12:10 pm

As a deadly new strain of E. coli in Europe makes headlines, U.S. health officials announced Tuesday that salmonella, not E. coli, remains the biggest foodborne health threat to Americans.

In fact, while rates of several types of foodborne illness -- including E. coli -- have been falling over the past 15 years, there's been no progress against salmonella infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While infections from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157 (the strain of most concern in the United States) have dropped almost in half and the rates of six other foodborne infections have been cut 23 percent, salmonella infections have risen 10 percent, the agency said.

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Sleep might help you solve problems better

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 7th, 9:25 am

Got a big decision to make and thinking about sleeping on it?

A new study suggests that might be a good idea; it found that people did a better job of learning a game when they got some shut-eye afterward.

The research doesn't prove that sleep will help you learn more effectively. But it does provide more evidence that your brain doesn't just rest and dream when you're asleep, said study co-author Rebecca Spencer, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The brain appears to also be reviewing the day's events and processing them, she said. "You put the movie in and you replay it. This says sleep is really adding something, that we shouldn't go with our gut instinct. We should sleep on it," she said.

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