St. Louis, MO, May 3, 2010 – Living in a food-insecure household during pregnancy may increase the odds of greater weight gain and pregnancy complications, particularly gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), according to a new study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Household food insecurity, the inability to obtain nutritious and safe foods in socially acceptable ways, is increasingly recognized as an independent risk factor for many poor health outcomes among women.
Culture
BATON ROUGE – A multidisciplinary group of LSU researchers has developed a series of maps charting the population demographics of the region surrounding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"The oil spill has implications for multiple demographic segments of the population," said Troy Blanchard, LSU professor of sociology. "It's important that we be able to identify at risk populations in order to determine where needs for support infrastructures may fall."
Adolescents, especially those who are not very physically active, eat too much sweet and fatty foods and not enough fruits and vegetables. This is the conclusion of a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, on dietary choices, exercise habits and prevalence of obesity among young people.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Communities across the United States are developing programs to address child bullying. New research shows that parents can play an important role in preventing their children from becoming bullies in the first place.
"Improving parent-child communication and parental involvement with their children could have a substantial impact on child bullying," said Rashmi Shetgiri, MD, MSHS, lead author of a study to be presented Monday, May 3 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Obese children are more likely to be bullied regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, social skills or academic achievement.
Those are the findings of the study "Weight status as a predictor of being bullied in third through sixth grades," which is available online now and will be published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics. Julie C. Lumeng, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, is lead author of the study.
Pay-for-performance reimbursement of surgeons, intended to reward doctors and hospitals for good patient outcomes, may instead be creating financial incentives for discriminating against obese patients, who are much more likely to suffer expensive complications after even the most routine surgeries, according to new Johns Hopkins research.
DETROIT – Researchers at Henry Ford Hospital may have found a better way to prep patients for colonoscopy procedures so they no longer need to drink a gallon of prescribed fluids prior to the procedure.
The study found that patients who took a pill that is FDA-approved for chronic constipation as part of the colonoscopy prep only needed to drink half of the liquid previously required to cleanse the bowels.
The majority of teens say they have never heard of acetaminophen – or what the appropriate dosing of it is even with access to the label instructions – despite having taken the medication recently, according to a new University of Rochester Medical Center Study assessing teens' health literacy. More than 60 percent of the teens in the study had never before heard of acetaminophen despite 21 percent of them having taken it within the previous month.
The majority of children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke, even when they don't live with smokers. This study from the University of Rochester Medical Center is the first to examine whether housing type is a potential contributor to children's exposure to cigarette smoke. The abstract was presented this morning at the Pediatric Academic Society Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2010 — How much "green exercise" produces the greatest improvement in mood and sense of personal well-being? A new study in the American Chemical Society's semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology has a surprising answer.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–The May issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, includes a surprising, first report on increasing rates of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) among Asians, and describes an innovative "bypass" laser surgery that may help many people with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) avoid serious vision loss.
Are Asians as Vulnerable to AMD as Caucasians?
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The incidence of abusive head trauma among children has skyrocketed since the beginning of the recession in late 2007, according to research that will be presented Saturday, May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – For parents wondering when they should talk to their children about sex, the writing may be on the wall — or on their child's Facebook page.
New research suggests that display of sexual references on teens' Facebook profiles is associated with their intention to initiate intercourse.
Alexandria, VA – Despite their widespread use by parents and caregivers, over-the-counter (OTC) cold and cough medicines have carried a warning by the FDA since 2008, and still have the potential to cause serious adverse events in infants and children. Conservative therapies, including nasal suctioning, humidification, and nasal saline, should be recommended over routine use of OTC cough/cold products in infants and children, according to a new commentary published in the May 2010 issue of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.