Study highlights insomnia in young

More than a third of young people in Scotland suffer from insomnia, a charity has claimed.

The Prince's Trust said young Scots are also facing increased mental health problems such as panic attacks, self-loathing and depression.

The charity's third annual Youth Index, which measures children and teenagers' happiness suggested 35% had sleep disorders.

Around one in five of the 128 people who took part in the survey - 22% - said they felt depressed "all" or "most" of the time, and one in six - 18% - had self-harmed.

Over a quarter - 26% - said they felt insecure all or most of the time, while 24% said they felt isolated.

Geraldine Gammell, director of The Prince's Trust Scotland said the findings could be due to unemployment, which she said was a "very real and frightening" experience for young people.

Across the UK, almost half of unemployed respondents - 48% - said not having a job caused anxiety and depression and led them to self-harm.

Ms Gammell said: "Unemployment presents a very real and frightening mental health problem for young people in Scotland - and the longer they are out of work, the greater the risk.

"The Prince's Trust can help vulnerable young people back on their feet and into work, building motivation and self-esteem."

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http://www.warwickcourier.co.uk/news/study_highlights_insomnia_in_young_1_2214501

Humans, Like Animals, Are Fearless Without Amygdala

In the 1930s, researchers discovered that when a certain part of monkeys’ brains were removed, the animals became fearless. They approached snakes, started batting them around like sticks and played with their hissing tongues.

This experiment has been repeated in animals numerous times, and the scientific consensus is that when the amygdala is removed, an animal loses any sense of fear.

Now, scientists have confirmed that a missing amygdala results in similar behavior in humans, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

“There’s not very many humans with this sort of brain damage,” said Justin Feinstein, the study’s lead author and a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Iowa. “Luckily for us, we had access to a patient, SM, and we studied her different fear behaviors and we read her personal diaries.”

Patient SM, due to a rare condition called lipoid proteinosis has holes where her amygdala would normally reside. Researchers found that she, like the monkeys, has no fear of creatures like snakes and spiders, which ordinarily alarm people.

But while this behavior is relatively benign, the researchers also found SM putting her life at risk. In one instance, she walked through a park alone at night and was attacked by a man with a knife.

“The following day, she again walked through the same park,” Mr. Feinstein said.

Mr. Feinstein and his colleagues are trying to coach the patient to behave in a more cautious manner. They also believe that understanding how the mind of a patient like SM works could help researchers develop therapies for individuals who express excessive amounts of fear, like war veterans.

“We may be able to dampen the effects of the amygdala,” he said. “We can do that through psychotherapy and possibly through medication.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/science/21obbrain.html

Kids living in apartments at risk of passive tobacco smoking

Children living in multi-unit apartment buildings are at higher risk of passive tobacco smoking than those living in detached houses, a new study in the Jan 2011 issue of Pediatrics suggests.

The study led by Karen Wilson, MD, MPH, of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Golisano Children's Hospital found children living in apartments had 45 percent higher exposure to passive smoking.

For the study, the researchers analysed data on cotinine, an alkaloid found in tobacco and also a metabolite of nicotine in more than 5,000 children ages 6 to 18 in a national database.

Cotinine levels were found highest in children who were under age 12, black and of a family with its income below the federal poverty level.

Children are believed to be more vulnerable to passive smoking and exposed children were at higher risk for various illnesses including respiratory infections, asthma and sudden infant death syndrome among others.

But not all children suffer the same.

Another study led by Schultz E.N. and colleagues from the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia suggests genetics plays a role in the vulnerability of a child to certain tobacco smoke-induced health conditions.

The researchers reported in the Nov 2010 issue of the Journal of Asthma that the glutathionine S-transferase (GSTs) enzymes play a critical role in the detoxification of tobacco smoke compounds, which boost risk of asthma among other things.

Genetic variation in the GST genes influences a child's ability to detoxify the smoke pollutants, according to the study.

Cigarette smoke contain more than 7,000 chemicals and hundreds of them are toxic and more than 70 are cancer-causing agents, according to a report released recently by the Surgeon General.

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http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Lifestyle/tobacco_smoking_1312100810.html

Secondhand smoke tied to childrens' poor mental health

The evidence is piling up that parents who smoke really should quit -- or at least not smoke at home, a study said.

Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to struggle with mental health problems, especially hyperactivity and "bad" behavior, according to the study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

While the findings add urgency to the push for parents to quit smoking or at least smoke outside the home, it remains unclear whether tobacco fumes actually take a toll on childrens' brains or if something else is at play, said researchers led by Mark Hamer of University College London.

"We know that exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with a lot of physical health problems in children, although the mental health side has not been explored," Hamer told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

In the United States, two of every three children between the ages of three and 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke. Meanwhile, one in five children aged nine to 17 have been diagnosed with some kind of mental or addictive disorder, according to the U.S. department of Health and Human Services.

Hamer and his colleagues studied 901 nonsmoking British children between the ages of 4 to 8, measuring levels of a byproduct of cigarette fumes in the childrens' saliva to gauge smoke exposure and having parents fill out a questionnaire about the childrens' emotional, behavioral and social problems.

The more secondhand smoke a child took in, on average, the poorer their mental health -- particularly for hyperactivity and conduct disorder, or so-called "bad" behavior, the study said.

Overall, about three percent of all children received "abnormal" scores of 20 or more on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a 40-point scale with the highest scores representing the poorest mental health.

Compared to the 101 children who breathed in the least secondhand smoke, the 361 with the most exposure scored an average of 44 percent higher on the questionnaire -- 9.2 versus 6.4. Children were most likely to breathe secondhand smoke in their own homes.

The gap remained after researchers accounted for other factors that could affect mental health such as asthma, physical activity and the families' income and housing situations, although they noted that some unmeasured factor also couldn't be ruled out.

It also isn't yet clear how secondhand smoke might trigger mental troubles, though researchers suggested it could be due to genetics or possibly related to smoke's effects on chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, and Hamer noted further research is needed.

But Michael Weitzman at New York University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said the results strengthen the evidence that secondhand smoke, and possibly prenatal exposure to tobacco, causes mental health problems in children.

"Many people now recognize that childrens' secondhand smoke exposure increases their risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, ear infections and asthma," he told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

"But secondhand smoke also poses a huge burden on the quality of life of children, their families and the larger society due to increased child mental health problems."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B80N320101209

American loses over a stone on 'potato diet'

An American who ate nothing but potatoes for two months has astounded nutritionists by claiming to be healthier than when he started.

Chris Voigt, 45, who is head of the Washington State Potato Commission, embarked on his "spud diet" in an attempt to show that the vegetable is high in nutrients.

He was protesting against the US Department of Agriculture which is due to release new, more diverse school lunch menus replacing potatoes with other vegetables.

Mr Voigt, who was more than 14 stone at the outset, said that by eating only potatoes he had lost a stone and a half

He also reduced his blood sugar level and his cholesterol dropped by more than one third.

He said: "I've been struggling being borderline high cholesterol for four or five years. I absolutely feel great. I've always had lots of good energy on this diet, I've had no strange side effects, I sleep well at night."

During the diet he consumed 400lbs of potatoes, about 20 individual vegetables a day.

He ate them boiled, mashed, sliced, fried and roasted. On Thanksgiving he crafted mashed potato into the shape of a turkey and carved it.

Mr Voigt said potatoes have more potassium than bananas, and that one serving provides roughly 45 per cent of the daily recommended value for Vitamin C.

The only negative health impact was a lack of some fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A and E, he said.

He accepted that a diet of just potatoes was not sustainable in the long term but said his experiment had shown how "truly healthy" the vegetable is.

Despite eating so many potatoes Mr Voigt said he still loves them.

He celebrated the end of his 60-day diet with a meal of fajitas and tacos, and some grilled potatoes.

Read More

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8172056/American-loses-over-a-stone-on-potato-diet.html

Thousands of moustaches face the chop as Movember ends

Merv Hughes' moustache is an inspiration to many

Over the last 30 days or so they've appeared silently on the faces of tens of thousands of men across the country.

They are known as Mos - or moustaches to the uninitiated - and they have turned November into Movember.

They've been grown to raise money for - and awareness of - prostate cancer.

But as Movember draws to a close, it will be hair today and gone tomorrow when the razors come out and the moustaches disappear.

The idea for Movember was hatched in Melbourne, Australia in 2003.

Taking their inspiration from the pink ribbon breast cancer awareness campaign, a group of friends decided to grow moustaches for the month of November, partly for fun and partly to raise awareness of issues around men's health.

Within a few years the campaign had exploded worldwide.

Powered by social networking and a slick website, Movember spread from Down Under to include New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Ireland.

The UK got in on the act in 2007 when around £1m was raised for the main beneficiary, The Prostate Cancer Charity.

This year more than 110,000 people have registered on the website and so far they've raised around £6.1m, although the charity believes that the final figure could be closer to £10m.

The rules are simple.

You start with a clean shaven face on November 1st, and you don't shave your top lip until November 30th.

There are no beards, no goatees and no joining up sideburns with a 'tache.
The Clark Gable

Sports stars, celebrities and politicians have all been sporting moustaches, but it is very much a grass roots movement.

Mike Orchard of Froxfield in Hampshire has been growing what he hopes is a sophisticated Clark Gable affair after being introduced to the world of Movember by a friend.

"There are a bunch of us around the village doing it.

"We have a mutual support group where we get around and have a good laugh at each other.

"Generally speaking, most people react with horror, but when you explain, they get it."

Mike's wife Frances is not so impressed however.

"Her most coherent remark has been she can't wait for November to be over!"
The Hairy Biker

Christian Heap is another convert.

He's gone for a big handlebar effort, releasing his inner biker.

"It's pretty fair to say the first two weeks, I was thinking what am I doing?

"I was really uncomfortable with it.

"Then the next 10 days you get into it but the last three or four days I've been dying to get rid of it.

"My wife Nicky is looking forward to the 1st of December more than me."
It's all for charity, mate

Movember has proved to be a huge boost to The Prostate Cancer Charity both in terms of a sudden surge in their income as well as raising awareness of the disease among notoriously hard to reach men.

"We can get to guys in their 30s and 40s in a way that has just not been possible," says Mark Bishop, the charity's director of fundraising.

"This is a movement for men, rather than a campaign.

"250,000 men are living with prostate cancer each year; 10,000 will die each year.

"Men are acting proactively around their health in a way we've not seen before.

"The truth is many guys find it tough to take health messages on board, particularly when it's about down below."

So after a month of itchyness, ridicule and the uncomfortable feeling that people are staring, thousands of men are now preparing to shave off their moustaches.

And who knows, next year - if the BBC is willing to put me on air with a 'tache - I may even be one of them.

If you have any queries about prostate cancer, call The Prostate Cancer Charity's confidential Helpline 0800 074 8383 which is staffed by specialist nurses and open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday and Wednesdays from 7 - 9pm

Read More

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11866011

Secondhand smoke kills 600,000 a year worldwide

Secondhand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5, according to the first report to estimate the worldwide burden of disease and death from tobacco.

The World Health Organization's report on 192 countries appeared in The Lancet on Thursday and found more than half of the deaths are from heart disease, followed by deaths from cancer, lung infections, asthma and other ailments.

More than two-thirds of the children's deaths are in Africa and Asia, where they have less access to important public health services, such as vaccines, and less advanced medical care, the report says.

"These (statistics) are sad data," the American Cancer Society's Tom Glynn says.

Tobacco kills a total of 5.7 million people worldwide each year, including 5.1 million people who die from their own smoking, the report says. Smoking is the world's leading cause of preventable death, according to the WHO.

Growing concern about secondhand smoke has led more than 40 countries to enact some kind of smoking ban, although many of these laws are limited, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

In the USA, 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands have smoke-free laws, protecting 79% of the population.

According to the new report, children are particularly vulnerable. About 40% are exposed to secondhand smoke, along with one-third of adults. Kids exposed to secondhand smoke are at higher risk of a variety of illnesses, such as asthma, pneumonia, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome.

Almost half of all deaths from secondhand smoke are in adult women, while 28% are in children.

"The combination of infectious diseases and tobacco seems to be a deadly combination for children," the report says.

Because researchers used conservative estimates, the report may underestimate the number of secondhand smoke-related deaths, says Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California-San Francisco.

Glynn says he does see "glimmers of hope" in the report. Smoking bans protect only 7% of the world's population, suggesting lawmakers could save many lives by passing smoking bans, he says.

The bans can have dramatic benefits, the report says. Heart attack rates drop 10% to 20% in the first year after the bans are enacted.

Studies show smoke-free laws encourage smokers to quit and to make their homes smoke-free, Glynn says.

"There is virtually no parent who does not care deeply about protecting their children from harm," he says. "They will do the right thing if made aware."

Read More

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/2010-11-26-smoke26_st_N.htm

Study: Veggies, Still Really Good for You

Your mom wasn't lying about those veggies. A new study released by the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that people with high blood levels of the antioxidant alpha-carotene — found in a variety of vegetables — were less likely to die during a 14-year longitudinal study, compared with people with low levels of the carotenoid.

According to the study, a major contributor to chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease may be oxygen-related damage of DNA, protein and fat cells. That damage can be mitigated by the antioxidant action of carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lycopene. Most people get these nutrients through foods, like fruits and veggies, that are loaded with them.

For the new study, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitored alpha-carotene levels in the blood of 15,318 adults, age 20 or older, who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Follow-up Study between 1988 and 1994. In 2006, researchers surveyed how many of their sample had died and from what cause. They found that 3,810 had died, and that people with the highest levels of alpha-carotene in the blood were significantly less likely to die than those with lowest levels.

Compared with the lowest-level group, those with between 0 and 1 micrograms of alpha-carotene per deciliter of blood — a small, but normal amount — people who had between 2 and 3 mcg/dL of alpha-carotene were 23% less likely to die of any cause. What's more, the risk of death decreased as alpha-carotene increased: people with 4–5 mcg/dL were 27% less likely to die than people in the lowest-level group; the reduction in death risk was 34% for those in the 6–8 mcg/dL group, and 39% for people in the highest-level group, with 9 mcg/dL or higher. (

In addition to the overall lower risk of all-cause mortality, researchers also found a lower risk of cancer and heart disease in people with high levels of alpha-carotene. This is noteworthy in light of a recent observational study that found that eating vegetables didn't do much to prevent cancer. Still, other evidence has suggested that high-veggie diets are associated with lower heart disease risk and that certain vegetables contain powerful cancer-fighting compounds.

Indeed, the authors of the current study note that alpha-carotene, which is found in yellow-orange veggies like carrots, squash and sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens like kale, broccoli, spinach and collard greens, may be particularly effective in inhibiting the growth of certain cancers.

Americans could use a push to eat more vegetables. In a recent survey, the CDC found that less than a third of adults eat even two servings of fruit each day and only a quarter eat three servings of vegetables. Hopefully the new evidence will remind some people to up their intake.


Read more:
http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/22/study-veggies-still-really-good-for-you/#ixzz164yO3mim