Parent Stress = Kid Stress

Study says parents' stress can take a toll on their kids.
The Los Angeles Times (11/11, Forgione) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Parents' stress can take a toll on their kids. Ask children, not Mom and Dad, how they are affected by their parents' stress." According to a "survey reported by the American Psychological Assn., children who say their parents are stressed out also say they feel that way. Some said it made them feel sad, worried or frustrated - feelings parents seem to be unaware of, according to the survey."
Yoga may beat walking in helping reduce anxiety, elevate mood. The Los Angeles Times (11/11, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported that people who practice yoga may show "greater improvements in mood and anxiety," according to a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after randomizing "19 people to an Iyengar yoga program and 15 to a metabolically matched regular walking regimen" for one hour three times weekly for 12 weeks, then having participants undergo "magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans to measure levels of the brain chemical gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that quiets brain activity, reducing anxiety, and producing a state of calm."

Concentration and Happiness Linked

Study suggests lack of concentration may make people unhappy.
The Boston Globe (11/12) reports, "Research by Harvard researchers, which used the iPhone to periodically interrupt 2,250 people's lives, found that about half the time, people's minds are wandering. Most strikingly, they found that overall, people whose minds are wandering are less happy than those focused on the task at hand."
The study, reported in this weeks' issue of the journal Science, analyzed the data in the US "to find out how happy" the volunteers were, "what they were doing and whether they were thinking about their current activity or something else, and whether that something else was pleasant, neutral or unpleasant," the Washington Post (11/12, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reports. "On average, the volunteers," aged 18 to 88, "reported that their minds wandered 46.9 percent of the time and no less than 30 percent of the time during every activity except sex, the researchers reported. People reported being happiest when they were engaging in sex, exercise and conversation," the Post notes.
"People were more unhappy when their mind wandered to neutral or unpleasant thoughts," Bloomberg News (11/12, Lopatto) reports. Study author Matthew Killingsworth, "a doctoral candidate in psychology at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts," said that "by analyzing the data over time, the researchers discovered that people didn't merely fantasize when they were unhappy; instead, wandering minds led to unhappiness."
The CNN (11/11, Landau) "The Chart" blog, the Los Angeles Times (11/11, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reports, and the Time (11/11, Szalavitz ) "Healthland" blog also covered the story.

Asthma and Social Networking

Social networking site could exacerbate asthma, physicians warn.
The AP (11/19) reports, "Italian doctors warn that Facebook could trigger an attack in some susceptible users," according to a paper published Nov. 20 in The Lancet. They found that one patient, a "man, had been taking two inhaled steroid drugs several times a day to control his asthma. But when his girlfriend dumped him -- and worse, unfriended him on Facebook -- his condition deteriorated."
According to "The Body Odd" blog hosted by MSNBC.com (11/198, Dahl), "Somehow," explained Dr. Neil L. Kao, an allergist located in South Carolina, "when the mind is under pressure or stress, some people are prone toward asthma attacks; these are people who really are susceptible to stress." Kao "didn't treat this particular young man, but he sees many patients whose asthma is caused by stress-outs about school, sports or social situations, which is what might be happening to this young man."
Thus, the study authors "say the case could be a useful tip for doctors who want to explore mystery cases of wheezing and breathlessness among young patients," AFP (11/19) reports. "Considering the high prevalence of asthma, especially among young people, we suggest that this type of trigger be considered in the assessment of asthma exacerbations." The Los Angeles Times (11/18, Kaplan) "Booster Shots" blog, HealthDay (11/18, Preidt) and WebMD (11/18, Woznicki) also covered the story.

Vaccine for Cancer

FDA panel supports using Gardasil to prevent anal cancer in males, females between 9 and 26.
The AP (11/18) reports, "A federal health panel says evidence supports expanding use of Merck's Gardasil (Recombinant Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent) vaccine to prevent anal cancer in young men and women." An FDA panel said "a 4,000-patient study conducted by Merck & Co. Inc. shows the vaccine lowers the risk of anal cancer in men. They said these results can also be applied to women." WebMD (11/18, McMillen) and MedPage Today (11/18) also report the story.

PTSD and Early Mortality.

PTSD may damage blood vessels, increase risk of dying early.
CNN /Health.com (11/18, Harding) reports that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) "may damage blood vessels and increase the risk of dying early, according to new research presented...at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association." The research "included about 286,000 mostly male veterans between the ages of 45 and 81 who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and conflicts dating back to the Korean War." Investigators found that "the vets with PTSD -- who accounted for roughly 10 percent of the study participants -- had more than double the risk of dying during the 10-year study compared to their peers who didn't have disorder."
HealthDay (11/17, Gardner) reported that approximately "three-quarters of those diagnosed with PTSD had some calcium build-up, versus 59 percent of the veterans without the disorder. As a group, the veterans with PTSD had more severe disease of their arteries, with an average coronary artery calcification score of 448, compared to a score of 332 in the veterans without PTSD -- a significantly higher reading."

New Cholesterol Drug

Anacetrapib appears to lower LDL cholesterol while raising HDL cholesterol.
ABC World News (11/17, story 8, 1:40, Stephanopoulos) reported, "There's a potentially huge advance in the fight against America's number one killer, a drug that could turn back the clock on heart disease."
The New York Times (11/18, B4, Singer) reports that, according to a study published Nov. 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association meeting, Merck's experimental drug anacetrapib appears to increase "HDL or 'good' cholesterol even as it lowers LDL, the 'bad' cholesterol." The drug, which "works by inhibiting an enzyme called CETP, which is involved in transforming particles of good cholesterol into bad cholesterol," was tested in "1,623 patients who were already taking statins to control their cholesterol." Researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital found that patients taking the drug saw a 39.8% reduction in LDL beyond what was seen in patients who got a placebo.
USA Today (11/18, Sternberg) reports, "Doctors caution that anacetrapib is experimental and must be tested in a bigger trial designed to show whether it actually prevents heart attacks and saves lives. If the drug succeeds, it will be at least five years before it can be sold in the US." Nevertheless, the drug holds promise, and some cardiologists are cautiously optimistic.
The AP (11/18, Marchione) reports that so far, there have been "no signs of the blood pressure problems that led Pfizer Inc. to walk away from an $800 million investment in torcetrapib, a similar drug it was developing four years ago."

Otitis Media and Antibiotics

Majority of children with acute otitis media may not need antibiotics.
USA Today (11/17, Szabo) reports, "Ear infections are the No. 1 reason kids get antibiotics, costing the country $2.8 billion a year." Now, a paper appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that "most of the eight million kids who see a doctor for ear infections each year don't need antibiotics." In fact, the "benefits of antibiotics seem even smaller in light of their side effects," and previous research has suggested that their overuse can spur the "growth of hardier, drug-resistant bacteria."
Before reaching those conclusions, researchers "from Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and the RAND Corporation were asked to update guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics," the Boston Globe (11/16, Cooney) "White Coat Notes" blog reported. According to CNN (11/17, Falco), the "pediatricians' group and the American Academy of Family Physicians have suggested since 2004 that 'observation' -- avoiding antibiotics -- is an option for treating ear infections in otherwise healthy children between the ages of two and 12." Aiming to evaluate the soundness of that recommendation, investigators reviewed "existing research on the topic."
"Based on their review of more than 100 studies published over the last decade, the researchers were able to quantify the risks and benefits of treatment with antibiotics," WebMD (11/17, Boyles) reported. "They estimated that for every 100 otherwise healthy children with uncomplicated middle ear infections, about 80 could be expected to improve without antibiotics within about three days. An additional 12 children could be expected to improve during this time if all were treated with antibiotics, but three to 10 would develop a treatment-related rash and five to 10 would get diarrhea."