http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The company you keep in junior high school may have more influence on your smoking behavior than your high school friends, according to newly published research from the University of Southern California (USC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-teenage-behavior-friends-parents-habits.html Health Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:40:00 EST news284985593 (HealthDay)—Implementation of a quality improvement program correlates with a sustained reduction in unnecessary referrals for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), according to a study published online Feb. 18 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-unnecessary-referrals-scoliosis-teens.html Pediatrics Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:10:01 EST news280511246 (Medical Xpress)—Experiencing a positive family climate as a teenager may be connected to your relationships later in life, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-positive-family-climate-adolescence-linked.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:17:31 EST news278853445 (Medical Xpress)—Becoming a parent for the first time may improve mental health and reduce levels of psychological distress, according to a new study from the University of Otago, Wellington (UOW). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-parenting-positive-mental-health.html Health Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:24:23 EST news278058257 Decreased kidney function is associated with decreased cognitive functioning in areas such as global cognitive ability, abstract reasoning and verbal memory, according to a study led by Temple University. This is the first study describing change in multiple domains of cognitive functioning in order to determine which specific abilities are most affected in individuals with impaired renal function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-decreased-kidney-function-cognitive-functioning.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:20:01 EST news272473929 (Medical Xpress)—About 115,000 women lose their private health insurance every year in the wake of divorce, according to a University of Michigan study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-divorce-thousands-women-health-coverage.html Health Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:13:13 EST news271959177 Ageing Australian city-dwellers are more likely to suffer from non-infectious chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cancer and asthma than their rural counterparts, according to new research from the University of Sydney. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-ageing-city-chronic-diseases-prevalent.html Health Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:10:16 EST news268049408 While many might see the case for programs to prevent adolescent cigarette smoking as already made, a pair of Wayne State University researchers believes that due to increasingly challenging economic times, policymakers need to be reminded to continue allocating funding for such programs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-adolescent-critical.html Addiction Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:50:53 EST news265632644 Teachers and parents matter more than peers in keeping adolescents engaged in school, according to a new study that counters the widespread belief that peers matter most in the lives of adolescents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-teachers-parents-trump-peers-teens.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:33:20 EST news251461954 Adults who participated in a high quality early childhood education program in the 1970s are still benefiting from their early experiences in a variety of ways, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-benefits-high-quality-child-persist.html Health Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:50:03 EST news246191179 In what is believed to be the first study of its kind to demonstrate an association between the antidepressant escitalopram and improved general pain, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), have found that opioid-dependent patients treated with escitalopram experienced meaningful reductions in pain severity and pain interference during the first three months of therapy. These findings appear in the journal Pain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-anti-depressants-pain-opioid-dependent-patients.html Medical research Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:00:08 EST news239536254 (Medical Xpress) -- Chronic stress in childhood can hurt children and teens physically, mentally and emotionally. However, having a sensitive, responsive mother can reduce at least one of these harmful effects, reports a new Cornell study. It shows that such moms can help buffer the effects of chronic stress on teens' working memories. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-mom-buffer-effects-stress-teen.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:45:47 EST news239348678 (Medical Xpress) -- Changes in blood pressure occur during four phases in a person's lifetime, new research led by the Medical Research Council Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London suggests. Presented in the journal PLoS Medicine, the research was funded in part by the Member States participating in NEW OSH ERA ('New and emerging risks in occupational safety and health [OSH] - anticipating and dealing with change in the workplace through coordination of OSH risk research') project. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-blood-pressure-lifetime.html Health Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:49:15 EST news228664083 (Edmonton) The obesity problem plaguing Canadians is a story heard frequently these days. For Katerina Maximova, making connections between the rising body mass index, or BMI, among native-born Canadian versus immigrant children has been the focus of a recent study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-bmi-differences-immigrant-equation.html Health Thu, 05 May 2011 14:00:06 EST news223821237