http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Both daughters and sons from divorced families are significantly more likely to initiate smoking in comparison to their peers from intact families, shows a new analysis of 19,000 Americans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-children-divorced-parents.html Health Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:10:20 EST news282478146 Many Canadians are concerned about dietary sodium and welcome government intervention to reduce sodium intake through a variety of measures, including lowering sodium in food, and education and awareness, according to a national survey. The top barriers to limiting sodium intake are a lack of lower sodium packaged and processed foods and lower sodium restaurant menu options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-canadians-interventions-dietary-salt.html Health Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:01 EST news282333162 (Medical Xpress)—Positive emotions are known to play a role in physical well-being, and stress is strongly linked to poor health, but is this strictly a "First World" phenomenon? In developing nations, is the fulfillment of basic needs more critical to health than how one feels? A UC Irvine researcher has found that emotions do affect health around the world and may, in fact, be more important to wellness in low-income countries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-emotion-health-limited-wealthy-nations.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:19:32 EST news281956766 (HealthDay)—Clinical trials are published, on average, almost two years after completion, with time to publication affected by the funding source, number of trial participants, and journal impact factor, according to a research letter published online March 4 in JAMA Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-clinical-trials-published-years.html Other Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:59:35 EST news281804368 Cesarean delivery is the most common surgery in the United States, performed on 1.67 million American women annually. Yet hospital cesarean rates vary widely according to new research from the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-wide-variation-cesarean-delivery-hospitals.html Health Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:36:43 EST news281705796 A new study by Oregon State University researchers finds that Head Start can make a positive impact in the lives of some of its highest risk children, both academically and behaviorally. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-academic-gains-teacher-relationships-high.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:13:58 EST news278773853 (Medical Xpress)—Smokers who quit when they are young adults can live almost as long as people who never smoked, groundbreaking new research has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-smokers-age-lifespan-people.html Health Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:02:43 EST news278247755 Sleeping away from the family home is linked to health risks for badgers, new research by the University of Exeter and the Food and Environment Research Agency has revealed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-badger-habits-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:31:21 EST news275138994 Approximately ten per cent of 6 year olds have sleep-disordered breathing, according to a recent Finnish study. The risk is increased among children with enlarged tonsils, crossbite and convex facial profile. Unlike in adults, excess body fat is not associated with sleep-disordered breathing in this age group. The study was part of the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study led by the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Eastern Finland. The results were published in European Journal of Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-ten-year-olds-sleep-disordered.html Sleep apnea Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:04:16 EST news274701846 The prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment (not due to need for glasses) in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years, which may be partly related to a higher prevalence of diabetes, an associated risk factor, according to a study in the December 12 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-prevalence-visual-impairment.html Ophthalmology Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:00:01 EST news274462229 Many people in the U.S. do not walk, bike or engage in other forms of active transportation, missing an important opportunity to improve their cardiovascular health, concludes a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-percent-americans-ten-minutes-week.html Health Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:09:08 EST news271411683 Can you bite into an apple? If so, you are more likely to maintain mental abilities, according to new research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-ability-linked-dementia.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:25:49 EST news268565126 (Medical Xpress)—Repeated exposure to violent images from the terrorist attacks of Sept ember 11 and the Iraq War led to an increase in physical and psychological ailments in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, according to a new UC Irvine study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-exposure-traumatic-images-health.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:52:56 EST news265989168 People who are of normal weight but have fat concentrated in their bellies have a higher death risk than those who are obese, according to Mayo Clinic research presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich. Those studied who had a normal body mass index but central obesity—a high waist-to-hip ratio—had the highest cardiovascular death risk and the highest death risk from all causes, the analysis found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-people-weight-belly-fat-highest.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:59:15 EST news265287545 A study lead by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) shows an association between increased concentrations of phthalates in the body and an increased risk of diabetes in women. Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are commonly found in personal care products such as moisturizers, nail polishes, soaps, hair sprays and perfumes. They are also used in adhesives, electronics, toys and a variety of other products. This finding is published in the July 13, 2012 online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-chemicals-personal-products-diabetes-women.html Diabetes Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:20:02 EST news261316664 Restricting the amount of time spent seated every day to less than 3 hours might boost the life expectancy of US adults by an extra 2 years, indicates an analysis of published research in the online journal BMJ Open. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-daily-hours-life-years.html Health Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:30:01 EST news261073327 Data from a nationally representative sample of 5,404 community-dwelling Canadians ages 50 and older at baseline (1994/1995) was used to estimate the effects of alcohol drinking patterns on quality of life when subjects were aged =50 years and after a follow-up period. Health-related quality of life was assessed with the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3). The authors report that most participants showed stable alcohol-consumption patterns over 6 years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-higher-quality-life-regular-moderate.html Addiction Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:39:33 EST news259591162 A study published in the June 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that young children who have been investigated for maltreatment by child welfare agencies have a higher prevalence of mental health problems and that very few receive treatment for those problems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-child-welfare-mental-health-problems.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 19 Jun 2012 10:24:25 EST news259320258 In a longitudinal study of 6,250 children from across the US, researchers found that, when compared with children who were never obese, boys and girls whose obesity persisted from the start of kindergarten through fifth grade performed worse on the math test, starting in first grade, and their lower performance continued through fifth grade. Their findings are based on data gathered on children's families, interpersonal skills and emotional well-being, weight and measurements, and test performance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-childhood-obesity-linked-math.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00:09 EST news258811685 An Indiana University study found that teens and young adults who are members of multiple minority or disadvantaged groups face more discrimination than their more privileged peers and, as a result, report worse mental and physical health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-young-people-multiple-disadvantaged-groups.html Health Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:45:34 EST news258626726 Sexual orientation is best represented as a continuum that has two new categories -- "mostly heterosexual" and "mostly gay/lesbian" -- in addition to heterosexual, bisexual or gay/lesbian, according to a new Cornell study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-sexual-groups.html Other Wed, 09 May 2012 03:40:43 EST news255753631 (HealthDay) -- Most people in the United States are getting adequate nutrition, but some groups experience lower levels of vital nutrients than that which is recommended for good health, according to the Second National Report on Biochemical Indicators of Diet and Nutrition released April 2 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-americans-adequate-amounts-vitamins-nutrients.html Health Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:30:01 EST news252644515 A survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. teenagers suggests that most cases of alcohol and drug abuse have their initial onset at this important period of development, according to a report published in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-teen-alcohol-illicit-drug-abuse.html Addiction Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:02 EST news252590472 Parents reported that about half of the preschoolers in a nationally representative sample did not have at least one parent-supervised outdoor playtime per day, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-preschoolers-lack-parent-supervised-playtime-day.html Health Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:01 EST news252590538 People are less willing to pay to avoid mental illness than medical illness, even though they recognize that severe mental illnesses can dramatically lower quality of life, according to new research published in the April issue of Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-mental-illness-medical-illnes.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:31:50 EST news252315097 Getting too little sleep – or even too much – appears to spell trouble for the heart. New data reveal that adults who get less than six hours of sleep a night are at significantly greater risk of stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Even those who reportedly sleep more than eight hours a night have a higher prevalence of heart problems, namely chest pain (angina) and coronary artery disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session. The Scientific Session, the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, brings cardiovascular professionals together to further advances in the field. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-linked-heart-woes.html Sleep apnea Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:30:02 EST news251956983 Between 2003 and 2009, the use of anesthesia services to provide sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies increased substantially, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. The authors also found that most of the gastroenterology anesthesia use was for low-risk patients, and that there was considerable regional variation in use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-anesthesiologists-sedation-endoscopies-colonoscopies.html Other Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:28:30 EST news251479689 The number of American children leaving doctors' offices with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has risen 66 percent in 10 years, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. Over this same timeframe, specialists, instead of primary care physicians, have begun treating an increasing number of these young patients, the study found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-diagnosis-adhd-million-american-children.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:48:32 EST news251380006 In a study that included a nationally representative sample of nearly 45,000 adults, participants who met more of seven recommended cardiovascular health behaviors or factors (such as not smoking, having normal cholesterol levels, eating a healthy diet), had a lower risk of death compared to participants who met fewer factors, although only a low percentage of adults met all seven factors, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at a specialty meeting of the American Heart Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-greater-cardiovascular-health-factors-linked.html Cardiology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:11:26 EST news251183480 Voluminous research literature attests to the multiple negative consequences of maternal depression and depressive symptoms for the health and development of children. In contrast, there is a profound paucity of information about depressive symptoms in fathers according to a follow up study by NYU School of Medicine researchers in the February 23rd online edition of Maternal and Child Health Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-characteristics-fathers-depressive-symptoms.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:34:37 EST news249280451