June 7, 2006, 7:03 AM CT

Children And Teens Treated With Antipsychotics Increases

A steadily increasing number of patients younger than age 20 received prescriptions for antipsychotic medications between 1993 and 2002, according to a report published in the recent issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Antipsychotics are medications used to treat mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and mania, that may involve loss of contact with reality. Several studies have indicated that prescriptions for these medications have been increasing among children and adolescents, raising concerns among professionals and the public. However, no national data have previously been available, according to background information in the article. Most prescriptions given to children and adolescents are for second-generation antipsychotics, which are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pediatric patients.

Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, and colleagues analyzed data from a national survey of office-based physicians conducted yearly by federal researchers. In addition to recording whether the child or adolescent patient received a prescription for antipsychotics, the doctor or a staff member also logged the patient's age, sex and race or ethnicity; the length of the visit; the physician's specialty and whether the patient received psychotherapy.........

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June 1, 2006, 5:55 PM CT

Thirteen Month Delay Between Evaluation And Autism Diagnosis In Children

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may experience a 13-month delay before they are diagnosed. A study in the April autism supplement of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics released recently, found that children diagnosed in metropolitan Atlanta were initially evaluated at an average of 4 years of age but were not diagnosed with an ASD until an average of 5 years 1 month. The study also found much variability in both, with an age range of 1 year 4 months to 8 years 6 months old for initial evaluation, and an age range of 1 year 5 months to 8 years 8 months old for actual diagnosis.

The study data, collected from the Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program 2000 (MADDSP), did not explore reasons for the 13-month delay. However, the study found that most children were first diagnosed with other conditions, such as language delay or general developmental delay.

"Eventhough this study draws upon data from the metro Atlanta area, it serves as an important indicator of the nationwide challenges of diagnosing autism, especially more mild cases," said Dr. Jose Cordero, director of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. "The real public health challenge is to educate doctors on the signs of autism and to encourage use of standardized diagnostic instruments that better identify symptoms relevant to ASD and help distinguish ASD from other developmental delays or disorders."........

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June 1, 2006, 5:45 PM CT

Type 2 Diabetes Teens Have Higher Complication Risk

Young people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to have hypertension and signs of kidney damage than their counterpart who have type 1 diabetes, even though type 2 diabetic have had the disease for a much shorter time.

The findings underscore the importance of screening children for complications when they are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. They also suggest that it may make sense to look for these complications in children who are simply at risk of the disease, "because early therapy may reverse complications," Dr. Maria Craig of The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, and her colleagues in Australia report.........

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June 1, 2006, 5:05 PM CT

Amino Acid That Boost Heart Disease Risk

Mesia Moore Steed.

Remember that name, because chances are you're going to be hearing more about it as the Henderson native and Henderson County High graduate progresses in her profession.

Steed, who will turn 31 on June 22, is doing important research with implications for future preventive measures against heart disease and therapy of America's No. 1 killer. She's also playing a role that could lead more minority students into biomedical research.

The daughter of Carnie Moore and the Rev. Frankie Moore, Steed is a University of Louisville doctoral student who intends to build a career studying a little-understood, toxic amino acid called homocysteine.

Homocysteine reportedly is as damaging to the heart and blood vessels as is cholesterol and Steed refers to it as "the cholesterol of the 21st century."

Through her experiments with laboratory mice fed a "homocysteine diet" of animal proteins, she hopes to determine exactly what changes occur in blood vessels, primarily the aorta.........

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June 1, 2006, 5:02 PM CT

Canadians Healthier Than Americans

You can add Canadians to the list of foreigners who are healthier than Americans. Americans are 42 percent more likely than Canadians to have diabetes, 32 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, and 12 percent more likely to have arthritis, Harvard Medical School scientists found. That is as per a survey in which American and Canadian adults were asked over the telephone about their health.

The study comes less than a month after other scientists reported that middle-aged, white Americans are much sicker than their counterparts in England.

"We're really falling behind other nations," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a co-author of the Canadian study.

Canada's national health insurance program is at least part of the reason for the differences found in the study, Woolhandler said. Universal coverage makes it easier for more Canadians to get disease-preventing health services, she said.........

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June 1, 2006, 4:58 PM CT

Pistachios Heart Health Benefits

Adding pistachio nuts to your daily diet could be an easy way to improve cholesterol levels, say researchers from Turkey, the world's fourth biggest pistachio nut producer.

The US is currently the number two producer of pistachios in the world, with annual production of about 136,000 metric tons (302m lbs). Exports of the nuts are worth almost $100m every year with Europe getting the lion's share of the exported nuts (71 percent).

The new study, published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (Vol. 16, pp. 202-209), randomly assigned 44 healthy volunteers with an average age of 33 and a BMI of 24.5 kg per square meter to a regular diet (control) or the test diet with 20 percent of the daily calorific intake from pistachio nuts.

After three weeks of the diet, the researchers, from the Medical Faculty of the Harran University in Turkey, found that plasma levels of total cholesterol decreased by 12 percent for the pistachio group, compared to baseline, and HDL cholesterol levels increased by 26 percent.........

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June 1, 2006, 4:55 PM CT

Sleep Apnea Linked To Heart Disease

Doctors are studying a correlation between sleep apnea and hear disease. Experts said it was a connection that could be going undiagnosed in a number of people while causing an early death because of the heart disease.

Heart disease is already the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States.

"We think that if somebody has heart disease, you should think about the potential of them having associated sleep and breathing problems," Dr. Robert Ballard, a sleep specialist said.

Sleep apnea causes people to stop breathing dozens of times every hour while they are sleeping.

Surgery on a person's nose and throat can help correct the problem. But people with heart arrhythmia and hypertension could still be having problems because of sleep apnea.........

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June 1, 2006, 4:53 PM CT

Ozone And Cholesterol To Cause Heart Disease

Numerous studies have linked heart disease and air pollution, especially smog. Smog--a toxic brew of chemicals and molecules such as ozone--seems to exacerbate heart disease, leading to an increase in heart attacks and fatalities. But scientists have yet to discover the pathway by which smog impacts the cardiovascular system. Now a new study shows how ozone's byproducts in the body can harden arteries and cause heart disease.

Chemist Paul Wentworth, Jr., of the Scripps Research Institute and colleagues tested such byproducts--known as atheronals--in vitro. These molecules form when ozone and cholesterol interact. "Cholesterol makes up 40 percent of most of your membranes, including those in your lungs," Wentworth explains. "If you inspire smog, there directly is the interaction."........

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June 1, 2006, 4:50 PM CT

ADHD Drugs Send Thousands to ERs

Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, as per the first national estimates of the problem.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated problems with the stimulant drugs drive nearly 3,100 people to ERs each year. Nearly two-thirds - overdoses and accidental use - could be prevented by parents locking the pills away, the scientists say.

Other patients had side effects, including potential cardiac problems such as chest pain, stroke, hypertension and fast heart rate.

Concerns over those effects have led some doctors to urge the Food and Drug Administration to require a "black box," its most serious warning, on package inserts for drugs such as Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall. Yet even doctors advising the FDA don't agree on whether that's warranted.........

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June 1, 2006, 4:37 PM CT

Tough Anti-Smoking Laws Blanket Canada

Smokers were mandatory to light up outside across much of eastern Canada Wednesday, as one of North America's most restrictive bans went into effect.

Smoking already has been banned from most workplaces across Canada but the ban in Ontario and Quebec now extended to public places in general, including bars, restaurants and schools. The ban also calls on employers to close designated smoking rooms and requires retailers to ask for identification from cigarette buyers if they appear younger than 25.

Though similar bans exist in some American states, few are as restrictive as the bans launched Wednesday in Ontario and Quebec, as per anti-smoking advocates on both sides of the border.

"We are very pleased we finally have province-wide legislation protecting all workers and the public from second-hand smoke," said Peter Goodhand, head of the Ontario division of the Canadian Cancer Society. "This landmark piece of legislation is one of the toughest in North America and will save lives".........

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