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In 1897, in a book on suicide, French sociologist Emile Durkheim suggested that being a parent made people less likely to take their own lives. And in the time since, a few studies have explored this hypothesis, consistently finding that women who had children were less likely to take their own lives, and that the more children a woman had, the more her risk for suicide decreased. A new study published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, adds to those earlier findings. In the study, Dr. Chun-Yuh Yang, a public health researcher at Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Medical University examines the relationship between suicide and motherhood in a population of more than 1.2 million women from Taiwan, where suicide is the ninth leading cause of death among women. (In Taiwan, the suicide rate is 9.7 per 100,000 women, according to 2007 data. In the U.S., as of 2006, the suicide rate was 4.6 per 100,000 women.) Yang found that, the protective quality of motherhood—and more specifically, the decrease in suicide risk for each additional child—was more significant than reported in previous research.
Infections acquired in the hospital can be a dangerous and even deadly problem for patients, yet establishing effective ways to systematically minimize exposure to harmful pathogens is a persistent problem for medical institutions. In fact, a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that roughly half of all infection-related deaths in hospitals could be prevented with better infection-control protocols. It is particularly promising news then, that a new study released today by the Mayo Clinic finds that regular use of special disinfectant wipes on hospital surfaces can substantially reduce infections caused by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).
More medical students applied for residency programs in primary care this year than last, but the future need for general practitioners still far outpaces the number of doctors opting for careers in primary care. According to data from the 2010 report from the National Residency Matching Program—the system that pairs up graduating medical students with accredited residency programs—2,722 medical students applied for primary care programs this year, a 3.4% increase from the 2,632 who did so in 2009. Yet, while that small increase is encouraging and may reflect the beginning of a trend back toward primary care, the number of future doctors who will pursue internal medicine is still far lower than it was 25 years ago; in 1985, 3,884 medical students pursued residencies in primary care.
A large scale study of children between the ages of 2 to 19 finds that a growing number of young children are extremely obese—or have a body mass index greater than 35 kg/m. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children who are in the 85th up to 95th percentile (or have a BMI higher than 25 kg/m, and greater than 85–94% of their same-age peers) are categorized as overweight. Children whose BMI is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile, or higher than 30 kg/m, are categorized as obese. And children whose BMI is higher than 99% of their peers are categorized as extremely obese, according to Dr. Amy Porter, a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente and co-author of the study published online today in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study included 710,949 children, who had an average of 2.6 doctor’s visits per year between 2006–2007, during which height and weight were measured. Analyzing that data, researchers found that 7.3% of boys and 5.5% of girls were extremely obese, a figure that suggests as many as 45,000 children between the ages of 2 to 19 are extremely obese across the U.S.
The BBC News Magazine reports this week on a growing trend of people relying on convenience foods such as pre-chopped carrots and onions, instead of buying the raw ingredients and doing the prep work themselves. As writer Finlo Rohrer reports, popular U.K. supermarket chain Waitrose released figures showing a 40% increase in the last year in people buying already peeled potatoes, a 14% increase in already-diced onions, and a 17% increase in all types of prepared veggies. Unsurprisingly, chefs and foodies don’t exactly embrace the trend—Rosalind Rathouse of London’s Cookery School told Rohrer that convenience foods are a short cut, and “not for people who truly love food, but just want to fill their stomachs.” Yet nutrition experts, like Judy Buttriss of the U.K.’s Nutrition Foundation, say that if buying “lazy foods” like pre-cut vegetables makes it easier for people to incorporate more veggies into their diets—instead of opting for convenience in the form of fast-food meals that tend to be high in fat and salt—then the slight loss in nutrients and flavor due to advanced preparation is a small price to pay.
Read the full BBC story here.
A recent clinical trial conducted by neurologists at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that deep brain stimulation using implanted electrodes may help reduce seizures in epileptic patients. The results of the clinical trial, published online this week in the journal Epilepsia, showed that, patients whose brains were implanted with devices known as brain pacemakers—which send electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain—had a 40% reduction in seizures, compared with a 14% reduction in a control group.
Gathering round the table for dinner can sometimes be a challenge for the harried modern family, yet a growing body of evidence suggests that sitting down for sustenance and social time can have long-term health benefits—notably including a reduced risk for childhood obesity. And a recent study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry adds to the list of reasons why shoehorning family meals into schedules crammed with ballet lessons and soccer practice can have benefits beyond fostering family conversation. According to a small study led by Barbara H. Fiese, professor of human and community development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for asthmatic children frequent family meals can help reduce separation anxiety and stress, which can exacerbate asthma symptoms.
Despite its religious origins, since Boston Irish first marked the occasion with a parade in 1737, St. Patrick’s Day, for many, has evolved into a secular, and international, festival of excess. And while there’s nothing wrong with donning some green and enjoying a pint or two of Guinness in honor of the Emerald Isle, before you toss back too much tinted beer and the world goes wobbly through your shamrock glasses, it’s worth reviewing the dangers of overdoing it.
When the emergency contraception—or the morning-after pill—became available to adult women without prescription in the U.S. in 2006, it predictably whipped up a public health controversy. Some commentators said it would encourage unprotected sex and raise the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The Food and Drug Administration’s Deputy Operations Commissioner Janet Woodcock even expressed concern that it would lead to the formation of “sex-based cults.” Others predicted that making the drugs available would lower rates of unwanted pregnancies and so lower abortion rates.
But it turns out that providing emergency contraception to women in advance of need may do none of these things.
Rates of new HIV infection among gay men, drug users and prostitutes are increasing because laws against these practices deters people from seeking medical help, according to Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, the Associated Press reports. Sidibé said that the fact that homosexuality is still criminalized in 85 countries—and punishable by death in seven—is unacceptable, and expressed dismay over proposed legislation in Uganda that would impose the death penalty on some homosexuals. As the AP reports, Sidibé expressed concern that policies and laws that deter individuals from seeking needed medical help could unravel progress made in the fight against HIV: “You have also a growing conservatism which is making me very scared… We must insist that the rights of the minorities are upheld. If we don’t do that … I think the epidemic will grow again. We cannot accept the tyranny of the majority.”
Tired of your mindless treadmill routine and all that running leading nowhere? Consider mixing up your fitness plan, with more and more gyms offering unique classes for workouts that are effective — and fun.
