Health Tip: Protect Your Child in Extreme Heat

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(HealthDay News) -- Extreme heat can make people sick, especially children. That's why parents should be prepared to get overheated kids out of the hot sun and into an air-conditioned building.

The American Academy of Pediatricians offers this advice:

If your home isn't air conditioned, visit a pubic building such as a library.Encourage your child to drink plenty of fluids all day long. Offer a drink before your child asks for one.Allow more naps and rest time than usual, as heat can make children feel tired.Have your child take a cool bath.Don't ever leave your child inside a hot car.

-- Diana Kohnle Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Modest weight loss can benefit long-term health

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 HealthDay News)--even modest weight loss can include the overweight and obese important health benefits worth a decade, according to new research.

Study included 3,000 people overweight impaired glucose tolerance--a condition of pre-diabetic--who demonstrated how to change their behavior instead of the recommended drugs.

Behavioral strategies used by participants to help them with everything turned on weight maintenance, reducing the amount they ate unhealthy food, kept in their home and increase their amount of physical activity.

Even modest weight loss--an average of 14 pounds--reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 58%. Weight loss and health benefits lasted for 10 years, even if the people regain the weight, "said study Author Rena Wing, a Professor of Psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

The test is scheduled for presentation Thursday at the American Psychological Association annual meeting in Orlando, Fla file.

"Help people find ways of changing their eating and activity behaviors and develop intervention other than medication to strengthen healthy lifestyles have made a huge difference in preventing one of the health problems in this country," Wing, who is also Director of the weight control and Diabetes Research Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, said in a news release.

"Weight loss of only 10 percent of body weight a person ... have also been shown the long-term impact on team sleep, sleep, hypertension and the quality of life and to release the decrease in mobility that occurs with age," she noted.

Wing is currently a study of 13 years 5000 people with type 2 diabetes to determine whether intensive behavioral intervention can reduce the risk of heart disease and heart.

"We want to show that behavior change not only creates healthier reduce risk factors for heart disease, but actually can make them live longer," she said.

Because the study was presented at the meeting of the medical data and conclusions should be seen as a preliminary to the time of publication in peer-reviewed Journal.

--Robert Preidt Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Source: American Psychological Association, news release, Aug. 2, 2012

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Some Improvement in Heart Risk Factors for Americans: CDC

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By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- About 47 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to a new report released Friday.

These risk factors include uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have seen declines [in risk factors], but there's still work to be done," said the report's lead author, CDC health statistician Cheryl Fryar.

Findings of the report, culled from data gathered from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, included:

A drop in the rate of adults with at least one risk factor from 58 percent in 1999 to 46.5 percent in 2010.Men (52 percent) are more likely than women (41 percent) to have one of these risk factors.From 1999 to 2010, there was a drop in the percentage of whites and Mexican Americans who had at least one risk factor (about 47 percent and 45 percent respectively).There was no decline in the percentage of blacks with these risk factors, which remained at 58 percent.The prevalence of uncontrolled high blood pressure and uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol dropped between 1999 and 2010 (almost 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively).There was no drop in the percentage of adult cigarette smokers, which remained at 25 percent of adults 20 and older.Disparities remain among people of different income levels and racial and ethnic groups.

"Cardiovascular disease and stroke are largely preventable, with uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol levels and smoking representing major modifiable risk factors in men and women of all racial and ethnic groups and all income levels," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It is concerning that some of the early gains in lowering the rates of uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol appeared heading in the wrong direction in 2009 and 2010," Fonarow said. "This may represent recent misguided efforts to discredit the substantial cardiovascular benefits of LDL-lowering therapy."

The report found that there are significant disparities in risk factors by age, sex, race and income levels, Fonarow noted.

"African Americans and those with incomes of less than 130 percent of the poverty level had higher prevalence of risk factors and made less progress over the study period," he said. "The reasons behind these disparities in risk factor control are likely complex, but deserving of further study."

"Substantially increased efforts to reduce or eliminate these uncontrolled cardiovascular disease and stroke risk factors at the individual, community, national and global level are clearly needed," Fonarow added.

Reasons for the stalled decline in smoking rates are not clear. Possible explanations include less money spent by states on antismoking campaigns and more advertising dollars spent by tobacco companies.

The CDC recently launched a campaign of graphic ads to get smokers to quit. Early results indicate the campaign is working.

"We have to have sustained efforts like this if we are going to have an impact on decreasing the number of smokers in this country," Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said at the time of the campaign's launch. "One of the sad facts is that although we had success a number of years ago in getting people to stop smoking, we have hit a roadblock where 20 percent of Americans still smoke."

One of the major problems is that tobacco companies easily outspend the government's efforts to curb smoking with vast sums devoted to promoting their products, Lichtenfeld said.

Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Cheryl Fryar, M.S.P.H., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Gregg Fonarow, M.D., spokesman, American Heart Association, professor, cardiovascular medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Aug. 3, 2012, report, Prevalence of Uncontrolled Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease: United States, 1999-2010

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West Nile virus on rise in us: CDC

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 HealthDay News)--so far this year, State of 241 cases of West Nile virus, and four related deaths the UNITED STATES experiencing the largest collection in mosquito diseases since 2004, health officials report.

Eighty percent of these infections occurring in three Member States--Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma--which have seen business earlier than usual. Overall, 42 States has detected a virus, West Nile virus to humans, birds or mosquitoes from 31 July, the Centre for disease prevention and control said Wednesday.

"It's not clear why we see more activity than in recent years," Dr. Marc Fischer, Arboviral Diseases Branch of the Agency's medical Schwartz, said in a news release, CDC. "Irrespective of the reason for the increase, people should be aware of the West Nile virus activity in their area and take action to protect themselves and their families."

Typically, the greatest risk of the infection with West Nile virus occurs from June to September, with cases peaking in mid-August. However, changes in the weather, the number of infected mosquitoes and human behavior can have all the effects when and where outbreaks of the virus, the CDC noted.

The best way to protect against West Nile virus is to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes. CDC officials recommended the following protective measures:

Use insect Repellents when outside. Wear long sleeves and pants at dawn and dusk.Install or repair screens on Windows and doors.Use of air conditioning, where possible. Do not leave standing water outside in open containers, such as buckets, flowerpots, and kiddie pools.

People infected with West Nile virus can develop a fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or a rash. In more extreme cases, the virus can lead to serious illness, such as neurologic core encephalitis (inflammation of the brain or surrounding tissues) or death. People older than 50 and with medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and organ transplants are at higher risk for serious disease.

Although most people with mild cases of the West Nile virus will recover on their own, the CDC recommends that anyone who develops symptoms of the disease should see their doctor immediately.

--Mary Elizabeth Dallas Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Source: U.S. centres for disease control and prevention, news release, Aug. 1, 2012

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When the Act of the parents, so do Kids: study

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 HealthDay News)--parents who want to increase the amount of exercise for their children should become more active themselves, according to a new study.

"Long known that parent and child activity levels are correlated," study Author Kristen Holm, Assistant Professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, said in a news release. "[This study] showed that when parents increase their activities, the children also increased. The effect was more pronounced in the weekend. "

Study, published in the July issue of journal of physical activity and health, involved the 83 families participating in the programme designed to weight gain among overweight and obese children aged from 7 to 14.

Parents and children in the program are encouraged to increase their level of daily activity by walking 2,000 more steps every day. Their progress was tracked with pedometers.

Research has shown that mothers have reached or exceeded the objective on the days of the 2,000-step, their children give an average of 2,117 more. When mothers has not achieved the objective, their children were only 1,175 perform additional steps. The researchers pointed out that the children who were less active when the program started more additional steps than children who were more active.

Overall, the researchers found that for each 1000 additional steps taken by the mother, their child endeavoured 196 more. The researchers Saw a similar structure between fathers and their children.

The researchers suggested that parents and children together perform frequently at weekends resulted in the increase in exercise.

--Mary Elizabeth Dallas Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: National Jewish Health, news release, July 30, 2012.

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Pregnant mothers can support the development of fetal Gut changes

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 HealthDay News)--obtain a change in the composition of intestinal microbes that normally would cause health problems such as weight and inflammation may actually be beneficial for the pregnant, according to the researchers.

In conducting the research, published in the Aug. 3 edition of the journal cell, scientists tested stool samples taken from 91 women in pregnancy. It appeared that the composition of intestinal microbes women changing in time, from the first quarter of their pregnancy at the third trimester.

"This is the first in-depth characterization of intestinal microbiota associated with pregnancy," study senior author, Ruth Ley, Cornell University, said in a news release. log "The findings suggest that our body have coevolved with the microbiota and can actually use them as a tool to help you change the metabolism of the mother--to promote the development of the fetus."

In the course of their pregnancy, intestinal microbes women became less "normal" and less varied. Researchers also found that the number of bacteria beneficial bacteria levels associated with rejected as the disease has increased. There was also evidence that inflammation increased during the pregnancies of women.

"Changes in intestinal microbes do not relate to diet, so we think that the immune system or the hormones play a role," Ley noted.

The researchers then passed the transfer of pregnant women healthy mouse intestinal bacteria. They found mice that received transfer of the bacteria from the third trimester got fatter and had higher levels of inflammation markers in blood sugar metabolism, and worse than the mice that received the first trimester of the micro-organism.

"By the third trimester, the microbiota may entail changes in metabolism," Lei said. "In the context of pregnancy, these changes in the mother are healthy metabolic because they promote the energy storage in fat tissue support and assistance of the fetus. Beyond the pregnancy, however, these changes may lead to the development of type 2 diabetes and other health problems. "

--Mary Elizabeth Dallas Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Source: cell, news release, Aug. 2, 2012

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Why women Outlive men: Fruit Flies provide clues

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 HealthDay News)--New research shows that mutations to the DNA of mitochondria to cause men to age faster than women--a statement that may explain why women, on average, outlive men.

Researchers from Monash University in Australia examined male and female fruit flies, which transported mitochondria--the part of the cell that converts food into energy--the origin of the variety. It appeared that genetic variants in mitochondria predicted life expectancy in males, but not in the case of females. Researchers found that several of the mutations in the mitochondria DNA affects how quickly men aged and their durability.

"Intriguingly, these same mutations do not affect the patterns of aging in females. They affect only males, "Dr. Damian Dowling, of the school of biological sciences, Monash University, said in a news release. "All animals have the mitochondria, and tendency to outlive males to females is common to many different species. Our results therefore suggest that mutations mitochondrialnego, which we have no cover will generally faster aging of the male sex in the Animal Kingdom. "

Mutations result from the way in which mitochondrial genes are passed down from one generation to the next, noted the authors of the study.

"When the children receive copies of most of their genes both their mothers and fathers, only receive the mitochondrial gene from their mothers. This means that the quality control process in evolution, known as natural selection, only the screen quality of mitochondrial genes in the dams, "explained Dowling. "If the mitochondrial mutation occurs injures fathers, but does not affect mothers, the mutation will be using through the gaze of natural selection, without return. Over thousands of generations, many such mutations have accumulated that harm only to males, females, leaving unscathed. "

The authors of the study said that they intend to continue their research and study ways to reverse the genetic mutation, which negatively affect women's life.

Research has been published in current biology, Aug. 2.

--Mary Elizabeth Dallas Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Source: Monash University, news release, Aug. 2, 2012

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