ceoMoms want to know what's going on. It's one of the ways we can improve ourselves and expand our minds. We encourage you to read the news, pick up the book you've been putting off or learn about the world in general. Then pass on your thirst for knowledge to your children. Go mom!
First genetic link found to common migraine
August 31, 2010
LONDON — An international scientific team has identified for the first time a genetic risk factor associated with common migraines and say their research could open the way for new treatments to prevent migraine attacks.
Researchers who looked at genetic data from 50,000 people from Finland, Germany and The Netherlands found that patients with a certain DNA variant affecting regulation of a particular brain chemical have a greater risk of developing migraines.
The results suggest that a buildup of that chemical, called glutamate, may play a role in the mechanism of migraines.
"This is the first time we have been able to peer into the genomes of many thousands of people and find genetic clues to understand common migraine," said Aarno Palotie, chair of the international headache genetics consortium at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Britain, which led the study.
Migraine affects around one in six women and one in 12 men, and has been estimated to be the most expensive brain disorder to society in the European Union and the United States. Read more
New moms get enough sleep, just not good sleep
August 31, 2010
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to popular belief, new mothers may often get a decent amount of sleep in their babies' first few months -- but it's not a good-quality sleep, a new study suggests.
The study, which followed a group of new moms, found that on average, the women got just over 7 hours of sleep per night during their babies' first four months. That is within what's generally recommended for adults, and, based on past studies, more than the average American gets.
On the other hand, the study found, that sleep is also frequently disrupted -- with the women typically being awake for a total of two hours overnight. Read more
No link between vaccines and autism, appeals court rules
August 27, 2010
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a ruling that vaccines are not to blame for autism.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision last year by a special vaccine court, which concluded there's little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link.
Scientist years ago reached that conclusion, but more than 5,500 families sought compensation through the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Friday's ruling came in the case of Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz., who is disabled with autism, inflammatory bowel disease and other disorders that her parents blame on a measles vaccine given at 15 months. Read more
Bring it: Boys may benefit from aggressive play
August 26, 2010
In her 30 years as a kindergarten teacher in Illinois and Massachusetts, Jane Katch has watched graham crackers, a pretzel, celery, tree bark and fingers all become transformed into imaginary guns and other weapons. And she has learned to work with, rather than against, the violent boyhood fantasies that accompany these transformations.
"When you try to ignore it, it doesn't go away. And when you try to oppress it, it comes out in sneaky ways," Katch said.
Not every teacher agrees. Schools have become battlegrounds between the adults who are repelled by the play violence they see and the children — primarily boys — who are obsessed with pretending to fight, capture, rescue and kill. Read more
Vitamins C, E show no effect on preterm birth risk
August 24, 2010
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking high doses of vitamins C and E during pregnancy may not change a woman's risk of preterm delivery, according to a new study.
The findings suggest that despite evidence linking vitamin C deficiency to preterm birth, supplements of the antioxidant are not an effective means of prevention -- at least in women at average risk of premature delivery.
Together with results from another recent trial, the findings argue against further study of vitamins C and E in these women, the researchers report in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Some past studies have found a connection between vitamin C deficiency and an elevated risk of preterm birth, including those caused by what's known as premature rupture of membranes -- where a woman's "water breaks" before the pregnancy has reached full-term and labor has begun. Read more
Cancer cells feed on fructose, study finds
August 03, 2010
WASHINGTON — Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same.
Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found.
They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.
"These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation," Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote.
"They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth." Read more
Study shows teens benefit from later school day
July 13, 2010
CHICAGO — Giving teens 30 extra minutes to start their school day leads to more alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness, and even healthier breakfasts, a small study found.
"The results were stunning. There's no other word to use," said Patricia Moss, academic dean at the Rhode Island boarding school where the study was done. "We didn't think we'd get that much bang for the buck."
The results appear in July's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The results mirror those at a few schools that have delayed starting times more than half an hour.
Researchers say there's a reason why even 30 minutes can make a big difference. Teens tend to be in their deepest sleep around dawn — when they typically need to arise for school. Interrupting that sleep can leave them groggy, especially since they also tend to have trouble falling asleep before 11 p.m.
"There's biological science to this that I think provides compelling evidence as to why this makes sense," said Brown University sleep researcher Dr. Judith Owens, the study's lead author and a pediatrician at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, R.I. Read more
All kids need cholesterol tests, doctors say
July 13, 2010
NEW YORK — Tens of thousands of kids may benefit from cholesterol-lowering medication, but no one would know because screening guidelines exclude too many children, U.S. doctors said Monday.
In a report published in the journal Pediatrics, they call for screening of all children, expanding one set of current recommendations that target only those whose parents or grandparents have heart disease or high cholesterol. Another existing set of guidelines doesn't call for screening in any children.
Screening all children would "identify a number of children who are of very significant risk of premature heart disease," said Dr. William Neal of West Virginia University in Morgantown, who led the new study.
Neal said treating youth with cholesterol-lowering drugs, the so-called statins, would curb the risk that they would go on to develop heart problems in middle age. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world. Read more
To protect babies, keep car seats in the car
July 12, 2010
NEW YORK — To prevent injuries in babies, car seats should stay in the car. That's the message of a new study, published today in the journal Pediatrics, which shows that almost 9,000 infants go to the emergency room (ER) every year for car seat-related injuries that happen outside the car.
If the seat does have to come out of the car, said co-author Lindsay Wilson, parents should make sure their babies are always strapped in.
Wilson and Dr. Shital Parikh, both from the orthopedics division of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, reviewed five years worth of data from a national U.S. surveillance system to find records of babies less than one year old that were taken to the ER for car seat injuries. Read more
‘Helicopter’ parents have neurotic kids
June 06, 2010
BOSTON - Overly protective parents might be leaving a lasting impact on their child's personality, and not in a good way, a new study finds.
The results show having so-called "helicopter parents" was associated with being dependent, neurotic and less open, a slew of personality traits that are generally thought of as undesirable.
The study, which surveyed college freshman, is one of the first to try to define exactly what helicopter parenting is, and measure it. The term was originally coined by college admissions personnel when they started to notice a change in parents of prospective students — parents would call the admissions office and try to intervene in a process that had previously just been between the student and the college, said study researcher Neil Montgomery, a psychologist at Keene State College in New Hampshire. Read more
