Stress in pregnancy may lead to schizophrenia in offspring

This population-based study suggests that severe stress to a mother during the first trimester may alter the risk of schizophrenia in offspring. This finding is consistent with ecological evidence from whole populations exposed to severe stressors and suggests that environment may influence neurodevelopment at the feto-placental-maternal interface. – Most societies believe that a mother’s psychological state can influence her unborn baby. Children of women who undergo an extremely stressful event-such as the death of a close relative-during the first trimester of pregnancy appear more likely to develop schizophrenia, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Give your child a smoke-free childhood, says WHO

Second-hand smoke is a health hazard for you and your family. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Give your child a smoke-free childhood.
– This year’s theme on World Cancer Day is “children and second-hand smoke exposure”. Around 700 million children – almost half of the world’s children – breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, particularly at home.

Pfizer’s anti smoking Chantix latest safety information

Pfizer’s anti smoking Chantix latest safety information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory to alert health care providers, patients, and caregivers to new safety warnings concerning Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medication used to help patients stop smoking. – Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medication used to help patients stop smoking reported to have certain adverse effects like changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and actual suicidal behavior. US FDA issued a Public Health Advisory to alert health care providers, patients, and caregivers.

Better nutrition in childhood increases productivity in adulthood

Study first to show improving nutrition in early childhood leads to significantly higher incomes in adulthood. – Feeding very young children a high-energy, high-protein supplement leads to increased economic productivity in adulthood, especially for men, according to a study published in the current issue of The Lancet, a leading medical journal.

Obesity prescriptions up eight times in UK

In UK, more than 1 million prescriptions are made for obesity drugs a year – eight times the number dispensed seven years ago. – The number of prescriptions to treat obesity and overweight health problems in 2006 was increased eight times the number prescribed in 1999 in UK, revealed by Information Centre for health and social care (IC) as part of a wider report on obesity and the health of people in England.

Babies excrete vaccine-mercury quicker

Infants? bodies expel the thimerosal mercury much faster than once thought ? thereby leaving little chance for a progressive building up of the toxic metal. – February’s issue of Pediatrics offers another reason to rethink blaming the spike in autism diagnoses on thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative routinely used in several childhood vaccines until the late ?90s.

Changes in X chromosome may lead to mental retardation

Various mutations of a small part of the X chromosome may lead to mental retardation, intellectual disability. – University of Adelaide geneticist Dr Jozef Gecz and a team of Belgium and UK scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in discovering the causes of intellectual disability. Dr Gecz, a senior researcher who is based at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, has collaborated with an international research team to reveal that various mutations of a small part of the X chromosome lead to mental retardation.

Defeat of California health care legislation highlights difficulties states face

Defeat of California health care legislation highlights difficulties states face in establishing universal coverage – The defeat of a $14.9 billion proposal to overhaul California’s health care system “underscores a difficulty states face in achieving universal insurance coverage” and “their inability to slow the upward trajectory of health care costs”.

Deep brain stimulation may improve memory

Hypothalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery may evoke detailed autobiographical memories. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, which is used to treat Parkinson?s disease and other movement disorders, is now being studied for its potential to treat a variety of conditions. – A new study found that hypothalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery performed in the treatment of a patient with morbid obesity unexpectedly evoked detailed autobiographical memories.

Secondhand smoke affect cystic fibrosis lung disease

Any exposure to secondhand smoke adversely affects both cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of lung function in individuals with cystic fibrosis CF. Variations in the gene that causes CF (CFTR) and a CF-modifier gene (TGF?1) amplify the negative effects of secondhand smoke exposure. – Exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with adverse effects on lung function among persons with cystic fibrosis, with this effect being worse for persons with certain gene variations, according to a study in the January 30 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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