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July 2007 Widest study yet links cannabis with psychosis The widest-yet investigation into cannabis and mental health says individuals who use marijuana increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness by more than 40 percent. Reporting in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, the doctors call on health supremos to warn young people about the risk to their mind from a drug that many today may dismiss as harmless and recreational. Their conclusions are founded on a review of 35 published studies that explored the frequency of schizophrenia, delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder and other psychotic illnesses among marijuana users. Those who had used the drug were 41 percent likelier to experience an episode of this kind than people who never smoked, according to the paper. The risk increased relative to use, it found. The most frequent users were twice as likely to have these symptoms compared with non-users. The study also looked at the risk of depression, anxiety and other emotional states, but declared the evidence for any link to cannabis was unclear. The authors say that, despite their best efforts, they cannot rule out the possibility that their study was affected by "confounding factors" that typically dog research into cannabis. The biggest of these problems is whether cannabis can in fact be blamed for causing mental ill-health -- or whether cannabis smokers with these problems were already unwell before they used the drug. But the review says the weight of evidence has now come down clearly in favor of warning youngsters, the biggest users of cannabis, that the drug can lead to mental illness. "Despite the inevitable uncertainty, policymakers need to provide the public with advice about this widely-used drug," it declares. "We believe that there is now enough evidence to inform people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life." It stresses that the risk of schizophrenia and other chronic psychotic disorders, even in people who use cannabis regularly, is statistically low, with a less-than one-in-33 possibility in the course of a lifetime. Even so, "cannabis use can be expected to have a substantial effect on psychotic disorders at a population level because exposure to this drug is so common," it argues. In the case of Britain, about 40 percent of young adults and adolescents have used cannabis, according to figures cited in the study. By extrapolation, around 14 percent of cases of psychotic episodes among young British adults would be avoided if cannabis were not consumed, the paper contends. The research is led by Theresa Moore of the University of Bristol, western England, and Stanley Zammit of Cardiff University, Wales. Seeking to get a long-term perspective, their review excluded "transient" effects -- that is, the immediate effect on the mind when the drug was being smoked -- and looked only at cases that had been diagnosed as psychotic by an expert. In addition, they ruled out studies that covered people with addictions or previous mental problems, medicinal use of cannabis and prison populations. The authors admit, though, that it may be impossible to establish for sure whether cannabis causes psychosis on the basis of current methods. The big problem for researchers is that cannabis is illegal, which means that the strength and dose of active ingredient varies, in contrast for instance to the well-known dose of nicotine in tobacco, which is legally regulated. Testing cannabis on the mind would run into huge legal and ethical hurdles. So researchers are mainly left with the option of comparing groups of cannabis users against groups of non-users -- with the hope that "confounding factors" do not undermine the exercise. Source: The Lancet http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=79219 ___ Early Behavior Problems Cause Peer Rejection, Friendlessness And May Lead To Depression And Loneliness In Adolescence Behavior problems in the early grades appear to lead to peer rejection and a lack of friends in elementary school. This, in turn, can lead to early adolescent depression and loneliness. Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at the Universities of Montreal and Oslo; the study is published in the July/August 2007 issue of the journal Child Development. Researchers collected information from 551 children beginning when the children were 6 years old and continuing annually until they were 13. They also collected information from the children's teachers, mothers, and peers. Specifically, teachers and mothers described the children's levels of anxiety (including a tendency to prefer solitary play and to fear new situations) and their disruptiveness (including physical aggression and hyperactivity) when the children were 6 and 7. Classroom peers reported on the children they liked most and least each year from ages 8 to 11. Children reported how many friends they had each year from ages 8 to 11, as well as their own levels of depression, loneliness, and involvement with delinquent behaviors at ages 12 and 13. The researchers found that children who were disruptive in early childhood were more likely to be rejected and lack friends in elementary school. Anxious children also tended to have few friends, although they were not more likely to be rejected by their peers. The study also found that rejection contributes to the risk that children won't have friends. Children who are rejected early in elementary school are more likely to lack friends later in elementary school. Both rejection and a lack of friends in elementary school put children at risk for adjustment problems in adolescence, the researchers found. Specifically, children who are rejected in elementary school are more likely to be lonely as adolescents, while children who lack friends in the early grades -- a critical time for the development of close, reciprocal relationships -- are more likely to be lonely and depressed as teenagers. In contrast, rejection and a lack of friends don't put children at risk for delinquency -- only early disruptiveness does that. "The study's findings indicate that the developmental consequences of risky peer relations are not limited to childhood," according to Sara Pedersen, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montreal's Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment and lead author of the study. "These results suggest that interventions to prevent adolescent depression and loneliness should target elementary school peer relationships. The results also reveal that interventions targeting only childhood rejection and friendlessness are unlikely to prevent later delinquency." Source: Child Development http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77523.php ___ Cannabis Users Face 'Psychotic Disorder' Risk Young people who smoke cannabis frequently are more than twice as likely to develop a psychotic disorder later in life, reveals a new study. The drug now accounts for 14 per cent of all cases of psychosis in young adults and dramatically raises the risk of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression and delusions. Researchers in England and Wales combined the results of 35 previous studies into Britain's most commonly used illegal substance and found it increased the danger of psychosis by an alarming 41 per cent. But the risk rose relative to dose with it more than doubling for those who took cannabis most often, according to the findings published in The Lancet. Dr Theresa Moore, of Bristol University, and Dr Stanley Zammit, of Cardiff University, said: "Despite the inevitable uncertainty policy makers need to provide the public with advice about this widely used drug." They said their research which covered studies dated up to 2006 shows taking cannabis is responsible for about 14 per cent of psychotic cases in young adults in the UK. Up to one-in-five young people now report using cannabis at least once a week. The researchers said studies tended to report larger effects for more frequent use with most showing a 50 to 200 per cent increase in risk for participants who used most heavily. They said: "We have described a consistent association between cannabis use and psychotic symptoms, including disabling psychotic disorders. "We believe there is now enough evidence to inform people using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life. Although individual lifetime risk of chronic psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, even in people who use cannabis regularly, is likely to be low (less than three per cent), cannabis use can be expected to have a substantial effect on psychotic disorders at a population level because exposure to this drug is so common." Psychiatrists Dr Merete Nordentoft and Dr Carsten Hjorthoj, of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, said with about 15.5 million 15 to 34-year-olds in the UK around 800 cases of schizophrenia a year could be prevented through cessation of cannabis consumption. They commented: "Since more European countries are seeing an increase rather than a decrease in the prevalence of cannabis consumption this finding is a cause for concern. "In the public debate cannabis has been considered a more or less harmless drug compared with alcohol, central stimulants, and opioids. However the potential long-term hazardous effects of cannabis with regard to psychosis seem to have been overlooked and there is a need to warn the public of these dangers, as well as to establish a treatment to help young frequent cannabis users." An editorial in The Lancet added: "Governments would do well to invest in sustained and effective education campaigns on the risks to health of taking cannabis." 27 July 2007 ___ Child depression drug use soars The number of prescriptions handed out to children under 16 for depression and mental health disorders has quadrupled in a decade, official figures indicate. GPs in England wrote more than 631,000 such prescriptions for children in the last financial year, compared to just 146,000 in the mid-1990s. But at the same time, figures suggest the rate of mental health problems in the young has not changed markedly. GPs rejected charges they dish out drugs too freely. The drug figures were obtained by David Laws, the Liberal Democrat shadow children's secretary. He said: "I think it is a major concern that drugs seem to be prescribed so easily these days to children of school age. "In the past, not only were there not as many of these types of drugs on the market, there was an assumption, I think, that people would try to get to the source of the problem, rather than simply prescribing drugs." Alternative therapies
In its last major report on the prevalence of such problems in 2004, the Office of National Statistics found the figures were broadly unchanged from a previous survey in 1999. One in 10 were found to have some form of disorder, ranging from the very minor to the very serious. These latest figures on child prescriptions follow others which suggest that that the rate of anti-depressant prescriptions for the population as a whole has hit a record high. More than 31m prescriptions for these drugs were issued in 2006 - a 6% rise on the year before. The Royal College of General Practitioners accepted that depression could nt be cured by pills alone, and that better access to alternative therapies was essential. However its chairman, Professor Mayur Lakhani, has rejected the suggestion that family doctors prescribe anti-depressants too readily. "GPs consider the need for anti-depressants only after a careful assessment of the patient's clinical condition," he said. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "While in some cases there may be a need for medication as part of a treatment plan, drugs should not be seen as the only solution. "Children's mental health problems need to be tackled at the root by making therapy more widely available, by examining the causes and by encouraging better awareness amongst children themselves, parents, teachers and GPs." 23 July 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6911596.stm ____ Early behavior problems cause peer rejection, friendlessness and may lead to depression and loneliness in adolescence Behavior problems in the early grades appear to lead to peer rejection and a lack of friends in elementary school. This, in turn, can lead to early adolescent depression and loneliness. Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at the Universities of Montreal and Oslo; the study is published in the July/August 2007 issue of the journal Child Development. Researchers collected information from 551 children beginning when the children were 6 years old and continuing annually until they were 13. They also collected information from the children's teachers, mothers, and peers. Specifically, teachers and mothers described the children's levels of anxiety (including a tendency to prefer solitary play and to fear new situations) and their disruptiveness (including physical aggression and hyperactivity) when the children were 6 and 7. Classroom peers reported on the children they liked most and least each year from ages 8 to 11. Children reported how many friends they had each year from ages 8 to 11, as well as their own levels of depression, loneliness, and involvement with delinquent behaviors at ages 12 and 13. The researchers found that children who were disruptive in early childhood were more likely to be rejected and lack friends in elementary school. Anxious children also tended to have few friends, although they were not more likely to be rejected by their peers. The study also found that rejection contributes to the risk that children won't have friends. Children who are rejected early in elementary school are more likely to lack friends later in elementary school. Both rejection and a lack of friends in elementary school put children at risk for adjustment problems in adolescence, the researchers found. Specifically, children who are rejected in elementary school are more likely to be lonely as adolescents, while children who lack friends in the early grades -- a critical time for the development of close, reciprocal relationships -- are more likely to be lonely and depressed as teenagers. In contrast, rejection and a lack of friends don't put children at risk for delinquency -- only early disruptiveness does that. "The study's findings indicate that the developmental consequences of risky peer relations are not limited to childhood," according to Sara Pedersen, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montreal's Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment and lead author of the study. "These results suggest that interventions to prevent adolescent depression and loneliness should target elementary school peer relationships. The results also reveal that interventions targeting only childhood rejection and friendlessness are unlikely to prevent later delinquency." Source: Child Development http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77523.php ____ Study: Improvement following ADHD treatment sustained in most children Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Yet increased risk for behavioral problems, including delinquency and substance use, remained higher than normal. The study followed-up children who had participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA). Initial advantages of medication management alone or in combination with behavioral treatment over purely behavioral or routine community care waned in the years after 14 months of controlled treatment ended. However, Peter Jensen, M.D., Columbia University, and colleagues emphasized that “it would be incorrect to conclude from these results that treatment makes no difference or is not worth pursuing.” Their report is among four on the outcome of the MTA study published in the August, 2007 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP). “We were struck by the remarkable improvement in symptoms and functioning across all treatment groups,” explained Jensen. After three years, 45-71 percent of the youth in the original treatment groups were taking medication. However, continuing medication treatment was no longer associated with better outcomes by the third year. “Our results suggest that medication can make a long-term difference for some children if it’s continued with optimal intensity, and not started or added too late in a child’s clinical course,” added Jensen. For the followup study, a multi-site research team evaluated, at ages 10-13, 485 children from the original MTA study (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/childhp/mtaqa.cfm), the first major randomized trial comparing different treatments for ADHD, published in l999. That study found that intensive medication management alone or in combination with behavioral therapy produced better outcomes than just behavioral therapy or usual community care. Ratings from families and teachers favored the combination treatment, which allowed for somewhat lower medication doses. Also, the careful management of medication by MTA physicians produced better outcomes than medication provided through usual community care sources. After the 14 months of assigned treatments ended, families were free to choose from treatments available in their communities. To understand why the initial advantage of medication wore off, the researchers examined medication use patterns that emerged after formal treatment in the study ended. They found that children who had been assigned to intensive behavioral treatment were more likely to begin taking medication, while those who had been taking medication were more likely to stop. For example, among children originally in the behavioral treatment group, the incidence of high medication use increased from 14 to 45 percent. In a secondary analysis of the data that searched for possible explanations for the findings, in the same issue of the JAACAP, researchers led by James Swanson, Ph.D., University of California at Irvine, reported finding substantial individual variability in responses to medication. They identified three groups of children with different patterns of response. One group, about a third of the children, showed a gradual, moderate improvement; a second group, about half of the children, showed larger initial improvement, which was sustained through the third year; a third group, about 14 percent of the children, responded well initially, but then deteriorated as symptoms returned during the second and third years. Swanson and colleagues suggested “trial withdrawals” for some children to determine if they still need to take medications. Another report by Swanson and colleagues in the same issue of the JAACAP confirmed an earlier finding from the MTA study that taking medication slowed growth. A group of 65 children with ADHD who had never taken medication grew somewhat larger — about three-fourths of an inch and 6 pounds more, on average — than a group of 88 peers who stayed on medication over the three years. Growth rates normalized for the children on medication by the third year, but they had not made up for the earlier slowing in growth. In a fourth article, Brooke Molina, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues reported that, despite treatment, the children with ADHD showed significantly higher-than-normal rates of delinquency (27.1 percent vs. 7.4 percent) and substance use (17.4 percent vs. 7.8 percent) after three years. Earlier evidence of lower substance use rates among children who had received intensive behavioral therapy had lessened by the third year. “These findings underscore the point that ADHD treatment for one year does not prevent serious problems from emerging later,” noted Molina. The follow-up of the MTA sample will continue as the participating children go through adolescence and enter adulthood. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070721/NEWS01/307210002 ___ Why working mothers have fatter children New mothers who go out to work may increase the risk of their children becoming overweight, a study indicates. For every ten hours a week a mother works, the odds of having a child who is overweight by the age of 3 are increased by about 10 per cent, according to results from a study of almost 13,000 mothers. The team from the Institute of Child Health in London believes this is because long hours of work, rather than a lack of money, may make it harder to provide a child with healthy food and opportunities for activity. The effect is stronger among households earning more than £33,000 a year, the research found. This does not imply that middle-class children as a whole are fatter than working-class children – national statistics tend to show the opposite – but that the link between working mothers and overweight children is more pronounced among those who earn more. The team used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a UK-wide study of children born since 2000. They looked at children born between 2000 and 2002 for whom they had height and weight data at the age of 3, and records of parental working patterns. Writing in the International Journal of Obesitythey report a link between maternal employment and a child’s body mass index. The longer hours a woman worked – and especially in the higher-income groups – the greater the effect. For households with incomes over £33,000 a year, the chances of having an overweight three-year-old were increased by 19 per cent. For those in the £22,000 to £33,000 group, the extra risk was 13 per cent, and for those between £11,000 and £22,000 8 per cent. Only the result for the £33,000plus households was said to be statistically significant. This suggests that, if the authors are right in suggesting that a lack of time to prepare nourishing meals or take infants for walks is the cause, more middle-class occupations place greater time constraints on mothers than do the same hours worked in less well-paid occupations. But speculation may well be pointless, as the effects are small and the results are on the margin of statistical significance. The authors themselves are cautious. “Although we found that maternal employment is associated with overweight among British preschool children, our results and the larger evidence base suggests there are many risk factors for overweight” they write, adding that more research is needed. Among the further work would be a study showing whether or not children’s diets or activity levels are actually different when their mothers work. If not, then the trends found in this study will need an alternative explanation. National statistics from the Health Survey for England do tend to suggest that social class is relevant to a child’s likelihood of being overweight.The new study did not look at absolute levels of overweight for each income group, but the effect of mothers working on the risks of overweight. Nigel Hawkes http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/child_health/article2120623.ece ___ Companies to limit youth junk food ads A group of the nation's largest food and beverage companies yesterday pledged to use nutrition standards when advertising to children under the age of 12 to decrease the number of overweight youth. Some of the new nutrition rules already are being practiced, while some will not be in place until next year. Eleven companies are acting on advertising recommendations made by the Federal Trade Commission last year. The FTC held an event yesterday to allow the companies to update their progress on the nutritional guidelines. The companies setting new dietary advertising formats, including Campbell Soup Co., General Mills Inc. and Kraft Food Inc., make up two-thirds of the television food ads directed to children. "Responsible, industry-generated action and effective self-regulation are critical to addressing the national problem of childhood obesity," FTC Chairman Deborah Majoras said. "The FTC plans to monitor industry efforts closely, and we expect to see real improvements." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 16 percent of the nation's children and teenagers are overweight, which can lead to diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. In the last several years, health officials have repeatedly warned that food ads aimed at children are a factor in the rising number of overweight children. Some countries have banned advertising of nutritionally questionable food to children, and some members of Congress have suggested that federal regulation may be needed. In response to the recent buildup of scrutiny over advertising practices, the food industry has promised to bolster its own self-regulation, partly to head off federal intervention. Although all the new marketing rules are targeted to children under 12 years old, the self-imposed standards differ from company to company. For instance, McDonald's Corp. announced that beginning in January 2008, it will advertise only two types of Happy Meals to children younger than 12: one with four Chicken McNuggets, apples and low-fat milk, and one with a hamburger, apples and milk. General Mills decided it will advertise only products with 12 grams of sugar or less per serving to children under 12 years old. And, while General Mills will no longer advertise the popular Trix cereal to children 12 years and under, it will continue to market Cocoa Puffs, which has one less gram of sugar per serving, to all age groups, including the 12 and unders. "There is modest but tangible change in these announcements," said Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of the program for the study of entertainment media and health at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "There is also a need for more companies to get involved." Seven companies no longer will use licensed characters, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, if the products do not meet specific nutritional criteria. For Kellogg Co., the nutrition standard for licensed characters will apply to about half of the products that the company currently markets to children, including Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and Pop-Tarts. General Mills will begin using the SpongeBob cartoon only on packaging for frozen vegetables within the month, said spokeswoman Chris Shea. Meanwhile, PepsiCo, which owns popular brands such as Frito-Lay, Quaker Foods and the Pepsi and Gatorade drinks, will market only Baked Cheetos and Gatorade to children under 12. Other companies taking action in response to the FTC's recommendations include: Cadbury Adams USA; Coca-Cola; the Hershey Co.; Masterfoods USA, maker of candies Snickers, M&Ms and Skittles; Mars Inc.; and Unilever United States, maker of the Country Crock butter brand. The Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative will monitor and report on the companies' compliance with their pledges, said Elain Kolish, director of the initiative at the Better Business Bureau. Gregory Lopes http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070719/BUSINESS/107190019/1006 ____ Study predicts 75 percent overweight in U.S. by 2015 If people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese, U.S. researchers predicted on Wednesday. A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews. "Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement. They defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMIs of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese. Sixteen percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 34 percent are at risk of becoming overweight, according to federal government figures. Every group is steadily getting heavier, Wang said. "Our analysis showed patterns of obesity or overweight for various groups of Americans," said May Beydoun, who worked on the study. "Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States." 18 July 2007 ____ UK STUDY Child TV addicts 'are greedy and unhappy' Television and the Internet are making children disruptive, disrespectful and greedy, government-backed research has found. A study by the National Consumer Council will warn today: 'Those who spend lots of time in front of the TV and computer screen are more materialistic. 'These children argue more with their family, have a lower opinion of their parents and lower self-esteem.' The research will make worrying reading for Gordon Brown, who has said one of his priorities is to challenge the 'erosion' of childhood. He complained earlier this year that the Internet and TV had 'exposed children increasingly to the pressures of very aggressive advertising'. The NCC report claims to have uncovered a divided society where the influence of adverts are exerted unevenly across social groups. The authors found that deprived children are more likely to watch commercial television - as well as programmes made for an older audience. This means they are exposed to more adverts - and the ones they do watch may not be appropriate for their age group. The report found: 'Just over half of children - 51 per cent - from disadvantaged areas think that "when you grow up, the more money you have, the happier you are". Similarly, almost half of children - 47 per cent - in deprived areas would "rather spend my time buying things than doing almost anything else".' By contrast only 23 per cent of youngsters from affluent families believed that money was the key to happiness and that shopping was a good way to spend time. The NCC report, called Watching, Wanting and Wellbeing: Exploring the Links, added: 'These stark variations show that in some households the screen appears to be ever-present, particularly during mealtimes. 'In disadvantaged areas, for example, children are six times more likely to watch TV during the weekday evening meal. Furthermore, around one in four in disadvantaged areas say they have the TV on at lunchtime on Sunday, compared to only one in 30 from the better-off neighbourhoods.' The report could lead to Government action to extend controls on the advertising of junk food and other products - perhaps including a ban through to the 9pm watershed Sean Poulter http://infowars.net/articles/july2007/160707TV.htm ____ TRYING ALTERNATIVES Program keeps some teens out of court Teens in Durham are being offered a second chance -- a chance that not only keeps them out of the courts but gives them an opportunity to give back to the community. It's all thanks to a new policing program designed to get to the root cause of youth crime and get kids the help they need before it's too late. "Basically, if we catch say a 15-year-old who has broken a window at a church, we look at it and decide whether it would be better to try some alternative justice rather than pursue criminal charges," Durham Regional Police spokesman Dave Selby explained. "In such a case, we might instead sit the kid down with his or her parents, the minister of the church, and, with the help of a professional facilitator, discuss in a calm, rational environment how the youth's actions affected everybody involved," Selby said. It's being tried by other police services across the country and Durham cops began to "really pushing it hard" in January. "The idea is to try to divert some types of youth crimes away from the traditional court system by using other extra judicial measures," Selby said, adding the program is not available to youths who commit "serious crimes." In the first six months of the effort, Durham cops have diverted 328 youths away from the courts, 252 have entered into behaviour contracts, 33 have taken part in restorative justice conferences, 88 have received treatment for drug or alcohol dependency at the Pinewood Centre, and 75 have received anger management, life skills and other training at the John Howard Society. Chris Doucette http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/07/16/4343335-sun.html ___ Card game sheds light on ADHD BRAIN scans on children with ADHD have shed light on why they have trouble remembering and don't recognise distractions as a distraction. Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide tracked the brain activity of 150 children and teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to build a neuro-cognitive profile of their behaviour. Using the card game Snap, the scientists tested how well sufferers off their medication were able to remember numbers in the short term as part of their "working memory". "In Snap, you have to recognise that the same two cards have appeared in a row, but we found that children diagnosed with ADHD had incredible difficulty detecting doubles at all," said the study's lead researcher, PhD student Hannah Keage. "They just weren't able to select that information about the cards properly and hold it online in their head." And tests of brain activity revealed why, with charts showing "weaker" and slower brain activity than the extremes shown in a "normal" brain. So their brain recruited less neurons than was normal to get involved in that operation, Ms Keage said. "Clearly, they're distracted because they're not getting the right information in the brain." Ms Keage, who presented her findings at the World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne today, also tested the ability of ADHD kids to cope with distractions. Using the same computer card game, the patients were asked to play while distracting images also flashed up on screen. These children didn't recognise these distractions as a deviation from the task or as a distraction at all, and they displayed the same "weak" brain activity. "That means they essentially have difficulty recognising new usual things as new, which makes learning new things very difficult," Ms Keage said. Repeating the tests once the children had resumed their stimulant medication showed vastly improved uptake of both tasks, proving the drugs many children take for the condition work. The team hopes that better understanding the behavioural deficits in ADHD kids will help in the development of new therapies that directly target these problem areas. "There's scope there now to try to train these children to recognise new information or remember things differently to help overcome these learning disabilities," Ms Keage said. Tamara McLean http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22082359-5003402,00.html ___ Sugary cereals better for memory: study A study has found that high-GI cereals, which are generally heavier in carbohydrate and sugar, help young people remember words better in the short term. The findings, presented to a world brain conference in Melbourne, may support pre-exam bingeing on glucose-rich foods, but the researchers caution that eating unhealthy foods is not a sustainable tool for memory. PhD student Michael Smith, from the University of Western Australia, compared the impact of low- and high-GI cereal on the ability of healthy teenagers to remember a list of words. The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure of how quickly carbohydrate breaks down in the body. Low-GI foods have a gradual effect, believed to be beneficial, while those with a high-GI are rapidly digested and cause drastic fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Mr Smith found that the rapidly digested cereals brought memory benefits. "The adolescents that ate the high-GI cereal could actually recall a lot more words than those in the other group," he said. The researchers recruited 38 young people aged 14 to 17 and fed them either a high-fibre bran-based low-GI cereal or a popular corn cereal which is high-GI. The teenagers were then asked to remember 20 words, including the names of fruit and vegetables, spices and tools. Results showed that when recalling the list 40 minutes later, the high-GI group was more prone to forgetting. But after 60 minutes they were remembering 1.5 more words on average than low-GI cereal consumers. Mr Smith said while the difference was small it was still significant and was the first time high-GI cereals had been shown to have such benefits. Previous studies have shown that low-GI foods are better for memory, but Mr Smith said his test was more accurate because participants were distracted with other requests while trying to memorise. "That's a good reflection of trying to remember in a busy classroom or elsewhere in the real world," he said. 15 July 2007 http://www.foxtel.com.au/landing/1.htm ___ Overweight children face widespread stigma, unhappy lives, new analysis concludes Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life comparable to people with cancer, a new analysis concludes. Youngsters who report teasing, rejection, bullying and other types of abuse because of their weight are two to three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts as well as to suffer from other health issues such as high blood pressure and eating disorders, researchers said. "The stigmatization directed at obese children by their peers, parents, educators and others is pervasive and often unrelenting,'' researchers with Yale University and the University of Hawaii at Manatoa wrote in the July issue of Psychological Bulletin. The paper was based on a review of all research on youth weight bias over the past 40 years, said lead author Rebecca M. Puhl of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. It comes amid a growing worldwide epidemic of child obesity. By 2010, almost 50 percent of children in North America and 38 percent of children in the European Union will be overweight, the researchers said. While programs to prevent childhood obesity are growing, more efforts are needed to protect overweight children from abuse, Puhl said. "The quality of life for kids who are obese is comparable to the quality of life of kids who have cancer,'' Puhl said, citing one study. "These kids are facing stigma from everywhere they look in society, whether it's media, school or at home.'' Even with a growing percentage of overweight people, the stigma shows no signs of subsiding, according to Puhl. She said television and other media continue to reinforce negative stereotypes. "This is a form of bias that is very socially acceptable,'' Puhl said. "It is rarely challenged; it's often ignored.'' The stigmatization of overweight children has been documented for decades. When children were asked to rank photos of children as friends in a 1961 study, the overweight child was ranked last. Children as young as 3 are more likely to consider overweight peers to be mean, stupid, ugly and sloppy. A growing body of research shows that parents and educators are also biased against heavy children. In a 1999 study of 115 middle and high school teachers, 20 percent said they believed obese people are untidy, less likely to succeed and more emotional. "Perhaps the most surprising source of weight stigma toward youths is parents,'' the report says. Several studies showed that overweight girls got less college financial support from their parents than average weight girls. Other studies showed teasing by parents was common. "It is possible that parents may take out their frustration, anger and guilt on their overweight child by adopting stigmatizing attitudes and behavior, such as making critical and negative comments toward their child,'' the authors wrote, suggesting further research is needed. Lynn McAfee, 58, of Stowe, Pa., said that as an overweight child she faced troubles on all fronts. "It was constantly impressed upon me that I wasn't going to get anywhere in the world if I was fat,'' McAfee said. "You hear it so often, it becomes the truth.'' Her mother, who also was overweight, offered to buy her a mink coat when she was 8 to try to get her to lose weight even though her family was poor. "I felt I was letting everybody down,'' she said. Other children would try to run her down on bikes to see if she would bounce. She had a hard time getting on teams in the playground. "Teachers did not stand up for me when I was teased,'' McAfee said. A study in 2003 found that obese children had much lower quality of life scores on issues such as health, emotional and social well-being, and school functioning. "An alarming finding of this research was that obese children had (quality of life) scores comparable with those of children with cancer,'' the researchers reported. Sylvia Rimm, author of "Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children,'' said her surveys of more than 5,000 middle school children reached similar conclusions. "The overweight children felt less intelligent,'' Rimm said. "They felt less popular. They struggled from early on. They feel they are a different species.'' Parents should emphasize a child's strengths, she said, and teachers should pair up students for activities instead of letting children pick their partners. McAfee, who now works for the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, said her childhood experiences even made her reluctant to see a doctor when she needed one. She recalled one doctor who said she looked like a gorilla and another who gave her painkillers and diet pills for what turned out to be mononucleosis. "The amount of cruelty I've seen in people has changed me forever,'' McAfee said. The Yale-Hawaii research report recommends more research to determine whether negative stereotypes lead to discriminatory behavior, citing evidence that overweight adults face discrimination. It also calls for studying ways to reduce stigma and negative attitudes toward overweight children. "Weight-based discrimination is as important a problem as racial discrimination or discrimination against children with physical disabilities,'' the report concludes. "Remedying it needs to be taken equally seriously...'' 12 July 2007 http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1298507.html ___ Health Canada: Youth Smoking Rates at Lowest Rates Ever Smoking rates among Canadian youth are at their lowest ever, the most recent Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey shows. The results, which came from data collected between February and December 2006, show a significant decrease in the smoking rates among youth aged 15-19 years over the past 12 months, with 15% of youth reporting smoking in 2006, down from 18% for the same period one year ago. "I am extremely pleased to see that our governments' efforts in tobacco control have made such a positive impact, especially among our younger Canadians," said Health Minister Tony Clement. "These results encourage us to continue to work collectively towards reducing smoking rates in Canada." The 2006 survey found that fewer than five million Canadians, representing 19% of the population aged 15 years or older, were current smokers. Results indicate that, between 1985 and 2006, smoking rates have fallen by almost one-half, from 35% to 19%. While the achievements so far are impressive, much remains to be done. Smoking is still the most preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada. More than 37,000 people will die prematurely each year in Canada due to tobacco use, including at least 800 non-smokers who will die from exposure to second-hand smoke. Understanding Canadian trends in tobacco use helps to effectively develop, implement and evaluate national tobacco control strategies, policies and programs. Marketwire http://new.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=749424 ___ New drugs ‘need testing on children’ Medicines should be tested on children to prevent them from taking an unsuitable drug or dose, a leading paediatrician has said. Professor John Warner, the head of the department of paediatrics at Imperial College, London, said that clinical research should be carried out on children because doctors were currently obliged to scale down treatments designed for adults. Speaking at the opening of Britain’s first unit devoted to paediatric clinical research, he said that about 40 per cent of medicines prescribed to children had never been tested on them. The Paediatric Research Unit will be run by researchers from Imperial College, London, and St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, West London. Professor Warner said that therapies should be designed specifically for children as they have different metabolisms, immature organs and diseases that can behave unexpectedly. He said: “We have a desperate need to understand precisely how children’s bodies work so that we can custom-design therapies for them.” Nicola Woolcock http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/child_health/article2045359.ece ___ Autism levels in Britain soar with one in 58 children now affected The number of children in Britain with autism is higher than previously thought. An unpublished study, carried out by researchers at Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, found that one in 58 children may have some form of the condition, according to The Observer. The figures mean that as many as 210,000 children under 16 across the country could have autism or a related autistic spectrum disorder, the paper said. This is well above the existing estimate of one in 100, which has been widely accepted by experts. Prior to the 1990s, experts estimated the rate of autism in Britain to be around four or five cases per 10,000 people. Since then there have been indications that the true prevalence is much higher. But whether this is due to a genuine increase in numbers of cases, or merely the result of labelling more children as autistic, is not known. Autism is an umbrella term for a range of developmental disorders that impair a person's ability to interact socially and communicate. They cover a "spectrum" ranging from severe cases of "classic" autism, through a variety of "pervasive developmental disorders", to much milder Asperger's syndrome. Seven researchers, most of them from the university's Autism Research Centre, studied children at local primary schools. According to the Observer, two of the academics privately believe that the figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine which has been blamed by some experts for children developing the condition. However five members of the research team reject that view, including team leader Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. Prof Baron-Cohen told the paper he believed genetics, better recognition of the condition, environmental factors and children's exposure to hormones in the womb were more likely to be the cause. The team studied the incidence of autism and autistic spectrum disorders among around 12,000 primary schoolchildren in Cambridgeshire between 2001 and 2004. 8 July 2007 ___ Study of Kids' Brains Hopes to Answer: What Is Normal? Every parent knows that children have minds of their own, shaped by growing brains that scientists can barely fathom. Researchers strain to tell symptoms of neural disorder from the natural variations of young brains, almost infinite in their possibilities. This summer, brain experts funded by the National Institutes of Health are finishing the largest systematic clinical study ever of the neurobiology of youth. In a $30 million project, researchers in six cities have been combining brain scans, psychological profiles, medical exams and intelligence tests gathered from hundreds of healthy children to answer a fundamental question about brain development that nags parents and pediatric practitioners alike: What is normal? When completed, this NIH brain archive promises to become the first clinical benchmark by which normal development can be judged, matching behavior to brain anatomy from birth through adolescence. With it, specialists should be able to understand better problems such as autism, in which neural miscues undermine the mind. Educators bedeviled by child-rearing fads and untested teaching theories should be able to match alterations in brain structure to the rise and fall of learning skills. "Once we know the map, we can tell what nudges the brain for good or ill," said NIH brain imaging expert Jay Giedd. By any standard, every child's brain is an experiment. From a single cell in the womb, it swells at such speed -- 250,000 cells a minute -- that by early childhood it has more neurons and nerves connecting them than do any older, wiser adults. It is buffeted by tumultuous bursts of growth that prime it for mastering new skills and ways of thinking. Yet, so little is certain about how it changes throughout childhood that scientists don't know what ought to be expected, said Cornell University expert B.J. Casey, who helped pioneer brain imaging in children. Not only is every new brain different from any other, but the variations within each one as it adapts, swells and contracts confound analysis. "A developing brain looks weird," said pediatric neurologist Katrina Gwinn at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who directs the NIH project. "Something that might be normal in an adult might look abnormal in a child." Until recently, little was known about how normal human brains change as they grow because conventional medical imaging techniques were too dangerous or invasive to be used with any but the sickest children. The NIH survey takes advantage of newer techniques benign enough that infants can safely nap inside while their brain cells are bombarded with magnetic pulses. Seeking as broad a measure of childhood as possible, research teams in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Houston selected 385 girls and boys from among 35,000 families to ensure that the data would reflect the country's racial, ethnic and economic diversity. "So many studies are done only with white kids from suburban areas," said Dr. Gwinn. "We worked hard to get different demographics." Researchers even sought the proper mix of right- and left-handers. The children, between six and 18 years old, were screened to ensure they were free of illness, genetic predispositions, prenatal risk factors, toxic environmental exposures or chronic health problems that might affect their brains. "These are really healthy brains," said project researcher Deborah Waber at Children's Hospital Boston. Newborns have since been included in the study. The children were scanned periodically using three techniques: structural magnetic resonance imaging to catch changes in the brain's gray matter, which contains neurons; diffusion tensor imaging to monitor its white matter of connecting nerve fibers; and magnetic resonance spectroscopy to track the ups and downs of brain chemistry. To match changes in brain anatomy to mental abilities, the youngsters also regularly took tests of IQ, dexterity, spatial ability, memory and cognitive skills. "So we are actually able to follow individual children and look at snapshots of the same brain over time," said Dr. Waber. In its essence, this biomedical mosaic is a national portrait of the child mind. It reveals that gender differences and income disparities matter less than previously believed and that health matters more, project researchers reported recently in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Healthy girls and boys do equally well on most cognitive tasks. Boys perform better at analyzing and manipulating shapes and patterns, while girls perform better on processing speed and motor dexterity. No differences were measured in calculation ability, suggesting boys and girls have an equal aptitude for math. By age 12, many children are as proficient as adults by most measures of mental performance. These unusually fit, diverse children outperformed all those in previous research on tests that measured IQ, memory, reading and math ability, and development of social skills. It may be years before the findings have been fully analyzed and applied. Until then, the NIH brain project, like the children it documents, is a promise of things to come. Robert Lee Hotz ___ Study: Signs of autism show earlier in some children
Children with autism can be identified as early as 14 months old, the youngest age at which the disorder has been diagnosed, a study by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore suggests. But about half the time, symptoms may not show up until months later. That suggests at least two distinct paths leading to autism: one that starts early in life and one in which a child seems to develop normally and then regresses, losing language and social skills. Results of the study, the first to follow toddlers from 14 months until they turn 3, could allow earlier treatment to reduce the effects of autism, says Rebecca Landa, lead author of the report published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The range of developmental impairments known as autism spectrum disorders, or ASD, is marked by an inability to communicate and interact with others. Its cause is not known, but most researchers believe genetic factors play a role. Most studies have relied on interviews with parents and examinations of family videos to look for early signals, such as a child's lack of response to his name or failure to engage with others. Anita Manning http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-02-autism-behaviors_N.htm ___ FDA approves Roche's low dose Tamiflu for children Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding Ag said on Monday that U.S. health regulators approved its Tamiflu influenza treatment at two lower doses for children in a form with a longer shelf life that could be an advantage for use in stockpiling against a flu pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Tamiflu capsules for sale at 30 milligram and 45 mg doses for the treatment and prevention of influenza types A and B in patients one year and older, Roche said. The shelf life of the capsules is five years, the company said, considerably longer than that of the 24-month shelf life of the standard liquid suspension formulation. Many countries are stockpiling the anti-viral drug with the hope that it will be able to lessen the effects of an influenza pandemic if and when one strikes. The 30 mg and 45 mg capsules will be available nationwide and for government stockpiling in time for the 2007-2008 flu season, Roche said. "Roche continues to take steps to facilitate the use of antivirals in pandemic preparedness and response," Dominick Iacuzio, medical director at Roche, said in a statement. "These lower dose capsules not only provide governments with a new option for pandemic stockpiling, but also give prescribing physicians an alternative for patients who prefer a capsule formulation," he said. Roche has received Tamiflu orders totaling 215 million treatment courses from more than 75 countries. It has also donated 5.1 million Tamiflu treatment courses to the World Health Organization to help contain any initial pandemic outbreak. Roche said it has filled orders from the U.S. government and states for 43.7 million Tamiflu treatment courses so far. Tamiflu will continue to be available in a 75 mg capsule for adults as well as liquid suspension formulation for children, the company said. 2 July 2007 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/hl_nm/birdflu_roche_tamiflu_dc ___ Children's ill health sets stage for crisis As more American children eat poorly and exercise less, rates of chronic illness such as asthma and diabetes are continuing to rise, researchers are reporting. And because childhood illness often sets the stage for adult health woes, the U.S. health-care system could be headed toward a crisis in coming decades, experts warned in a number of reports in this past week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "A chronic condition in a child will become a chronic condition in an adult -- we just know that. And what you're talking about for an adult is maybe 10, 20 years of suffering. But with a child, you're talking about maybe 50, 60 years of suffering," said the journal's editor-in-chief, pediatrician Dr. Catherine DeAngelis. Childhood illness also will affect health care, an expert said. "Given these high rates of (ill children) in the next decade, there are going to be tremendously higher rates of expenditures for health care and social welfare, because a lot of these people will have health disabilities, and they won't be employable," said Dr. James Perrin, director of the Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy at Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston. Some findings of the studies: According to the analysis by Perrin and colleagues, more than 7 percent of U.S. children and youths were hampered in their daily activities by an illness that lasted three months or longer in 2004, compared to 1.8 percent of children in 1960. Chronic conditions affect 15 percent to 18 percent of children and teens, and even those estimates may not fully account for obesity and mental health woes, experts said. The "big three" chronic health conditions for kids are obesity (affecting 5 percent of American children in the early 1970s but 18 percent of children today); asthma (9 percent prevalence, nearly double from the 1980s); and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (a dramatic rise, mostly linked to better diagnosis). 1 July 2007 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070701/NATIONWORLD/707010384/1083/LIVING01 ___ England stubs out smoking England slammed the door on smoking in bars, workplaces and public buildings on Sunday in what campaigners hail as the biggest boost to public health since the creation of the National Health Service in 1948. The chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said there would be teething problems with the change, but he expected people to comply with the new law. He told BBC TV: "The other places that have introduced it, both overseas and also the other UK countries, have had very few problems. "England is a very big country so there are bound to be some teething problems with implementing it. But on the whole, the majority of smokers and non-smokers wanted this change, so I expect people to comply with it very, very straightforwardly." He said he expected a reduction of more than 1 percent in the number of smokers as a result of the ban. Deborah Arnott, director of charity Action on Smoking and Health, welcomed the ban. She said: "Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death. "Workers have a right to a safe environment and the harm done by tobacco smoke is now known to be significantly dangerous." But artist David Hockney, who has been waging a campaign against the ban, called it a "grotesque piece of social engineering" imposed by a "political and media elite". The English ban means smoking in enclosed public places such as pubs will now be banned across the entire United Kingdom. Wales and Northern Ireland outlawed public smoking in April following the lead of Scotland last year. Ireland and other European countries have also banned smoking indoors, while some parts of Canada and a number of U.S. states have had strict controls on smoking for years. The legislation is designed to protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke at work, which doctors estimate kills more than 600 people a year. A quarter of adults smoke, with the level higher among those doing manual and routine jobs. Individuals lighting up against the law face fines of up to 200 pounds while businesses can be charged up to 1,000 pounds for failing to display "no smoking" signs in affected areas which also include minicabs, company cars and churches. Offshore oil rigs, hotel rooms and prison cells are among the few places where public smoking will continue to be permitted. People will also still be able to smoke at home. Not everyone supports the new laws but most are resigned to them. Richard Lilley, a 37-year old law firm printer relaxing with a cigarette and pint of beer in a pub in London's Fleet Street said he did not want to give up smoking because he enjoyed it. "I won't bother going to the pub, I will drink at home. I enjoy a beer with a cigarette, it's part of the culture." Others will sit or stand outside, with many pubs installing rain awnings and patio heaters to accommodate smokers. Tim Castle
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