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EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  "OTHER"  JOURNALS  RELATING  TO  CHILDREN,  YOUTH  AND  FAMILIES
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October 2004

Parents best role models for children: Eating disorders may reflect home attitudes
The best way to diet-proof your child against eating disorders is to model sensible eating and reasonable exercise behaviour as a parent, eating disorder experts said Sunday.

The first place to start is to look at yourself and see if you are prejudging people by their body size, said social worker Ivy Lundrigan, a St. John's, Nfld., social worker who works with people with eating disorders.
Parents should evaluate their misconceptions and stereotypes they may be passing along to their children, participants at the Eating Disorder Education Organization conference workshop were told.
"If you think you have to be body-perfect, no matter what you say, children are very intuitive. They will rat you out in a second. They are really in tune with how you feel," she said.
Unfortunately, there is no surefire way to immunize children and teens against obsessive diets or eating disorders, said Edmonton-psychologist Dexa Stoutjesdyk, who with Lundrigan, co-led the seminar entitled Diet Proofing Your Child.
"It's more like arming your child, giving them tools, and increasing their odds," said Stoutjesdyk, who specializes in eating disorders.
Ninety per cent of the time, eating disorders affect females, and most of the time, it doesn't show up until a girl goes through puberty, she said.
Research shows there is a strong genetic component to eating disorders. Often low self-esteem is involved and there are feelings of helplessness and perfectionism.
Like alcoholism, people with eating disorders often turn to abnormal behaviour because they are depressed, she said.
Because of body images and social values in the media, about half of adolescent girls think they are too fat, and almost 50 per cent are dieting.
Girls will often say they feel fat, but fat is not a feeling. It is a signal there are other issues going on and an occasion for parents to talk about them with their child. "That is a huge gift we can give them," Stoutjesdyk said.
Lundrigan said it is important to discuss media body images with girls and to tell them models' bodies and faces are frequently altered using computer programs to create an unreal picture.
Advertising is zoning in on people's insecurities and vulnerabilities. "What is the main message our kids are getting from the media? Whatever you have, you are not good enough," she said.
Even supermodel Cindy Crawford was amazed to find she didn't recognize herself in an advertisement, she said.
Stoutjesdyk said boys like to look at supermodels, but they like to date regular-looking girls because thin, pretty girls make them feel insecure.
Data show one per cent of the population suffers from severe diagnosed anorexia, where they have lost 20 to 25 per cent of their normal body weight. Two to five per cent of people suffer from clinical bulimia, where their eating is characterized by binge cycles and induced vomiting.
An even larger number, 15 to 20 per cent, have some form of eating disorder.

DIET TIPS

- Build children's self-esteem.

- Accept children regardless of weight. Let them know everyone's body is unique and should be valued. Try to model this yourself by accepting your own appearance.

- Model healthy exercise behaviour.

- Refrain from discussing your weight with your child.

- Try not to hide your body from your daughter.

- Try not to lose or gain weight dramatically and don't use fad diets.

- Teach children to communicate with assertiveness. Children need to be able to resist inappropriate messages from their peers, media, and other adults regarding thinness and self-control over eating and weight.

- Encourage activity and enjoyment of life.

- Do not punish or reward children with food.

- Do not limit caloric intake unless the child's physician requests this due to a medical condition.

- Do not limit your activities because of appearance.

- Eat a well-balanced diet.

Jac MacDonald
25 October 2004

EU anti-smoking campaign gets graphic
The European Union unveiled a new anti-smoking campaign that calls on governments to put both horrific and humorous pictures on cigarette packs to deter people from smoking. Among the 42 pictures is one grisly photo of a man with a cancerous growth on his neck. But most make only indirect allusions to the dangers of smoking, like a picture of a drooping cigarette meant to illustrate how smoking can cause impotence.
“People need to be shocked out of their complacency about tobacco,” EU Health Commissioner David Byrne said.
The EU head office wants EU governments to require cigarette makers to display the photos on their products, hoping the images will have more force than written warnings now on packs of cigarettes, including “smoking kills” or “smoking can lead to a slow and painful death.”
EU member states now use 14 written health warnings, which must cover at least a third of the packaging. So far, Ireland and Belgium have indicated they will require cigarette makers to use the photos, which should appear on packs next year.

Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the 25-nation EU. The Commission said it accounts for over 650,000 deaths a year, or 15 percent of all deaths and 25 percent of all cancer deaths.
Byrne acknowledged the images might not dissuade adults — especially in Europe, where an estimated one-third smoke — but hopes they will resonate with teenagers. Studies indicate 80 percent of smokers have picked up the habit by age 15.
To catch the attention of teenagers, the campaign warns of long-term medical dangers, like cancer, and short-term effects, like bad skin and poor sexual performance.
Of one picture that shows a glum-looking couple sitting far apart in bed, Byrne said: “I think this one emphasizes there are some better things than smoking ... a lot better.”

Participating EU countries can choose which images would resonate within their borders. Focus groups selected the 42 pictures from 2,100 proposals.
Canada has used similar graphics and warnings on cigarette packs since 2000, and studies indicate there has since been a slight decrease in smoking.
The warnings are central to a new $90 million media campaign to discourage European young people from smoking.
Byrne also called for all EU countries to enact bans on smoking in the workplace. He said Ireland's ban, which began in May, has caused 7,000 people to quit smoking and 10,000 to cut down the number of cigarettes they smoke.

25 October 2004
Source

Second-hand smoke hits children hardest
Statistics Canada says One-third of non-smokers in Canada say they are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, raising concerns for young people who can't escape exposure.
People breathe in the fumes in public places, homes, workplaces and cars, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.
Exposure was most common in Quebec and the Northwest Territories and least likely in British Columbia, the study's authors found.
Despite attempts to light up away from children, smoke lingers in homes. Children aged 12 to 20 are most at risk, according to Claudio Perez, a senior analyst with the agency in Ottawa. He based the findings on results from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey.
"They seem to have the least options in terms of getting away from any unwanted exposure," said Perez. "Particularly since bylaws do not apply to smoking in the presence of children in private homes or vehicles."

Non-smoking Canadians are most commonly exposed at:

• Restaurants and bars – 20 per cent.
• Workplace – 10 per cent.
• Homes – 11 per cent.
• Cars – 11 per cent.

Research suggests children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at greater risk of developing asthma and cancer. Exposed babies are more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome.
Smokers can go to another room or not smoke when a child is in the car, but these measures don't work, according to the Ontario Medical Association.
Smoke filters through homes and lingers in cars. Banning smoking in homes or cars where there are children is the only solution, the OMA said.
"We know they're still getting toxic levels of exposure to second hand smoke and their airways are particularly vulnerable," said Dr. Ted Boadway of the association.
Although homes and cars may be the only sanctuary to smoke, these are the places where children are at highest risk of exposure.
Among 12-year-olds, 24 per cent are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes and 16 per cent in public places, the report said.

20 October 2004
Source

Vaccine breakthrough to save children's lives
British scientists have made a breakthrough which allows vaccines to be stored for years without refrigeration, it emerged today.
The development could transform public health programmes in the Third World, cutting costs and reducing wastage.
In poor countries, vital vaccines frequently fail to work or have to be thrown away because they have been spoiled by not being kept cold enough. Wastage accounts for a high proportion of the £17 cost per jab to protect against childhood illnesses.
The new technology uses a natural process seen in living organisms like the desert-dwelling resurrection plant, which dries up completely in drought conditions only to burst into life when rain arrives, tens or even hundreds of years later.
Dr Bruce Roser, of Cambridge Biostability, today said that trials on animals had gone very well, and clinical trials of the procedure on humans could be started within three years.

He explained how the resurrection plant survives over long periods in the absence of liquid thanks to a sugar which becomes as hard as glass when dry.
"They use an unusual but simple sugar which has the property of turning into a thick syrup when it dries out, rather than crystallising," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"We have taken this technology and made it work on the lab bench. We have put these vaccines in a solution of this syrup.
"We dry it and it turns into a syrup which becomes more and more viscous as we remove more and more water until imperceptibly it solidifies as a glass.
"It is very similar to fossilised insects trapped in amber which are preserved for millions of years." The technique has already been tested on four commercial vaccines, which were found to be "stable and efficacious" in animal trials.
The Cambridge-based company has received a grant of £950,000 from the Department for International Development to develop a five-in-one vaccine for children in developing countries.
It is hoped that the new technique may allow 10 million more children worldwide to be vaccinated within existing budgets.

The new vaccine - against measles, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria - will be manufactured by Panacea Biotec, based in New Delhi, a leading Indian biotechnology company.

20 October 2004
Source

Immunise children against measles
Although most people think of measles as a mild childhood illness, the recent outbreak in Dublin provided a stark reminder that nothing could be further from the truth.
Nearly 1,500 children developed measles in the winter and spring of 2000 - 100 ended up in hospital, six went into intensive care and three died. Before routine MMR immunisation against measles was introduced in the UK in the late 1980s there were 800,000 cases in a bad year. In the decade before the MMR was introduced, 850 children died of the disease compared to 20 the following decade.
If your child has not had the MMR, there is still time to protect them, even if they are above the age at which it is normally given - the first dose is at 12 -15 months followed by a pre-school booster. Your health visitor or practice nurse should be able to arrange for prompt immunisation and the vaccine usually offers full protection within two to six weeks of the first dose.

• For more information visit www.immunisation.nhs.uk

20 October 2004
Source

Virginia: Children are innocent victims in drug epidemic
Victims of drug crime include virtually everyone — addicts beaten or killed for drug debts, robbery and theft victims, neighborhood residents suffering the pollution of a nearby drug lab. And children. The most innocent and defenseless targets, children of drug users, dealers and producers are also often the most compliant victims. From abuse and neglect to worry and stress, kids sometimes don’t know that their situation is abnormal, nor where to turn for help. “Kids are really affected” when a parent uses chemicals, Sue Neuttila, director of the Range Mental Health Center, said. Even if neglect and abuse aren’t present, “they take on problems that are not their own.” Whether feeling responsible for “mommy and daddy” fighting or worrying about them every time they go out, children internalize their feelings, she said. This keeps them from sleeping at night; affects their school grades, whether from lack of sleep or worries clouding their minds; and keeps them from bringing friends home, Neuttila said.

18 October 2004
Source

New York: Personality Disorders Change Over Time
Experts have long believed that personality disorders — types of mental illness in which people have trouble functioning with others — were relatively inflexible, and endured throughout a person's life.
Now, new research contradicts that belief, showing that these disorders actually appear to shift over time, with many people improving at a steady rate.
Each personality disorder typically has around 8 or 9 symptoms, lead author Dr. Mark F. Lenzenweger told Reuters Health. His team found that, on average, people lose 1.4 symptoms of their personality disorders each year, or more than 5 symptoms over 4 years.
These changes occurred in both men and women, regardless of whether they were receiving treatment or had additional mental illnesses. SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, October 2004.

15 October 2004
Source

Most Juvenile Offenders Have Substance Abuse Issues, Study Finds
While most juvenile offenders have substance abuse and addiction problems upon entering the juvenile justice system, few of them receive the necessary treatment, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. Experts say community anti-drug coalitions are key to helping to reach these youth before they enter the juvenile justice system.
CASA’s five-year analysis of substance abuse and state juvenile justice systems found that 1.9 million of 2.4 million juvenile arrests had substance abuse and addiction involvement but only 68,600 juveniles received substance abuse treatment. The findings were released last week in a report, Criminal Neglect: Substance Abuse, Juvenile Justice and The Children Left Behind. The report revealed that drug and alcohol abuse is implicated in 64 percent of violent offenses, 72 percent of property offenses and 81 percent of assaults, vandalism and disorderly conduct.

 15 October 2004
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Stockholm: Mobile Phones Increase Tumor Risk
Ten or more years of mobile phone use increases the risk of developing acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor on the auditory nerve, according to a study released on Wednesday by Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
The risk was confined to the side of the head where the phone was usually held and there were no indications of increased risk for those who have used their mobile for less than 10 years, the Karolinska Institute said in a statement.
The institute, one of Europe's largest medical universities and a clinical and biomedical research center, awards the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

14 October 2004
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New York: Depressed Mothers, Antisocial Fathers Affect Kids
Many children of depressed mothers also have antisocial fathers, new study findings show, and both parents' problems are associated with an increased risk of depression and conduct disorder among the children.
"These findings imply that children of depressed mothers frequently experience an additional risk that we were unaware of before: that of having a father who engages in antisocial behavior," study author Dr. Naomi R. Marmorstein of Rutgers University in New Jersey told Reuters Health.
"Thus," she added, "the children's difficulties may be compounded by the norm-violating behavior of their fathers." SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2004.

13 October 2004
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New York: Anorexia Leads to Emphysema-Like Disease
Anorexia nervosa causes a loss of lung tissue, resulting in changes that resemble emphysema, according to a new report.
"One of the problems with emphysema is that it is a complicated disease, and no one knows how it starts — why so many people can smoke but only a small percentage get emphysema," lead author Dr. Harvey O. Coxson said in an interview with Reuters Health. He believes that the findings in people with anorexia will help uncover the underlying cause of emphysema. SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, October 1, 2004.

12 October 2004
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New York: Metabolic Syndrome Common in Teens
Nearly one third of overweight or obese teenagers have the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of disorders that raise the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, according to a new report.
Dr. Nader Rifai and colleagues at Children's Hospital in Boston examined data on nearly 2000 children, 12 to 19 years old, who participated in the Third National Health and Nutritional Survey between 1988 and 1994.
The team proposed a definition of metabolic syndrome in adolescents based closely on the criteria for adults. Writing in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, they say that the subjects had metabolic syndrome if they were positive for at least three heart disease risk factors: high triglycerides, low levels of HDL "good " cholesterol, high blood sugar levels, a big waist circumference and high blood pressure.
SOURCE: Circulation, October 19, 2004.

12 October 2004
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New York: Parents May Not Know When Asthma Inhaler Is Empty
Many parents can't tell when a child's asthma inhaler is empty, a study released Monday suggests.
Metered-dose inhalers, which send asthma medications directly to the lungs, are an important part of preventing and treating asthma attacks. But the devices' medication canister must be stored, used and replaced properly to be effective.
The new study, of 50 asthmatic children and their parents, found that while more than three-quarters of the parents knew they were supposed to shake the medication canister before letting their children take a "puff," only half actually did so when asked to demonstrate how an inhaler should be used.
What's more, 72 percent of the parents said they relied on their ears to tell them when the medication canister was empty, waiting until it no longer made a sound when a child took a puff. SOURCE: Chest, October 2004

11 October 2004
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Bangkok: Child Mortality Rising Fast in Parts of Asia
Child mortality rates are spiraling in parts of Asia because of financially crippled public health care systems, a U.N. report said on Friday.
An increasing reliance on privatized health care and the stripping back of state hospitals was endangering the health of thousands of mothers and children, a senior United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official said.
"An aggressive increase in privatization and a system where the user has to fully pay for health care means that the poor tend to drop out of the picture," Dr Steve Atwood, UNICEF'S Regional Adviser for Health and Nutrition, told Reuters.

8 October 2004
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New York: Parents Strongly Influence Teens' Drinking
Parents who supply alcohol for their teenagers' parties may be encouraging their children to binge drink when no adult is watching, a new study suggests.
The study, which surveyed more than 6,200 U.S. teenagers, also found that parents' attitudes about drinking influence their children's behavior in several — sometimes surprising — ways.
Specifically, the researchers found that teens who said they drank with their parents were less likely than others to have binged or used alcohol at all in recent weeks.
The finding is hard to interpret, the study's lead author told Reuters Health, because the survey did not ask about the context in which this drinking took place; it merely asked kids who they were with the last time they drank alcohol. SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, October 2004.

8 October 2004
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London: Sedentary Kids Have Raised Risk of Chronic Fatigue
Playing sports and being active in childhood could help reduce the risk of suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome later in life, according to a study on Wednesday.
In research reported online by the British Medical Journal, experts in London said that the disabling condition which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is more common in sedentary youngsters.
"Contrary to previous suggestions that high levels of exercise increase risk, we found that the most sedentary children were at greatest risk," said Russell Viner of the Royal Free and University College Medical School.
He added that the finding is further evidence of the need to promote healthy exercise and reduce sedentary behavior among children.

6 October 2004
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Rome: Study - Italian Teens Frown on Binge Drinkers
Getting drunk may be considered a normal part of having fun for youngsters in northern Europe, but not so in Italy where teenagers look down on friends who drink too much.
Italians consume about as much alcohol as people from Britain or Finland, but a "Mediterranean" approach to drink means they are far less prone to binge drinking and drunkenness, according to research presented this week.
Only 7 percent of Italians aged between 15 and 24 get drunk at least three times a week compared with Denmark, which has the greatest proportion of young binge drinkers in Europe, where 36 percent of youths regularly drink to excess.

5 October 2004
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