“The popularity of waterpipes may be due in part to perceptions that they are safer than cigarettes. However, waterpipe smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, carcinogens and may contain greater amounts of tar and heavy metals than cigarette smoke,” warns senior investigator Jennifer O’Loughlin.

She found that 23 percent of respondents had used a waterpipe within the last 12 months and that 5 percent had used waterpipes one or more times in the past month.

The study found waterpipes to be particularly popular among young, English-speaking males who lived on their own and had a higher household income. In addition, the research team found that waterpipe users were more likely to use other psychoactive substances such as cigarettes, marijuana, illicit drugs and alcohol.

“This is our first investigation of the spread of illegal drug use in social networks,” said Mednick. “We believe it is also the first study in any age population on the spread of sleep behaviors through social networks,” says lead investigator Sara C. Mednick, PhD.

Another novel network effect that they discovered was that teens who are at the center of the network are at greater risk of poor sleep, which in turn means they are more likely to use marijuana – putting them at the crossroads of two behaviors increases a teenager’s vulnerability.

“Our behaviors are connected to each other and we need to start thinking about how one behavior affects our lives on many levels,” said Mednick. “Therefore, when parents, schools and law enforcement want to look for ways to influence one outcome, such as drug use, our research suggests that targeting another behavior, like sleep, may have a positive influence.”

A new study finds an increased likelihood of sleep related problems among school-aged children who are obese and an association between increased weight and lower quality of life.

The study, authored by Kelly Ann Davis, of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, focused on 100 children between eight and 12 years of age and their caregivers.

According to the results, children who were obese had poorer scores for sleep onset delay, sleep-disordered breathing, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness, compared to children who were overweight or healthy weight.

“In this study, sleep and weight each contributed unique variance for quality of life scores, thus indicating the need to evaluate daytime functioning in children with both obesity and sleep problems,” said Davis.

Parents who suspect that their child might be suffering from a sleep disorder are encouraged to consult with their child’s pediatrician or a sleep specialist.

The research team points out the need for early treatment of children with OSa to prevent complications from the condition.

Results indicate that after accounting for socioeconomic status, age, and geographic region, the sibling risk of pediatric OSA was extremely high, with a standardized incidence ratio of 33.2 in boys and 40.5 in girls who had at least one sibling with an OSA diagnosis.

“Early diagnosis and treatment is important to avoid complications such as learning difficulties, ‘failure to thrive,’ serious cardiovascular complications and even death,” said Friberg.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that the prevalence of OSA is approximately two percent in otherwise healthy young children. OSA occurs when soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway during sleep.

The authors recommend that medical providers ask about sleep-related symptoms in siblings when children present with clinical signs or symptoms of OSA.

Results indicate that adolescents with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD, regardless of persistent ADHD were more likely to have current sleep problems and sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep terrors, nightmares, bruxism and snoring.

ADHD and sleep problems is often found to overlap. Some primary sleep disorders are found to be associated with inattention, hyperactivity, behavioral problems and impaired academic performance, which are often mistaken for symptoms of ADHD.

“In some patients with ADHD, symptoms are caused or exaggerated by primary sleep disorders, and therefore treatment of the sleep disorder will improve ADHD symptoms,” said Gau.

Findings of the study indicated that the rates of nightmare and lifetime nightmare disorder were more prevalent in girls and snoring was more prevalent in boys. Snoring may be more prevalent in boys due to an increased rate of sleep-disordered breathing in boys. Mothers were found to be more aware of symptoms related to ADHD in the presence of primary insomnia, sleep terror disorder or sleepwalking disorder, whereas teachers may be more sensitive to ADHD symptoms in the presence of primary hypersomnia and nightmare disorder.

According to the study, sleep problems in children with ADHD may be caused by a variety of factors, including internet addiction, hyperactivity, use of stimulants and the presence of other psychiatric disorders.

“We now have evidence that prevention programs can be important tools to protect adolescents from the devastating effects of methamphetamine use, and we will continue to explore the effectiveness of other drug abuse prevention programs,” says Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. “These findings are part of our ongoing effort to support scientific research that can have practical applications in community settings.”

“Previous preventive interventions have shown effects in reducing adolescents’ abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, but this is the first study to examine the effects of a preventive intervention on methamphetamine abuse among youth,” says NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. “The results of this research indicate the effectiveness of prevention programs on lifetime or annual methamphetamine abuse.”

“Adolescents who participated in both programs showed a relative reduction in lifetime methamphetamine abuse of 65 percent compared with the controls,” says Dr. Richard Spoth, of Iowa State University and lead author of the study. “This means that for every 100 adolescents in the general population who reported methamphetamine abuse, there would be only 35 in the intervention population reporting abuse during the same period.”

“While some of these results are very promising, further research needs to be done to investigate the applicability of these particular programs to nonrural populations, rural populations in other parts of the country, and populations with different ethnic compositions,” says Dr. Spoth.

“Because stimulants are controlled drugs, there has been a concern that using them to treat children would promote future drug-seeking behavior,” says Joseph Biederman, MD, the study’s lead author. “But our study found no evidence that prior treatment with stimulants was associated with either increased or decreased risk for subsequent drug or alcohol abuse.”

Earlier studies examining whether stimulant treatment could increase substance abuse risk have had conflicting results, but they had several limitations, the authors note.

Some only looked at adolescents, although young adults are at the highest risk of substance abuse. Others did not control for conditions such as conduct disorder that are know to be associated with substance abuse or may have looked at the impact on use of only a particular substance.

Earlier studies from the MGH Psychopharmacology group had suggested that stimulant treatment might actually reduce the risk of substance abuse in ADHD patients, who are at elevated risk to begin with, but that result did not hold up in the current analysis, which included some of the same participants.

“Our current results, combined with other investigations, should help reduce the concerns that clinicians and parents may have about the use of stimulants to treat ADHD in children,” says Biederman, a professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

This type of epilepsy is characterized by frequent non-convulsive seizures that cause the child to stop what he or she is doing and stare for up to 30 seconds at time.

Prior to this study, there was no definitive evidence on which drug worked best.

The study group enrolled 453 children newly diagnosed with childhood absence epilepsy from 2004 to 2007. Study participants were randomly assigned to ethosuximide, valproic acid or lamotrigine.

“Much of our scientific understanding of childhood epilepsy care today comes from historical experience or studies involving adult patients with related, but not identical, conditions,” explained Colin Roberts, M.D., OHSU Doernbecher’s lead researcher for the study.

“This study is an important milestone in our understanding of childhood absence epilepsy. Never before have we been able to document in such a comprehensive, scientific fashion the best options to treat children with this condition.”

For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be ‘triggered’ into action and ‘transform’ from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of a foreign pathogen.
The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order to activate and they would remain dormant.

When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D. This means that the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize.

For the research team, identifying the role of vitamin D in the activation of T cells has been a major breakthrough. “Scientists have known for a long time that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and the vitamin has also been implicated in diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, but what we didn’t realize is how crucial vitamin D is for actually activating the immune system – which we know now.”

The discovery, the scientists believe, provides much needed information about the immune system and will help them regulate the immune response. This is important not only in fighting disease but also in dealing with anti-immune reactions of the body and the rejection of transplanted organs.

Source: News For Patients

The scientists also established that Ritalin produces these effects by enhancing brain plasticity – strengthening communication between neurons where they meet at the synapse. Research in this field has accelerated as scientists have recognized that our brains can continue to form new connections – remain plastic – throughout life.

Since Ritalin is known to work by improving behavior through two specific types of neurotransmitter receptors, the finding could help in the development of better targeted drugs, with fewer side effects, to increase focus and learning.

The research team showed that Ritalin’s therapeutic action takes place in a brain region called the amygdala, an almond-shaped cluster of neurons known to be critical for learning and emotional memory.

The research confirmed that learning and focus were enhanced when Ritalin was administered to animals in doses comparable to those used therapeutically in children.

Ritalin is frequently prescribed, it induces many brain changes, making it difficult to identify which of those changes improve learning. By identifying the brain mechanisms underlying Ritalin’s behavioral enhancements, scientists can netter understand the action of Ritalin as well as the properties governing brain plasticity.

Source: News For Patients