Falls Are Leading Cause of Childhood Injuries, Expert Says

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Falls are the leading cause of childhood injuries, and most of them occur in the home, a pediatric trauma expert said.

Many people associate falls with playgrounds, but kids can tumble off changing tables. They can also fall out of infant seats, shopping carts and windows, resulting in serious injuries, according to Dr. Christopher Moir, a pediatric surgeon at the Mayo Clinic Children Center in Rochester, Minn. Falling from windows often results in more serious injuries, according to Moir.

“It happens every day. Actually 14 times on average every day a child will be seriously injured from falling out of a window,” Moir said. “Kids play. They are active, imaginative and creative and they fall all the time. That’s what they do. But parents need to know how essential it is to never lose sight of their child while they are young and defenseless.”

About 8,000 children are treated daily in emergency rooms for falls, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Falls accounted for 35 percent of injuries involving children at Mayo Clinic’s Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center in 2014, Moir pointed out.

There are a number of ways parents can protect their children from falls, according to Moir. Here are some tips:

• Always ensure that children have adult supervision.
• Make sure children are buckled or strapped into bouncy seats, car seats and carriers.
• Don’t put bouncy seats or car seats on countertops, tables or appliances.
• Keep one hand on babies when they are on the changing table or couch.
• Use baby gates at the top and bottom of stairs.
• Don’t let kids stand in shopping carts.

It’s also important for parents to understand that window screens don’t prevent children from falling from windows, Moir cautioned.

Screens keep insects out, but they don’t keep children in, he said. Be sure that upstairs windows are closed unless they are opened from the top down. Avoid opening windows that children can reach. Never place furniture that children can climb on near windows. Be sure to set clear rules and let children know they are not allowed to play near windows or patio doors. Commercial window guards are also available to protect children from falls.

Children with a serious or life-threatening injury from a fall should receive immediate medical attention. Children who fall but do not appear to be injured should be closely monitored. Children who are not behaving normally should be seen by a doctor right away.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more tips on how to prevent child falls.

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Scientists Bioengineer First Artificial Animal Limb

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Researchers say they have taken the first steps in creating artificial replacement limbs that could be used for transplantation in the future.

Massachusetts General Hospital scientists have developed bioartificial rat forelimbs with functioning vascular and muscle tissue. (The term “bioartificial” means using biomaterials and cells to make replacement organs or limbs.) The scientists believe this process could one day work in primates — including humans — as well.

The researchers reported their findings online recently in the journal Biomaterials.

Although advances in prosthetic technology have helped the more than 1.5 million U.S. residents who are missing limbs, the artificial devices have functional and aesthetic drawbacks, the study authors noted. And transplants with donor hands, developed over the past two decades, expose recipients to risky immunosuppressive therapy for life, the researchers said.

“The composite nature of our limbs makes building a functional biological replacement particularly challenging,” said study senior author Dr. Harald Ott.

“Limbs contain muscles, bone, cartilage, blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and nerves — each of which has to be rebuilt and requires a specific supporting structure called the matrix. We have shown that we can maintain the matrix of all of these tissues in their natural relationships to each other, that we can culture the entire construct over prolonged periods of time, and that we can repopulate the vascular system and musculature,” Ott said in a hospital news release.

Ott and his colleagues explained that a recipient can provide the specific cells needed to regenerate all of the tissues that make up a limb. “What has been missing is the matrix or scaffold on which cells could grow into the appropriate tissues,” they said in the news release.

In Ott’s previous research, living cells were stripped from a donor organ with a detergent solution. The remaining matrix was repopulated with specific cells appropriate to the particular organ.

For the new study, he and his colleagues used this “decellularization” technique to tackle the complexities of a bioartificial limb, while growing muscle and vascular cells in culture.

According to the news release, the resulting limb is complete with vascular cells along blood vessel walls and appropriate fibers of muscle cells.

When transplanted into animals, blood circulated through the vascular system, and electrical stimulation of muscles flexed the wrists and digits of the animals’ paws, the researchers said.

Although animal research isn’t necessarily applicable to humans, the researchers said they also successfully decellularized baboon forearms to show the feasibility of working on a human scale.

One of the upcoming challenges, Ott said, is regrowing nerves within a limb graft and reintegrating them into a recipient’s nervous system. “Additional next steps will be replicating our success in muscle regeneration with human cells and expanding that to other tissue types, such as bone, cartilage and connective tissue,” he said.

More information

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs talks about engineering artificial limbs.

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8 Sunscreens That Actually Smell Delicious

POPSUGAR Photography / THEM TOO

We all know how dangerous sun exposure can be for our skin, but the whole sunscreen-application process can be a bit . . . stinky. That trademark chalky SPF scent just adds to the chore. We think if you have to put something on every single day, it should be comfortable and enjoyable! We dug through our stash and found the most delectable sunscreen formulas on the market — trust us: they smell so good, you’ll look forward to rocking them.

Escape to Rio

The sunscreen: L’Occitane Jenipapo Oil SPF 15 ($30)

The scent: A lush Brazilian rainforest replete with juicy mangos, tangy pineapples, and a hint of provocative jasmine.

Parisian Getaway

The sunscreen: Dermalogica Solar Defense Booster SPF 50 ($49)

The scent: An herb garden in France dense with fresh lavender.

Cocoa Beach Bound

The sunscreen: Sun Bum SPF 50 Disappearing Zinc Oxide ($10)

The scent: A banana-coconut daiquiri sipped surfside as you’re surrounded by tan and toned beach bods.

Staycation Swagger

The sunscreen: Coola Mineral Face Matte Finish SPF 30 in Cucumber ($36)

The scent: Crisp, refreshing cucumbers floating in a glass of ice water after a long, hot day.

Swept Away to Santorini

The sunscreen: Korres Suncare Yoghurt Nourishing Fluid Veil Face Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 30 ($35)

The scent: Freshly made Greek yogurt whipped with coconut cream.

Take Off to Thailand

The sunscreen: Tarte Tarteguard 30 Sunscreen Lotion Broad Spectrum SPF 30 ($32)

The scent: Ocean lilies surrounding you as you go for a midnight skinny dip.

California Cooldown

The sunscreen: L’Oréal Paris Advanced Suncare Invisible Protect Clear Cool Down Lotion SPF 50+ Sunscreen ($11)

The scent: A refill of a zingy citrus cocktail sipped in sunshine.

Hawaiian Heat Wave

The sunscreen:Hawaiian Tropic Touch of Color SPF 15 Lotion ($9)

The scent: That sexy sunscreen smell (with hints of papaya and shea) that you imagine seeps from the pores of your average beach goddess.

 

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The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Contouring Your Face

10 Refreshing Coconut Products That Will Keep You Cool All Summer

POPSUGAR Beauty puts the focus on hair, makeup, nails, and fragrance — from inspiring celebrity photos and fun polls, to easy how-tos to re-create the latest trends at home, to expert tips from the world’s top stylists! Find out the latest color trends for your face, hair, and nails with hot new products and daring nail design ideas. DIY ideas turn your home into a spa, and make you knowledgeable on any beauty topic. Let POPSUGAR Beauty be your guide to all things skin care, makeup, and hair care!

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Shingles Vaccine Appears to Cut Odds of Long-Term Pain

TBD, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Even when shingles vaccination does not prevent the disease, it reduces the risk of long-term pain that can occur as a complication of the condition, according to a new study.

Although the U.S. Advisory Council on Immunization Practices recommends shingles vaccination for people 60 and older, vaccination rates remain low, the researchers say.

“Hopefully, this study will encourage more people to get vaccinated in order to reduce the long-term pain and potential disability associated with shingles,” said lead author Hung Fu Tseng, a researcher with Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

Tseng’s team analyzed the medical records of 2,400 people in Southern California over age 60 who developed shingles. Some had been vaccinated against the disease.

Among vaccinated patients, just over 4 percent of women and 6 percent of men developed long-term pain (post-herpetic neuralgia, or PHN). The rates of PHN among unvaccinated patients were just over 10 percent for women and 5.8 percent for men, the findings showed.

The gender differences may be due to differences in how women and men seek care for chronic pain, according to the authors of the study published June 2 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

“Our study found that the shingles vaccine has an added protective benefit of reducing the risk of PHN for a vaccinated individual who still experiences shingles,” Tseng said in a Kaiser Permanente news release.

“This further confirms the importance of shingles vaccination for adults over age 60,” Tseng added.

The study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have chickenpox, the virus stays in your body and may not cause problems for many years. As you get older, the virus may reappear as shingles. Although it is most common in people over age 50, anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk.

There is no cure for shingles. Early treatment with medicines that fight the virus may help. These medicines may also help prevent lingering pain, according to the NIH.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about shingles vaccination.

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Misuse of ADHD-Type Drugs Starts Long Before College: Study

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Young Americans start misusing prescription stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall at an earlier age than previously believed, a new study says.

The University of Michigan study suggests efforts to prevent misuse of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs and other prescription stimulants should begin in middle school.

“We need to have a realistic understanding of when young people are beginning to experiment with stimulants, so we can prevent them from misusing for the first time,” study author Elizabeth Austic, a postdoctoral fellow at the university’s Injury Center, said in a university news release.

“To prevent someone from using for the first time is often more cost-efficient and effective than trying to intervene once they have done it, whether a few times or for years,” she said.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 240,000 people ages 12 to 21. They found the peak ages for using these drugs without a prescription — in order to get high, lose weight or for other reasons — are between 16 and 19.

Each year, just under 1 percent of teens ages 16-19 start using stimulant medications not prescribed to them, the study determined. Besides Ritalin, Adderall and other ADHD medications, these include prescription diet drugs and medicines that contain methamphetamine.

Prescription diet pills were the most popular stimulant drug misused by females, while Adderall was the drug misused most often by males, according to the study.

Problems posed by misuse of the drugs include the risk of dependence, hallucinations, suicide or sudden death, the researchers said in the July issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Noting that college students are thought to take stimulant drugs to cram for exams, Austic said, “People have been thinking this is a college problem, but they just don’t realize how prevalent it is at younger ages.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about stimulant ADHD medications.

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Study Shows Arthritis’ Toll on Work, Social Life

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Having arthritis and other chronic health conditions can often harm a person’s social life and ability to work, a new study finds.

About one in seven American adults has arthritis and at least one other chronic health problem, according to the study authors.

The researchers found that having a number of chronic health conditions was linked to work disability, significant mental distress, and limitations on social activities. The negative effects were even greater if one of the chronic conditions was arthritis.

Among adults with one chronic condition, those with arthritis were much more likely than those without arthritis to have work disability (16 percent versus 9 percent), according to Jin Qin and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Social activities were also more difficult for people with arthritis, the findings showed. Nearly 4 percent with arthritis said they had trouble participating in social activities compared to 2 percent who didn’t have arthritis.

In adults with two or more chronic conditions, those with arthritis were more likely than those without arthritis to have work disability (31 percent versus 22.5 percent), according to the 2013 national data.

In addition, among people with two or more conditions, those with arthritis also had more difficulty taking part in social activities (10 percent versus 6 percent), the study found. And, those with arthritis were more likely to have significant mental distress (10 percent versus 7 percent).

There are a number of inexpensive and proven methods that can benefit adults with arthritis and/or other chronic conditions, the researchers said in a CDC news release.

These approaches include increased physical activity and participation in self-management programs. These methods may ease pain and disability, improve physical function and mental health, and reduce the negative effects of other chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

The study is published in the June 4 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about arthritis.

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New Moms Gain No Benefit From Eating Placenta, Studies Show

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — While some celebrity moms swear by it and have made it trendy, doctors and scientists say consuming the placenta after birth offers women and their babies no benefit.

In fact, the practice — known as placentophagy — may even pose unknown risks to mothers and infants, according to a team from Northwestern University in Chicago, who pored over the accumulated research on the issue.

“Our sense is that women choosing placentophagy, who may otherwise be very careful about what they are putting into their bodies during pregnancy and nursing, are willing to ingest something without evidence of its benefits and, more importantly, of its potential risks to themselves and their nursing infants,” study lead author and psychologist Cynthia Coyle said in a Northwestern news release.

One expert agreed, saying the supposed benefits of placentophagy are vastly over-rated.

“Other species may eat their placentas, but this doesn’t mean humans should follow suit,” said Dr. Jill Rabin, co-chief of the division of ambulatory care at Women’s Health Programs, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

“The new research couldn’t find a single scientific benefit of eating one’s placenta,” added Rabin, who said she does not recommend the practice to her patients.

In the study, Coyle’s team reviewed data from 10 published studies. They found no data to support that eating the placenta — either raw, cooked or in pill form — protects against postpartum depression, reduces pain after childbirth, increases a woman’s energy, helps with lactation, improves mother-child bonding, replenishes iron in the body, or improves skin elasticity.

The researchers also said that there are no studies examining the risks associated with eating the placenta, which acts as a filter to absorb and protect fetuses from toxins and pollutants.

That’s of real concern, Rabin said.

“We have to remember that the placenta is there to nourish the baby during pregnancy and filter toxins so the baby isn’t exposed to substances it shouldn’t be,” she explained. “The risks of eating it are probably small, but we simply don’t know.”

Coyle also said that “there are no regulations as to how the placenta is stored and prepared, and the dosing is inconsistent. Women really don’t know what they are ingesting.”

Dr. James Ducey directs maternal-fetal medicine obstetrics and gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. He said that “if a woman wishes to eat her placenta I would let her, [but] it is not something I would try.”

Ducey said, “There is little benefit of consuming placenta as opposed to any other high fat and protein meal. Most of the constituents will be broken down during digestion, [and] there is some risk of infection as it is contaminated with vaginal bacteria.”

The review was published June 4 in the journal Archives of Women’s Mental Health.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about post-pregnancy health.

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FDA Panel Weighing Women’s Libido Pill

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A drug meant to boost women’s sexual desire is being considered for approval Thursday by an expert panel from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after being rejected by the agency twice in recent years.

The refiled application for the drug flibanserin follows a strong lobbying effort by women’s groups, consumer advocates and politicians who support approval of the daily pill for sexual dysfunction, the Associated Press reported. There is no drug on the market for women with low libido, and drug companies have been trying to get one approved since Viagra’s successful introduction for men in the late 1990s.

In a statement before the panel convened Thursday, Cindy Whitehead, CEO of flibanserin maker Sprout Pharmaceuticals, said, “The review of flibanserin … represents a critical milestone for the millions of American women and couples who live with the distress of this life-impacting condition without a single approved medical treatment today,” according to an NPR report.

Flibanserin, which would be sold under the brand name Addyi if approved, shifts the balance of the brain chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin to treat what is called “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” or HSDD, in premenopausal women.

In clinical trials conducted by Sprout, women whose average age was 36 took the medication for five months and reported an increased sexual desire, reduced distress and an increase in “sexually satisfying events” compared with women taking a placebo, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The latest application by Sprout includes new information requested by the FDA about how the pill affects driving ability. FDA scientists asked for the data because previous results in company clinical trials found that sleepiness occurred in nearly 10 percent of women who took the drug.

In the new study, Sprout compared the driving ability of women the morning after they took flibanserin with those who took a common sleeping pill or a placebo, the AP reported.

The FDA refused to approve flibanserin in 2010 and again in 2013, citing low levels of effectiveness and such side effects as nausea, dizziness and fatigue, the AP reported.

In an effort to pressure the FDA, groups funded by Sprout and other drug companies began pushing the lack of a female libido drug as a women’s rights issue.

For example, an online petition by a group called Even the Score states: “Women deserve equal treatment when it comes to sex,” and has collected nearly 25,000 supporters.

The group receives funding from Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Palatin Technologies and Trimel Pharmaceuticals, all of which are working on drugs to treat female sexual disorders. Nonprofit supporters of the group include the Women’s Health Foundation and the Institute for Sexual Medicines, the AP reported.

Sprout also sought support from politicians, and four members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA urging the agency to reassess the drug.

“There are 24 approved medical treatments for male sexual dysfunction and not one single treatment yet approved for the most common form of female sexual dysfunction,” states the letter, signed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida; Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, and two other Democratic congresswomen, according to the AP report.

However, on Wednesday, the National Women’s Health Network, a nonprofit advocacy organization, called on the FDA to deny approval of the drug in an organization news release, saying “significant known and unknown adverse reactions, drug-drug interactions and side effects outweigh the drug’s benefits.”

Cindy Pearson, executive director of the organization, said inattention to women’s health may have slowed progress toward finding a drug to address some female sexual problems.

But, she added in the news release, “based on our review of the data about flibanserin, it’s clear the problem with this drug is not gender bias at the FDA but rather the drug itself.”

More information

The American Sexual Health Association has more on women’s sexual difficulties.

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Blood Test Could Reveal Your Viral History

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A single drop of blood may reveal a range of viruses a person has contracted recently, or possibly years ago, a new study suggests.

Writing in the June 5 issue of Science, researchers describe a new technology that can test for more than 1,000 viral strains at the same time — using one drop of blood.

Experts said the achievement could represent an advance over existing tests, which look for just one virus at a time. But for now, they see the one-stop, $25 test as useful for research purposes, rather than real-world diagnostics.

“It’s hard to say how far off any clinical application could be,” said Tomasz Kula, one of the researchers on the study and a graduate student at Harvard University in Boston.

More immediately, Kula said, the test — called VirScan — could aid research.

“One example would be studies that look for correlations between people’s viral exposures and their risk of developing various diseases,” Kula said.

The Epstein-Barr virus, one of the most common viruses in humans, has been linked to increased risks of certain cancers. But studying such virus-disease connections has been challenging, Kula said, partly because current tests look for one virus at a time.

With VirScan, he explained, it might be possible to test a large group of people with a given disease and another group without the condition. Researchers could then see whether certain viral exposures were more common in people with the disease.

The VirScan test works by detecting antibodies to viruses known to infect humans; antibodies are evidence of a past immune system response to a particular virus.

To test the technology, Kula and his colleagues used blood samples from almost 600 people from the United States, Peru, South Africa and Thailand — all of whom were known to carry certain viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C.

Overall, the test accurately picked up more than 90 percent of those known infections, the researchers said. Plus, it rarely gave a positive result for someone who did not carry one of the viruses.

The test also detected antibodies against viruses that study participants were not known to harbor. On average, people had antibodies to 10 viruses, though a few had antibodies to at least 84.

Cold and flu viruses, along with various herpes viruses — including Epstein-Barr — were among the most common bugs detected.

According to Kula, it’s not clear how far back in time the test can dig. Over the years, antibodies to infection wane, he explained.

“This test gives a snapshot of the antibodies in your blood right now,” Kula said.

Plus, the typical adult has been exposed to far more than 10 viruses — the average in this study group, said Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease specialist who was not involved in the research.

“This is an interesting technology,” said Glatt, a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “But I’m not sure how this would be used clinically.”

For one thing, Glatt explained, it takes time for the immune system to form antibodies to a particular virus. “It’s not clear how evidence of a past exposure would say anything about the acute symptoms a patient is having now,” he said.

“If you think a patient has HIV,” Glatt added, “you order an HIV test.”

He agreed, though, that the test might prove useful in the research setting.

The research team did come across one unexpected finding, Kula said. Overall, study participants had very similar immune responses to specific viruses: That is, each person’s antibodies were directed against the same amino acids within a given virus.

“That was surprising because the immune response is thought to be very personal,” Kula said.

Going forward, he added, that finding could have implications for understanding the immune response to infection.

More information

The Merck Manual has more on diagnosing infectious diseases.

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Resuming Blood Pressure Meds After Surgery Linked to Better Outcomes

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People with high blood pressure who resume taking their medication soon after surgery may have a lower risk of complications and death, a new study suggests.

Researchers reviewed information from more than 30,000 patients taking a particular type of high blood pressure medication before surgery. All were taking drugs from a class of medications known as angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). These drugs are widely used to treat high blood pressure.

None of the surgeries was for heart-related problems, according to the researchers.

About one-third of those people didn’t restart taking their high blood pressure medication within two days of surgery. The study found this group was linked to a higher risk of death within 30 days compared to people who immediately resumed their medication.

The increased risk of death in people who didn’t start taking their blood pressure medication within two days after surgery was highest in people under 60.

The study also revealed that people who quickly restarted their drug regimen had lower rates of infection, pneumonia, heart failure and kidney failure. Though a cause-and-effect link was not established, this association suggests that getting back on these medications right away may reduce complications after surgery, according to the researchers.

The study was published online in the journal Anesthesiology.

“Sometimes doctors briefly stop ARB medications around the time of surgery because they are known to cause low blood pressure while under general anesthesia, which can be dangerous for the patient,” said lead author Dr. Susan Lee in a news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. She is a clinical instructor in the department of anesthesia and perioperative care at University of California, San Francisco.

Lee said this study shows how important it is to get back on your usual medications as soon as possible after surgery.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about high blood pressure medications.

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