LGBT Immigrants Often Faced Persecution in Homeland: Study

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people seeking asylum in the United States and Canada report suffering persecution and abuse in their homelands, a small study reveals.

The severe verbal, physical and sexual abuse often began in childhood, the study found. Perpetrators included parents and caregivers, peers and school staff, the Rutgers University researchers said.

The study included 26 interviews with people who obtained refuge or asylum in the United States or Canada on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. They came from Barbados, Belarus, Jamaica, Iran, Kenya, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Trinidad, Uganda, Ukraine and Venezuela.

The study supports previous research showing that LGBT children and teens are at high risk for abuse that contributes to mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, traumatic stress, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

“The findings suggest that compared to what we already know about LGBT youth in the U.S., children and youth in these countries have fewer support system resources, which impacts their resiliency,” study author Edward Alessi, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., said in a university news release.

“Also, unlike youth in the U.S. and Canada who can choose to move to a more tolerant region, moving to another part of the country does not help because of laws and policies that make escaping severe homophobia and transphobia difficult,” he added.

Many study participants had ongoing conflicts with family members. All but four said they suffered abuse from peers and/or school staff. The abuse began in primary school and continued through high school. Some of the participants switched schools, while others eventually dropped out, the study found.

“When victimization occurred at the hands of peers or teachers, some participants could not rely on their parents to protect them. Many parents believed that participants had brought the abuse upon themselves because of their gender non-conformity. Additionally, they had nowhere to turn since parents and family members perpetrated the abuse as well,” Alessi said.

Despite the abuse, the study participants showed high levels of resilience.

“To deal with their situations during childhood and adolescence, many immersed themselves in their studies and therefore excelled academically. Furthermore, seeking refuge or asylum should be considered an act of resilience in and of itself,” Alessi said.

The study was published recently in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about LGBT health.

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Try Home Remedies for Child’s Cough or Cold

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Instead of turning to over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, parents should consider treating their children with home remedies, says a leading group of U.S. pediatricians.

Like all medications, even cold and could remedies available without a prescription can cause serious side effects in young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics cautions.

Because of the risks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008 recommended that children younger than 4 years old never be treated with over-the-counter cough and cold medicines.

Children between 4 and 6 years old should only take these remedies under the direction of their doctor, the academy said in a news release. But children older than 6 can safely take over-the-counter drugs if the dosage instructions on the package are followed correctly.

There are safer, more convenient and less costly ways to provide sick kids with some relief from such symptoms as a stuffy nose and coughing, the academy advised. Some of its suggestions include:

• Runny nose: Grab a tissue. A runny nose can be stopped by suctioning it or blowing it. Although antihistamines are useful in treating nasal allergies, they don’t help relieve cold symptoms. The good news is that runny noses help the body get rid of the nasty viruses that make kids sick.
• Stuffy nose: No medication can remove dried mucus or pus from the nose, but nasal washes can help. Saline nose spray or drops may loosen up mucus so that kids can blow their nose more easily. Saline solution can be made at home by adding 2 milliliters (mL) (0.4 teaspoon) of table salt to 240 mL (8 ounces) of warm tap water. If saline isn’t available, a few drops of warm water in each nostril also works. This can be repeated until the nose becomes clear. Very sticky mucus can also be removed with a wet cotton swab. If the air is dry, using a humidifier or running a warm shower can keep kids’ mucus from drying up.
• Coughing: Children under 3 months old should be seen by their doctor. Babies between 3 months and 1 year with a cough can be given one to three teaspoons (5 to 15 mL) of warm, clear fluids, such as water or apple juice, four times daily. Children younger than 1 year should not consume honey, but kids older than 12 months can take up to one teaspoon of honey as needed to thin their mucus and loosen their cough. If honey isn’t available, corn syrup could also help. However, research shows that honey reduces the frequency and severity of nighttime coughing better than corn syrup.
• Coughing spasm: Exposure to warm mist from a shower can help ease bouts of coughing.

Kids with coughs or colds may not always need treatment, the academy noted. If children aren’t bothered by their symptoms and continue to play and sleep normally, over-the-counter or home remedies aren’t necessary. These treatments are only helpful if illness is making children very uncomfortable and preventing them from sleeping.

Parents should also remember that fevers help the body fight viruses and should only be treated if they reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and the child is uncomfortable. High fevers and pain may be treated with acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), the academy says.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides more tips on the safe use of cough and cold remedies.

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Suppository Eases Vaginal Dryness in Small Study

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — For postmenopausal women, suppositories containing the hormone DHEA may reduce vaginal dryness, discomfort and pain during sex without raising overall estrogen levels, researchers report.

DHEA is an anti-aging hormone produced by both women and men. In supplement form, it is used to improve thinking skills in older people. But DHEA is also a hormonal precursor of estrogen and testosterone, so some women who have low levels of certain hormones take it to improve well-being and sexuality, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

“Although this medication is considered ‘hormonal,’ the mechanism appears to be primarily local with minimal side effects beyond vaginal discharge from the suppository,” said Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, executive director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Generally, without hormonal treatment after menopause, vaginal tissues shrink and produce less moisture, leading to discomfort during sex, and vaginal and urinary problems, according to background information in the study.

In this phase 3 clinical trial, 325 women who used the DHEA suppository daily saw significant improvements in vaginal dryness after 12 weeks, compared to 157 women using a placebo.

“Its action seems to be entirely within [vaginal] cells, and no significant amount of sex hormone gets released into the circulation,” Pinkerton said in a society news release.

“That means that intravaginal DHEA avoids the raised hormone levels that might stimulate breast tissue or the lining of the uterus, which are concerns for women at risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers, or cancer recurrence, in these organs,” she said.

The findings were published online Jan. 5 in the journal Menopause, a NAMS publication.

One woman’s health expert noted that DHEA may be a better option than estrogen treatments for some women.

“Intravaginal DHEA is a good alternative to estrogen creams in postmenopausal women with vaginal atrophy that manifests as vaginal dryness and pain with intercourse,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, an urology specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“Intravaginal DHEA does not increase a woman’s exposure to the effects of estrogen that concern many women, like endometrial hyperplasia [thickening of the lining of the uterus that can raise the risk for cancer] and breast cancer risk,” Kavaler added.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about menopause.

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Here’s What Happens When You Give Up Drinking for New Year’s

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Taking a month off drinking is an increasingly common New Year’s resolution, though it remains unknown how successful people are at staying sober for a month, or what distinguishes people who can keep it up compared to those who can’t, according to a new study.

Researchers of the new report, published in the journal Health Psychology, looked at 857 British men and women who pledged to partake in a “Dry January,” and stay sober for the month. The researchers wanted to better understand what makes a person successful at staying sober for 31 days, and how the month-long sobriety affects future drinking behavior.

The men and women in the study filled out three questionnaires: one at the start, one a month later, and one six months later. Overall, 64% of the people completed the Dry January, with a pretty even split of men and women. The people who successfully completed the month were more likely to report at the beginning of the month that they consume fewer drinks, are less often drunk, and score lower on a Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) compared to other people participating. They were also more likely to have significantly higher drink refusal self-efficacy (DRSE) scores at baseline.

In general, participating in Dry January was associated with significantly fewer drinking days per week, fewer drinks per drinking day, and a lower frequency in drunkenness six months later. Interestingly, the researchers noted that even people who did not finish the month experienced positive changes in behavior. In general, few of the men and women experienced rebound effects, the study authors note. Most of the people staying sober for the month reported reductions in their overall alcohol consumption.

The study has limitations since the people involved voluntarily chose to participate in Dry January, and therefore may not be representative of the general public. Still, the researchers believe their findings add value. “Taken together, these findings suggest that abstinence challenges such as Dry January can lead to changes toward healthier drinking and health-enhancing beliefs about alcohol, and are unlikely to result in undesirable rebound effects,” they conclude.

Read more: Here’s What Happens When You Drink Red Wine Every Night

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

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9 Kick-Ass Fitness Quotes You Can Wear

It’s January, so if you weren’t already regularly hitting the gym (or running trail, pool, or yoga studio…), then you probably are at least thinking of doing it now. Let Health‘s January/February cover star, Cassey Ho—also known by her YouTube username, Blogilates—inspire you to sweat. These Blogilates Designs tops feature motivational phrases that will make you excited to get dressed to go work out. (And if you’re looking for a way to kickstart your 2016, Cassey and Health have teamed up to bring you 30 days of fat-burning workouts with this Total Body Challenge.)

See something you like? Use the code HEALTH at checkout for an exclusive 15% discount.

Sore Today, Strong Tomorrow ($14)

Eat Meticulous, Train Ridiculous ($10)

Dream, Believe, Achieve ($21.50)

 

I Don’t Sweat, I Sparkle ($22)

 

OK, But First Pilates ($22)

 

Waffles: Pancakes With Abs ($25)

 

Donut Ever Give Up ($25)

Eat, Sleep, Pilates, Repeat ($22)

 

Train Like a Beast, Look Like a Beauty ($10)

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Equinox’s New Campaign Puts a Provocative Spin on New Year’s Resolutions

With the majority of us looking at the New Year as a fresh start in some capacity of our lives, it’s always helpful to get some encouragement from an outside source. Whether it be family, friends or co-workers, we can always use a little championing now and then.

RELATED: Body Positivity Yields Some Really Shocking Results

Equinox is going bold with their New Year’s cheerleading routine, promoting a movement that wants to celebrate every hard-won, challenging, fearless moment in your life. Their Commit to Something campaign is edgy and fierce, complete with glossy, provocative photos shot by famed photographer Steven Klein.

Proving they’re about more than just fitness, the empowering images include Lydia Hearst as a mom breastfeeding in public and Bianca Van Damme (yes, that would be the daughter of Jean-Claude) as a passionate activist.

RELATED: The Most Body-Positive Celeb Moments of 2015

“It is the responsibility of advertising to communicate modern times and social issues,” says Klein in a statement. “This campaign addresses today’s issues and social commentaries, which is a powerful approach instead of portraying people as superficial objects with no narrative.”

And if the hair looks particularly on point, Chris McMillan is responsible. So, you know, it’s to be expected.

RELATED: Beauty Blogger Jaclyn Hill Shares Emotional Plea on YouTube

So whether your goal this year is to tackle a personal health challenge, stand for something you believe in, or pave your own way to better future, Equinox has your back.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

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Brain Wiring Changes Might Help Guard Against Bipolar Disorder

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Naturally occurring brain wiring changes might help prevent bipolar disorder in people who have a high genetic risk for the mental illness, a new study suggests.

The discovery about these brain wiring changes could help efforts to develop better treatments for the disorder, according to Mount Sinai Hospital researchers in New York City.

People with bipolar disorder experience severe swings in mood, energy and activity levels, and the ability to perform daily tasks. Genetics are a major risk factor, and people with a parent or sibling with bipolar disorder are much more likely to develop it than those with no family history of the mental illness.

Researchers used functional MRI to monitor the brains of bipolar disorder patients, their siblings who did not have the illness (resilient siblings) and unrelated healthy volunteers. The bipolar disorder patients and their resilient siblings had similar abnormalities in brain wiring that handles emotional processing, but the resilient siblings had additional changes in that wiring.

“The ability of the siblings to rewire their brain networks means they have adaptive neuroplasticity that may help them avoid the disease even though they still carry the genetic scar of bipolar disorder when they process emotional information,” study lead author Dr. Sophia Frangou, a professor of psychiatry, said in a Mount Sinai news release.

The study was published online Jan. 5 in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

“A family history remains the greatest risk factor for developing bipolar disorder and while we often focus on risk, we may forget that the majority of those who fall into this category remain well,” Frangou said.

“Looking for biological mechanisms that can protect against illness opens up a completely new direction for developing new treatments. Our research should give people hope that even though mental illness runs in families, it is possible to beat the odds at the genetic lottery,” she concluded.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about bipolar disorder.

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Artificial Pancreas to Get Long-Term ‘Real-Life’ Trial

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A long-term clinical trial of an artificial pancreas designed to control blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes will begin early this year.

The artificial pancreas will be tested for six months in 240 people with type 1 diabetes at nine sites in the United States and Europe. Researchers will compare this system to current diabetes management with an insulin pump. Then, 180 of those patients will be followed for another six months, the researchers said.

The wearable system — developed by University of Virginia and Harvard University researchers with almost $13 million in funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health — supplies appropriate amounts of insulin by detecting changes in the body and predicting blood sugar levels in advance.

“The idea is that this can lead to an improved quality of life for individuals with this disease — not a solution to diabetes, but a means to really extend the quality of their healthful living,” co-principal investigator Francis Doyle III said in a joint news release from Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Doyle is dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

About 1.25 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone that plays a key role in regulating blood sugar levels in the body. People with type 1 diabetes must replace that lost insulin, either through multiple daily injections or via a thin tube inserted under the skin that’s then attached to an insulin pump.

The artificial pancreas is not a replica of a human pancreas. Instead, it consists of an insulin pump with tubing inserted under the skin, a blood sugar monitor with a wire sensor placed under the skin, and a smart phone loaded with software that determines how much insulin is required based on factors such as food intake, physical activity, stress, metabolism and sleep.

“The biggest challenge in the design of the artificial pancreas is the inherent uncertainty in the human body,” Doyle said. “Day to day, hour to hour, the various stresses that impact the human body change the way it responds to insulin-controlling glucose. Physical stresses, anxiety, hormonal swings will all change that balance. To be able to control for those factors, we need to see longer intervals of data.”

Doyle said this is the first trial that will give the researchers multiple months of information. That much data will give the researchers a long enough window to learn patterns, adapt and fine-tune the algorithms for the system, and to improve the overall level of glucose control, he explained.

“To be ultimately successful as an optimal treatment for diabetes, the artificial pancreas needs to prove its safety and efficacy in long-term pivotal trials in the patient’s natural environment,” principal investigator Boris Kovatchev, director of the Center for Diabetes Technology at the University of Virginia, said in the news release.

“Our foremost goal is to establish a new diabetes treatment paradigm: the artificial pancreas is not a single-function device; it is an adaptable, wearable network surrounding the patient in a digital treatment ecosystem,” he added.

More information

Learn more about artificial pancreas systems from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Millions of Teens Exposed to E-Cigarette Ads: CDC

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) — E-cigarette use is soaring among U.S. teenagers, largely because of advertising aimed at their age group, federal health officials said Tuesday.

Seven out of 10 middle school and high school students say they’ve seen e-cigarette ads in stores, online or in other media, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Not coincidentally, e-cigarette use is increasing rapidly in kids,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

Frieden said the ads are similar to those “that got a generation of kids hooked on tobacco.” They rely on the same themes — independence, rebellion and sex — used to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, he said.

“This is a page right out of the tobacco company playbook,” Frieden said.

According to the “Vital Signs” report published online Jan. 5 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, more than 13 percent of high school students were using e-cigarettes in 2014 — more than the number smoking regular cigarettes, and up from 1.5 percent from three years earlier.

In middle schools, nearly 4 percent of students were using e-cigarettes by 2014. Meanwhile, spending on e-cigarette advertising jumped from $6.4 million in 2011 to about $115 million in 2014, the study authors noted.

“E-cigarettes shouldn’t be used by kids,” Frieden said. They are nicotine-delivery devices that can become addictive and lead to smoking regular cigarettes, he added.

Moreover, “there is increasing evidence that nicotine may cause long-term damage to the developing brain,” Frieden said. “It may change the wiring of the brain in ways that may be permanent.”

Noting that tobacco advertising has been shown to prompt some kids to start smoking, the researchers said unrestricted marketing of e-cigarettes could upend the progress made over decades to prevent kids from smoking.

For the report, CDC researcher Dr. Tushar Singh and colleagues used data from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey. The investigators found that about 69 percent of middle and high school students see e-cigarettes ads from one or more media sources. More than half see ads in retail stores, while about 40 percent see them online. About 36 percent see the ads on TV or at the movies, and around 30 percent spot them in newspapers and magazines.

Currently, e-cigarettes are not regulated in the United States, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it intends to regulate them. “We need a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes — that’s very important,” Frieden said. “It’s a wild West out there.”

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the regulatory process, but no timetable has been set, the CDC authors stated.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said it’s time for government action.

“It shouldn’t be a surprise that youth use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed when kids are being inundated with marketing for these products,” Myers said.

Indiscriminate e-cigarette marketing, coupled with a lack of government oversight, “is putting the health of our nation’s kids at risk,” said Myers. “This report makes clear that we can’t afford more delays in government oversight of e-cigarettes.”

The final rules, he said, should include strong restrictions on youth-oriented marketing, flavors and Internet sales.

For now, the CDC suggests several ways to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers:

• Limit sales to places that never admit minors.
• Restrict the number of stores that sell tobacco and e-cigarettes and how close they can be to schools.
• Ban e-cigarette sales over the Internet.
• Require age restrictions to enter e-cigarette websites and to buy or accept deliveries of e-cigarettes.

“E-cigarettes and kids should not be mixing,” Frieden said. “It’s unfortunate that the industry has not been responsible about appealing to kids, and it’s unfortunate that more than 2 million of our kids are using e-cigarettes as a result.”

More information

For more on e-cigarettes, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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How Putting a Mirror in Your Dining Room Might Help You Lose Weight

Photo: Getty Images

Magic mirror on the wall, should I stop eating junk food once and for all? Yes. And using a mirror might actually help you do so, per a new study.

How? Researchers at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab found that eating unhealthy food in front of a mirror can make it seem significantly less delicious.

RELATED: 3 Totally Free and Easy Ways to Lose Weight

To get these results, researchers conducted a taste test with 185 undergraduate students. The students were asked to choose either chocolate cake or fruit salad. After selecting their food, half the participants ate in a room facing a mirror while the other half ate in a reflection-free setting. Afterward, they were asked to rate the taste of the food for the researchers.

Among the cake-eaters, those who ate in the presence of a mirror enjoyed their cake less than the participants who didn’t have to watch themselves eat.  However, the people who ate fruit didn’t record any difference in tastiness due to setting.

“A glance in the mirror tells people more than just about their physical appearance. It enables them to view themselves objectively and helps them to judge themselves and their behaviors in a same way that they judge others,” lead researcher Ata Jami, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida, said in a news release.

RELATED: 57 Ways to Lose Weight Forever, According to Science

In other words, having to actually watch yourself eat something unhealthy triggers discomfort brought on by deeply ingrained social standards (in this case, that sugar is bad for your health). However, after conducting a related experiment, Jami found this phenomenon only applies if you opted to eat the unhealthy food—because then you’re actually responsible for the choice.

In that case, could mirrors be a secret to making healthier food choices? Researchers believe the answer is yes.

So if you’re seeking an easy way to boost your weight-loss goals, you may want to consider picking up a new decorative mirror for your dining room or kitchen. It could help you (quite literally) watch what you eat.

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