Could Canine Research Offer Clues to Human Brain Cancer?

THURSDAY, May 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Dogs may help scientists unleash the secrets to a malignant brain tumor in humans.

Research across 25 dog breeds has uncovered three genes thought to increase the risk of glioma brain tumors.

The findings may offer clues about how these common and often untreatable tumors form in people, according to the study authors.

Gliomas are the most common type of primary malignant brain tumors in people and the second most common in dogs, the researchers said.

Certain breeds — such as Boxers, Bulldogs and Boston Terriers — have a higher risk for gliomas than others. This suggests a mix of genes may influence glioma risk, said study co-leader Katarina Truve, of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Two of the genes identified by the researchers have additional links to cancer, Truve and her colleagues said in the report published May 12 in the journal PLOS Genetics.

However, the study doesn’t prove that the genes cause brain cancer, and research in animals does not always translate to humans.

But the scientists said they’re continuing their analysis of the three genes, and their potential role in the development and progression of glioma in both people and dogs.

Along with learning more about the causes of glioma, this research could lead to new treatments for these brain tumors, the study authors said in a journal news release.

More information

The American Brain Tumor Association has more about glioma tumors.

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Severe Asthma in Childhood Linked to COPD Risk Later

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Though many children with persistent asthma get better as they get older, some may go on to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in early adulthood, a new study suggests.

People with the poorest lung function and reduced lung growth are most at risk for developing COPD, a chronic progressive condition that makes it hard to breathe, the researchers said.

“Study participants were children with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma, which places them among the most severe 30 or 40 percent of all childhood asthmatics. Among this group, serious airway obstruction is an early life possibility,” said researcher Michael McGeachie.

“There may be interventions that can help mitigate these risks, although we do not specifically identify any,” said McGeachie, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The investigators noted several limitations to the study. One is that it can’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship. The other is that longer-term follow-up is needed to see how these [lung function] changes affect the children’s health over time. For example, it’s possible that in early adulthood, any declines in lung health may plateau, the study authors suggested.

The report was published May 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the study, McGeachie and his colleagues followed nearly 700 participants in the Childhood Asthma Management Program. When the study began, the children were between ages 5 and 12. The researchers followed the children until they were at least 23.

Children were randomly assigned to receive one of three inhaled therapies: 200 micrograms of budesonide twice daily, 8 milligrams of nedocromil twice a day, or a placebo, the study authors said. Budesonide is a corticosteroid that’s commonly used as a preventive asthma medication, and nedocromil is a type of medication known as a mast cell stabilizer. It’s also a type of preventive medication for asthma.

The children were also given inhaled albuterol — a rescue medication — for asthma flares, according to background information on the study from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Study volunteers reported once a year to one of eight research centers in the United States and Canada to have lung function measurements, such as spirometry, a test that records how much air a person can breathe out in one second.

These tests allowed researchers to find patterns in the participants’ lung function.

At the end of the study, 11 percent of the young adults suffered from COPD. Other than persistent asthma, risks for COPD included being male and having poor lung function at the start of the study, the researchers said.

By the time children with persistent asthma reached early adulthood, 75 percent showed an early decline in lung function or reduced lung growth. Treating asthma in childhood didn’t change these patterns, McGeachie said.

More than 6 million children in the United States have asthma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Alan Mensch is chief of pulmonary medicine at Northwell Health’s Plainview Hospital in New York. He said that “asthma is a common condition of childhood where airways which transport air to the lung sacs can be triggered to spasm and narrow.”

With medication, or on occasion spontaneously, the airways resume their normal diameter, Mensch said. Adults can develop a similar condition called COPD. Unlike asthma, however, COPD airways never resume their normal diameter. This results in differing degrees of chronic shortness-of-breath, he explained.

“The results of this study help us to identify asthmatic children who will go on to develop COPD as adults,” Mensch said. “Future studies will be necessary to determine if there are any treatments that can be taken to prevent this progression.”

Dr. Mary Makaryus, a pediatrician at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said “the goal of treating kids with asthma is to keep them in school and out of the emergency room, and give them a better quality of life, which means playing as hard as the kids without asthma do.”

The next step, she said, is to see if controlling persistent asthma with stronger medications might improve lung function better than the drugs used in this study.

More information

For more on asthma, visit the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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Stroke Hospitalization Down for Many in U.S.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — While Americans suffered fewer strokes overall from 2000 to 2010, stroke rates climbed substantially among younger adults and blacks, a new study found.

Hospitalizations for strokes caused by artery blockages dropped 18.4 percent overall during the decade, with greater decreases among the elderly, University of Southern California researchers found.

Within the overall decrease, however, some groups saw an increase in hospitalizations as the burden of stroke shifted to younger adults. For example, although stroke hospitalizations dropped 50 percent for people 65 and older, they increased nearly 49 percent among 25- to 64 year-olds.

Stroke hospitalizations also varied by race — up almost 14 percent among blacks.

Dr. Paul Wright, chair of neurology at North Shore University Hospital, in Manhasset, N.Y., said, “There are things we can do to help prevent strokes.” Topping the list: living a healthier lifestyle, which can prevent as many as 80 percent of strokes, said Wright, who was not involved with the study.

The study authors said better control of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol probably accounted for the steep decline in strokes among the elderly.

Exactly why strokes are up among younger adults isn’t clear, but more awareness of stroke symptoms is the most likely reason, Wright said.

“People are more aware of the risk factors for stroke and seek help when something happens, as opposed to saying, ‘I’m getting a little numbness and tingling and weakness, but it will go away,’ ” he said. “So people are more likely to get help sooner.”

Wright believes the higher stroke rate among blacks is largely due to lack of access to care. He also cited a need for more stroke education targeted to this population.

Dr. Amytis Towfighi, senior researcher on the study, emphasized the protective role of lifestyle behaviors in stroke prevention.

“The majority of cardiovascular events including heart attacks and stroke can be prevented through changing seven modifiable risk factors, namely: smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, poor diet, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar,” she said.

If you’ve had a stroke, “it’s not too late to change your lifestyle. By making immediate changes one is on the road to a longer, healthier life,” said Towfighi, an assistant professor of neurology at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Healthier lifestyle habits probably accounted for the hefty decline in strokes for seniors — down 28 percent for those 65 to 84, and more than 22 percent for those 85 and older, Towfighi said.

For the study, Towfighi and her colleagues analyzed data from a national database that collects information on about 8 million hospital stays each year.

They looked at the most common type of stroke, called ischemic stroke. This occurs when a clot in a blood vessel in the brain cuts off the blood supply to that area. Symptoms usually include weakness or numbness and tingling on one side of the body.

The researchers found that stroke hospitalization for whites declined about 12 percent and for Hispanics nearly 22 percent. But it rose 13.7 percent among blacks.

Overall, women saw a steeper decline in stroke than men — more than 22 percent versus roughly 18 percent.

The study findings were published online May 11 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

More information

For more about stroke, visit the American Stroke Association.

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Teens Who Eat Lots of Fruit May Lower Their Breast Cancer Risk: Study

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Teenage girls who consume large amounts of fruit may lower their future risk for breast cancer, a new study suggests.

Conversely, women who drink more alcohol over time might increase their breast cancer risk, although they could also lower their chances of heart disease, a second report found.

In the fruit study, consumption of apples, bananas and grapes during adolescence was strongly associated with a drop in breast cancer risk. Roughly three daily servings of such fruits was linked to a 25 percent drop in risk by middle age, compared with consuming just a half-serving per day.

Women who ate oranges and/or kale as young adults also seemed to gain some protection from breast cancer, the investigators noted. But drinking fruit juice did not appear to confer any benefit.

“This is the first study that specifically shows that high fruit intake during adolescence may be linked with reduced breast cancer risk,” said study author Maryam Farvid. She is a research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

Still, Farvid cautioned that “due to the observational nature of the study, we could not provide evidence of cause and effect,” only an association between fruit consumption and a drop in breast cancer risk.

In the study, the researchers analyzed food questionnaires completed in 1991 by just over 90,000 women — aged 27 to 44 — who had enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II two years earlier. That survey focused on diets during early adulthood.

In 1998, more than 44,000 of the women completed a second food survey. That survey asked participants to recall what food they had consumed during adolescence.

Food and drink consumption was also tallied once every four years from 1991 to 2013, at which point the women were asked to recall their diets over the prior year. Breast cancer status was tracked every two years.

Over the two decades of the study, more than 3,200 women developed invasive breast cancer. Adolescent dietary information was available for about 1,350 of those women.

In the end, the research team concluded that higher fruit intake during adolescence was associated with a lower risk for breast cancer.

The report was published May 11 in the BMJ.

In an accompanying editorial, a team from the University of Oxford cautioned that “much more evidence is needed” before adolescent fruit intake can be declared protective. At the same time, the Oxford researchers suggested that people of all ages would do well to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables.

Farvid agreed. “Parents could do a great job in providing plenty of fruits and vegetables at home, and encouraging teens to adopt healthy eating habits,” she said.

That advice was seconded by Lona Sandon, program director in the department of clinical nutrition at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

“You’ll probably never be able to prove cause and effect, but time and time again the data shows that there’s something to starting out life with a healthy diet,” she said.

“Fruit has vitamins, minerals and all sorts of plant compounds that appear to be healthy for us,” Sandon added. “And it’s also worth noting that if teens are consuming more fruit, what are they not consuming instead? Are they eating less candy, cookies, cakes and soda? That may play a role as well.”

Meanwhile, the second study in the same journal explored the impact of long-term alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk.

Led by Marie Dam of the University of Southern Denmark, that investigation tracked alcohol patterns among roughly 22,000 postmenopausal women between 1993 and 1998, and again between 1999 and 2003.

In the end, the Danish team concluded that women who increased their overall alcohol intake by two drinks per day (over either five-year period) ended up boosting their breast cancer risk by up to 30 percent.

At the same time, Dam and her colleagues found that women who increased their alcohol consumption ended up with a 20 percent lower risk for heart disease, relative to women whose drinking patterns didn’t change.

Interestingly, cutting back on alcohol did not translate into improved odds in terms of either breast cancer or heart disease, the team team noted.

“We’ve known for a long time that alcohol consumption is related to breast cancer,” said Sandon. “So this is not surprising, even if it is a conundrum in terms of heart health. But if you have risk factors for breast cancer in your family, perhaps drinking red wine is not a good choice,” Sandon added.

“And there are better things you can do for heart health than drink,” she said. Her suggestions: “Exercise, eat whole grains and stay at a healthy weight.”

More information

There’s more on breast cancer risk from the American Cancer Society.

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The Common Habit That Could Totally Warp Your Body Image

When You Can (and Definitely Can’t) Use Your Phone at the Dinner Table

Photo: Getty Images

It’s happened to practically everyone: either you’ve been caught using your phone at the dinner table, or you were the person being ignored while your friend or family member scrolled through Facebook at a restaurant. Now, a new study from the University of Michigan explores how people use their phones during meals, and how they feel when their dining companions do the same.

After surveying 1,163 people from around the world between the ages of 8 and 88, the researchers found that many people believed it is more appropriate to text or answer a phone call during a meal, rather than posting to or engaging with social media. “These results are interesting because they challenge the idea that using your phone during a shared meal is categorically inappropriate,” Carol Moser, the lead author in the study and a doctoral student at the University of Michigan School of Information, said in a statement. “What we find is that attitudes are much more nuanced than that. A quick text or even a phone call with your boss might be okay. Watching someone across the table thumb through their Facebook feed, that’s different.”

Attitudes can also vary based on who the culprit is. Most participants believe that it’s more appropriate for adults to be on their phones, rather than children. As young adults got older, they were more likely to approve of table phone use—peaking among those in their mid-20s. Researchers also found that those who tend to use their phone during mealtimes are typically more tolerant of others who do the same.

In an ideal world, it would be best to unplug during mealtimes with friends and family members, says Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and owner of The Protocol School of Texas. “Overall, it really is distracting to use your phone at the table,” she says. “You want to give your dining companion your full attention and you want to show them respect by engaging—and you can’t really do that if you’re looking up and down from your phone.”

However, Gottsman agrees that some scenarios make using the phone unavoidable, like waiting for an important call from your boss, doctor, or family member. In that case, she recommends giving a heads up that you’re waiting for an important call and might need to step aside for a few minutes to take it. She also says it’s fine to use your phone to share a few photos with your dinner-mate—but not if you’re monopolizing the whole meal by sharing every photo from your latest vacation. “As long as both of you are interested they’re engaging in the conversation, it’s okay for a few minutes,” she says.

To curb the temptation of constantly checking your phone, Gottsman suggests removing it altogether: “If you’re not expecting a phone call, turn your cell phone off or put it in your bag or pocket. Most people can get away from their phone for an hour.” And if you’re dining with someone who is glued to their phone, politely ask them to use the mealtime to unplug and catch up (assuming, of course, that your boss or business client isn’t the offending party—then you’ll need to just let it go).

For more technology advice, check out these 7 commandments of email etiquette and social media rules every parent should know.

 This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com.

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Depression Strikes, Stays With Many Caregivers of Critically Ill

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Caregivers for the critically ill often suffer depression that lingers long after their loved one’s hospital stay ends, new research suggests.

“Caregivers to patients who have spent at least seven days in the ICU [intensive care unit] commonly experience symptoms of depression for the full first year after ICU discharge,” said study leader Jill Cameron. She is a researcher at the University of Toronto.

“A large portion of them improve over the year, but a [sub] group does not,” Cameron said.

Surprisingly, the ones who are most depressed “are not necessarily caring for the sickest patients,” she added.

Her team collected information on 280 caregivers of patients who had been in the ICU for seven days or longer on mechanical ventilation, which helps patients breathe. It is needed for serious medical conditions such as respiratory arrest, lung injury or traumatic brain injury. The caregivers were, on average, about 53 years old. Seventy percent were women, often caring for a spouse.

The researchers looked at characteristics of both caregivers and patients, determining what might predict poor mental or physical health.

The investigators evaluated the caregivers a week after the ICU discharge and then again three, six and 12 months later. They used a standard scoring scale to assess risk of depressive symptoms or of clinical depression.

Initially, 67 percent had scores that indicated either depressive symptoms or clinical depression. At the one-year mark, 43 percent had scores indicating either depressive symptoms or full-blown depression. Most improved over time, but 16 percent did not, the findings showed.

None of the patients’ characteristics — such as severity of illness — correlated with how depressed the caregivers were, the study authors said.

Younger caregivers said caregiving affected many of their other activities, and those who were making under $39,000 annually tended to be more depressed, according to the report.

The findings suggest that focusing help on caregivers with the sickest loved ones isn’t the answer, Cameron said.

Dr. Eugene Grudnikoff, a psychiatrist at Northwell Health’s South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, N.Y., agreed.

The younger caregivers studied by Cameron are “somewhat of a neglected group of people,” he said. The public perception of a caregiver is often someone caring for elderly, demented parents or chronically ill children, he added.

The study findings only focused on depression, but some caregivers also might have been experiencing grief. Depression and grief can overlap, Grudnikoff said.

“If you have grief, you will score a little bit higher on the CES-D [the scale used to measure depression],” he said.

Awareness is crucial for caregivers wanting to avoid depression, Grudnikoff explained. When others offer to help, accept those offers, he advised. Accept both emotional help, such as offers to listen, and logistical assistance, such as offers to pick up children at school or drop off dinner.

Caregivers should also pay attention to their own care, he said. That means paying attention to physical needs (eat well, exercise) and mental health needs (see a therapist if needed, for instance), he added.

Cameron said that the stress, obviously, isn’t over once the patient leaves the intensive care unit.

“All phases of illness can be stressful as they can be very different,” she said.

During ICU stays, caregivers worry about survival, Cameron said. Next, their concern shifts to recovery and transition to return to work or other activities. Those who want to help should know help may be needed over the long term, she added.

The report is published in the May 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

More information

To learn more about caregiving, visit the Caregiver Action Network.

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Nearly 1 Million More Kids Have Health Coverage After Obamacare

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Nearly 1 million U.S. children gained health insurance the first year after the Affordable Care Act — also called Obamacare — was fully implemented, a new report shows.

The number of uninsured children fell from 5.4 million in 2013 to 4.5 million one year later, according to the study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“The importance of coverage for all kids is perhaps the single most widely accepted position in the highly politicized world of health reform,” said Kathy Hempstead, who directs work on coverage issues at the foundation.

“We should be proud of the progress that we have made in recent years, and redouble our efforts to extend these protections to the several million children who are still without them,” Hempstead said in a news release from the nonprofit organization.

Health care reform increased the percentage of kids eligible for the Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the study found.

Across the country, 91 percent of kids eligible for Medicaid/CHIP were enrolled as of 2014. In 2013, 88.7 percent of eligible youngsters were enrolled. In 2008, enrollment was at 81.7 percent, the report showed.

Today, more than half of states have Medicaid/CHIP participation rates of more than 90 percent. States that expanded Medicaid for adults had the largest gains in Medicaid/CHIP participation, the researchers noted. The researchers suggested that parents who received new coverage under Medicaid may have learned more about the options available to their children.

Of the remaining 4.5 million uninsured children in the United States, more than 60 percent were eligible for Medicaid/CHIP in 2014, the researchers said.

In states that expanded Medicaid, about 5 percent of eligible children were uninsured in 2014. In states that didn’t expand coverage, about 8 percent of children were uninsured.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provides more information on the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

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Cracking the da Vinci DNA Code

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — It is called the “Leonardo Project,” and its primary aim is to reconstruct the genetic makeup of one of the greatest minds in history.

The effort, which will use cutting-edge technology to decipher centuries-old bits of DNA, may uncover what genes fueled Italian master Leonardo da Vinci’s extraordinary level of creativity.

A team of anthropologists, genealogists, microbiologists and art historians began their work this month in the Italian city of Florence.

The Renaissance star painted both the “Mona Lisa” and the “The Last Supper,” even as he invented prototype designs for wildly futuristic technologies such as the helicopter and the armored tank.

But the exact combination of inherited qualities and circumstances that might drive such creativity, skill and accomplishment remain a mystery.

The problem: Most of this information has been lost since da Vinci died in 1519, at the age of 67. Even the exact location of his grave has long been in doubt.

But, if granted the necessary approvals, the scientists will compare DNA from da Vinci’s relatives, past and present, with bits of remains from the master himself.

“We stand to gain not only greater historical knowledge of Leonardo but possibly a reconstruction of his genetic profile, which could provide insights into other individuals with remarkable qualities,” said Brunetto Chiarelli, of the International Institute for Humankind Studies in Florence.

The multipronged project has already tracked down a group of Italian residents of Florence, Vinci and Milan who are likely relatives of Leonardo. DNA collected from such individuals could then be compared with DNA extracted from remnants of hair, bones, skin cells and fingerprints believed to be associated with da Vinci.

Some of that da Vinci-related DNA ultimately may be retrieved using technology that could extract genetic information from the 500-year-old paintings and notes that the artist handled. Even the ancient dust layered on top of such objects is a potential source of genetic interest, the research team noted.

The project’s objectives, methods and work to date were published recently in a special issue of the journal Human Evolution. Chiarelli is editor of the journal.

Part of that work to date includes a high-tech investigation of da Vinci’s father’s tomb in Florence.

“I think everyone in the group believes that Leonardo, who devoted himself to advancing art and science, who delighted in puzzles, and whose diverse talents and insights continue to enrich society five centuries after his passing, would welcome the initiative of this team,” said Jesse Ausubel in a journal news release. He is vice chairman of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which is sponsoring the project. “Indeed [da Vinci] would likely wish to lead it were he alive today.”

More information

Here’s more on The Leonardo Project.

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Meet the 80-Year-Old ‘Glam-ma’ Whose Contour Is on Point

Makeup artist Tea Flego is one lucky lady. Not only does she have mad beauty skills, she also has possibly the coolest grandma we’ve ever laid eyes on. Grandma Livia, as she is known since sweeping the Internet recently, lets Flego use said skills on her to create some stunning makeup looks, like a flawless contour and document the whole thing on social media.

RELATED: Rainbow Lashes Are Now a Thing

Flego has been sharing Grandma Livia’s before and afters on Instagram and beauty girls around the globe are freaking out. Forget wanting her makeup looks at age 80, we want them now!

Seriously, this is one contouring tutorial that we could watch over and over again.

Judging by her Insta captions, Flego appears to favor products by Anastasia Beverly Hills and Huda Beauty (both with good reason – they’re the bomb) and has no shortage of false lashes to accentuate Grandma Livia’s pretty eyes.

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Lip Contouring

What a fun bonding activity between grandmother and granddaughter. And we’re positive that she’s the most glam woman in her nursing home, if not every nursing home on the planet.

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