Dodge the Jet Lag, Enjoy Your Trip

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People crossing time zones may assume jet lag is something they have to endure — like airport delays and lost luggage. But there are several ways travelers can prepare for and minimize jet lag’s troubling effects, a sleep specialist says.

First, flying from west to east, such as from the United States to Europe, will result in worse jet lag than the reverse trip, explained David Earnest, who studies circadian rhythms at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

“You will always be hit harder by jet lag when making a four- to six-hour time jump eastbound,” Earnest said in a university news release.

“This is because our body clocks are trying to advance to an earlier time, which is not as easy as adjusting to a later time gap,” he said.

Earnest provided the following recommendations on how to ease jet lag:

• Catch the red eye. Sleeping through an overnight flight is one of the best ways to reduce the effects of jet lag. Earnest noted, however, those who aren’t able to sleep on an overnight flight will be tired once they land in the early morning.
• Avoid sleep aids. These drugs can confuse the body clock and may worsen jet lag. They also remain in the bloodstream and can make travelers feel groggy or hung over.
• Pass on the alcohol or caffeine. It’s a good idea to avoid these beverages on overnight flights. “It is acceptable to consume caffeine to help you stay awake at the new location, though,” Earnest said.
• Plan ahead. People who adjust their current schedules ahead of time to accommodate the time zone of their destination may not feel as jet-lagged. This should be done at least four days before traveling. Sleep and meal times can be gradually moved about one hour per day.
• Consider melatonin therapy. Melatonin is a hormone that circulates in high levels at night. It tells the body when it’s nighttime and time for sleep. Unlike sleep aids, melatonin doesn’t stay in the bloodstream long. Travelers may want to consider taking an over-the-counter melatonin supplement five days before traveling at the local time that coincides with evening at their destination. It will acclimate you to feel sleepy at the new location’s time. It’s best to check with your physician before taking any new supplement.
• Try to adjust right away. “Walk around, drink some coffee and explore the new city,” said Earnest. “It’s better to tough it out and wait to sleep until night.” Exposure to sunlight will help the body adjust to a new time zone. It’s fine to get to bed on the early side but avoid trying to “sleep off” jet lag.

Delayed adjustment — not allowing your body clock to sync properly — ups your risk of illness. And that’s especially true since you’ve already been in the closed environment of the airplane, Earnest added.

“Your immune system is probably already compromised. There are merits to doing the right thing and waiting until dark to sleep it off, even though that’s not necessarily what your body is telling you to do,” he noted.

More information

The National Sleep Foundation provides more information on jet lag.

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Alzheimer’s Gene May Show Effects in Childhood

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A gene related to Alzheimer’s disease may start to show effects on brain structure and mental sharpness as early as preschool, a new study suggests.

Researchers have long known that a gene called APOE is related to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. People who carry a variant of the gene known as e4 have a higher-than-average risk.

The new study confirms what smaller studies have hinted: The gene’s effects may be apparent even in early childhood.

Brain scans revealed that young children with the e4 variant typically showed slower development in certain brain areas. These are the same brain regions that often atrophy in people with Alzheimer’s disease, said Dr. Linda Chang, a neurologist at the University of Hawaii, who led the study.

What’s more, some children with e4 performed worse on tests of memory and thinking skills — though the gap disappeared around ages 8 to 10.

Chang said it’s possible that people who carry e4 are vulnerable at the “extremes of age.” She pointed to two recent studies where infants with the gene variant showed certain structural abnormalities in brain areas that are known to be affected by Alzheimer’s.

Rebecca Knickmeyer, a researcher who led one of those studies, co-authored an editorial published with the new findings.

She said the research has no immediate practical implications. No one is saying kids should be tested for their APOE variants, for example.

Scientifically, though, the findings add to the “intriguing idea” that Alzheimer’s is partly a developmental disorder, Knickmeyer said.

If that’s true, she noted, the big questions are, when and how might it be possible to intervene and change someone’s “trajectory” toward dementia?

“Could we intervene early through some noninvasive approach, like diet or cognitive training?” said Knickmeyer, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For now, no one knows.

The APOE gene has three forms: e2, e3 and e4. Everyone carries two copies of the gene — one inherited from each parent. The e3 variant is most common, with more than three-quarters of the population carrying at least one copy, Chang’s team noted.

Far fewer people — about 14 percent — carry e4, while around 8 percent carry e2. People with one copy of the e4 variant have a higher-than-average risk of Alzheimer’s. Having two copies boosts the risk further, the researchers explained.

Because the e2 variant is uncommon, its role is less clear, Chang said. But, she added, there is evidence it’s “neuroprotective” and may lower odds of dementia symptoms — unless a person also carries a copy of e4.

Nothing about the APOE gene is “deterministic,” however, Knickmeyer stressed. Many people with Alzheimer’s do not carry the e4 variant, and many people with the variant do not develop Alzheimer’s.

The study findings were based on MRI brain scans of nearly 1,200 healthy children and teenagers. Overall, 62 percent carried two copies of e3, while around one-quarter carried at least one copy of e4. Less than 2 percent had two e4 variants.

The investigators found that children with one or two copies of e4 typically differed from other kids in some measures of brain structure.

Similarly, young children with two copies of e4, or one e4 and one e2, tended to do worse on tests of memory, thinking and attention, at least until age 8 or 10, the findings showed.

“That may indicate some sort of maturation effect,” Knickmeyer said.

The bigger point, she added, is that when it comes to mental skills, performance at any one point in time may not tell the whole story. “It may not be about ‘where you are’ at any given point, but how you got there,” Knickmeyer said.

There are big hurdles to figuring out whether any intervention earlier in life eventually makes a difference in Alzheimer’s risk.

Studies would have to be decades-long, which is logistically tough and expensive, Knickmeyer said.

And then there’s the question of which people to study.

“We’re just not particularly good at predicting who’s going to develop Alzheimer’s,” according to Knickmeyer.

Simply testing for APOE variants would not be enough, she explained, because that’s only one factor.

Figuring out which people would benefit from preventive efforts is critical, Chang noted. “Currently, we have few treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease, and the brain damage cannot be reversed,” she said.

Experts generally advise that people protect their brains by eating a healthy diet, exercising and staying mentally active.

The report was published online July 13 in Neurology.

More information

The Alzheimer’s Association has more on lifestyle and brain health.

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Rising Blood Sugar Hitting More Obese Adults

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Among obese American adults, control of blood sugar is worsening, leading to more diabetes and heart disease, a new study finds.

While blood pressure and cholesterol levels stayed relatively stable among obese adults, poor control of blood sugar led to a 37 percent increase in heart disease risk factors between 1988 and 2014, the researchers reported.

“Obese adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors may need more intense approaches — healthy diet, increased physical activity — to control blood sugar and achieve weight loss,” said lead researcher Dr. Fangjian Guo. He is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas in Galveston.

After climbing over several decades, U.S. obesity rates have leveled off. Still, about 35 percent of American adults are obese, according to background notes with the study.

Obesity hinders the body’s ability to process blood sugar. Over time, too many spikes in blood sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes, the researchers explained. Diabetes in turn is a known risk factor for heart disease and other health problems, such as vision loss and amputations.

However, weight loss can reverse this effect, the study authors noted.

“Controlling weight in obese adults to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes should be a public health priority,” Guo said.

A New York City specialist agreed, and recommended weight-loss medications as part of treatment.

“This is another wake-up call to provide not only more intense lifestyle interventions in this population, but also start with medications that can prevent diabetes and help weight loss,” said Dr. Joel Zonszein. He is director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center.

“In our health care system we chase diseases. However, we can now prevent diabetes and treat obesity early,” he added.

For the study, Guo and colleagues analyzed data on more than 18,600 obese adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey over almost 30 years. The researchers used body mass index (BMI) — a calculation based on height and weight — to gauge body fat. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or more.

Only 2 percent of obese adults had ideal heart health, a figure that remained stable throughout the study period.

Between 1988 and 2014, rates of diabetes rose from 11 percent to 19 percent, which was due to increases in blood sugar, the researchers said.

The investigators found that the rate of obese adults without the three key risk factors for heart disease — diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure — held steady at just 15 percent.

But the rate of obese adults with all three risk factors rose 37 percent — to nearly one in four, Guo said.

Risk for all three factors increased progressively from age 40 on. Young adults in their 20s and 30s had the lowest rate of all three, the study found.

“We have two choices: letting this population get sick and provide monies for treatment of complications and disability; or intervene early and prevent diabetes by encouraging weight loss, leading to a healthier and more productive life,” Zonszein said.

The report was published online July 13 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

More information

For more on type 2 diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

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Routine Eye Exams See Vision Problems You Miss

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Routine eye checkups often pick up unnoticed problems, particularly in older adults, a new study says.

“In asymptomatic patients, comprehensive routine optometric eye examinations detect a significant number of new eye conditions and/or results in management changes,” said the study’s author, Elizabeth Irving, and her colleagues from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

More than half of people with no new symptoms or vision problems receive new prescriptions or treatment changes as a result of routine eye exams, the researchers found. The need for vision prescription changes was found for two out of five people, the study noted.

Meanwhile, 16 percent were diagnosed with a new eye condition and 31 percent had a change in their ongoing care, researchers found.

The study included data on nearly 6,400 patients who visited a university eye clinic over the course of a year.

Roughly 40 percent said they had no problems with blurry vision, headaches, or other eye-related issues.

The most significant changes involved older people. Among young children, just 8 percent had changes resulting from their routine eye exams, but in adults 65 and older, 78 percent had changes, the study showed.

Besides seniors, those who let more time pass between eye exams are more likely to have their treatment plan change, the researchers noted. They said their findings highlight the need for regular eye exams.

The results were published in the July issue of the journal Optometry and Vision Science.

“Often people fail to see the need for symptomless eye examinations, but our authors make the case that there are numerous sound reasons for routine and regular eye exams,” Dr. Anthony Adams, the journal’s associate editor, said in a journal news release.

“These include important systemic diseases such as diabetes and eye diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration,” he added.

Young and middle-aged adults waited the longest between eye exams — about three years on average. These longer delays between visits were independently associated with a higher rate of significant changes, the researchers found.

“Given an overall greater than 50 percent detection of significant change, routine eye examinations do appear to be productive in asymptomatic patients, and this appears to increase with age,” the study’s authors wrote.

Routine eye screenings are believed to play a key role in preventing vision loss, but how often adults should have vision exams depends largely on age and medical history, says the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). If you have a family history of eye diseases, check with your eye doctor to see how often you need routine eye exams.

For most adults, the AAO recommends a comprehensive eye exam beginning at age 40. From 40 to 54, most symptom-free people can go 2 to 4 years between visits. From 55 to 64, the AAO recommends intervals of 1 to 3 years, and for those 65 and older, examinations every 1 to 2 years are advised. People with diabetes should have a dilated eye exam every year, according to the AAO.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on routine eye care.

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‘Liquid Biopsy’ May Show Whether Cancer Drugs Are Working

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Researchers have developed a blood test that might allow doctors to know quickly whether a cancer drug is working.

The technique is in the early stages of testing, and not ready for “prime time,” scientists said. But they were also hopeful that the research will help advance the use of so-called liquid biopsies in treating cancer.

Doctors have long used invasive biopsy procedures to get tumor samples, study them, then use the information to make treatment decisions or monitor a patient’s response to treatment.

But those procedures can be uncomfortable and carry some risks, like bleeding and infection, said Dr. Erica Mayer, a breast cancer expert with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Plus, she noted, some tumors are difficult to reach, and some patients are not healthy enough to have an invasive biopsy.

So there’s been “great interest,” Mayer said, in liquid biopsy technology — which allows doctors to detect and analyze tumor DNA in a blood sample.

“It’s much more favorable for patients because it doesn’t have the potential risks of traditional biopsies,” Mayer said. It’s also easier for doctors to take repeat blood samples over time.

There are already some liquid biopsy tests on the market. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first such test that can detect particular gene mutations that affect some lung cancer patients. If they carry the mutations — in a gene called EGFR — then they may benefit from the cancer drug Tarceva.

Also last month, a large study presented at ASCO’s annual meeting reported that liquid biopsies can be a reliable alternative to traditional biopsies when it comes to detecting mutations in patients’ cancer.

That study focused on finding tumor mutations that can be targeted with available drugs, said senior researcher Chwee Teck Lim.

“For our [test], we go one step further, to see how a patient’s cancer cells will actually respond to a given drug treatment,” explained Lim, a professor of biomedical engineering at National University of Singapore.

The technique involves using “microwells” to grow clusters of tumor cells from a patient’s blood sample. Lim’s team tested the approach using blood samples from 55 women in various breast cancer treatment trials.

They exposed the women’s tumor cells to a standard cancer drug called doxorubicin and found that the better the cell clusters established themselves in the microwells, the worse a patient’s prognosis.

The technique could give feedback as quickly as two weeks after treatment has begun, the researchers report online July 13 in the journal Science Advances.

That, Lim said, means that doctors could get “crucial information” on whether a patient’s cancer is responsive or resistant to a drug — and then make a switch if needed.

But, he stressed, this was only a “proof-of-concept” study. He said his team is planning to see how the test performs when other cancer drugs, and other types of tumors, are used.

Liquid biopsies are part of the wider drive toward more “individualized therapy” for cancer, said Mayer, a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston.

More and more “targeted” drugs are being developed, with the aim of zeroing in on specific abnormal proteins on cancer cells. Liquid biopsies are seen as a simpler, less invasive way to find out whether patients have mutations that are vulnerable to those drugs.

But the biopsies can also be used in other ways, Lim said. That includes monitoring a patient’s response to treatment.

“The rapid feedback provided by this [test] potentially allows detection of an onset of drug tolerance or resistance during the course of treatment,” Lim said. “This will enable us to immediately intervene and change treatment.”

It’s “premature,” Mayer said, to speculate on whether or how this test could eventually fit into cancer care.

For one, she noted, “what researchers see in a lab dish may not reflect what’s going on in a living being.”

But in general, Mayer said, the work being done on liquid biopsy technology is “exciting and promising.”

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has a fact sheet on common lab tests.

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Ronda Rousey on Why She’s Not Interested in Perfection: ‘Perfect Never Gets to Silence Its Critics’

With the help of UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, Reebok has kicked off a new arm to its long-running “Be more human” campaign: #NeverPerfect challenges women to embrace their imperfections and find strength in those less-than-stellar moments in life. The ad follows Rousey from a glammed-up version—sequin dress, full face of makeup and long-flowing mane—to the sports-bra wearing, bun-wielding, kick-butt fighter we all know, and most of us love. Both parts are equally Rousey, but the latter, some might say, is her less-than-perfect version. After all, it was that Rousey who lost to Holly Holm last November.

The thing is, Rousey doesn’t want to be perfect: “Perfect never gets truly tested. Perfect never gets to silence its critics. Perfect never gets a shot at redemption,” the fighter says in the voice-over. “So yeah, I’m fine not being perfect.”

But we can all agree, the 29-year-old is still a badass.

At an intimate lunch in New York City for the launch of #NeverPerfect, Rousey voiced her views on criticism, success, and how social media has colored our opinions of ourselves.

On happiness…

I’ve learned over the years that a surefire way to be unhappy is to try to make everyone happy with you.

On being true to yourself…

I’ve noticed in the social media age, that it’s almost like a projection of ourselves out into the world. OK, this is my profile, this is my representation of myself. It’s like everyone is on a first date with the world all the time. No one ever wants to show the flaws in themselves. They want to be like, “Here I am in Hawaii, and here I am in this great dress, and here I am with my friend Daniella.” It’s parts of your life, but that becomes a representation of this perfect version. I don’t want to be like, “Oh I need everyone to like me, so I have to act a certain way and I say something wrong and everyone will hate me.” No, this is going to come out the way it’s going to come out, like it or not. And that’s okay. It’s okay to have an Instagram post without a filter on it. It’s okay to post a picture where you don’t like how you look because you’re with someone you love. That’s what I think “Be more human” is; not constantly trying to groom and breed ourselves for everyone else, but trying to enjoy every single moment for yourself.

RELATED: Why Ronda Rousey Is the Body Image Role Model We Need

On always doing your best…

To be the best in the world, you have to be able to win every match twice on your worst day. [My mom] really didn’t push me to be perfect all the time, she pushed me to be so good that on my worst days I’m still good.

On criticism…

I’ve learned that taking criticism personally is a self-obsession, because there are millions of people out there that hate my guts. How selfish am I that I didn’t care about what those people thought about me until the day they decided they didn’t like me. I really don’t care about anything you think in your life except for your opinion of me. I really need to work on letting that go. It’s not a reflection of myself. It’s a reflection of them and what they think of me.

On training tough…

Tough fitness is about more than just training your body. You can go put on some fancy sweats meant to make your butt look good and climb on an elliptical for 90 minutes and be like “Yes, I did some fitness today.” Yes, your body is a little more moved than if you laid in bed a little longer, but you yourself haven’t changed because of it. Tough fitness is about training yourself mentally as well as physically, and trying to better yourself in every way. It’s about doing things that challenge you rather than, “I’m just going to run a mile and listen to this playlist like I do every morning so I can still stay a size 4.” Like no, like, set actual goals and do things to challenge yourself that you might not be able to do or you’re not sure about. Risk those failures and put yourself out there.

RELATED: 10 Inspiring Quotes from the Female Olympians Who Posed Nude for ESPN’s ‘Body Issue’

On beauty…

I feel the most beautiful when I wake up in the morning, like right away. It’s when you’re the least bloated and like fresh. Right when I get up in the morning, I’m just like “Oh I look good! And it’s downhill from here.”

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Apartment Dwellers More Likely to Smoke: CDC

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Apartment residents are more likely to smoke and less likely to have smoke-free rules than people living in single-family homes, U.S. health officials report.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 20 percent of adults living in apartments or condos smoked, potentially exposing nearby residents to secondhand smoke.

Among residents of single-family homes, however, only about 14 percent smoked.

Also, smoke-free rules prevailed in 81 percent of multi-unit housing units versus 87 percent of single-family homes, the study found.

“These findings show the importance of protecting all people who live in multi-unit housing through smoke-free building policies and access to tobacco cessation resources,” said Dr. Corinne Graffunder, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.

“Smoke-free rules help reduce secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers, prevent smoking initiation among youth and adults, support tobacco cessation among current smokers, and reduce the social acceptability of smoking,” she said in an agency news release.

The CDC reports that exposure to secondhand smoke results in 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults each year.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the 2013-1014 National Adult Tobacco Survey.

Use of any tobacco products was reported by one-quarter of apartment dwellers and less than 20 percent of people from single-family residences.

And close to 10 percent of multi-unit housing residents reported secondhand smoke entered their homes regularly, the study showed.

Exposure to secondhand smoke from nearby apartments or common living spaces remained an issue for one-third of multi-unit housing residents who have smoke-free rules at home, the CDC found.

Tobacco use in multi-unit housing was highest among black men between 45 and 64 years old. It was also higher among single, gay or bisexual people, residents of the Midwest, those with a high school diploma but no college degree and people making less than $20,000 annually, the researchers said.

“The Surgeon General has concluded there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke,” said study co-author Brian King, deputy director of research translation in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Opening windows or using ventilation systems does not effectively eliminate secondhand smoke exposure in multi-unit housing.”

The study was published July 13 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

More information

The American Lung Association provides more on the health effects of secondhand smoke .

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4 in 10 Americans Think Work Affects Their Health: Poll

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many Americans think their job takes a toll on everything from their health and stress levels to their eating and sleeping habits, a new poll found.

“The takeaway here is that job number one for U.S. employers is to reduce stress in the workplace,” said poll director Robert Blendon. He is the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

The poll, which included phone interviews with more than 1,600 workers in the United States, found that 44 percent think their job affects their overall health. And only 28 percent of those people believe the influence is positive.

Among the 16 percent who think their job is taking a toll on their health are those with disabilities, those with dangerous jobs, those working more than 50 hours a week, those working in retail and those earning low wages.

Stress is a significant problem among American workers, the poll found. Forty-three say their job is contributing to their stress. Nearly 30 percent also say their job influences their eating and sleeping habits, while 22 percent say the work they do affects their weight.

Many construction workers, those who work outside and health care professionals worry that their jobs could expose them to chemicals and contaminants. Others worry about stress, breathing polluted air, having accidents or sustaining work-related injuries.

Only about half of the workers say they have access to wellness or health improvement programs through their employer. Thirty-four percent rate these programs as excellent, while 24 percent say they are only fair or poor.

Healthy food options are also scarce for many working Americans, the poll found. More than half of those with factory or manufacturing jobs, as well as those working in medical, construction, outdoor or retail jobs, rate their workplace as only fair or poor in making healthy foods available.

Additionally, nearly 20 percent report working 50 or more hours a week, but most of these people feel working overtime is important for their career and about half say they enjoy their long hours.

Most workers show up for work, even when they are sick, the poll showed. This includes 60 percent of those with medical jobs and 50 percent of people working in restaurants.

The poll was conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Every year, U.S. businesses lose more than $225 billion because of sick and absent workers,” Robert Wood Johnson President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey said in a Harvard news release. “In many companies, as much as 50 percent of profits are eaten up by health care costs.”

More information

The U.S. Department of Labor provides more information on workplace health and safety.

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Epilepsy May Triple ADHD Risk, Danish Study Finds

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Children who suffer from epilepsy or fever-related seizures may face a higher risk of also having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new Danish research suggests.

The findings echo those of some previous research. But, U.S. experts said the new study is notable because of the large number of study participants — nearly 1 million — and the length of follow-up, which was up to 22 years.

The study looked at children born in Denmark from 1990 through 2007, tracking them until 2012. The investigators found those with epilepsy seemed to have nearly three times the risk of developing ADHD compared to children without epilepsy. And children who had fever-related seizures appeared to have an almost 30 percent increased risk of ADHD.

Children with both epilepsy and fever-related seizures had a risk of ADHD more than three times higher than those without a history of either condition, the findings suggested.

The researchers only found an association, and couldn’t prove cause and effect. Even so, the links held up even after the researchers took into account other factors that might have affected risk, such as birth weight and family history of neurodevelopmental disorders or epilepsy.

“The link between these conditions is not surprising,” said Dr. Josiane LaJoie, a pediatric neurologist at NYU Langone Comprehensive Medical Center in New York City. “All have their root within the central nervous system.”

Another pediatric expert agreed.

“Overall, it strengthens the finding which people have found before,” said Dr. Sayed Naqvi, a pediatric neurologist and epileptologist at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

Naqvi said he has seen the link between epilepsy and ADHD in his own patients, but not one between fever-related seizures and ADHD.

ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental condition, marked by inattention, inability to focus and impulsivity. Fever-related seizures usually involve a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes seizures.

It isn’t known why the conditions seem to be linked. However, the researchers speculated that common genetic risk factors might help explain the connection, among other possibilities. The three conditions share some other risk factors, including low birth weight and family history.

The study has limitations, Naqvi said, and the researchers addressed them in the report. For instance, no information was available on the medications given to treat epilepsy, so the drugs could have affected the risk of developing ADHD, the researchers noted.

The take-home message for doctors, the Danish researchers said, is to identify ADHD early so treatment can be initiated before symptoms become problematic.

Parents of children with either epilepsy or a history of fever-related seizures should be on the lookout for possible ADHD symptoms, said Naqvi. One of the first warnings, if the child has started school, is a decline in school performance, he said. “That could be a red flag,” he said.

And, LaJoie added, “It is vital that when caring for a child with epilepsy, some of the medical visit involves attention to academic achievement and psychosocial functioning.”

The study was published online July 13 in the journal Pediatrics.

More information

To learn more about epilepsy, visit the Epilepsy Foundation.

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How to lose the last two kilos

 

 

They say the last two kilograms are the hardest to lose, but we’ve found a loophole.

STEP 1.

 

Calculate your baseline

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories you’d burn per day if you were to lie in bed 24/7. It’s based on various factors including your height, age and body composition (a higher muscle to fat ratio will burn more calories even at rest). To calculate your BMR, plug your deets into this equation (known as the Harris-Benedict equation): 

BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)

e.g. a 30-year-old female measuring 167 cm tall and weighing 54.5 kg would compute 655 + 523 + 302 – 141 to get a maintenance level daily calorie need of 1,339, or 5,624 kJ, per day (multiply calories by 4.2 to convert to kJ lingo).

STEP 2. 

Body audit

If your numbers come in low, don’t panic. In addition to what you burn to maintain basic bodily functions, you need to add your other energy usage. What you want to work out how many kJs you’re burning on average per day, and how many kJs you need to cut to lose your target kilos, is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which comprises BMR (65 per cent), physical activity and thermic effect of food. 

To calculate your TDEE, multiply your BMR by your activity level according to these numbers.

Sedentary = BMR x 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)

Lightly active = BMR x 1.375 (light exercise / sports 1–3 days/week)

Moderately active = BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise / sports 6–7 days/week)

Very active = BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise every day, or exercising 2 times/day)

Extra active = BMR x 1.9 (hard exercise 2 or more times per day, or training for marathon, or triathlon, etc.)

e.g. If your BMR is 1,339 calories, or 5,624 kJ, and you’re lightly active, your activity factor is 1.375, making your TDEE 1.375 x 1,339 or 5,624, or 1,841 calories/7,733 kJ. In theory consuming 7,733 kJ each day (or 54,129 kJ a week – there’s no penalty for zig-zagging to accommodate a dinner party) will maintain your current weight.

STEP 3. 

Budget crunch

Based on the 0.5 kg a week deemed optimal, you’ll need a cumulative deficit of 14,700 kJ a week (there are 14,700 kJ in half a kilo of body fat). A weekly deficit of 7,350 kJ will translate to loss of 0.25 kg per week. Aim to eat approximately the same amount of kJs each day, but don’t get obsessive. If you want to go out for parma (around twice the kJs in a Lean Cuisine dinner), shoot for 1,000 kJ less than your loss needs the following day and you’ll come out square. 

STEP 4. 

Loophole phase 

You can’t out-train a bad diet because it’s so much easier to consume calories than burn them. (A flavoured milk packs in more than an hour’s workout burn in a few gulps.) Yet exercise can give you an extra food allowance. By burning 400 calories in spin class, you can still eat 7,080 kJ and lose your half a kilo a week.

Looking for more weightloss tips? Check out Alexa Towersey's top fat loss tips. 

 

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