Levitra ED medication

Just weeks after quitting smoking, women show major reductions in several markers of inflammation associated with heart disease risk, new research shows.

The findings point the way to a strategy for encouraging people at risk of heart disease to kick the habit, the study’s authors say.

Smoking is known to promote inflammation, while quitting cuts the risk of developing and dying from heart and lung disease, Dr. Christine N. Metz of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, and her colleagues write in the medical journal Chest. However, it’s unknown whether benefits are seen immediately after a person quits.

To investigate, they performed blood tests for several markers of inflammation, including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and other substances, in 36 women participating in a smoking cessation program. The women were tested four times over 6 to 7 weeks.

Levels of TNF and two related substances fell steadily through the course of the study, the researchers found. Levels of CRP and interleukin-6 also fell.

Informing people about the “age and health” of their lungs is known to help encourage them to quit smoking, Metz and her team note, and using markers of inflammation like those measured in the current study could provide similar information on cardiovascular health.

“Quantifiable information reflecting cardiovascular health may act as positive reinforcement for those trying to quit and remain smoke free,” they add.

“We propose the identification of a panel of inflammatory biomarkers that could be used as measurable milestones for persons quitting smoking in a smoking cessation program focused on improving cardiovascular health for smokers who are at risk,” they conclude.

Parents who try to battle the childhood obesity epidemic by forbidding their kids to eat certain foods are not going to keep them from gaining weight and may actually be making the situation worse, researchers say.

Parents play a critical role in helping children make food choices that will allow them to maintain a healthy weight, according to doctors and experts. But success depends on using the right approach.

A child’s inhibitory control, which is similar to self-control, is the key factor in controlling weight. The concept is explored in an article published online in advance of release in an upcoming print issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

In the study, Stephanie Anzman and Leann Birch, of the Center for Childhood Obesity Research at Pennsylvania State University, focused on 197 non-Hispanic white girls.

They collected information from the girls and their parents over 10 years, starting when the children were 5 years old. The researchers recorded the parents’ income and education level, and the body-mass index (BMI) of children and parents, and asked the children if their parents restricted certain foods. Mothers also were asked to describe their child’s level of self-control.

According to the study authors, girls deemed to have less self-control had higher BMIs and gained more weight compared with their peers who were better at self-regulation. They also noted that girls who lacked self-control were about twice as likely to be overweight by 15.

The researchers found that, among the study participants, the girls at the highest risk for weight gain were those with high levels of perceived parental food restrictions and low self-control.

“Parental attempts to help children with lower self-control by restricting their access to favorite snack foods can make the forbidden foods more attractive, thereby exacerbating the problem,” Anzman said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

A better idea for parents is to help their children learn some control by allowing them to choose between healthy options. And it is better to not keep restricted foods in the house, she added.

The longer you live, the happier you’re likely to be, a growing body of research shows.

Researchers who spoke at the recently concluded annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Toronto said that mental health generally improves with age. Given that the world population of people over 65 is expected to nearly triple by 2050, according to U.S. officials, this should come as good news.

Reporting on several studies of aging and mental health, Susan Turk Charles, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said the findings indicate that happiness and emotional well-being improve with time.

Older adults exert greater emotional control, said Charles. Studies show they learn to avoid or limit stressful situations and are less likely than younger adults to let negative comments or criticism bother them.

Charles added that “we know that older people are increasingly aware that the time they have left in life is growing shorter. They want to make the best of it so they avoid engaging in situations that will make them unhappy. They have also had more time to learn and understand the intentions of others, which helps them to avoid these stressful situations.”

Another study conducted over a 23-year period examined three groups of people at three different life stages and concluded that emotional happiness grew with age, she said.

These findings may not apply to older adults who feel trapped in distressing situations and those with forms of dementia, Charles said. “We know that older adults who are dealing with chronic stressors, such as caregiving, report high rates of physical symptoms and emotional distress,” she added.

In separate reports, Charles and Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor at Stanford University, also noted that social relationships — or lack of them — influence how older people respond to stress. Carstensen cited a Swedish study that concluded that people with strong social connections were less likely to suffer cognitive impairment than others. It seems social relationships influence the way that the brain processes information, she said. “These changes have a profound impact on health outcomes,” Carstensen said.

To make the most of the coming years, Carstensen offered these tips:
Think of ways to enjoy the time ahead and try to imagine living 100, healthy, happy years.
Provide daily routines that reinforce your goals, both in your home and in your social life.
Develop new activities and relationships, and don’t invest all of your emotional energy in a job or a single relationship.

A new hormone treatment to prevent brain damage in oxygen-deprived newborns shows promise, a study has found.

Currently, immediate cooling is the only way to reduce the risk of brain damage in newborns who suffered oxygen deprivation during delivery. The new method, which can be started as late as two days after birth, involves a two-week course of injections of erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates red blood cell formation, the researchers explained.

The new study included more than 150 newborns with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) at birth. About half of them received small doses of erythropoietin every other day. The neurological condition of all the children was assessed when they were 18 months old.

“Only half as many of the children treated with erythropoietin had developed a severe neurological functional disability or had died of their injuries. Thus the hormone treatment improves the prognosis considerably in the longer perspective,” Klas Blomgren, professor of pediatrics at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden, said in a university news release.

But only children with moderate HIE benefited from the hormone treatment, according to the study in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics.

“We believe that erythropoietin has a regenerative and stimulating effect on recovery and on brain development following the injury,” Blomgren said. “This appears to be a safe treatment, almost without side effects, and it is also cheaper and technically simpler to administer in comparison with cooling. This means that the treatment can be given a wide distribution, and can be used even in developing countries.”