Parents better keep their children away from television sets at an early age.
This developed after a recent study has shown that three-year-old children who are exposed to more TV appear to be at an increased risk for exhibiting aggressive behavior.
Based on the study, early childhood aggression can be problematic for parents, teachers and childhood peers and sometimes is predictive of more serious behavior problems to come, such as juvenile delinquency, adulthood violence and criminal behavior.
The researchers on their study has discovered various predictive factors for childhood aggression that include parents’ discipline style, neighborhood safety and media exposure.
The researchers revealed after music, television is the medium children aged 0 to 3 years are exposed to the most.
The researchers added although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children younger than age 2, studies have found consistent use of television in that age group.
To get the result, Jennifer A. Manganello, Ph.D., M.P.H., of University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, and Catherine A. Taylor, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H., of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, analyzed data from 3,128 mothers of children born from 1998 to 2000 in 20 large U.S. cities to examine associations of child television exposure and household television use with aggressive behavior in children.
Watching television should be avoided by children to keep them away from aggressive behavior.
Parents were interviewed at the time of the child’s birth and at one and three years.
At three years, they were asked to report time the child spent watching TV directly as well as household TV use on a typical day. Aggression also was assessed at 3 years of age using a 15-item aggressive subscale for 2- and 3-year-old children. Demographic information and other risk factors for aggression were also noted.
About two-thirds (65 percent) of mothers reported that their 3-year-old child watched more than two hours of television per day. On average, children were exposed to an additional 5.2 hours of household TV use per day.
Direct child TV exposure and household TV use were both significantly associated with childhood aggression, after accounting for other factors such as parent, family, neighborhood and demographic characteristics. "One explanation that could link both child and household TV measures with aggression involves the parenting environment," the authors write. Households with higher rates of TV use may have fewer restrictions on children’s viewing habits such as exposure to unregulated television content. Increased household television use may also affect daily routines such as eating and communication patterns and may decrease time spent on other activities.
"Current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations mainly suggest limitations for direct child exposure to TV and other media; however, our findings suggest that additional household TV use may also be an important predictor of negative childhood outcomes, such as
early childhood aggression," the authors conclude. "Future research in this area should consider inclusion of both of these TV variables along with additional parent-child interaction assessments, observational assessments when possible, quality and/or content of TV programs and longitudinal analyses."
Those people who have large thighs around the world better start rejoicing now.
A recent research has shown that individuals whose thighs are wider than 60cm have a lesser risk of premature death and heart disease.
Lead author, Professor Berit Heitmann, based at Copenhagen University Hospital, says the research may help GPs identify patients who are at an increased risk of early death and developing heart disease.
Heitmann revealed while several studies have already demonstrated that being either very overweight or underweight are related to premature death and disease, this is the first to investigate the implications of thigh size on health.
Almost 3000 individuals took part in the study in Denmark this included 1463 men and 1380 women.
Participants were examined in 1987/88 for height, weight, thigh, hip and waist circumference and body composition.
They were then followed up for 10 years for incidence of heart disease and 12.5 years for total number of deaths.
Those who have large thighs have lesser chance of suffering from heart disease and experiencing early death.
During the follow-up period 257 men and 155 women died, also 263 men and 140 women experienced cardiovascular disease and 103 men and 34 women suffered from heart disease.
When assessing the results, the authors found that the survivors had higher fat-free thigh circumference levels.
The relationship between thigh size and early death and disease was found after taking body fat and other high risk factors (such as smoking and high cholesterol) into account.
The researchers therefore suggest that the risk from narrow thighs could be associated with too little muscle mass in the region.
This is problematic because it may lead to low insulin sensitivity and type 2 diabetes and, in the long run, heart disease, they explain.
Moreover, the researchers conclude that the study "found that the risk of having small thighs was associated with development of cardiovascular morbidity and early mortality.
This increased risk was found independent of abdominal and general obesity, lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure and lipids related to early cardio vascular morbidity and
mortality".
The researchers believe that doctors could use thigh size as an early marker for at risk patients and suggest that individuals increase lower body exercise in order to increase the size of the their thighs if necessary.
Further research would be needed, however, to assess whether this approach was worthwhile.
Medical researchers has recently found out that vitamin C deficiency may impair the mental development of new-born babies.
According to the study made by LIFE Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen they discovered that guinea pigs subjected to moderate vitamin C deficiency have 30 per cent
less hippocampal neurones and markedly worse spatial memory than guinea pigs given a normal diet.
The researchers revealed like guinea pigs, human beings are dependent on getting vitamin C through their diet, they speculate that vitamin C
deficiency in pregnant and breast-feeding women may also lead to impaired development in foetuses and new-born babies.
The researcher explained several factors indicate that the neonatal brain, in contrast to other tissue, is particularly vulnerable to even a slight lowering of the vitamin C level.
Studies have shown that vitamin C deficiency could be bad for early brain development of babies.
They revealed the highest concentration of vitamin C is found in the neurons of the brain and in case of a low intake of vitamin C, the remaining vitamin is retained in the brain to secure this organ.
The researchers said vitamin thus seems to be quite important to brain activity.
Based on their study it was shown that mouse foetuses that were not able to transport vitamin C develop severe brain damage.
Researchers said brain damage which resembles the ones found in premature babies and which are linked to learning and cognitive disabilities later in life.
In some areas in the world, vitamin C deficiency is very common population studies in Brazil and Mexico have shown that 30
to 40 per cent of the pregnant women have too low levels of vitamin C, and the low level is also found in their fetuses and new-born babies.
It is not yet known to what extent new-born babies in Denmark or the Western World suffer from
vitamin C deficiency but a conservative estimate would be 5 to 10 per cent based on the occurrence among adults.
A medical expert has warned that those people suffering from age-related macular degeneration should seek immediate treatment early since failure to do could lead to blindness.
age-related macular degeneration, a disease that progressively causes vision loss.
Eye specialist and QUT researcher Dr. Beatrix Feigl revealed macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in Australia and one in three Australians will be affected to some degree by it.
Feigl said there is no cure yet for the disorder, but if it is detected early enough, steps can be taken to prevent the condition from worsening.
Early detection and cure is the proper way to deal with age-related macular degeneration which can cause blindness if not handled well.
She said it is very important to detect the condition before there is damage because you can only preserve existing eyesight.
The eye expert said general health and genetics influenced a person’s chance of developing the eye disease.
She explained smoking and a poor diet low in vitamins and omega-3 can increase the risk.
Moreover, Feigl said if you know one of your parents had age-related macular degeneration, it is worth taking extra care of your eyes.
Feigl advices to always be sure to have your eyes tested while they are still healthy.
To avoid deaths of millions of people, early detection and quick response is needed if ever there is anthrax.
According to a latest research a large attack on a major metropolitan area with airborne anthrax could affect more than a million people, necessitating their treatment with powerful antibiotics.
To effectively respond on the situation quick detection and treatment are essential, and any delay beyond three days would overwhelm hospitals with critically ill people.
Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, associate professor of public health and medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College explained no matter how well-organized and prolonged a treatment program is it must be quickly implemented.
Hubert added based on their analysis time-to-treatment is roughly twice as important as the duration of the distribution program.
He added crucial to rapidly implementing a treatment program is early detection, including thorough use of advanced biosurveillance technologies and live, person-to-person communication.
Hupert, who is also director of the new preparedness modeling Unit at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed most important of all are multilateral diplomatic efforts to prevent bioterrorist attacks from ever happening.
Moreover, the study predicts that a campaign initiated two days after exposure would protect as many as 87 percent of exposed individuals from illness a rate considered successful by the CDC.
The researchers said each additional day needed to complete the campaign would result in an average of up to 2.9 percent more hospitalizations in the exposed population.
Early detection and quick response is a must in anthrax attack.
The researchers added each extra day of delay to the start of the program beyond two days would result in up to 6.5 percent more hospitalizations.
Anthrax attack scenarios usually involve the release of one kilogram of weaponized anthrax from a small airplane flying over a major city.
The invisible powder could be inhaled by thousands or hundreds of thousands, who would start becoming sick anywhere from 24 hours to a week or more after the attack.
With appropriate and timely administration of an antibiotic treatment program, exposed individuals would be spared from developing inhalational anthrax infection.
Now it can be told.
A recent medical study has validated early observations that physical activities can make the children fall asleep early.
Based on the study it was also discovered that in every hour of the day children are inactive adds three minutes to the time it takes them to fall asleep.
According to the research those children who fall asleep faster also sleep for longer, although, it appears one is not the direct consequence of the other.
The study has also shown that an estimate 16 percent of parents of school aged children report that their child finds it difficult to get to sleep.
To keep your children fall asleep early allow them to undergo rigorous physical activities everyday.
Researchers also found out that there is a connection between poor sleeping patterns in children and inferior school performance.
It is also linked to an increased risk of overweight and obesity.
The researchers get the data they are seeking using an activity monitor (called an actigraph) worn for 24 hours.
The team then evaluated the daytime activity and sleep patterns of a representative sample of 591 seven year olds.
The researchers got hold of the full information on sleep patterns for 519 of the children.
They took an average of 26 minutes to fall asleep.
This is known as sleep latency, ranging from 13 to 42 minutes (interquartile range).
The parents reported that around one in ten of the children regularly found it difficult to fall asleep quickly.
These children took around 15.5 minutes longer to get to sleep.
Moreover, the researchers said those children, who were physically active during the day, fell asleep more rapidly than their more sedentary peers.
Researchers said the more vigorous activity they did, the faster they fell asleep.
In addition, the researchers said in every hour of the day spent in sedentary activity increased sleep latency by three minutes.
The team also discovered that shorter sleep latency was also associated to longer duration of sleep.
It fell by more than 11 minutes for each additional hour of sleep.
The researchers concluded that their study emphasizes the importance of physical activity for children, not only for fitness, cardiovascular health and weight control, but also for sleep.
In is time to gain weight for those who are underweight and lose weight to the obese.
This developed after a recent medical study has shown that obese and underweight people to die early than people with normal weight.
In the study conducted by the Statistics Canada, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, and McGill University it was discovered that, those who are underweight and obese are in a higher risk of dying that those who have normal weight.
Mark Kaplan, DrPH, co-author and Professor of Community Health at Portland State University explained their study only looked at mortality, not at quality of life, and there are many negative health consequences associated with obesity, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
To get the data, the researchers examined the relationship between body mass index and death among 11,326 adults in Canada over a 12-year period (BMI uses height and weight to estimate body fat.)
It is time to lose weight for obese people if they wish to live longer like those persons who have normal weight.
Researchers found that underweight people had the highest risk of dying, and the extremely obese had the second highest risk. Overweight people had a lower risk of dying than those of normal weight.
This medical finding should serve as motivation to both obese and underweight to do something about their weight if they wish to live longer and spend more time with their family and friends.