Therapist Unlimited Blog

Drinking too much liquor might be bad for the health but for some instances it is not that harmful.
A recent medical study has shown that drunk patients have better chances of surviving trauma injuries than their sober counterparts.
According to the report, trauma patients who were intoxicated before their injuries were more likely to survive than trauma patients who suffered similar injuries but were sober at
the time.
To get the result, researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) surveyed 7,985 trauma patients of similar age and with similar injuries to determine if the consumption of alcohol prior to injury affected
outcome.
Based on their study they discovered that 7 percent of the sober patients died compared to just 1 percent of the patients who had been drinking.

Getting drunk is not that all bad after-all.

"This study is not encouraging the use of alcohol," said Christian de Virgilio, MD, LA BioMed’s principal investigator for the study. "It is seeking to
further explore earlier studies that had found alcohol may improve the body’s response to severe injuries. If alcohol is proven to improve the body’s
response to traumatic injury, it could lead to treatments that help patients survive and recover more quickly."
Alcohol consumption is already known to be one of the leading causes of accident and injury, with a previous study finding it contributes to about
one-third of all trauma-related deaths. Previous studies found trauma patients who had abused alcohol for a long period of time had lower survival rates.
But recent studies also found alcohol consumption may protect against death by changing the chemical response to injury.
"This study adds further support to the possibility that alcohol could be altering the body’s response to injury in a way that helps ensure survival," said
Dr. de Virgilio. "Given these findings, more research is needed to determine if there is some role for alcohol in the management of trauma patients.

Parents who have children suffering from celiac disease could now smile a little bit despite the medical condition of their beloved angels.
Based on medical facts, a Celiac disease (CD) is an inherited intestinal disorder characterized by life-long intolerance to the ingestion of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Although CD can be diagnosed at any age, it commonly occurs during early childhood (between 9 and 24 months). Reduced bone mineral density is often found in individuals with CD.
Metabolic bone disease remains a significant and common complication of CD. Reduced bone mineral density can lead to the inability to develop optimal bone mass in children and the loss of bone in adults, both of which increase the risk of osteoporosis.   There also exists an additional risk of fracture in people with CD.

Those children suffering from celiac disease should engage in a gluten-free diet to be cured of their medical problem.

 

A recent medical study has shown that a gluten-free diet (GFD) promotes a rapid increase in bone mineral density that leads to complete recovery of bone
mineralization in children. A GFD improves, although rarely normalizes, bone mineral density in adults. Children may attain normal peak bone mass if the
diagnosis is made and treatment is given before puberty, thereby preventing osteoporosis in later life.
Also, nutritional supplements consisting of calcium and vitamin D seem to increase the bone mineral density of children and adolescents with CD.
"Our findings reinforce the importance of a strict gluten-free diet, which remains the only scientific proven treatment for celiac disease to date," the
researchers conclude. "Early diagnosis and therapy are critical in preventing celiac disease complications, like reduced bone mineral density", they added.

A recent medical study has shown that those women who are positive about their genitals find it easier to orgasm and are more likely to engage in sexual health promoting behaviours, such as having regular gynecological exams or performing vulvar self-examinations.
Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation explained their findings is a positive news to women around the world.
Herbenick said our culture often portrays women’s genitals as dirty and in need of cleaning and grooming.
She added some women may have had greater exposure to such negative messages or may be more susceptible to their impact.
Herbenick’s study created a scale for measuring men’s and women’s attitudes toward women’s genitals. Such a scale, she wrote in the study, could be useful in sex therapy, in medical settings to help better understand decision-making that goes into gynecological care and treatment, and in health education settings involving women and their sexual health. The study also found that men had more positive attitudes about women’s genitals than women.
"Women are often more critical about their own bodies and other women’s bodies than men are," Herbenick said. "What we found in this study is that men generally feel positive about a variety of aspects of women’s genitals including how they look, smell, taste and feel."

To achieve orgasm and better sexual health women should feel confident about their sexuality.

Herbenick, also a sexual health educator for The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, offers the following suggestions regarding the findings:
Body image. Parents might consider how they can help their daughters to feel more positively about their bodies, such as by teaching them accurate names for their body parts, including their genitals (e.g., "vulva" rather than "down there") and responding in supportive ways to their self-exploration. "Rather than saying, ‘don’t touch down there it’s dirty,’ parents might let their children know that it’s OK for them to touch their genitals, but in private spaces such as their own bedroom or the bathroom," Herbenick said.
Advertisements and marketing. Health educators might consider ways that they can teach women and men about their bodies in positive, sex-positive ways by openly discussing how some products or marketing campaigns make people feel about their bodies.
The survey component of the study involved 362 women and 241 men, most of whom were white/Caucasian and between the ages of 18 and 23.
"Our study builds on previous research that demonstrates that the mind and body are highly connected in regard to sex," said Herbenick."When women feel more positively about female genitals, they likely feel more relaxed in their own skin, more able to let go and thus more likely to experience pleasure and orgasm."
 

Medical experts has advised pregnant women to avoid taking antidepressants during their pregnancy since doing so could put their babies at risk for having heart defects.
According to the latest medical study, it was discovered that depression affects up to 20% of pregnant women and the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during
pregnancy is common and increasing.
However, experts explained medical treatment must balance the health of the mother with potential adverse effects to the developing baby.
Until 2005, most studies of SSRIs found no link with major malformations, but recent studies have indicated an increased prevalence of congenital heart defects. This led to a warning by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2005 about the use of the drug paroxetine during pregnancy.
So a team of researchers investigated the association between SSRIs taken in the first trimester of pregnancy and major malformations in over 400,000 children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003.
Potential confounding factors, including maternal age and smoking, were taken into account.
However, an increased risk of septal heart malformations was found for children of women who used the drugs sertraline and citalopram, but not fluoxetine.

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy is deadly for babies.

Exposure to more than one type of SSRI was associated with a four-fold increase in septal heart defects, suggesting that simultaneous use of different SSRIs or a change in type of SSRI during early pregnancy may be problematic, say the authors.
Putting these figures into context, the authors show that the absolute differences in heart defects were low. For example, septal heart defects occurred in 2,315 (0.5%) of unexposed children, 12 (0.9%) of SSRI exposed children, and 4 (2.1%) of children exposed to more than one type of SSRI.
The number needed to harm was 246 for women using one type of SSRI in early pregnancy. In other words, one child for every 246 children exposed was likely to suffer a septal heart defect. The corresponding number needed to harm for children of women using more than one type of SSRI was 62.
Future studies, with much larger sample sizes, are needed to further investigate potential associations with more severe malformations, conclude the authors.
These results suggest that the absolute risk for individual pregnant women is very low, says Professor Christina Chambers from the University of California San Diego, USA, in an accompanying editorial. She urges both doctors and patients to carefully weigh-up the small risks associated with SSRIs against those linked with undertreatment or no treatment.
 

Groups around the world are joining hands to urge pregnant women to avoid drinking liquor during their pregnancy to keep their babies healthy and safe from any form of disease.
According to a recent study, learning disabilities, mental health issues and behaviour problems are just some of the issues that afflict babies exposed to alcohol in the womb.
Doctors, state legislators, health care professionals, parents, social workers and drug prevention and treatment specialist has recently gathered to discuss the issue on pregnant women who are drinking liquor during their pregnancy.
During the said meeting the group discovered that  women are getting conflicting information about drinking while pregnant.
while others are saying that drinking liquor during pregnancy is bad some sectors are themselves spreading the information that wine or Champagne were good for a woman’s blood while pregnant.
Some groups are also saying that drinking is safe in the first few months of pregnancy.
However, an intensive research has shown that many lifelong problems caused by permanent brain damage from drinking alcohol while pregnant.

Drinking liquor is bad for pregnant women.

Dr. Todd Ochs, a clinical instructor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that part of the problem is that doctor training hasn’t changed to reflect new research about pre-natal alcohol exposure.
Ochs explained they used to worry about women using heroin or other illegal drugs while pregnant, but there are too many variables with alcohol that we don’t yet understand, so the best advice a doctor can give is that they shouldn’t drink at all.
Dr. Ochs has diagnosed and treated many children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and points out, that drinking will cause damage, they just don’t know how much damage will occur or what amount of alcohol will cause the damage, and why would anyone do something that’s known to be harmful to a baby.

 

Recent studies have shown that infants who excel at processing new information at 6- and 12-months-old, typically excel in intelligence and academic achievements as young adults in their 20’s.
The data was taken from the study made by Case Western Reserve University Psychologist Joseph Fagan.
Fagan and his team discovered that the more intelligent infant becomes the more intelligent and more highly achieving adult in the future.
The lead researcher explained intelligence involves processing new information and then making associations with other information an individual encounters throughout life.
He said these processes work together to allow an individual to grow in knowledge.

Babies who are intelligent have higher chances of carrying that ability in adulthood.

In the study conducted by the group, the infant test works by pairing two pictures together for a set period of time.
A researcher watches the length of time an infant looks at the pictures.
Then one of these pictures is paired with a new image and again the time the infant focuses on the new and old images is recorded.
Researchers said infants generally spend about 60 percent of the time looking at new images.
Fagan and his co-investigators Cynthia Holland from Cuyahoga Community College and undergraduate student Karyn Wheeler revisited 61 young adults, who had taken the Fagan Test as babies in their first year of life. They also looked at their first IQ tests at the age of 3 and compared them with their scores at 21 years old.
They discovered an association with intelligence between this early ability to process information and IQ during their young adult years.
The researchers said these infants with ability to process new information at an early age showed higher levels of academic achievement later in life.
Moreover, the researchers revealed that attention to novelty tells us that intelligence is continuous from infancy to adulthood and underscore the importance of information processing as a means for studying intelligence.
The researchers added that this knowledge may help researchers also understand how genetics and environment can influence intelligence.

A recent medical study has shown that pregnant women who work on their first-trimester are putting the welfare of their baby at higher risk.
Based on the research conducted by medical experts pregnant women who work on the first three months of their pregnancy are associated with reduced birth weight and an increased risk of delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
The significant pieces of information were taken from the study made on 8,266 pregnant women in Amsterdam, Netherlands who all work on the first-trimester of their pregnancy.

Pregnant women should stop working or reduce their workload for the sake of their incoming babies.

The medical experts found out that workweek of 32 hours or more and high job strain were significantly associated with low birth weight.
The team of experts also discovered that the combination of high job strain and a long workweek resulted in the largest birth weight reduction and the highest risk of delivering an SGA infant.
To avoid harm and complications to their incoming offspring, the experts recommended that women temporarily stop working while they are still pregnant.
The experts said if ever they could not really stop working it would be best that she reduce her workload and make it minimal to ensure the well-being of her baby will be sufficiently protected from harm.

Pregnant women around the world should avoid exposure to environmental pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) since it can adversely affect a child’s intelligence quotient or IQ.
Based on the study conducted by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health it was learned that PAHs are chemicals released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco.
It is said that in urban areas motor vehicles are a major source of PAHs.
According to the study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several private foundations, children exposed to high levels of PAHs in New York City had full scale and verbal IQ scores that were 4.31 and 4.67 points lower, respectively than those of less exposed children.
Researchers reveal high PAH levels were defined as above the median of 2.26 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3).
Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the CCCEH at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and study lead author explained their findings are of concern because these decreases in IQ could be educationally meaningful in terms of school performance.
Perera added the good news is that they have seen a decline in air pollution exposure in our cohort since 1998, testifying to the importance of policies to reduce traffic congestion and other sources of fossil fuel combustion byproducts.
The study included children who were born to non-smoking Black and Dominican American women age 18 to 35 who resided in Washington Heights, Harlem or the South Bronx in New York.
The children were followed from in utero to 5 years of age.

Pregnant women around the world should avoid exposure to urban air pollutants to protect the IQ of their children.

The mothers wore personal air monitors during pregnancy to measure exposure to PAHs and they responded to questionnaires.
At 5 years of age, 249 children were given an intelligence test known as the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of the Intelligence, which provides verbal, performance and full-scale IQ scores.
The researchers developed models to calculate the associations between prenatal PAH exposure and IQ.
The researchers added other factors such as second-hand smoke exposure, lead, mother’s education and the quality of the home caretaking environment could also affect the IQ of the baby.
The study has shown that participants exposed to air pollution levels below the average were designated as having "low exposure," while those exposed to pollution levels above the average were identified as "high exposure."
A total of 140 children were classified as having high PAH exposure.
Furthermore, Perera said the decrease in full-scale IQ score among the more exposed children is similar to that seen with low-level lead exposure.
Perera added this finding is of concern because IQ is an important predictor of future academic performance, and PAHs are widespread in urban environments and throughout the world.
She said fortunately, airborne PAH concentrations can be reduced through currently available controls, alternative energy sources and policy interventions.

A recent study has shown that parents who are suffering from distress could cause tooth decay among their children.
Based on the research conducted by a group of scientists from The Ohio State University it was discovered that the more stressed parents are, the more likely their children were to have decay
The researchers said they also found out that apparently having one’s child’s dental decay treated actually could decrease the stress of being a parent.
Furthermore, the researchers said through their study they found out that dental professionals need to be ready not only to repair childhood decay, but also to assist families in finding the help they need to decrease the stress of life.
The parents for its part should strive hard to avoid stress in their lives so that their children would not suffer from tooth decay.

Parents need to avoid stress to avoid possible tooth decay among their children.

According to a latest study mothers who are brave enough to admit they are formerly hooked on illegal drugs can achieve good results in their action.
Based on the research conducted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada some 3,530 Alberta youth Grades 7 to 12 revealed that teens were more likely to use drugs if they knew that their mothers had used drugs but did not pressure their kids to avoid the illegal practice.
Researcher Lori Harach, a professor of human ecology at the University of Alberta revealed the findings suggest that adolescents might benefit from parental talks about the dangers of drug use, especially when their mothers have experience with drugs.
Harach said factor might give extra credibility to the messaging in the eyes of the teen.
She said mothers who have previous illegal drugs experience should not hide their unfavourable past since opening it could their children valuable lesson to avoid using illegal drugs.
As the saying goes, the best testimony is your own experience.
Mothers around the world should keep in mind that their children would not scorn them if ever they admit using drugs since their children love them deadly.
Instead of being scorned, their children would love them more and will keep away from the things that put their mother in the bad light in the past.

To keep their children away from drug addiction, mothers should be bold enough to admit they are using drugs in the past.