TUESDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- A new report reminds pediatricians that more young babies are sleeping on their backs, raising the risk of temporary head-flattening.
In general, the report says, the skull malformations are harmless and go away on their own, but doctors should be on the lookout for signs of serious problems.
Parents should be aware that they can prevent flattened heads on one side by coaxing babies to sleep with their head leaning to the other side, said report co-author Dr. Mark S. Dias. "Catch this early, reposition them and you can avoid a lot of grief down the road," he said.
However, it's still crucial to place babies on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), said Dias, a neurosurgeon at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
Pediatricians advise parents to avoid placing babies on their stomachs to sleep, and not allow them to lay on their stomachs -- "tummy time" -- unless they're awake and being watched. Back-sleeping is thought to reduce the risk of SIDS, whose cause remains mysterious and most frequently strikes babies aged from 1 month to 1 year.
The rate of deaths from the condition has dipped since a new push for back-sleeping began in the 1990s in the United States. However, doctors have seen more cases of babies with flattened heads, Dias and colleagues reported in the December issue of Pediatrics.
A 2002 study found that 13 percent of babies born alone (not as twins or other "multiples") had signs of head flattening. Another study, published in a recent issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, reported that Texas saw a ninefold increase in flattened-head cases between 1999 and 2007.
When it's caused by sleeping, the condition isn't thought to be dangerous and will vanish over time, although it may take three to five years, Dias said. "It's purely cosmetic, but it can be disfiguring and the kids' heads can look funny."
The report warns that a doctor should make sure a child with a flattened head isn't suffering from craniosynostosis, a serious skull problem that may require surgery.
In normal cases caused by pressure from sleeping, surgery typically isn't required, Dias said. He added that special medical helmets may not be necessary or worthwhile either.
Instead, he said, the best approach is to be aware that babies often prefer to sleep on their backs with their heads toward one side, typically the right side. To balance things out, he said, consider putting interesting things on the other side for them to look at.
"If there's a mobile, you could put it on the other side of the crib so the baby watches that," said Dr. Bradley Thach, a professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Parents may also try switching the position of a crib if it's near a window and the baby likes to turn to one side to look outside, he said.
Dr. Roya Samuels, a pediatrician at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., provided more advice. "Parents should make sure to bring their infant for regularly scheduled well-child visits as recommended by their pediatrician so that their physician can consistently monitor the infant's head shape and head circumference," Samuels said. "The window of intervention will therefore not be missed."
More information
For more about SIDS, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
MONDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Heart function improved in obese people with type 2 diabetes who ate a very low-calorie diet, a small new study says.
Researchers measured body-mass index (BMI) and used MRI to analyze heart function and pericardial fat in 15 obese people (seven men and eight women) with type 2 diabetes before and four months after they started consuming a 500-calorie-per-day diet.
Pericardial fat collects around the heart and can harm cardiac function.
Their diabetes improved immediately after cutting calories, according to the study.
Four months after the participants began the low-calorie diet, average BMI fell from 35.3 to 27.5 (statistical obesity begins at a BMI of 30), and pericardial fat decreased from 39 milliliters (ml) to 31 ml.
A key measure of diastolic heart function fell to healthier levels, as well, the study found. Diastolic heart function involves that period of the heart beat when the ventricles are filling up with blood. Poor diastolic heart function can lead to congestive heart failure.
After another 14 months of follow-up when the participants ate a regular diet, average BMI increased to 31.7, but pericardial fat only rose slightly to 32 ml and E/A ratio was 1.06.
The study was to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
"Our results show that 16 weeks of caloric restriction improved heart function in these patients," lead author Dr. Sebastiaan Hammer, of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, said in an RSNA news release. "More importantly, despite regain of weight, these beneficial cardiovascular effects were persistent over the long term."
While the results are promising and showed that lifestyle interventions appeared to provide more significant heart benefits than medication in these patients, obese people should not try to go on a very low-calorie diet on their own. It has to be done under medical supervision, Hammer noted.
Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about diabetes treatments.
Earlier this month, Dean McDermott made headlines when he accidentally posted a photo of wife Tori Spelling's bare breasts to Twitter. The reality star thought he was sharing an innocent, goofy pic of their 4-year-old son Liam -- but a topless mama was clearly visible in the background.
A computer with a wireless Internet connection hurts sperm, but not because the machine can heat up your lap, a new study suggests.
The findings showed that sperm cells collected in lab dishes and placed beneath a laptop with a wireless Internet connection for four hours had less motility and more DNA damage than sperm placed in another room, away from electronic devices but kept at the same temperature.
"It is well-known that increased temperature may decrease sperm quality, and the use of portable computers on the lap increases scrotal temperature," the researchers wrote in their study.
But the findings suggested it wasn't the temperature beneath the laptop that was affecting sperm; instead, the radiation from the laptop was slowing the swimmers, according to the study. ?
Laptops emit radiation
The researchers in Argentina and Virginia used semen samples from 29 healthy men, whose average age was 34. The laptop was set to download and upload information over the course of the experiment, so the wireless connection was actively being used. The temperature under the laptop was held constant at 77 degrees Fahrenheit by an air-conditioning system. ?
Wireless Internet connections use radio-frequency electromagnetic waves. When the researchers measured the radiation coming from a laptop wirelessly connected to the Internet, they found it was at least three times higher than an unconnected laptop, and seven to 15 times higher than radiation in a general setting, according to the study, though the levels varied over the course of the experiment, depending on the flow of information coming to or from the computer.
There was no difference between the sperm samples held under the laptop and those kept away from it in terms of the percentage of sperm that were dead at the end of the experiment, according to the study.
Still, sperm motility and having undamaged DNA are important for fertilizing an egg.
"We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the Internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility," the researchers wrote in their conclusion.
Why sperm cells are vulnerable
Sperm cells are different from other cells in the body ? their DNA is highly condensed into a small area, the researchers noted. This could make them more vulnerable to the effects of such radiation.
It's plausible that the magnetic and electromagnetic fields produced by the radio waves damage molecules in sperm called phospholipids, which are a needed to keep membranes within a sperm cell intact, the study researchers wrote.
It is not known whether all laptop computers might have the same effects as those seen in this study, nor is it known what other factors might heighten or lessen the damage, the researchers wrote in their conclusion.
"However, we cannot discard the possibility that damage to sperm is caused by the low radiation produced by the computer without Internet connection," they wrote, and this possibility should be studied further.
The study was published online Nov. 23 in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Pass it on: Radiation from wireless internet connections might damage sperm cells.
This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. Find us on Facebook.
Timbuktu Chronicles: Investing in Health - Avenue Healthcare (Kenya) receives a $2.5m investment
Investing in Health - Avenue Healthcare (Kenya) receives a $2.5m investment
In African Capital Markets News:
Aureos Africa Health Fund invested $2.5 million in a Kenyan hospital and health insurance company, the Avenue Group , which offers affordable healthcare cover, integrated with quality healthcare provision. It has a 70-bed full-purpose hospital in Nairobi, 7 clinics through Kenya as well as in-house clinics for corporate clients, a home-based care service for elderly, terminally ill or otherwise dependent patients, rental and sale of wheelchairs and other rehabilitation equipment for home use, and First Aid training schemes. It combines healthcare cover with quality, affordable outpatient and inpatient medical services. The group?s corporate medical schemes are designed to be accessible to businesses with as few as 10 employees and around 70% of the staff covered are in non-managerial roles. With Aureos investment, Avenue Group will expand into other regions in Kenya, building 2 more clinics in smaller towns and expanding existing in-patient facilities in Kisumu and Mombasa. The funding will ensure the group can continue non-profit activities, such as free medical camps across Kenya and public health screening days at Avenue clinics...[continue reading]
Apple isn't the only one to get some shop-based imitation flattery -- now it looks like Facebook's got its first retail homage. Yep, this clothing store in Nablus, Palestine is unlikely to be a Zuckerberg-sanctioned outlet. A giant Facebook sign hangs over several mannequins, although we're not exactly sure what angle they're trying to work here. Most of them appear to be channeling the Facebook founder's mute, inoffensive fashion stylings. That is, aside from the guy in the hot pink tee and, well, he's lacking a head.
[Thanks Liviu]
Mat: "Facebook likes jeans, ignores footwear." Dan: "You don't get 500 million friends without making a few terrible fashion decisions." Brad: "Meanwhile, Tom from MySpace is realizing that he's completely neglected the oft-overlooked mannequin demographic." Richard Lai: "The Bebo store was way more fun." Darren: "Third person there from the left... it's complicated." Jose: "Yes, all my friends are 'real', why?" James: "Once again, the reaction to the new Facebook wall was ambivalent." Joe Pollicino: "Added to my 'Block' list." Amar: "The Winklevii really have fallen on hard times." Josh: "People You May Know" Sean Cooper: "Where's that darn 'unlike' button." Tim: "Remember when you had to be a mannequin in a college bookstore to get in? Those were the good 'ol days." Billy: "You would think this crowd would have popped up in my news feed, sheesh." Dante: "Surprisingly, North Face fleeces were nowhere to be found." Zach Honig: "How many Credits to change the name to Google+?" Brian: "Social networking for dummies."
Contact: Kristen Woodward kwoodwar@fhcrc.org 206-667-5095 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Finding may not relate to time of day, but to the short interval between breakfast and lunch
SEATTLE Women dieters who grab a snack between breakfast and lunch lose less weight compared to those who abstain from a mid-morning snack, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The results of this randomized trial, led by Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division and director of its Prevention Center, will be published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
In the course of the year-long study, the researchers found that mid-morning snackers lost an average of 7 percent of their total body weight while those who ate a healthy breakfast but did not snack before lunch lost more than 11 percent of their body weight. For the study, a snack was defined as any food or drink that was consumed between main meals.
"We think this finding may not relate necessarily to the time of day one snacks, but rather to the short interval between breakfast and lunch. Mid-morning snacking therefore might be a reflection of recreational or mindless eating habits rather than eating to satisfy true hunger," said McTiernan, the corresponding author of the paper.
While snacking too close to a main meal may be detrimental to weight loss, waiting too long between meals also may sabotage dieting efforts, she said. "Snacking could be part of a dieter's toolkit if they're eating in response to true hunger. Individuals should determine if they experience long intervals such as more than five hours between meals. Adding a snack might help people deal better with hunger and ultimately help them to make more sound choices at their next meal."
The study also revealed that women who reported eating more than two snacks a day had higher fiber intake than those who snacked less frequently, and afternoon nibblers ate more fruits and vegetables compared to women who didn't snack between lunch and dinner.
The ancillary study, part of a larger randomized clinical trial designed to test the effects of nutrition and exercise on breast cancer risk, involved 123 overweight-to-obese postmenopausal Seattle-area women, ages 50 to 75, who were randomly assigned to either a diet-alone intervention (goal: 1,200 to 2,000 calories a day, depending on starting weight, and fewer than 30 percent of daily calories from fat), or diet plus exercise (same calorie and fat restrictions plus 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day, five days a week). While the women received nutrition counseling they were not given any specific instructions or recommendations about snacking behavior.
At the end of the study the women were asked to record the time, type and frequency of meals consumed on a normal day. Percent of calories from fat, fiber and fruit and vegetable intake were also estimated using a food-frequency questionnaire.
"Many people think that a weight-loss program has to mean always feeling hungry," McTiernan said. "Our study suggests that snacking may actually help with weight loss if not done too close to another meal, particularly if the snacks are healthy foods that can help you feel full without adding too many calories."
Nationwide surveys indicate that 97 percent of U.S. adults report snacking, and such behavior is consistent across age groups. One study that surveyed a national random sample of more than 1,500 adults found that the most commonly preferred snacks were salty and crunchy items such as potato chips, pretzels and nuts; baked goods such as cookies and cakes; fruits; and ice cream.
Not all snacks are created equal, however. Foods less conducive to weight loss include empty-calorie items that contribute fat, salt, sugar and little nutritional value, such as potato chips and sugar-sweetened beverages.
For a woman on a weight-loss diet, a healthy snack should pack a nutritional wallop without breaking the calorie bank. "Since women on a weight-loss program only have a limited number of calories to spend each day, it is important for them to incorporate nutrient-dense foods that are no more than 200 calories per serving," McTiernan said. "The best snacks for a weight-loss program are proteins such as low-fat yogurt, string cheese, or a small handful of nuts; non-starchy vegetables; fresh fruits; whole-grain crackers; and non-calorie beverages such as water, coffee and tea."
###
The National Cancer Institute funded the research and participated in the study, which also involved investigators from the University of Washington and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information, please visit http://www.fhcrc.org.
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Contact: Kristen Woodward kwoodwar@fhcrc.org 206-667-5095 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Finding may not relate to time of day, but to the short interval between breakfast and lunch
SEATTLE Women dieters who grab a snack between breakfast and lunch lose less weight compared to those who abstain from a mid-morning snack, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The results of this randomized trial, led by Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division and director of its Prevention Center, will be published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
In the course of the year-long study, the researchers found that mid-morning snackers lost an average of 7 percent of their total body weight while those who ate a healthy breakfast but did not snack before lunch lost more than 11 percent of their body weight. For the study, a snack was defined as any food or drink that was consumed between main meals.
"We think this finding may not relate necessarily to the time of day one snacks, but rather to the short interval between breakfast and lunch. Mid-morning snacking therefore might be a reflection of recreational or mindless eating habits rather than eating to satisfy true hunger," said McTiernan, the corresponding author of the paper.
While snacking too close to a main meal may be detrimental to weight loss, waiting too long between meals also may sabotage dieting efforts, she said. "Snacking could be part of a dieter's toolkit if they're eating in response to true hunger. Individuals should determine if they experience long intervals such as more than five hours between meals. Adding a snack might help people deal better with hunger and ultimately help them to make more sound choices at their next meal."
The study also revealed that women who reported eating more than two snacks a day had higher fiber intake than those who snacked less frequently, and afternoon nibblers ate more fruits and vegetables compared to women who didn't snack between lunch and dinner.
The ancillary study, part of a larger randomized clinical trial designed to test the effects of nutrition and exercise on breast cancer risk, involved 123 overweight-to-obese postmenopausal Seattle-area women, ages 50 to 75, who were randomly assigned to either a diet-alone intervention (goal: 1,200 to 2,000 calories a day, depending on starting weight, and fewer than 30 percent of daily calories from fat), or diet plus exercise (same calorie and fat restrictions plus 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day, five days a week). While the women received nutrition counseling they were not given any specific instructions or recommendations about snacking behavior.
At the end of the study the women were asked to record the time, type and frequency of meals consumed on a normal day. Percent of calories from fat, fiber and fruit and vegetable intake were also estimated using a food-frequency questionnaire.
"Many people think that a weight-loss program has to mean always feeling hungry," McTiernan said. "Our study suggests that snacking may actually help with weight loss if not done too close to another meal, particularly if the snacks are healthy foods that can help you feel full without adding too many calories."
Nationwide surveys indicate that 97 percent of U.S. adults report snacking, and such behavior is consistent across age groups. One study that surveyed a national random sample of more than 1,500 adults found that the most commonly preferred snacks were salty and crunchy items such as potato chips, pretzels and nuts; baked goods such as cookies and cakes; fruits; and ice cream.
Not all snacks are created equal, however. Foods less conducive to weight loss include empty-calorie items that contribute fat, salt, sugar and little nutritional value, such as potato chips and sugar-sweetened beverages.
For a woman on a weight-loss diet, a healthy snack should pack a nutritional wallop without breaking the calorie bank. "Since women on a weight-loss program only have a limited number of calories to spend each day, it is important for them to incorporate nutrient-dense foods that are no more than 200 calories per serving," McTiernan said. "The best snacks for a weight-loss program are proteins such as low-fat yogurt, string cheese, or a small handful of nuts; non-starchy vegetables; fresh fruits; whole-grain crackers; and non-calorie beverages such as water, coffee and tea."
###
The National Cancer Institute funded the research and participated in the study, which also involved investigators from the University of Washington and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information, please visit http://www.fhcrc.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
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