ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com/media/feedlogo.gif ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Study: Smoking Impacts 'Decision-Making' Part of Teens' Brainshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/study-smoking-impacts-decision-making-part-of-teens-brains/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/study-smoking-impacts-decision-making-part-of-teens-brains/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/study-smoking-impacts-decision-making-part-of-teens-brains/#commentsFiled under: , ,

smoking teens

If teens are smoking, they might be making other poor decisions. Credit: Getty Images

Teenagers are known to be impulsive, but a new study suggests that if they smoke cigarettes, they might become even more reckless and less adept at making decisions.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that teens who were the most addicted to nicotine had the least active prefrontal cortex regions of the brain, which control decision-making.

"It's another disturbing inconvenient truth," Lenox Hill Hospital pulmonologist Len Horovitz told AOL Health.

Scientists asked 25 smokers and 25 non-smokers between the ages of 15 and 21 to perform a well-known cognitive test called the Stop-Signal Task. The SST requires participants to press a button as fast as they can every time an arrow lights up. If an auditory tone is sounded, however, subjects must stop themselves from pressing the button.

The exercise gauges the ability to control or inhibit an action.

The authors of the study, which appears online in Neuropsychopharmacology, took MRI scans of the participants' brains while they were doing the test tasks. They also measured the level of the teens' addiction to nicotine with a questionnaire known as the Heaviness of Smoking Index, which asked not only how many cigarettes they smoked a day but how soon after waking they lit up.

Though the brain scans showed significantly less activity among the teenagers who were the most hooked on cigarettes, the two groups performed roughly the same on the action inhibitor test -- results the researchers didn't expect.

"The finding that there was little difference on the Stop-Signal Task between smokers and non-smokers was a surprise," study senior author Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, said in a statement. "That suggested to us that the motor response of smokers may be maintained through some kind of compensation from other brain areas."

But the lack of activity in the prefrontal cortex among the heaviest smoking teens was particularly alarming, since adolescents' delayed development in that area of the brain has been blamed for their poor decision-making abilities and weak cognitive control.

"Such an effect can influence the ability of youth to make rational decisions regarding their well-being, and that includes the decision to stop smoking," London said.

And modern-day teenagers are already on overload, so their distractedness has reached new heights, according to Horovitz.

"In the digital age, the powers of concentration on these kids are already not what they were in the previous generation," he said. "Impulse and impulse control are probably already underdeveloped, and smoking would accentuate that."

London said that while the immature prefrontal cortex is developing during adolescence, smoking might interfere with the process and have an impact on its function. A teen's already-underdeveloped brain could lead him to make a bad decision about starting to smoke -- and the act of smoking could further impair his cognitive control, causing him to continue the habit.

But the results of the SST were promising, suggesting that intervening early to stop a teen from taking up smoking may prove effective, according to London.

More than 400,000 deaths each year have been attributed to smoking cigarettes, the authors wrote. The habit usually forms during the teen years; 80 percent of adult smokers became dependent on nicotine by age 18.

Teenagers who don't smoke usually never start later in life, according to the findings.

Previous research has linked tobacco smoking with memory and cognitive problems in adults.

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]]>smoking teensSmokingTeensthe editors at AOLHealthFri, 04 Mar 2011 16:00:00 ESTCDC: Fewer Teens Having Sexhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/teens-sex/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/teens-sex/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/04/teens-sex/#commentsFiled under: , ,

teens sex

Credit: Getty Images


Apparently, fewer teens and young adults are having sex, according to a federal study which offers numbers, but doesn't examine the reasons.

Why is it decreasing? "That's the $100,000 question," said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Some experts say an emphasis on abstinence may have played a role. Some say concern about sexually spread diseases may have been a factor -- perhaps instilled by parents who watched the AIDS crisis unfold. Still others suggest this is a generation of kids who are less inclined to experiment with drugs and sex than their predecessors.

The study, released Thursday, is based on interviews of about 5,300 young people, ages 15 to 24. It shows the proportion in that age group who said they had had some kind of sexual contact dropped in the past decade from 78 percent to about 72 percent.

There are other surveys of sexual behavior, but this is considered the largest and most reliable. "It's the gold standard," Albert said.

Health scientist Anjani Chandra of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the decline in sex as small but significant. She declined to speculate on the reasons. It's difficult to look for a trend earlier than 2002 because previous surveys did not gather as much detail about various types of sex, she added.

However, data over the years on vaginal intercourse among never-married adolescents shows a steady decline since 1988. That seems to be in sync with other CDC studies showing an overall drop in teen pregnancy.

That the trend began in the late 1980s seems to undermine the idea that abstinence-only sex education -- heavily emphasized during the 2001-2009 presidency of George W. Bush -- is the explanation, Albert said.

But it is possible those messages contributed, he added.

The leading influence on sexual activity among young adults is what parents teach and what peers are doing, experts said. And for whatever reason, smaller proportions are "doing it" than in the past.

Still, the CDC report may be surprising to some parents who see skin and lust in the media and worry that sex is rampant.

"Many parents and adults look at teens and sex and see nothing but a blur of bare midriffs. They think things are terrible and getting worse," Albert said.

The sex study looked at older adults, too. It was based on in-person interviews of about 13,500 men and women ages 15 to 44, conducted in the years 2006 through 2008. The results were compared with those of a similar survey done in 2002.

Participants were offered $40 for sitting for the interview, which usually lasted an hour and included answering very specific questions on a computer about oral sex, anal sex and other sexual activities.

Among other findings:

-- More than half of young people who had oral sex said they did that before vaginal intercourse; that pattern was much more common in whites than blacks or Hispanics.

-- Among young adults, the proportion who had had vaginal or oral sex declined. But the proportion who had anal sex held steady, at about 21 percent.

-- For all ages in the study, women were more than twice as likely to have had sex with a same-gender partner than men were. That was true despite the fact that about the same proportion of male and female survey respondents described themselves as homosexual.

The explanation for that finding seems to be that women are much more willing to describe themselves as bisexual, or to at least acknowledge they find others of their gender attractive.

That may have a lot to do with television shows and other pop culture, which at times seems to celebrate woman-on-woman sexual contact, but not the same kind of behavior among men, said Michael Reece, director of Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

"My guess is women are just more likely to feel that's OK," he added.

There is an assumption that sex between females is more common among more educated women, perhaps experimenting with their sexuality during their college years. But the CDC study found that such behavior was more common among less educated women, Chandra said.

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]]>teen sexTeenSexthe editors at AOLHealthFri, 04 Mar 2011 10:30:00 ESTMarijuana Use at Young Age Linked to Psychotic Disordershttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/03/marijuana-psychotic-disorders/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/03/marijuana-psychotic-disorders/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/03/marijuana-psychotic-disorders/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

marijuana

Study finds that marijuana use will dramatically increase the chance of psychotic disorders later in life. Credit: Jeff Chiu, AP

A new study has found that the use of marijuana at a young age will dramatically increase the chance of psychotic disorders later in life, Reuters reports.

Continued use of marijuana doubles the risk of psychotic episodes, hallucinations or delusions, researchers said.

"This study adds a further brick to the wall of evidence showing that use of traditional cannabis is a contributory cause of psychoses like schizophrenia," said Robin Murray of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, who was not involved in the research.

The findings may have a dramatic effect on the ongoing pursuit for legalization of marijuana both for medical and recreational use in various states.

Authorities should take "a cautious and thoughtful approach to cannabis legislation," said Peter Kinderman, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool.

"It's important to remember that psychosis is a very complex bio-psycho-social phenomenon ... but this important paper certainly reminds us that there's a strong link to the use of cannabis," he said.

In previous studies, a causation between marijuana and psychosis could not be established, as it was difficult to establish which came first -- marijuana use or mental illness. Over the course of this most recent study, however, researchers say they were able to show that marijuana use did precede the incidence of psychotic disorders in users. The study lasted for 10 years and looked at 1,923 adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 24 years old.

The study was published in the British Medical Journal.

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]]>marijuanathe editors at AOLHealthThu, 03 Mar 2011 16:00:00 ESTMultiple Concussions in High School Athletes Linked to Lasting Health Issueshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/multiple-concussions-in-high-school-athletes-linked-to-lasting-h/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/multiple-concussions-in-high-school-athletes-linked-to-lasting-h/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/27/multiple-concussions-in-high-school-athletes-linked-to-lasting-h/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

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Study shows that high school athletes who experience head trauma show signs of "post-concussion syndrome." Credit: Wade Payne, AP


Repeated concussions suffered by college and professional athletes have been a growing concern in recent years because of their potential long-term impact on the brain. Now a study finds that the damage may begin much earlier -- in high school.

Researchers from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia looked at more than 2,500 teens in three states who played contact sports.

They found that some high school athletes who'd experienced two or more prior incidents of head trauma were already showing signs of "post-concussion syndrome." Symptoms can range from headache and balance problems to memory loss and other cognitive impairment.

"It appears that youth athletes who sustain multiple concussions experience a variety of subtle effects, which may be possible precursors to the future onset of concussion-related difficulties," wrote lead author Philip Schatz and his colleagues in the Neurosurgery study.

Dr. Michael A. DeGeorgia, the director of the Center for Neurocritical Care at University Hospitals in Cleveland, called the findings "scary" because they deal with children.

"This is very, very important, especially with our kids playing all these sports," he told AOL Health. "It may be related to the sheer aggressiveness of today's sports. I recognize it in my own kids. ... It's all kind of ratcheted up to a pre-professional level that may contribute to the higher incidence of injuries."

Previous studies have found a dramatic jump in the number of sports-related injuries in children, including those to the head. They've also discovered a heightened risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's for professional athletes under 50.

"This is serious stuff," DeGeorgia said. "We haven't really been taking it as seriously as we should be in the past."

The Philadelphia research team examined the standard pre-season evaluations the students filled out about possible concussion symptoms. The group was divided into those with one previous concussion, those with two or more and those with no prior head injuries. None of the teen athletes had had a concussion in the four months preceding the research.

The high school students with past concussions, especially those who'd sustained two or more, had a higher rate of concussion-related symptoms of three types: cognitive or intellectual impairment, such as difficulty remembering or feeling "mentally foggy;" sleep changes, including sleeping more or less than usual; and physical symptoms, including dizziness, trouble balancing and headache.

There wasn't a marked difference between teen athletes with no history of concussion and those who'd had just one, the findings showed. There was also no significant increase in the level of emotional symptoms that can crop up after head trauma, including depression and irritability.

Schatz, who also works at the Sports Concussion Center and the International Brain Research Foundation, said the results indicate "subtle, yet significant increases" in concussion-related symptoms among high school athletes who'd had two or more head injuries.

But he cautioned that the analysis didn't draw a definitive cause-and-effect relationship. Teens who've had multiple concussions, he theorized, may just be "more sensitive to physical, cognitive and emotional fluctuations."

One well-publicized condition tied to repeated head trauma is known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The degenerative brain disorder, which normally afflicts professional athletes, has been identified as a possible factor in several of their suicides and in that of an 18-year-old college football player whose brain scan showed signs of the disease. It can cause depression, psychotic thoughts, erratic behavior and loss of impulse control, as well as symptoms mirroring those of Alzheimer's.

"These troubling findings beg the question of whether high school athletes with a history of repeated concussions may also be exhibiting the reported cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral symptomatology as seen in retired professional athletes with CTE," the study authors wrote.

DeGeorgia believes linking CTE with players' suicides is "a big jump to make." But the condition is a very real concern.

"Repeated concussions can lead to structural brain changes, and you can have a whole range of symptoms mimicking Alzheimer's/dementia," he told AOL Health. "Whenever you get hit in the head, your brain tries to repair itself. Part of that repair process is the laying down of proteins, including [those] known to be associated with Alzheimer's/dementia."

An athlete can also have small brain hemorrhages that don't show up on a scan, but can be very dangerous, he said.

"One manifestation can be disinhibition, or loss of self control," leading a person to do things he or she wouldn't normally do, DeGeorgia said. "If you're a teenager, you're already struggling with that issue, so then this can be very troubling."

In a child who is still developing, the ramifications of repeated head trauma can be frightening, as it can interfere with the proper formation of neurological pathways to the brain.

So what is a parent or young athlete to do? DeGeorgia advises taking precautions and seeing a specialist if there are lingering side effects after a head injury.

"We need to take every concussion seriously," he said. "Any player that has any type of confusion or suspicion of a concussion needs to at least be evaluated by a school physician. And if there are any more complicated symptoms, he or she needs to be seen by a neurologist."

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]]>concussionsConcussionsFootballPlayersthe editors at AOLHealthThu, 27 Jan 2011 16:54:00 ESTWhat Are the Signs My Child May Have ADHD?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/26/what-are-the-signs-my-child-may-have-adhd/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/26/what-are-the-signs-my-child-may-have-adhd/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/26/what-are-the-signs-my-child-may-have-adhd/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,




Q. What Are the Signs My Child May Have ADHD?

Dr. Jim Sears, Pediatrician, host of "The Doctors," answers:

A lot of younger kids tend to struggle in school, whether it's paying attention or just being too hyperactive and disruptive to the class. That can be a problem with the teacher and the parents.

I have a lot of parents coming into my office saying the teacher is asking me to do something, but maybe I don't want to do a prescription. I always sit down and talk to those parents and say to them, if you think your child is having a hard time in school, whether its attention or activity, look at the child's lifestyle, look at what they're eating and how much they're exercising; because a lot of those problems can be improved by improved nutrition.

Whether it's eating more fruits and vegetables or eating more fish, especially fish oils; we've really found that fish oil supplements in the diet can help a child pay attention. Also, it's very important to eat a good breakfast. Kids that eat a good, hearty breakfast with a good source of protein, some good complex carbs, whole grains, yogurt, and things like that, tend to pay better attention in school.

So whether your child gets a label put on them or if there is a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or not, if you think your child isn't doing as well as you think they should be, get the help, talk to your doctor. Improve their nutrition, make sure they get some exercise, especially before school, and you will see an improvement, I guarantee it.

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]]>adhdthe editors at AOLHealthWed, 26 Jan 2011 12:00:00 ESTSome Women Born to Be Bad Mothers, Study Sayshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/30/some-women-born-to-be-bad-mothers-study-says/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/30/some-women-born-to-be-bad-mothers-study-says/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/30/some-women-born-to-be-bad-mothers-study-says/#commentsFiled under:


Are some women just destined to be bad mothers?

It appears so, a new study indicates.

Researchers from Virginia's University of Richmond say that some women are just biologically programmed with a "bad mothering" brain switch.

Craig Kinsley, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Richmond, said his study found that women develop a cluster of brain cells -- called maternal neurons -- during pregnancy. After the baby is born, these brain cells are then "switched on," resulting in good or bad parenting skills.

"We believe that a certain number of these 'maternal neurons' need to be 'switched on' for good mothering to take place," Kinsley said, according to NewsCore -- an international wire service owned by News Corp.

Read more on this story at AOLHealth.

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]]>the editors at AOLHealthTue, 30 Mar 2010 11:04:00 ESTHelpful Dads May Hurt Moms' Self-Esteemhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/19/helpful-dads-may-hurt-moms-self-esteem/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/19/helpful-dads-may-hurt-moms-self-esteem/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/03/19/helpful-dads-may-hurt-moms-self-esteem/#commentsFiled under: ,


Working moms' feelings of accomplishment diminish as societal norms change and dads engage in bigger roles at home with the kids, Live Science reports.

New research, to be published in the journal, "Personal Relationships," finds that while more women enter the workforce and have less time for care-giving and at-home tasks, more men begin helping out with the kids and household chores. This can lower women's self-esteem as they lose pride in their motherly duties.

In the study, researchers interviewed 78 couples in the United States, with 8-month-old infants.The findings revealed that women spent nearly three times as much time taking care of the babies by themselves than their husbands, and husbands rated their wives' parenting skills well above what women rated their husbands' skills.

However, women said their husbands were good parents even if they helped with normal care-giving like feeding and changing diapers. Husbands, on the other hand, didn't think these tasks contributed to making their wives good parents, most likely because they expect women to do this.

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]]>the editors at AOLHealthFri, 19 Mar 2010 15:15:00 EST