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Published on Leave a comment on Many Countries Ban Spanking, But 19 States Allow Physical Punishment In Schools

A new law in France just banned spanking of children, making it 52 countries in the world that ban spanking of children. Yet in the United States we go so far in the other direction that nineteen states still allow spanking and other forms of physical punishment in school. Of these 19 states, 15 expressly permit it while another four do not prohibit it. According to Federal data, more than 109,000 students were paddled, hit, or physically punished in some way in schools during 2013-2014. Seven Southern states account for 80 percent of in-school corporal punishment in the U.S.: Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

The National Association of School Psychologists explains corporal punishment as "the intentional infliction of pain or discomfort and/or the use of physical force upon a student with the intention of causing the student to experience bodily pain so as to correct or punish the student's behavior." In other words, it is a spanking, beating, paddling (hitting with a paddle!), or physical abuse.

Also, a recent study found that "black children are twice as likely as white children to be subject to corporal punishment" at school. This is partly because black children tend to live in states where such punishments are allowed, and also because black students are more likely to be singled out for corporal punishment by educators. In Mississippi, white students were physically disciplined at a rate of 4.7 beatings per every 100 students, but among black students, the rate was 8.1 per every 100 students.

Ironically, while Texas is one of the states that allows corporal punishment, research on spanking from the University of Texas (and Univ. of Michigan) found that: the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to experience increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems, and cognitive difficulties. These findings are from reviewing 50 years of research on spanking. In other words, study after study found that spanking, corporal punishment, paddling, beatings, physical abuse, or whatever you want to call it - results in negative long-term effects. It causes harm. So why is the USA so damn backward in 2017 that this is still being practiced in schools? The place where children are supposed to be safe, where adults are supposed to be role models, where children are supposed to learn right from wrong. Eh...

From the Washington Post: The States Where Teachers Still Beat Kids

In America's South, the beatings will continue. A new study published today finds that seven Southern states account for 80 percent of in-school corporal punishment in the U.S.: Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The research by Dick Startz, an economics professor at U.C. Santa Barbara, and released by the Brookings Institution's Brown Center used data from the Department of Education's Civil Rights Division to determine the breakdown.

Corporal punishment at school is illegal in 31 states. Of the 19 that technically allow it, many do not appear to practice it at all, according to Startz' numbers. But some states are use the practice relatively often. In Mississippi there were more than six instances of corporal punishment -- defined as "paddling, spanking, or other forms of physical punishment imposed on a student" -- for every 100 public school students during the 2011-2012 school year. In other words, one out of every 17 public school students in Mississippi can expect to get beaten by a school administrator during a typical school year.

The persistence of corporal punishment is schools is all the more puzzling when you consider the research: "Many studies have shown that physical punishment — including spanking, hitting and other means of causing pain — can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children," the American Psychological Association wrote in 2012. The American Academy of Pediatrics "strongly opposes" the practice. So does the United Nations. These groups agree that the evidence is clear: beating children does far more harm than good.

From University of Texas News: Risks of Harm from Spanking Confirmed by Analysis of Five Decades of Research

The more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to experience increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties, according to a new meta-analysis of 50 years of research on spanking by experts at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. The study, published in this month’s Journal of Family Psychology, looks at five decades of research involving over 160,000 children.

Gershoff and co-author Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, found that spanking (defined as an open-handed hit on the behind or extremities) was significantly linked with 13 of the 17 outcomes they examined, all in the direction of detrimental outcomes. “The upshot of the study is that spanking increases the likelihood of a wide variety of undesired outcomes for children. Spanking thus does the opposite of what parents usually want it to do,” Grogan-Kaylor says.

Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor tested for some long-term effects among adults who were spanked as children. The more they were spanked, the more likely they were to exhibit anti-social behavior and to experience mental health problems. They were also more likely to support physical punishment for their own children, which highlights one of the key ways that attitudes toward physical punishment are passed from generation to generation. The researchers looked at a wide range of studies and noted that spanking was associated with negative outcomes consistently and across all types of studies.... 

Published on Leave a comment on Baby Teethers Found To Contain BPA and Other Endocrine Disruptors

 Uh oh....A recent study found that every baby teether tested (and they tested 59 teethers), including all those labeled "BPA free", leached various parabens, bisphenols (including BPA or bisphenol A), and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. Infants chew and suck teethers to soothe the pain from their teeth emerging in the first year of life.

The researchers tested for 26 chemicals in three different types of teethers (solid plastic, gel-filled, and water-filled), and found parabens and bisphenols leaching from all of them. To see what leaches from the teethers, they placed the teethers into water - this is similar to what happens when babies mouth teethers and their saliva is exposed to chemicals in the teethers. The gel filled teethers leached the most chemicals overall. Even though 48 of the 59 teethers were labeled “BPA-free,” the results showed that the labels were misleading, because in this study BPA migrated (leached out) from all the teethers.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals can interfere with natural hormone function and are linked to a wide assortment of health problems (see posts on them). Even though the levels of the chemicals found were low, it is important to remember that effects from endocrine disrupting chemicals (hormone disruptors) are from very low levels. So exposing developing infants to these chemicals is of concern. What was disturbing is that these study results were far worse than a small study of teethers in Europe where the standards regarding endocrine disrupting chemicals are stricter than in the US. What should be done? Manufacturers should design products without using problem ingredients right from the start. Problem solved! From Science Daily:

Baby teethers soothe, but many contain low levels of BPA

Bisphenol-A (BPA), parabens and antimicrobials are widely used in personal care products and plastics. The U.S. and other governments have banned or restricted some of these compounds' use in certain products for babies and kids. But the compounds' presence in and leaching from teethers hasn't been thoroughly investigated. Now a study in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology reports that all tested plastic teethers contained BPA and other endocrine-disruptors that leached at low levels.

Studies have shown that in animals, endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) -- which include BPA, parabens and antimicrobials -- can potentially interfere with hormones and have harmful developmental, reproductive and neurological effects. As a result, the European Commission in 2011 restricted the use of BPA in baby bottles. The U.S. followed suit a year later, banning it from baby bottles, and also from children's drinking cups....But very few if any studies have investigated whether the compounds are used to make teethers and if the compounds leach out of these products, which are designed to soothe babies' gums when their teeth come in. Kurunthachalam Kannan and colleagues wanted to see if the products contained EDCs and if the compounds could migrate out.

The researchers analyzed 59 solid, gel-filled or water-filled teethers purchased online in the U.S. for 26 potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Although most of the products were labeled BPA-free or non-toxic, all of them contained BPA. In addition, the researchers detected a range of different parabens and the antimicrobials triclosan and triclocarban in most of the teethers....Based on estimates of average use time and the body weight of a 12-month-old baby, calculations suggest that exposure to BPA and other regulated EDCs in teethers would be lower than the European standards for temporary tolerable daily intake levels. However, these thresholds are set for individual compounds. Current regulations do not account for the accumulation of multiple EDCs, note the researchers. Additionally, not all chemicals measured in the study are regulated.

Published on Leave a comment on Is Autism Spectrum Disorder Linked To Pregnancy Flu Shots or The Flu?

A big concern nowadays is why some children develop autism, specifically autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism spectrum disorder is considered a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder that is thought to affect 1 out of 68 American children. While the causes of ASD are unknown in most cases, some studies report an association (higher risk) between a pregnant woman's infections and fever during pregnancy and risk of ASD in the baby, while other studies don't find such an association. Some studies also looked at the timing of infections during pregnancy, but again results have been mixed. A viral infection during the first trimester is associated with increased risk in some studies, while other studies report an increased risk with a second- or third-trimester bacterial infection.  So it has been unclear whether a flu (influenza) infection or flu vaccination during pregnancy is linked to autism spectrum disorder or not. Is there a link or not?

Why are pregnant women encouraged to get a flu shot (flu vaccine)? This is because pregnant women have an increased risk of complications from the flu infection. Studies also show that getting a flu vaccine during pregnancy reduces the risk of a preterm birth, a small-for gestational-age child, and a low-birth-weight child, and prevents influenza infection in newborns for up to 6 months.

The researchers of a large study done in California found no association between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk and flu (influenza) infection during pregnancy or flu (influenza) vaccination during the second to third trimester of pregnancy. However, there was a suggestion of increased ASD risk among children whose mothers received flu vaccinations during the first trimester (though the researchers say the association was perhaps due to "chance". Bottom line: the study results were reassuring for pregnant women, but if one wanted to be ultra-cautious, then delay getting a flu shot until the second trimester of pregnancy. From Science Daily:

No association between mother's flu in pregnancy, increased child autism risk

A study of more than 196,000 children found no association between a mother having an influenza infection anytime during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in children, according to a new study published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The study by Ousseny Zerbo, Ph.D., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, and coauthors included 196,929 children born in the health system from 2000 through 2010 at a gestational age of at least 24 weeks.

Within the group, there were 1,400 mothers (0.7 percent) diagnosed with influenza and 45,231 mothers (23 percent) who received an influenza vaccination during pregnancy. There were 3,101 children (1.6 percent) diagnosed with ASD. The authors report no association between increased risk of ASD and influenza vaccination during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. There was a suggestion of increased risk of ASD with maternal vaccination in the first trimester but the authors explain the finding was likely due to chance because it was not statistically significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. The study cannot establish causality and has several limitations, including ASD status determined by diagnoses on medical records and not validated by standardized clinical assessment for all cases. [Original study.]

Published on Leave a comment on Vitamin D and Autism Spectrum Disorder?

This study found impressive results - improvement in autistic behaviors in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with four months of daily vitamin D supplementation. Children in the placebo group did not show improvement. A nice aspect of the study was that the children were randomly assigned  to a placebo or a vitamin D group (so that the groups were not self-selected) and it was double-blinded (so no one knew who was getting the vitamins - again to prevent bias). This was a preliminary study - meaning more studies are needed, but it would be amazing if these results hold up... From Science Daily:

Vitamin D supplements may benefit children with autism spectrum disorder

Studies have shown an association between the risk of autism spectrum disorder and vitamin D insufficiency. In this latest study, 109 children with autism spectrum disorder were randomized to receive four months of vitamin D3 supplementation or a placebo."Autism symptoms -- such as hyperactivity, social withdrawal, and others -- improved significantly following vitamin D3 supplementation but not after receiving placebo," said Dr. Khaled Saad, lead author of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry study.

Excerpts from the original study from  The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry: Randomized controlled trial of vitamin D supplementation in children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a frequent developmental disorder characterized by pervasive deficits in social interaction, impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication, and stereotyped patterns of interests and activities. It has been previously reported that there is vitamin D deficiency in autistic children; however, there is a lack of randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation in ASD children.

This study is a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) that was conducted on 109 children with ASD (85 boys and 24 girls; aged 3–10 years). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the core symptoms of autism in children. ASD patients were randomized to receive vitamin D3 or placebo for 4 months. The serum levels of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25 (OH)D) were measured at the beginning and at the end of the study. The autism severity and social maturity of the children were assessed by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), .... 
Supplementation of vitamin D was well tolerated by the ASD children. The daily doses used in the therapy group was 300 IU vitamin D3/kg/day, not to exceed 5,000 IU/day. The autism symptoms of the children improved significantly, following 4-month vitamin D3 supplementation, but not in the placebo group. This study demonstrates the efficacy and tolerability of high doses of vitamin D3 in children with ASD.   

Recently, Wang et al. (2016) performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all studies on serum concentration of 25 (OH)D in ASD (Wang et al., 2016). Eleven studies were included, accounting for a total of 870 ASD patients and 782 healthy controls. Serum levels of 25 (OH)D in participants with ASD were significantly lower than those in controls. They concluded that low vitamin D might serve as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder (Wang et al., 2016). 

In a recent survey, our research group measured 25 (OH)D in 122 ASD children (3–9 years old) and 100 healthy children as controls (Saad, Abdel-Rahman, et al., 2015). The ASD group showed a significantly lower level of serum 25 (OH)D compared with the control group (p < .0001). The study found highly significant inverse correlations between serum 25 (OH)D levels and autism rating scales. In the second part of the previous study (Saad, AbdelRahman, et al., 2015), an open-label trial of 83 subjects who completed a 3-month therapy with high daily doses of vitamin D (300 IU/kg/day) was performed. Collectively, 80.7% of the children with ASD had significantly improved outcome, which was mainly in the sections of the CARS and ABC subscales that measure behavior, stereotypy, eye contact, and attention span (Saad, Abdel-Rahman, et al., 2015). 

Published on Leave a comment on Preventing Food Allergies In Children

Guidelines for how to prevent food allergies in children are changing. Until very recently, it was avoid, avoid, avoid exposing babies or young children to any potential allergens. Remember parents being advised that if an allergy to X (whether pets or food) runs in the family, then absolutely avoid exposing the child to the potential allergen? Well, recent research (here, here, and here) found that the opposite is true - that in the first year of life the baby should be exposed to potential allergens (whether animals or food) which stimulates the child's developing immune system in beneficial ways.

Physicians at a recent conference of allergists said that evidence shows that allergenic foods — including peanuts, eggs, and milk — should be introduced in the first year of life. The new 2017 medical guidelines will recommend introducing small amounts of peanuts (mixed in with other foods), when children are 4 to 6 months of age..

About two years ago a landmark study (LEAP study) found that when infants at a high risk of developing peanut allergy consumed peanuts on a regular basis, their risk of peanut allergy was dramatically reduced. And the opposite was also true: peanut avoidance in the first year of life was associated with a greater frequency of peanut allergy. Which made doctors start to rethink their strategies of how to avoid food allergies. From Medscape:

Allergenic Foods Should Be Introduced to Infants Early

Although the evidence shows that allergenic foods — including peanuts, eggs, and milk — should be introduced in the first year of life, guidelines are lagging behind, said an allergist speaking here at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting. Official guidelines to be issued early in 2017 will address only peanuts, recommending introduction when children are 4 to 6 months of age.

"There is now a large body of observation and trial data for other foods, including egg, that show that delaying the introduction of allergenic solids increases the risk of those particular food allergies," said Katrina Allen, MBBS, PhD, from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Policy changes are needed to help guide parents' decisions, she said. In fact, there is evidence showing that changes to policy — namely, infant-feeding guidelines — mirror the rise in the incidence of food allergies.

Not everyone agrees on exposure amount and timing in the case of egg allergy. In a recent trial, researchers looked at the early introduction of allergenic foods in breast-fed children (N Engl J Med. 2016;374:1733-1743). The prevalence of any food allergy was significantly lower in the early-introduction group than in the standard-introduction group, as was the prevalence of peanut allergy and egg allergy. And a study Dr Allen was involved in, which introduced cooked egg in small amounts, showed that early introduction reduced allergy (J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;126:807-813).

However, in a German study, where greater amounts of egg were introduced at 4 to 6 months, early exposure increased the risk for life-threatening allergic reactions (J Allergy Clin Immunol. Published online August 12, 2016). And in the STEP study, there was no change in the number of food allergies in 1-year-old children when egg was introduced early (J Allergy Clin Immunol. Published online August 20, 2016). However, that did not take into account high-risk infants, particularly those with eczema, who are known to have a higher incidence of egg allergy and are likely to see a much greater benefit from the early introduction of egg.

The new peanut guidelines — coauthored by Amal Assa'ad, MD, from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, who is chair of the ACAAI food allergy committee — will recommend that children with no eczema or egg allergy can be introduced to peanut-containing foods at home, according to the family's preference. And for children with mild to moderate eczema who have already started solid foods, the guidelines say that peanut-containing foods can be introduced at home at around 6 months of age, without the need for an evaluation. However, the guidelines caution, peanut-containing foods should not be the first solid food an infant tries, and an introduction should be made only when the child is healthy. The first feeding should not happen when the child has a cold, is vomiting, or has diarrhea or another illness.

For eggs, there is no official recommendation as of yet....The early introduction of allergenic foods is not the only policy that needs to be changed to lower the incidence of food allergies, Dr Allen told Medscape Medical News. Other factors, particularly environmental factors — mostly written up in observational studies — are contributing to an increasing intolerance to allergenic foods. Policies advocating that kids "get down and dirty," have more exposure to dogs, and bathe less are also warranted....Dr Allen and Dr Assa'ad agree that delaying the introduction of foods such cow's milk and egg until after 12 months is harmful. Guidelines should encourage families to introduce these foods in the first year of life, once solids have commenced at around 6 months, but not before 4 months.

Published on Leave a comment on Exposure To Harmful Chemicals During Pregnancy Shows Up In the Newborn

An important study was recently published that documents that when pregnant women are exposed to potentially harmful chemicals in the environment around them (environmental pollutants), many of these chemicals also get transferred to the fetus. Many of the 59 chemicals looked for were detected in the newborn babies' umbilical cords (thus the chemicals had crossed the placenta to the fetus during the pregnancy). Some chemicals were measured in higher levels in the umbilical cord than in the mother (as measured in her blood), while only cadmium appeared in mothers, but not in the umbilical cord (thus there was some protection for the fetus from that particular chemical).

This study did not look at the effects on the fetus and newborn from exposure to all these toxic chemicals - it just found that out of 59 chemicals tested for, the median number was 25 in maternal blood and 17 in umbilical cord blood. Eight of the 59 chemicals analyzed were detected in more than 90 percent of both the maternal and cord blood samples - and these included lead and mercury.

The researchers pointed out that no human studies have examined the developmental and reproductive health effects on the fetus and baby from being exposed to multiple chemicals simultaneously during pregnancy - which of course can have bigger risks and negative effects than being exposed to only one chemical at a time. Other studies have already shown that there are negative health effects (adverse neurodevelopmental effects) from a number of these chemicals, such as PCBs, PBDEs, Pb (lead) and Hg (mercury). Bottom line: No one really knows what these mixtures of chemicals do to the developing baby, but it is known that these chemicals have potential health risks. From Futurity:

Mom’s exposure to toxic chemicals shows up in newborn

Low-income and Latina pregnant women in a recent study had widespread exposure to environmental pollutants. In addition, many of the toxins showed up at even higher levels in their newborns. The study is the first in the United States to measure exposure to 59 toxic chemicals in pregnant women and their newborns.

“Pregnant women in the US are exposed to many harmful industrial chemicals that have been linked to premature birth, low birth weight, and birth defects, but estimates of how efficiently pollutants are transferred from mother to fetus have varied widely,” says Tracey Woodruff, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. “Our findings have found that many chemicals do indeed accumulate in the fetal environment and are absorbed at greater levels by fetuses than by the pregnant women themselves. This may have significant consequences for the growing fetus, since many of these chemicals are known to affect development.”

Researchers measured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), mercury, and lead, among other chemicals. These industrial pollutants are common in the environment, and in previous studies many have been detected in greater than 99 percent of US pregnant women, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data.

“Contrary to previous research, we found evidence that several PCBs and OCPs were often higher in umbilical cord samples than in maternal blood samples,” says Rachel Morello-Frosch,  professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley. The study also found that concentrations of mercury and certain PBDEs were often higher in umbilical cord samples than in maternal samples, and for most PFCs and lead, cord blood concentrations were generally equal to or lower than maternal concentrations, which is consistent with previous research.

Almost 80 percent of the chemicals detected in maternal blood samples were also detected in the umbilical cord blood samples, indicating that they passed through the placenta and entered the fetal environment, where they can pose a health risk to the developing baby. For those chemicals detected in at least 20 paired maternal and umbilical cord samples, 77 percent had significant correlations between maternal and umbilical cord concentrations.

The women in the study were participating in the Chemicals in Our Bodies Study, also referred to as the Maternal and Infant Environmental Exposure Project. Of the women participating in the current study, 95 percent had a combined annual household income of less than $40,000, two-thirds were Latina, and a third were born in Mexico, where they may have had less exposure to environmental toxics like the PBDEs found in flame retardants that have been widely used in the US. This demographic is often not well-represented in larger biomonitoring studies, such as NHANES, that form the basis of most of what is known about pregnant women’s exposure to environmental toxics nationally.

The study also provides a first indication of how several different classes of environmental chemicals found in a pregnant woman’s blood are also present in the newborn....From 2010 to 2011, researchers collected maternal blood samples from 77 pregnant women at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. Once they delivered their babies, researchers collected umbilical cord blood samples from 65 of these women. Of those samples tested for all 59 chemicals, the median number was 25 in maternal blood and 17 in umbilical cord blood. Eight of the 59 chemicals analyzed were detected in more than 90 percent of both the maternal and cord blood samples. 

Published on Leave a comment on Rare and Deadly Complication From Measles

Image result for measles wikipedia An always fatal measles complication appears to be occurring at higher rates than experts originally thought. New research found that the chance of a baby before age 1 getting measles and then the later deadly complication of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is 1 in 609, while if the child got measles under the age of 5, the rate of SSPE was one in 1,367 children.

SSPE is a neurological disorder that is a rare long-term complication of measles, typically appearing 4 to 8 years after the measles infection. First there are behavior changes, and later seizures, which progressively get more severe. Death usually occurs between 1 and 3 years after diagnosis. The researchers said that many of the patients studied had been vaccinated on time, but had measles in the first year of life, before the vaccine could be given. This rare disorder is a good reason to get the measles vaccine, but it was apparently too late for those that were diagnosed with measles or a "measles-like rash and illness" in the first 12 months of life.

What to do? Children should get measles vaccine at the normal time (12 to 15 months of age), but infants between 6 and 11 months should get the measles vaccine prior to travel to an area with measles. Infants younger than that should not travel to an area with measles. The researchers pointed out that SSPE demonstrates the "high human cost of “natural” measles immunity". As the researcher Dr. james Cherry said: "The new findings are "really frightening." Yup. From Live Science:

Deadly Measles Complication More Common Than Doctors Thought

A deadly complication of the measles, which can occur years after a person is infected with the virus, is more common than researchers previously thought, according to a new study. The complication, called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), is a progressive neurological disorder that involves inflammation in the brain.

People with SSPE die, on average, within one or two years of being diagnosed with the disease. Some people may live longer, but the condition is always fatal, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Previously, researchers thought the risk of post-measles SSPE was one in 100,000, according to the study. But the new analysis suggests that kids who get the measles before age 5 have a one in 1,387 chance of developing SSPE, and kids who get the measles before age 1 have a one in 609 chance. In the study, the researchers looked at all of the cases of SSPE in California that occurred between 1998 and 2015, identifying 17 cases. The children were diagnosed with SSPE, on average, at age 12, the researchers found. However, some children were diagnosed when they were as young as age 3, and others, as old as age 35.

When someone gets sick with the measles, the body usually rids itself of the virus in about 14 days. In rare cases, however, the virus can spread to the brain but go dormant. Scientists don't know why the virus becomes active again, but if it does, it leads to SSPE.  SSPE is thought to occur in three stages, study senior author Dr. James Cherry, a distinguished research professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said at a press conference today (Oct. 28), here at IDWeek 2016, a meeting of several organizations focused on infectious diseases.

In the first stage, a person with SSPE may act a little differently, Cherry said. If the patient is a child in school, he or she may not do as well, or may act aggressively, Cherry said. The behavioral changes can be subtle, he added. In the second stage of SSPE, a person will have seizures, Cherry said. These seizures can be subtle at first; for example, a person may faint, but in fact he or she is having a seizure, Cherry said. As the disease progresses, the seizures become more common and more pronounced, he said. In the final stage, seizures occur constantly, and the person eventually becomes comatose, Cherry said. Of the 17 cases of people with SSPE identified in the new study, 16 have died and one person is receiving hospice care, Cherry said.

Indeed, the measles vaccine is the only surefire way to prevent this type of infection, Marshall said. However, because the first dose of the measles vaccine isn't given until a child is between 12 and 15 months old, children younger than 1 year are susceptible to the disease. To protect these children, as well as people who, due to medical reasons, can't be vaccinated, everyone else needs to get the vaccine, Cherry said. This would create herd immunity, he said. Herd immunity is what protects babies, Marshall said at the press conference. But there's a threshold to herd immunity, he added. If the proportion of people who are vaccinated dips below a certain rate, herd immunity no longer comes into effect, he said.

Image result for measles wikipedia An electron micrograph of the measles virus. Credit:Wikipedia

Image result for measles wikipedia Child showing a 4-day measles rash. Credit: Wikipedia

Published on Leave a comment on Youth Football Players Have Brain Changes After One Season

Another study finding brain changes from playing tackle football - this time measurable brain changes were found in boys 8 to 13 years old after just one season of playing football. None of the boys had received a concussion diagnosis during the season. The changes in the white matter of the brain (and detected with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were from the cumulative subconcussive head impacts that occur in football - the result of repetitive hits to the head during games and practices.

No one knows if the brains of football players fully recover after the football season. But these findings are worrisome. Especially because last year researchers found that NFL players who had begun playing  football before age 12 had a higher risk of altered brain development, as compared to players who started later (see post). Currently nearly 3 million students participate in youth tackle football programs across the United States. Some are calling for young players to only play flag or touch football, and to only play tackle football starting with the teenage years. From Science Daily:

Brain changes seen in youth football players without concussion

Researchers have found measurable brain changes in children after a single season of playing youth football, even without a concussion diagnosis, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

"Most investigators believe that concussions are bad for the brain, but what about the hundreds of head impacts during a season of football that don't lead to a clinically diagnosed concussion? We wanted to see if cumulative sub-concussive head impacts have any effects on the developing brain," said the study's lead author, Christopher T. Whitlow, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.A., associate professor and chief of neuroradiology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The research team studied 25 male youth football players between the ages of 8 and 13. Head impact data were recorded using the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITs), which has been used in other studies of high school and collegiate football to assess the frequency and severity of helmet impacts....The study participants underwent pre- and post-season evaluation with multimodal neuroimaging, including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the brain. DTI is an advanced MRI technique, which identifies microstructural changes in the brain's white matter. 

The brain's white matter is composed of millions of nerve fibers called axons that act like communication cables connecting various regions of the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging produces a measurement, called fractional anisotropy (FA), of the movement of water molecules in the brain and along axons. In healthy white matter, the direction of water movement is fairly uniform and measures high in FA. When water movement is more random, FA values decrease, which has been associated with brain abnormalities in some studies.

The results showed a significant relationship between head impacts and decreased FA in specific white matter tracts and tract terminals, where white and gray matters meet. "We found that these young players who experienced more cumulative head impact exposure had more changes in brain white matter, specifically decreased FA, in specific parts of the brain," Dr. Whitlow said. "These decreases in FA caught our attention, because similar changes in FA have been reported in the setting of mild TBI."

It is important to note that none of the players had any signs or symptoms of concussion."We do not know if there are important functional changes related to these findings, or if these effects will be associated with any negative long-term outcomes," Dr. Whitlow said. "Football is a physical sport, and players may have many physical changes after a season of play that completely resolve. These changes in the brain may also simply resolve with little consequence. However, more research is needed to understand the meaning of these changes to the long-term health of our youngest athletes." [Original study]

Published on Leave a comment on Lower Lead Levels With Iron Fortified Foods

Lead exposure is a big problem for children throughout the United States and the rest of the world - whether lead from plumbing, lead paint, lead solder, and even from nearby mining. There are no safe levels of lead in children (best is zero) because it is a neurotoxicant - thus it can permanently lower IQ scores as well as other neurological effects. More lead gets absorbed if the person also has an iron deficiency than if the person has normal iron levels.

This study found that simply eating iron fortified biscuits daily lowered lead levels (and improved iron levels) in children during a several month period. Two types of iron supplements were tested, and it was found that sodium iron EDTA (which is commonly added to foods) worked better than iron sulphate. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommend eating foods high in calcium, iron, and vitamin C to lower iron absorption. From Science Daily:

Iron supplements in the fight against lead

Lead is a toxic heavy metal that was added to gasoline for use in cars until as recently as 25 years ago. It is particularly harmful to the developing brains of infants, children and teenagers, and the damage it does is irreversible. The situation becomes significantly worse if people are exposed to a high level of lead at the same time as they are suffering from iron deficiency. In the small intestine, lead and iron bind to the same transport protein, which absorbs the metals into the bloodstream. If someone consumes too little iron with their food, the transporter increases its activity, and can carry lead into the bloodstream instead, leading to increased levels of the toxic heavy metal in the body and brain.

A team of researchers led by ETH professor Michael B. Zimmermann from the Laboratory of Human Nutrition have now shown in a study that fortifying food with iron produces a striking reduction in blood lead concentration in children exposed to high levels of the metal. This is the result of a trial involving over 450 children carried out by Zimmermann's former doctoral student Raschida Bouhouch and colleagues in southern Morocco.....Mining in the surrounding area meant that children of preschool and school age were exposed to an increased quantity of lead. At the same time, the level of iron in their blood was relatively low, placing them in a high-risk group.

Depending on their weight, the children were given several white-flour biscuits on a daily basis for a period of four and a half months. The biscuits were fortified with different iron preparations: some received biscuits containing a specific quantity of iron sulphate, while others received biscuits with sodium iron EDTA or sodium EDTA without iron. To test the effect of the iron supplements, some children received only placebo biscuits containing no additional iron. EDTA, which stands for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, forms stable complexes with iron, aiding its uptake into the bloodstream from the intestines, but it is not absorbed itself. EDTA can also bind to lead in the intestines, reducing its absorption....Sodium iron EDTA has already been used for iron fortification in foodstuffs for many years.

The researchers measured the children's blood lead concentration and iron status before and after the trial, as well as conducting tests to determine how well the children could solve cognitive tasks. The researchers were delighted to find that the biscuits fortified with iron did indeed reduce the level of lead in the blood -- specifically, by a third with sodium iron EDTA complexes and by a quarter with EDTA and iron sulphate.

Before the study began, the children's blood contained on average 4.3 micrograms of lead per decilitre. Biscuits with added sodium iron EDTA facilitated a reduction in blood lead concentration to 2.9 micrograms per decilitre. The biscuits also brought about an improvement in the children's iron status. On the other hand, the reduction in lead concentration had no effect on cognitive performance, as the researchers discovered during the corresponding tests. Although, contrary to the researchers' expectations, the children's blood lead concentration before supplementation with iron was in line with the worldwide average at 4.3 micrograms per decilitre of blood, it was still possible to achieve a considerable reduction by administering the biscuits.  

Published on Leave a comment on Exposure to Common Chemicals Costs the US $340 Billion Each Year

Many articles have been written about endocrine disrupting chemicals and the numerous health problems they're linked to (see posts on them). It's been known for decades that endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose a danger to human health because the compounds can interfere with natural hormone function. Chemical exposure occurs through routine contact with plastic bottles, vinyl items, toys, food cans, cosmetics, flame retardants, and other consumer products containing "endocrine-disrupting chemicals". We ingest, breathe them in (inhalation), or absorb them through the skin as consumer products are used and also as consumer products break down (the dust).

Finally a study examines the financial cost of these chemicals - an estimate of more than $340 billion annually due to health care costs and lost wages (the authors say this is a conservative estimate). What can ordinary people do to lower their exposure to these chemicals? Avoid the use of pesticides in the home, lawns, and gardens. Eat as much organic foods as possible. Avoid buying food in cans, including soda. Store food in glass and stainless steel containers. Avoid microwaving in plastic containers (use glass instead). Avoid plastic bottles with the numbers 3, 6, and 7 on the bottom. Avoid vinyl items such as vinyl shower curtains and vinyl toys. Avoid fragrances (get unscented products). Read labels on lotions, shampoos, soaps, make-up - avoid phthalates and parabens. Avoid flame retardants (check the labels on new upholstered furniture). Avoid non-stick pots, avoid stain-repellant items, avoid air fresheners and dryer sheets. And that's just a partial list....From Environmental Health News:

Toxic economy: Common chemicals cost US billions every year

Exposure to chemicals in pesticides, toys, makeup, food packaging and detergents costs the U.S. more than $340 billion annually due to health care costs and lost wages, according to a new analysis. The chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, impact how human hormones function and have been linked to a variety of health problems such as impaired brain development, lower IQs, behavior problems, infertility, birth defects, obesity and diabetes. The findings, researchers say, "document the urgent public threat posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals.”   ...continue reading "Exposure to Common Chemicals Costs the US $340 Billion Each Year"