Tag Archives: school

Despite new recommendations, women in 40s continue to get routine mammograms at same rate

In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) sifted through the evidence and recommended that while women ages 50-74 should continue to undergo mammograms every two years, those between the ages of 40 and 49 without a family history of breast cancer should discuss the risks and benefits of routine screening mammography with their physicians to make individual decisions. As a result of the altered recommendations, Lauren D. Block, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her colleagues expected to find fewer women in their 40s getting routine mammograms. …

New study explores providers’ perceptions of parental concerns about HPV vaccination

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality are markedly higher for low-income and minority women due to higher rates of HPV and limited access to screening and treatment. Vaccination for HPV has the potential to reduce health care disparities in cervical cancer rates if girls are vaccinated prior to sexual experimentation. Although providers felt that parents wanted to prevent cervical cancer in their daughters, some had concerns about safety of the vaccine and promoting early or unsafe sexual activity. …

Tumor-activated protein promotes cancer spread

The findings are published in this week’s online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Roughly 90 percent of all cancer deaths are due to metastasis — the disease spreading from the original tumor site to multiple, distant tissues and finally overwhelming the patient’s body. Lymph vessels are often the path of transmission, with circulating tumor cells lodging in the lymph nodes — organs distributed throughout the body that act as immune system garrisons and traps for pathogens and foreign particles. The researchers, led by principal investigator Judith A. …

Breakthrough in the understanding of how pancreatic cancer cells ingest nutrients points to new drug target

Now new research reveals a possible chink in the armor of this recalcitrant disease. Many cancers, including pancreatic, lung, and colon cancer, feature a mutated protein known as Ras that plays a central role in a complex molecular chain of events that drives cancer cell growth and proliferation…

Student with cerebral palsy named prom queen

In many ways, Desaray Carroll is a typical high school teenager. She texts nonstop, hangs out with her friends, goes to the movies and out to eat. The 19-year-old Coahulla Creek High School student is surrounded with a family and friends who love and support her, so much so they campaigned for the student body to elect her prom queen a few weeks ago. Everyone except Carroll seemed sure she would win. But after a lifetime of being picked on for being different, she never thought she could be the same as those around her. “At my old school, I got made fun of,” she said. “I didn't want to go to school. It was really hard. At one point I quit school, but I came back.” Carroll has cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement and posture. People with cerebral palsy can have exaggerated movements, rigidity of the limbs, involuntary movements, unsteadiness while walking or any combination of those symptoms. She struggles with her speech — though after a few minutes with her, she becomes easier to understand — and movements on the right side of her body. So going from the person being picked on to the point of quitting school to being given a title that comes with such an implication of popularity seemed like a stretch for her. When her name was called out on prom night announcing she had been named prom queen, Carroll was naturally and genuinely shocked. “I didn't believe it,” she said. “I really like it here. They don't look at me like I have cerebral palsy.” Carroll's friends and her teachers said they believe it is a great testimony to the student body at Coahulla Creek. “Their heart is in the right place,” said Josh Swiney, Carroll's math inclusion teacher. “They've been around her and wanted that for her. She's awesome.” Andy Toth, a sign language interpreter of the school and adviser to the sign language club, of which Carroll is a member, said he knew the student body was rallying for Carroll. “I prayed all weekend she'd get it since I couldn't vote,” Toth said. “She is a perfect pick for it. We've got a good student body. They're not caught up in stereotypes. We realize what's real.” As a very young girl, Carroll fit in with other children, including her foster family. “She was accepted by them, and they love her,” said Jennie Byars, Carroll's foster mother, who became her legal guardian in 1997. Byars had four children naturally, has adopted several and has even more that refer to her as “mom,” including Carroll. “I didn't want her when they first called me,” Byars said. “Then I thought, 'Why am I doing this if I can't help the ones that really need it?' When they brought her to me (when Carroll was 16 months old), I saw a handicapped child. But then I saw a girl with a lot of determination. She bonded with us quickly. After a couple of weeks, I didn't see her as handicapped.” Byars and her late husband, Slim, encouraged Carroll's independence from an early age. “I tried to let her do what she could,” Byars said. “They wanted to give her a walker, and I said, 'No. She doesn't need one.' They wanted to give her a board to talk for her, but I wouldn't let them. We treated her like one of the kids. I tried not to limit her. You have a tendency to want to coddle her, but she didn't want you helping her.” Byars spent many hours taking Carroll to physical therapy and working with her to make sure she could walk and talk and live a normal life. Byars believed in her daughter, pushed her where she needed to be pushed, and comforted her when she needed to be comforted. “Her therapist said she was stubborn, but I said she was determined,” she said. “If she hadn't been determined, she wouldn't be where she is now.” As a child, Carroll could only walk on flat surfaces, not inclines. But she used a mulch pile to learn to walk on an incline. “She was determined, struggled, but she climbed that mountain — in more ways than one,” said family friend Nancy Reynolds. Carroll says many things in her life have been hard. “But it could be worse,” she said. “It's hard talking, but when people get to know me, they understand me better.” She can't even pull her hair back in a ponytail because she doesn't have full use of her right hand. She knows she's made it as far as she has because of the support from her foster parents. “They've been there for me,” Carroll said. “I'm lucky to have them.” When Carroll hit middle school, she faced bullying. Her friends sat at her side talking about how they were all bullied throughout middle school and into their early high school years. Zenaida Torres remembers other students being especially mean to Carroll. The two became friends passing each other in the counselor's office where they went to talk through the problems they each faced. Three years ago Slim Byars died. Jennie Byars was diagnosed with stomach cancer soon after. (She recently had a PET scan, which came back clean of cancer.) Carroll hit a really hard time facing so many trials in just a few years. “She was really a daddy's girl,” Byars said. “These last two years (when she enrolled at Coahulla Creek), she has really come out of her shell. The kids are great. They're more accepting here.” Carroll said she changed her outlook on life and those who were mean to her after her dad died. That's when she found a strong faith in God. “I know God won't put me in anything I can't go through,” she said. Now if a student picks on her or if she's having an especially hard day, she simply “doesn't let it bother” her. She has been inspired by Nick Vujicic, a motivational speaker and author who has no limbs. He is a reminder to Carroll that she is not the only one who faces struggles or who is different. Her hope and positive outlook serves as an inspiration to not only the student body and faculty at Coahulla Creek, but to many who have met her. “Today I had a bad day,” Torres said. “She sends me excerpts from Nick Vujicic's book. It helps me a lot. Even though she had a bad day, she never got sad.” Carroll is someone Savannah McCraw looks up to and thinks more people should become friends with. “We had some classes together,” she said. “A lot of people are too shy to talk to her. I decided I wanted to get to know her. She's really an awesome friend. She always knows how to make me feel better.” Even if Carroll is having a terrible day, she is sweet and kind to everyone. “I never hear her say anything mean about anyone,” McCraw said. “You can never tell if she's having a bad day.” Carroll may struggle with some everyday tasks, but she possesses many traits her friends don't. “She's able to do stuff we're not able to,” Torres said. “She stays strong. She has people here that love her and support her.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/13/student-with-cerebral-palsy-named-prom-queen/

Teen who text and drive also likelier to take other risks in car

Teenagers who text while driving are also more likely to engage in other risky activities, such as riding with an intoxicated driver or not wearing a seatbelt, a new study suggests. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found four in every nine high school students had sent or received texts while driving in the past month. “Considering it's against the law for teens to be texting while driving in 45 states, it's a little concerning,” said Emily Olsen, a health statistician in the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health and the report's lead author. Past studies conducted in single states have found anywhere from one quarter to almost three quarters of teenagers text while driving, the study team wrote Monday in Pediatrics. To get a more nationally representative picture, Olsen and her colleagues analyzed responses to the CDC's annual youth risk survey. On the 2011 survey, conducted in public and private schools across the country, 8,505 high school students ages 16 and older were asked about potentially dangerous driving behaviors they had engaged in over the past month. Just under 45 percent had texted while driving at least once during that span, and close to 12 percent of teens said they texted behind the wheel every day. Although the study team didn't measure how cell phone use may have affected safety in the car, past research shows that texting while driving can slow reaction times and impair a driver's ability to stay in one lane. The more frequently students reported texting and driving, the more likely they were to also answer “yes” to other risky behaviors, the researchers found. For example, 3 percent of teens who didn't text at the wheel had recently driven after drinking alcohol. That compared to 19 percent who reported texting and driving at least once in the past month and 34 percent who said they texted in the car daily. Likewise, 19 percent of non-texters had ridden in a car with another driver who had been drinking, versus 33 percent of high school students who reported texting and driving themselves. “It's concerning that kids are participating in these multiple behaviors, either while they're driving or while they're a passenger,” Olsen said. “Each one of these things is quite dangerous (on its own).” Jessica Mirman, who has studied teen motor vehicle cell phone use at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Injury Research and Prevention, agreed. “That just really highlighted that as far as prevention goes, we really need something comprehensive,” Mirman, who wasn't involved in the new research, said. “It's not just about texting. It's not just about drinking.” Olsen said parents have the best chance of being able to curb unsafe activities in the car by continuing to talk with their children about safe driving even after they have their license. Teens, she pointed out, are already more likely to get into - and have trouble getting out of - dangerous situations on the road, due to their inexperience. “Anything that takes their attention away from the task of driving, it can wait,” she said. Parents who are worried about their teens' driving behavior should reach out to their pediatrician or a school counselor, Mirman advised, as that risk-taking might reflect other underlying problems.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/13/teen-texting-at-wheel-tied-to-more-driving-risks/

Is popcorn giving you heart disease?

Oh, great. Just when you were starting to get a handle on your BPA exposure, scientists uncover a new one you should worry about.  It’s called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)—a chemical found in things like nonstick cookware, food wrappers, furniture, and even raincoats—and it’s been linked to cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.  The kicker? A full 98 percent of us have PFOA in our bloodstreams. (Protect your body’s most important muscle with these tips to Strengthen Your Heart in 30 Days.) Researchers from West Virginia University (WVU) School of Public Health, Morgantown, looked at the health data of 1,200 Americans and compared their PFOA serum levels with the incidence of heart disease. The results: The greater the amounts of PFOA in the bloodstream, the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease—regardless of factors like age, race, smoking, BMI, diabetes, and even hypertension. While previous research has linked PFOA to cardiovascular disease in animals, this is the first to look at PFOA’s heart effect on humans. Scary? You bet. But more research needs to be done to determine the specific relationship between PFOA and cardiovascular disease.  “We can’t yet be certain that PFOA causes heart disease,” says lead study author Dr. Anoop Shankar, chair of the department of epidemiology in the WVU School of Public Health. “The two could be related in another way, like people with cardiovascular disease tending to retain more PFOA in their blood.” (Minimize your exposure to harsh chemicals with these 19 Bizarre Home Remedies That Really Work.) Still, PFOA’s track record isn’t exactly reassuring. Health watchdogs like the Environmental Working Group—which annually puts out the Dirty Dozen Foods You Should Eat Organic—cite research that suggests PFOA may be a human carcinogen, and previous research has linked the chemical to chronic kidney disease and high cholesterol in children and adolescents. It’s also a significant source of global chemical emissions—so much so that the EPA partnered with major manufacturers like DuPont and 3M to form the 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program, which plans to eliminate PFOAs from the manufacturers’ products by 2015.   Until then, you can minimize your exposure to the chemical by steering clear of two of the biggest sources: nonstick cookware and packaged foods like microwave popcorn. According to the FDA, many popcorn bags contain especially high levels of PFOAs. (Popcorn addict

Mapping the embryonic epigenome: How genes are turned on and off during early human development

After an egg has been fertilized, it divides repeatedly to give rise to every cell in the human body — from the patrolling immune cell to the pulsing neuron. Each functionally distinct generation of cells subsequently differentiates itself from its predecessors in the developing embryo by expressing only a selection of its full complement of genes, while actively suppressing others…

Potential therapeutic target for Cushing’s disease

The protein, called TR4 (testicular orphan nuclear receptor 4), is one of the human body’s 48 nuclear receptors, a class of proteins found in cells that are responsible for sensing hormones and, in response, regulating the expression of specific genes. Using a genome scan, the Salk team discovered that TR4 regulates a gene that produces adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which is overproduced by pituitary tumors in Cushing’s disease (CD). …

Gene offers clues to new treatments for a harmful blood clotting disorder

The research, which was led by Yanming Wang, a Penn State University associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Denisa Wagner, senior author with decades of research on thrombosis at the Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard University Medical School, will be published in in the Online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week ending 10 May 2013. The team’s new findings are an extension of previous research by Wang and other scientists. In earlier studies, Wang and his colleagues had revealed that a gene in mice called Pad4 (peptidylarginine deiminase 4) produces an enzyme that plays an important role in protecting the body from infection. The researchers discovered that cells with a functioning PAD4 enzyme are able to build around themselves a protective, bacteria-killing web that is dubbed a NET (neutrophil extracellular trap)…