A new report links remnants of a once-common pesticide to lung infections and wheezing in kids exposed to the chemical before birth.

Known as DDE, the compound is a broken-down form of the harmful pesticide DDT and is found in many places around the world. it is absorbed into a person’s body when they eat contaminated food or breathe contaminated dust.

The study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, shows babies exposed to high levels of DDE in the womb grew up to have higher rates of pneumonia and bronchitis.

“We found that the risk of infections and wheeze increased with increasing DDE exposure,” Martine Vrijheid, associate professor at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Spain, told Reuters Health by email.

Vrijheid and her colleagues took blood samples from a large group of pregnant women in Spain, measuring the women’s exposure to three different pollutants.

Later, when the babies were about a year old, the researchers asked the mothers whether their toddlers had had breathing trouble or lung infections.

About 35 percent of the 1,342 children developed a lung infection within their first year, the team found, and the risk rose in tandem with the DDE levels in the mother’s blood.

Vrijheid estimates that with undetectable or very low levels of DDE, only 30 percent of the children would have developed infections.

The new study is the largest of its kind, according to the researcher. Past work has yielded mixed results, and until now has failed to show a significant association between DDE exposure and lung infections within a child’s first year of life.

DDT was once widely used to kill mosquitoes and prevent malaria outbreaks, but its use was called into question in the 1960s and was banned in the U.S. in 1973. But it and its breakdown products can last in the environment for hundreds of years.

People exposed to large amounts of DDT may experience tremors, seizures, sweating, headaches and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But those symptoms disappear when the person is no longer exposed to the pesticide.

Barbara Cohn, the director of Child Health and Development Studies at the Public Health Institute in California, told Reuters Health that DDT and its remains have been hard to study because of the time needed for it to show up in people.

“People thought it was a miracle compound,” said Cohn. “Nobody really knew what might be happening.”

DDT is still used in some parts of the world, because it is considered the best way to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes, said Vrijheid.

In 2006, the World Health Organization sanctioned an altered technique for using DDT, which involves spraying the pesticide on the inside of a building to kill mosquitoes that land on its walls and other surfaces.

Vrijheid told Reuters Health that it’s hard to avoid chemicals like DDT and DDE, which are stored in fat and found in higher concentrations at the top of the food chain.

“One way of reducing exposure is by reducing the consumption of fatty foods and increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruits,” she said. “This does not mean we should stop eating meat, yogurts or certain types of fish, but just that we should have (a balanced) diet.”

“This is the time of the year when days are noticeably shorter, and that absence of light in the late-afternoon hours really seems to affect some people—they feel an acute lowering of their mood,” says Erik Nelson, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience who specializes in mood disorders and depression at UC Health Psychiatry in Clifton.

“Additionally, the holidays can play a role in depression. some people might have painful memories related to loss of loved ones or stressful childhoods. These are memories with a lot of emotional and psychological significance, and the holidays tend to bring that out.”

When assessing a patient for winter depression, Nelson says, it’s important to determine what triggers their feelings before prescribing a course of treatment.

Some people, for instance, might feel fine for most of the year but report feelings of depression as the days grow shorter. In such cases, known as winter-onset seasonal affective disorder (SAD), treatment with a light box, known as therapeutic light, can be affective.

Symptoms of winter-onset SAD include depressed mood, changes in appetite and weight, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, changes in sleep (often oversleeping) and loss of interest in formerly enjoyable activities.

As with any mood disorder, Nelson says, “If the condition is interfering with your normal life, it’s time to seek help.”

Therapeutic light involves a specially designed lamp giving off an intensity of light that mimics the full spectrum and intensity of sunlight. Such devices are generally used for about 15 to 30 minutes in the morning, with the light shining indirectly on the person’s face, and can be used while he or she is involved in another activity such as reading or exercising.

The antidepressant  bupropion (trade name Wellbutrin) has been approved by the FDA to treat seasonal major depressive episodes, but the proper medication for any individual case should be determined in consultation with a physician. another treatment option is cognitive behavioral therapy, a pragmatic interactive therapy that has the goal of changing specific thoughts and behaviors.

Moreover, some people who are already being treated for depression notice a worsening of their symptoms during the winter months. if this appears to be related to the decreased hours of daylight, adding light therapy to the person’s current treatments for depression is often helpful, Nelson says.

For worsening of depression that appears to be related to the emotions or stress associated with the holidays, Nelson says, a change in the person’s current regimen, which would typically include psychotherapy and/or antidepressant medication, would be the likely course of treatment.

“There are a lot of factors that can affect a person’s mood this time of year, and it is helpful to assess the likely cause to determine the best course of treatment such as therapeutic light, medications, psychotherapy or behavioral changes that can be made.”

If people have milder seasonal symptoms that do not reach the level of a major depressive episode, Nelson says, they should try exercise and getting outdoors more to see if that helps their symptoms.

Provided by University of Cincinnati (news : web)

By JOAN PATTERSON

Our backs are the workhorses of the body, a complex marriage of ligaments, muscles, joints and discs that let us do everything from compete in triathlons to dance the Texas Two-Step. in fact, when they work, they work beautifully. But when they do not, simply bending over to tie a shoe can seem insurmountable.

According to national statistics, back pain is one of the most common complaints patients have when they visit their doctors and about 80 percent of us will experience lower back pain at some point in our lives. of course, beyond all the statistics is how back pain can interfere with our quality of life.

There are, however, some very simple steps that can be taken to help prevent common back pain. We talked to three experts about the issue: Dr. Robert Kessler, a doctor of osteopathy and associate professor at Touro University Nevada in Henderson; Andrea Avruskin, a physical therapist and spokesperson for the Nevada Physical Therapy Assoc.; and Kathleen Grace Santor, director of the Stress Management Center of Nevada located in Henderson.

Together, they gave us their advice on keeping back pain at bay, everything from walking up flights of stairs to learning how to cope with the daily stressors in our lives.

AVOID SMOKING, CAFFEINE

One of the risk factors for back pain is smoking because it actually decreases the oxygen level in the body which means muscles cannot function as well, Kessler notes. Smoking also increases the load on the sympathetic nervous system which serves the body by increasing heart rate, for example, and constricting blood vessels.

Other risks factors include too much caffeine, the abuse of alcohol, lack of physical activity and obesity. according to Avruskin, every pound that a person is overweight puts 10 pounds of stress on the spine.

GET MOVING

The most common causes of back pain are stiffness in the spinal joints, weakness of the trunk muscles and overstretched ligaments, which are the fibrous bands of tissue that hold together the spine’s vertebrae and discs, Aruskin notes.

These can be the result of sitting or standing for long periods of time, particularly in a slouched position. Avruskin recommends consistently sitting and standing up straight, and getting up from a sitting position every 30 minutes to walk around. she also suggests bending the spine backward and side to side, and rotating it side to side.

When watching television use those commercial breaks to move around, and try to avoid the couch, she adds. Couches are the worst when it comes to supporting the back because their softness allows the sagging of the spine which overstretches the ligaments and can lead to bulging discs. Instead, use a supportive chair such as a dining room chair.

WORK IT OUT

To prevent back pain, doctors will usually tell their patients to exercise, no matter what age, because it strengthens the back muscles and keeps the joints moving. This does not mean running a marathon but taking steps to get the body moving in a helpful way.

Kessler recommends activities such as Tai Chi, yoga, water aerobics, swimming and walking which are all beneficial for the spine. in fact, it is a good idea to practice more than one type of exercise in order to use different muscles and, therefore, reap the most benefit. Just make sure they are activities you enjoy and will continue to do.

It is a good idea for those who are just starting an exercise regimen to begin slowly, such as going for short walks. those with health problems should always consult a doctor to determine what exercises will be the most helpful and pose no risks, he added.

TARGETING MUSCLE GROUPS

There are exercises to target key muscles such as the postural muscles on the back side of our bodies which keep us standing and sitting straight. they can include “rows, lat pulldowns, scapular squeezes, swimming-type motions while lying on your stomach on a mat, and lifting one arm and the opposite leg while on your hands and knees,” Aruskin says.

But, again, it is important to consult a physician or physical therapist to make sure these practices are right for you, and to ensure they are being done correctly.

Aruskin points out that if you already have back pain, exercises that work the joints are the most beneficial. There is a specific technique that physical therapists use called McKenzie MDT “which focuses on finding the spinal motion that will quickly relieve your pain.” once the right exercise is determined by a therapist, it can be taught to a patient who can then use it at home.

Those with simple back aches that came on after sitting too long, for example, or bending forward, might benefit from the book, “Treat Your Own back,” by Robin McKenzie which shows readers how to get rid of their own pain at home.

FIND THE TIME

Sometimes it seems impossible to fit exercise into the daily routine. among the top reasons clients at the Stress Management Center say they do not exercise is lack of time and feeling too tired at the end of the day, Santor notes.

All three experts agree, however, that it is vital to spend the time to exercise or at least get up and move around to prevent back pain, especially if you are sitting at a desk all day. It could mean walking the perimeter of a building on campus or at work, using stairs instead of elevators, even parking at the far end of a parking lot to increase the walking distance to the front door of a grocery store or restaurant, Kessler says.

MOM WAS RIGHT

Your parents may have had their own reasons for encouraging you to “sit up straight” but were actually teaching you a very important lesson about maintaining a healthy back. good posture is key in staving off back pain and can actually allow the spine to heal faster after an injury.

“The natural arch in the small of your back should be maintained whenever you are sitting or standing. when your low back or upper back is allowed to slouch, the muscles and ligaments get slowly overstretched which can cause them to be painful,” Aruskin says.

When sitting it is important to make sure the hips are all the way back, “jammed up” against the back of a chair, Aruskin says. she also provides this tip for keeping the natural curve of the back and, therefore, preventing or reducing pain: Roll up a towel to the thickness of your forearm, and place it between the small of the back and the chair, then lean back against it.

Kessler notes that while sitting at a desk, the knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle and computer monitors should be set up so that one’s eyes are looking straight ahead “at the middle to upper three-quarters of the screen.”

MAKE JOB BACK-FRIENDLY

There are thousands of Las Vegans with jobs that require them to be on their feet for long periods of time including dealers and cocktail servers. But there are ways to make it easier on the back.

Aruskin recommends standing up as straight as possible with the chest up and shoulders back. Dealers should be standing as close to the tables as possible to limit how far they have to reach, she added, and they need to periodically shift their weight from one foot to the other.

During breaks, it is a good idea to take a brisk walk to restore circulation in the legs and back, and to stretch and twist the back.

When lifting something, including a young child, get as close to it as possible, bend your knees rather than learning forward, hold the object or child close to your stomach, then rise by straightening the knees.

ADDRESS THE STRESS

When Kessler talks to a patient about back pain it usually means looking at their lives as a whole.

“One question that is predictive (of back pain), and it’s going to surprise you, is, ‘Do you like your job?’ being happy. Stress causes us to use our bodies differently,” Kessler notes.

Santor agrees. Stress such as that experienced on the job or at home can cause muscles to tense up and exacerbate problems in the lower back. The best way to deal with it is to regain some kind of control.

A gentle yoga class that includes breathing techniques and calming poses is one way to learn how to soothe an overtaxed nervous system. “The calming effect of a good yoga class is excellent because the parasympathetic part of your nervous system kicks in and now you get the benefit of rebuilding,” Santor says.

Relaxation tapes are also helpful and, in some cases, the advice of a counselor who can help you directly address the stressors in your life.

“It’s a good idea to approach (stress) from different directions,” Santor added.

WHEN TO GET HELP

Finally, there are certain red flags when it comes to back pain that can signify something more serious, according to Kessler. These include back pain that travels from the back to the legs; worsens while laying down at night; pulses or is accompanied by symptoms such as a cold temperature, loss of sensation, numbness or weakness; or is associated with the loss of control of the bladder or bowel, weight loss, diminishment of appetite, fever or abnormal uterine bleeding.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2011) — In a discovery that may lead to a new treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the bone, a Princeton University research team has unraveled a mystery about how these tumors take root.

Cancer cells often travel throughout the body and cause new tumors in individuals with advanced breast cancer — a process called metastasis — commonly resulting in malignant bone tumors. what the Princeton research has uncovered is the exact mechanism that lets the traveling tumor cells disrupt normal bone growth. By zeroing in on the molecules involved, and particularly a protein called "Jagged1" that sends destructive signals to cells, the research team has opened the door to drug therapies that could block this disruptive process. Doctors at other medical centers who have reviewed the research have found it promising.

"right now we don’t have many treatments to offer these patients," said Yibin Kang, an associate professor of molecular biology at Princeton who led the research team. "Doctors can manage the symptoms of this bone cancer, but they can’t do much more. our findings suggest there could be a new way of treatment," one that could slow or halt these bone tumors.

Breast cancer spreads to the bone in 70 to 80 percent of patients with advanced breast cancer, and it can also spread to the brain, lung and liver. Metastatic bone cancer is also a frequent occurrence among patients with advanced prostate, lung and skin cancers. In findings that will be published online in the journal Cancer Cell on Feb. 3, the team’s research shows that breast tumor cells are able to give bone cells the wrong instructions through a process known as cell signaling — with disastrous effects for the patient.

The billions of cells in a living human body must communicate to develop, repair tissue, and effectively maintain normal physiological functions. Cell signaling is part of a complex system that enables them to do that but, in patients with cancer, the relationship between signaling molecules and the molecules that communicate with them has gone awry.

Signaling molecules are those that can be received and read by a cell through a receptor molecule on its surface. once the signaling molecules connect with a receptor, their union sets off a process that leads to the receiving cell changing its behavior. the sequence of events that follows involves a signaling pathway, which is a group of molecules that work together, one molecule activating the next until a specific function is carried out, such as renewing an organ’s cells. there are many such signaling pathways.

But in the case of metastatic breast cancer, a disruptive pathway is formed. the signaling molecule, also known as a ligand, connects with a receptor molecule on certain bone cells and activates a cellular pathway that ultimately disrupts healthy bone renewal. Kang’s team identified the signaling molecule as Jagged1, and the receptor molecule as one that activates a cellular pathway known as the "Notch pathway."

This finding gives cancer researchers a specific target, Kang said — that of developing ways "to neutralize Jagged1′s destructive power" and keeping it from interfering with normal bone growth.

At the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in new York City, Jacqueline Bromberg, a physician who also studies breast cancer, said the findings of Kang’s team are promising.

"the bone is the most common site for metastasis in patients with breast cancer," said Bromberg, who met Kang several years ago while he was a postdoctoral fellow at Sloan Kettering. She noted that although there are treatments that can slow these tumors, such as estrogen-blockers, radiation and chemotherapy, "we have few therapies which effectively eradicate bone metastasis."

At the University of Indiana School of Medicine in Indianapolis, oncology professor Theresa Guise said the Princeton discoveries "show critical interactions between the tumor cells and bone cells." She added that the team has made a valuable contribution to research in that it "has dissected the contribution of the tumor and the micro-environment in this process."

Finding has Link to Earlier Breast Cancer Work

The research builds on earlier work begun six years ago by Kang’s laboratory that looked at how several different signaling pathways promote the spread of cancer to the bone. In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine in 2009, Kang showed that a pathway known as TGF beta plays a role in the growth of bone tumors. But until the recent study, it was not clear that Jagged1 plays a crucial role in that process. Before the current work focused on identifying the series of interconnected events that create the network of destructive pathways, Kang and Nilay Sethi, a dual degree student who recently finished his Ph.D. in molecular biology at Princeton, worked to find first which of the signaling molecules were at work in patients with breast cancer that had metastasized to the bone.

"it turned out that tumor samples from patients with breast cancer that had spread to the bone had higher levels of Jagged1," said Sethi, who is now completing his medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of new Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The current research shows that, when the Jagged1 signaling molecule binds to its receptor molecule on the bone-producing cells, the interaction turns on the signaling pathway called Notch, and that leads to dramatic changes in bone growth. "It’s like a key finding its matching lock, and opens a floodgate of information," Kang said. "Unfortunately, in this case, the Jagged1-Notch signaling is misused by cancer cells to serve a destructive purpose."

In healthy bone, specialized bone cells called osteoclasts scour the bone surface and use a combination of enzymes and acids to break down the old bone. Then another group of bone cells called osteoblasts deposit a new layer of bone matrix to rebuild the bone tissue. Working just like cellular excavators and paving machines, the bone-scrubbing osteoclasts and bone-building osteoblasts work in sync every day to renew the bone and maintain its strength. when these cells’ activity gets out of balance, bone diseases can result.

While tumor cells lack the specialized tools that osteoclasts have to break down the bone, they are able to use the destructive Jagged1 molecule to disrupt the balanced activity of bone renewal, forcing the osteoclasts and osteoblasts to behave in a way that allows the tumor cells to invade the bone, Kang explained.

For example, by activating Notch signaling in osteoclasts, Jagged1 makes osteoclasts mature more quickly from their precursor cells, known as monocytes. a massive accumulation of these bone-scouring osteoclasts becomes the front line of the invasive force of tumor cells. that speeds up the breakdown of bone tissue and clears the way for tumor cells to expand into a malignant mass in the bone.

"Meanwhile, Jagged1 instructs the osteoblasts to secrete elevated levels of Interleukin-6, a tumor growth factor, so the cancer grows even faster," Kang said. "It’s a one-two punch."

Creating further damage, the breakdown of the bone matrix releases a large quantity of another protein called TGF-beta, another signaling molecule that is embedded in the bone matrix during the bone-building process. In their earlier work published in 2009, Kang and colleagues showed that the TGF-beta protein derived from bones fuels the malignant growth of bone metastasis.

In the current study, some experiments conducted by Sethi established a surprising new link between TGF-beta and the Jagged1 molecule in bone metastasis.

"when tumor cells use the hijacked osteoclasts to break down the bone and release TGF-beta, it signals back to tumor cells to further stimulate the expression in Jagged1 in tumor cells," Sethi said. "the link between the Jagged1/Notch and TGF-beta pathways establishes a vicious cycle, essentially driving the unstoppable expansion of tumor and the destruction of skeletal tissues."

As a medical student, Sethi said he is acutely aware of the consequence of bone metastasis. "these patients suffer a lot. They have fractures, severe bone pain and debilitating nerve compression," he said. In addition, as the bone breaks down, calcium builds up in the blood, causing other life-threatening complications.

Blocking Destructive Pathway a Potential Treatment Path

The key to stopping the process appears to be finding a way to neutralize the Jagged1 signaling molecule or its receptor Notch.

Kang has several ideas on how scientists may learn how to do just that. One way to interrupt the destructive process is to put a roadblock in the Notch pathway. there is a way to do that by halting the activity of gamma secretase — an enzyme that plays a key role when the Notch pathway is activated –because without it the delivery of instructions to bone cells cannot be completed. the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. has developed one such experimental drug that stops gamma secretase, known as a gamma secretase inhibitor or GSI, and the company has provided it to Kang’s lab to support his team’s work.

The drug has already shown promise treating metastatic bone cancer, Kang said. In animal experiments, the inhibitors have been proven to block the disease-causing signaling between tumor cells and bone cells, communication mediated by Jagged1 and Notch. Kang said GSI can reduce bone metastasis significantly, along with a dramatic reduction of bone destruction.

He hopes his team’s new data showing that GSIs appear to work to halt the spread of cancer to the bone will result in clinicians starting a clinical trial of GSI to fight breast cancer metastases in the near future.

According to Kang, there are few drugs currently available to relieve symptoms associated with bone metastases, and none is able to completely stop the cancer. If Kang’s findings lead to a drug that can halt or slow this process, it could affect the 200,000 patients that the NCI estimates are diagnosed every year with breast cancer. it might work for some other cancer patients as well, Kang said.

Sloan-Kettering’s Bromberg said Kang’s recent discovery "underlies the importance of targeting the environmental milieu" in which disease develops, in this case the activity of the Notch signaling pathway and specific interactions between cancer cells and the specialized cells that break down and rebuild bone.

Kang’s work was funded by the new Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, the San-Francisco-based Brewster Foundation founded by 1969 Princeton alumnus Leonard Schaeffer, U.S. Department of Defense, American Cancer Society, Merck & Co., the National Institutes of Health and the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal.

Email or share this story:

Story Source:

the above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Princeton University. the original article was written by Gale Scott.

Journal Reference:

1. Nilay Sethi, Xudong Dai, Christopher G. Winter, Yibin Kang. Tumor-Derived Jagged1 Promotes Osteolytic Bone Metastasis of Breast Cancer by Engaging Notch Signaling in Bone Cells. Cancer Cell, 03 February 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2010.12.022

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and the University of Utah have developed the best biologically based test for autism to date. the test was able to detect the disorder in individuals with high-functioning autism with 94 percent accuracy.

The study will be published online the week of November 29th in Autism Research.

The test, which uses MRI to measure deviations in brain circuitry, could someday replace the subjective test now used to identify those with the disorder. It could also lead to a better understanding of autism and to better management and treatments of affected individuals.

"this is not yet ready for prime time use in the clinic yet, but the findings are the most promising thus far," said lead author Nicholas Lange, ScD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Neurostatistics Laboratory at McLean. "indeed, we have new ways to discover more about the biological basis of autism and how to improve the lives of individuals with the disorder," said senior author Janet Lainhart, MD, Principal Investigator of the research at the University of Utah.

The Harvard-McLean and University of Utah researchers used the test on two groups of subjects. one group consisted of individuals who had previously been diagnosed with high-functioning autism using the standard subjective scoring system. That system is based on assessing patients and questioning their parents about their functionality in a variety of areas including language, social functioning, and behavior. the second group studied was a control group consisting of normally developing individuals.

The subjects were put in an MRI scanner that was programmed to be sensitive to water diffusion along the axons of the brain to measure microscopic features of the brain’s circuitry. the Lange-Lainhart test employs Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

"It provides pictures and measurements of the microscopic fiber structures of the brain that enable language, social and emotional functioning, which can reveal deviations that are not found in those without autism," Lange said.

A repeat study using two different sets of subjects showed the same high level of performance.

"the differences picked up on the study correlate with clinical symptoms that are part of the features of autism," Lainhart said. "There is less directional flow to and from brain regions where there should be more information exchange," said Lange.

The collaborative research group will further study and develop the test with more findings due out in a year or two. Future studies will look at patients with high-severity autism, younger children, and patients with brain disorders such as developmental language disorders, ADHD and OCD, who do not have autism.

If the test demonstrates further success, it could someday replace the current subjective system of diagnosing autism, which is not biologically based.

It could also someday lead to pinpointing how autism develops. "we can gain a better understanding of how this disorder arises and changes over the lifetime of an individual, and derive more effective treatments," said Lainhart.

Co-authors included: Molly DuBray, Alyson Froehlich, Brad Wright, P. Thomas Fletcher, all of the University of Utah, Erin Bigler of Brigham Young University, Nagesh Adluru, Alexander Alexander, and Jee Eun Lee of the University of Wisconsin, and Michael Froimowitz and Caitlin Ravichandran at Harvard and McLean.

Email or share this story:

Story Source:

the above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by McLean Hospital.

Journal Reference:

1. Nicholas Lange, Molly B. DuBray, Jee Eun Lee, Michael P. Froimowitz, Alyson Froehlich, Nagesh Adluru, Brad Wright, Caitlin Ravichandran, P. Thomas Fletcher, Erin D. Bigler, Andrew L. Alexander and Janet E. Lainhart. Atypical diffusion tensor hemispheric asymmetry in autism. Autism Research, 2 Dec 2010 DOI: 10.1002/aur.162

Note: if no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — an intensive, five-week working memory training program shows promise in relieving some of the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, a new study suggests.

Researchers found significant changes for students who completed the program in areas such as attention, ADHD symptoms, planning and organization, initiating tasks, and working memory.

"this program really seemed to make a difference for many of the children with ADHD," said Steven Beck, co-author of the study an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

"it is not going to replace medication, but it could be a useful complementary therapy."

Beck conducted the study with Christine Hanson and Synthia Puffenberger, graduate students in psychology at Ohio State. Their findings are published in the November/December 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.

The researchers tested software developed by a Swedish company called Cogmed, in conjunction with the Karolinska Institute, a medical university in Stockholm.

The software is designed to improve one of the major deficiencies found in people with ADHD — working memory.

Working memory is the ability to hold onto information long enough to achieve a goal. For example, you have to remember a phone number long enough for you to dial it. Students have to remember the passage of a book they just read, in order to understand what they’re currently reading.

"Working memory is critical in everyday life, and certainly for academic success, but it is one of the things that is very difficult for children with ADHD," Hanson said.

The study involved 52 students, aged 7 to 17, who attended a private school in Columbus that serves children with learning disabilities, many of whom also have an ADHD diagnoses. all the children used the software in their homes, under the supervision of their parents and the researchers.

The software includes a set of 25 exercises that students had to complete within 5 to 6 weeks. Each session is 30 to 40 minutes long. the exercises are in a computer-game format and are designed to help students improve their working memory. For example, in one exercise a robot will speak numbers in a certain order, and the student has to click on the numbers the robot spoke, on the computer screen, in the opposite order.

"at first the kids love it, because it is like a game," Puffenberger said. "but the software has an algorithm built in that makes the exercises harder as the students get better. So the children are always challenged."

Half the students participated at the beginning of the study. the other half were wait-listed, and completed the software program after the others were finished.

Parents and teachers of the participating students completed measures of the children’s ADHD symptoms and working memory before the intervention, one month after treatment, and four months after treatment.

Results showed that parents generally rated their children as improving on inattention, overall number of ADHD symptoms, working memory, planning and organization and in initiating tasks. these changes were evident both immediately after treatment and four months later.

On individual measures, between one-fourth and one-third of the children showed clinically significant progress — in other words, enough progress to be easily visible to their parents.

The teacher ratings, while pointed in the direction of improvement, were not strong enough to be statistically significant in this study. That’s not surprising, Beck said, because very few treatment studies ever find significance among teacher measures.

"Teachers only see the kids for a few hours a day and they are dealing with a lot of other children at the same time. it would be difficult for them to see changes," Beck said.

Beck said this is the first published study they know of testing this software in the United States. one of the strengths of the study is that it used a very typical sample of children with ADHD — other studies in Sweden had excluded children who were on medication.

"most kids with ADHD are on some kind of medication, so it helps to know how this intervention works in these cases," he said.

In this sample, 60 percent of the students were on medication. the results showed the program was equally effective regardless of whether they were on medication or not.

"Medication for ADHD does not help directly with working memory, and the training program does, so it can be useful," Beck said.

"one of the encouraging findings is that parents reported even ADHD symptoms improved after the program, and that isn’t the focus. this program is focused on improving working memory."

Beck said they can’t say for sure how the program works to help kids with ADHD. but it seems that children are learning how to focus and how to use their working memory on everyday tasks, and they are able to use that knowledge at school and home.

One possible criticism of the study could be that it relies on parental reports, and the parents may be biased.

"That’s true, but it is also the parents who are observing the kids day in and day out, and they are the ones who would be most likely to observe any changes that occur," Beck said.

The researchers plan on extending the work by using more objective measures of children’s progress after using the program.

Two other co-authors of the study were William Benninger, an adjunct assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State, and Kristen Benninger, a medical student at the University of Toledo

Beck, Hanson and Puffenberger have no financial interest in the company that makes the software. William Benninger does have an interest, but was not involved in the collection of the data.

Email or share this story:

Story Source:

the above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Ohio State University. the original article was written by Jeff Grabmeier.

Journal Reference:

1. Steven Beck, Christine Hanson, Synthia Puffenberger, Kristen Benninger, William Benninger. A Controlled Trial of Working Memory Training for Children and Adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2010; 39 (6): 825 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2010.517162

Note: if no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Published: Sunday, December 19, 2010, 12:00 PM

Does it matter what you drink with that cheese fondue?

The Swiss would say absolutely!

Debate has raged for decades in Switzerland over the perfect fondue beverage. Some insist white wine is the best option because the alcohol supposedly breaks down the Gruyere cheese. but others say only tea — with no milk or sugar — is appropriate.

Researchers in Switzerland and Germany set out to find out which drink provides better digestion of that fatty cheese.

The research was published this week in the medical journal BMJ.

In a small study — partly funded by Coop Foods and Etter Kirsch — experts fed 20 healthy men and women aged 23 to 58 a cheese fondue with either Fendant de Valais white wine and kirsch or black tea.

In the experiment, people who drank tea digested the fondue in about six hours, compared to nine hours for those who had wine and kirsch. Experts found no difference in symptoms like heartburn, nausea or indigestion among the groups.

Mark Fox, an associate professor and consultant gastroenterologist at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham who led the research, said the findings apply to any high-calorie, high-fat meal, like traditional Christmas feasts.

Fatty foods take longer to be broken down in the stomach compared to other foods and adding alcohol complicates the process, he said.

Fox, who is half-Swiss, says he always has white wine with his fondue. “Contrary to popular belief, wine unfortunately does not dissolve the fat in fondue,” he said, adding there is too much fat for alcohol to make a dent.

In an MRI image of a fondue-eater, experts saw a massive lump of cheese Fox and colleagues described as a “cheese baby.”

Robert Heading, a retired professor of gastroenterology at the University of Edinburgh, warned that people with digestive problems like acid reflux might worsen their condition by drinking alcohol. He was not linked to the research.

ONE of the mysteries of Parkinson’s disease is a step closer to being solved after Sydney researchers identified a simple way of diagnosing the condition.

Despite obvious physical symptoms at later stages, Parkinson’s disease – the second-most common neurological condition in Australia after dementia – is extremely difficult to diagnose. But now doctors may be able to use ultrasound to identify changes in the brain, increasing the chances of early diagnosis.

Associate Professor Kay Double, a principal research fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia, believes Parkinson’s disease can be diagnosed using a simple 10-minute ultrasound. Ultrasound is inexpensive and safe, unlike most brain-scan technologies, she said.

Advertisement: story continues below

Early tests had been promising and her research team was recruiting more people to be tested.

Until now, doctors had been forced to rely on ambiguous physical symptoms such as tremors, muscle stiffness and slowness of movement.

“The problem is these symptoms can all occur for many other reasons,” said Professor Double, explaining that about 30 per cent of initial diagnoses were incorrect.

Delays in diagnosis meant long periods with stressful, unexplained and often untreated symptoms.

Amy Corderoy

Other traumatic events such as a road accident or sexual abuse can also trigger the condition. NO two people experience PTSD in the same way and while in some cases symptoms can occur weeks after the event, in others it doesn?t happen for months or years. ?It?s not inevitable,? says Lincoln University psychologist  Roderick Orner. ?Major incidents happen in the lives of around three-quarters of people in their lifetime and very few actually develop PTSD.? However for those who do, it can be overwhelming. ?I felt a real need to defend my home and family in an obsessive way,? says 31-year-old Ram, who carried out security checks on his house three times every night. ?I even took it to the extent of cutting the grass outside the front door very low to the ground to enable me to identify footprints of anyone attempting to get near the house.? often underestimated is the impact of PTSD on loved ones says Nigel Hunt, associate professor in health psychology at Nottingham University. ?You can imagine how it affects families,? he says. ?One man leaves the house to go to war, a different man comes back. sometimes he is unrecognisable. In some cases there is aggression, violence and drinking.? Candice recalls the struggle of having to remain calm throughout. ?I knew it wasn?t his fault but his extreme stress affected every aspect of our lives,? she admits. Patricia Campbell-Hughes is a psychologist who has worked with many ex-servicemen suffering from PTSD and says: ?One of the most difficult things for families is that sufferers often have extremely frightening flashbacks as if they are actually reliving the situation.? Treatment has historically been hard to come by particularly within a military context. It is difficult enough for anyone to recognise they have a mental health problem, let alone in an environment where resilience is key. ?Prior to 15 years ago it was difficult to get the military to even recognise PTSD as that might lead to soldiers claiming compensation in terms of their duty of care as an employer,? says Professor Hunt. Today it?s a different story Largely thanks to the MoD and NHS working closely with the Royal British Legion and other armed forces charities, treatment is becoming increasingly available and innovative. Treatments range from cognitive behavioural therapy which works on identifying and challenging thoughts and behaviour that may be maintaining symptoms and eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing where the  patient tracks and follows a moving object while recalling a stressful memory or event. Newer narrative techniques focus on people telling their stories. ?As soon as it became apparent that I needed help, it happened really quickly,? says Ram who reports that in his nine months of therapy he was able to work through the causes of the problem, not least his difficulty in coming to terms with the lives Afghan children had to endure. ?Having a young daughter exacerbated this especially because my daughter was fortunate enough to have both parents who loved her and had the means to provide for her. there was a mental and emotional turmoil within me  which often left me guilty, frustrated, angry and helpless.? ROYAL British Legion head of welfare Sue Freeth says: ?People with PTSD can feel very isolated and they may be a risk to themselves and others. People who have served their country should not have to feel lost.? keen to give something back to those who helped him Ram has organised the March for Honour (marchforhonour.com). Four teams consisting of former and serving members of the armed forces left from separate points in the UK last Thursday on a 250-mile march, culminating in them delivering the Book of Remembrance to the Royal Albert Hall on November 11 for Saturday?s Festival of Remembrance there. The march will also raise money for the Poppy Appeal and symbolises the struggle faced by everyone at some point in life, says Ram. we all hit a wall at some time, he adds, and the support of those around us and the realisation  others have overcome obstacles help us through. Candice has also managed to salvage something positive from their ordeal. ?I actually think it?s made our family closer,? she says. ?I knew when I met Ram that he was a strong person but seeing him overcome what he has still amazes me. I never take anything for granted now. ?I often stop and thank my  lucky stars for the normality of daily life that I longed for during that time.”