Health links

Washing your hands and cleaning your house frequently may help to lower your contact with common flame-retardant chemicals, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/cums-hah062618.php


Worsening vision and declining cognitive function are common conditions among older people. Understanding the association between them could help reduce age-related cognitive changes. A study of more than 2,500 adults aged 65 and older found rate of worsening vision was associated with rate of declining cognitive function. More importantly, vision has a stronger influence on cognition than the reverse. The study finding suggests maintaining good vision through the prevention and treatment of vision disorders in old persons may be a strategy to lessen age-related cognitive changes.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/jn-via062718.php


The longer a woman spends living in a neighborhood low on the socio-economic scale, the more likely she is to not gain enough weight during pregnancy, according to a new study.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/du-lli062718.php


Smoking associated with delayed shinbone healing
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/lu-saw062818.php


Special training for teachers may mean big results for students with autism spectrum disorder, according to Florida State University and Emory University researchers.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/fsu-sci062818.php


For children of lesbian or gay parents, psychological adjustment is about the same as in children of heterosexual parents, reports a study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics , the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/wkh-ndi062818.php


New research links outdoor air pollution -- even at levels deemed safe -- to an increased risk of diabetes globally, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs (VA) St. Louis Health Care System.
The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/wuis-apc062718.php


The public debate on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) - exogenous substances that have the same or similar effects as endogenous hormones - has been going on for some time. Chemicals such as bisphenol A or phthalates, the latter of which are used to soften plastics, may be connected to rising infertility rates among men and women.
In an experiment with pigs, researchers from ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Munich have demonstrated for the first time that the administration of even extremely low doses of an endocrine disruptor - in this case, an endogenous oestrogen - leads to epigenetic changes in a pregnant sow's DNA. Moreover, these changes were also observed in the sows' embryos, and similar changes were even evident after the offspring had reached adulthood. The study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/ez-aha062918.php


Self-monitoring of type 2 diabetes used in combination with an electronic feedback system results in considerable savings on health care costs especially in sparsely populated areas, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/uoef-sot062918.phphttps://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/uoef-sot062918.php


Adolescent drinking is associated with changes in the metabolite profile, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital shows. Some of these changes were found to correlate with reduced brain grey matter volume, especially in young women who are heavy drinkers.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/uoef-dcy062918.php