redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Chicago is now the bed bug capital of the US, replacing Cincinnati as the city where most bed bug-related treatments occurred over the past calendar year, claims on prominent pest-control company.

The Rollins Corporation, parent company of Orkin and seven other pest control firms operating worldwide, released their list of the Top 50 bed bug cities for 2012 on Friday. Topping the list, which was based on the number of treatments performed by Orkin from January through December of last year, was The Windy City, which moved up one spot from its second-place finish in 2011.

Detroit moved up one spot to second, followed by Los Angeles, Denver, and then Cincinnati, which dropped four places from the 2011 rankings. The Ohio capital of Columbus was sixth, followed by the nation´s capital, Washington, DC, in seventh and the greater Cleveland area (which includes Akron and Canton as well) in eighth. Dallas/Ft. Worth and New York rounded out the top 10, according to the pest control company.

“Seattle/Tacoma jumped 14 spots in 2012,” Orkin officials said in a statement. “Other cities making significant jumps include Indianapolis, Omaha, Milwaukee, Hartford/New Haven, Knoxville, Charleston/Huntington, Cedar Rapids/Waterloo and Minneapolis. Atlanta, Honolulu, Charlotte and Las Vegas all dropped significantly.”

“This list shows that bed bugs continue to be a problem throughout the U.S.,” Dr. Ron Harrison, the company´s Entomologist and Technical Services Director, added. “Based on the diversity of cities on the list, we all need to be very cautious when we travel–whether it is business or pleasure, or to visit family, friends or vacation. We need to be vigilant wherever we are and take the proper precautions.”

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Rachel Rosenberg, executive director of the Chicago-based nonprofit group Safer Pest Control Project (SPCP) said that the list was not “a scientific estimation” because it was based solely on Orkin´s consumer base. Nonetheless, she said that it does bring to light a “very serious issue.”

According to the New York newspaper, the SPCP is joining forces with Chicago legislators to craft a city-wide strategy for dealing with bed bugs. Their ordinance, which is scheduled to be brought before city council before the end of the month, is designed to help lay out the rights and obligations of both tenants and landlords. Rosenberg also said she is hopeful that topping Orkin´s list will help push through the proposed guidelines.

As for the bloodsucking pests themselves, Orkin reports that sanitation “is not a factor” in the development of bed bugs. They also note that they can also be found in kitchens and bathrooms, not just bedrooms, and that homes, hospitals, movie theaters, airplanes, and gyms are all locations where they could be found.

“People may believe bed bugs transmit diseases, but according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, bed bugs can carry more than 30 different human pathogens, but there is no evidence that bed bugs can transmit diseases,” the pest control company added. “New research from the University of Minnesota has also suggested bed bugs are attracted to dirty clothes, so keep them in a sealed bag or container when you travel.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

A new study published in the January edition of the Perspectives of Psychological Science reveals the impact of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) over the last 20 years, and argues that there are some issues that remain unclear.

To begin, fMRI has been used to evaluate real-time brain activity. The tool can determine changes in blood flow and help researchers better understand the human brain.

Past studies at institutions like the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) have utilized fMRI to track brain responses. For example, a study done in 2011 at UCB focused on picking apart participants´ visual experiences with the help of brain imaging. They believed that the study could, one day, help them better understand the inner workings of individuals who could not communicate verbally in situations related to neurodegenerative disease, stroke, or coma.

“This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery,” explained the study´s co-author Jack Gallant, a professor and neuroscientist at UCB, in a prepared statement. “We are opening a window into the movies in our minds.”

Another study last June at UCB looked at the effect of sleep deprivation with the help of fMRI scans. The researchers found that sleep deprivation was related to natural anxiety that the participants had. The fMRI scans showed how sleep deprivation could elevate the build-up of anticipatory activity in emotional centers of the brain.

“Anticipation is a fundamental brain process, a common survival mechanism across numerous species,” commented the study´s lead author Andrea Goldstein, who was a graduate student at UCB´s Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, in the statement.

While some researchers have found fMRI to be helpful, others have stated that the instrument does little to help increase knowledge on the brain and mind.

“Despite the many new methods and results derived from fMRI research, some have argued that fMRI has done very little to advance knowledge about cognition and, in particular, has done little to advance theories about cognitive processes,” noted Mara Mather, Nancy Kanwisher, and John Cacioppo in an article commentary.

Like editors Mather, Kanwisher, and Cacioppo, researchers Martha Farah and Cayce Hook argued in the paper that there is little evidence that supports the idea that fMRI data is “more persuasive than other types of data.”

The special section, which includes 12 articles, discusses whether fMRI results have had any impact on the study of the brain and human psychology. Some authors propose that fMRI has brought innovations to previous theories on the ageing mind. For example researchers Tor Wager and Lauren Atlas state that fMRI could also pave the way for a better method of evaluating pain. Other researchers discuss the role of fMRIs in cognitive operations and whether these operations are modular or distributed over a number of cognitive domains that are related to development of intellectual skills. Some researchers even wrote about the relationship between cognitive theories and fMRI.

Overall, even though fMRI images do provide some new perspective into cognition, there are some questions in which fMRIs have never been able to address.

“The best approach to answering questions about cognition,” concluded Mather, Cacioppo, and Kanwisher in the statement, “is a synergistic combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methods, richly complemented by the wide array of other methods in cognitive neuroscience.”

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

It´s probably a good bet that most of us have relied on the pick-me-up boost a caffeinated beverage offers every now and again. It´s also likely that many of us rely on such beverages more than not. For those of us who do drink more than our fair share of caffeine-laced energy drinks, coffees, and colas, it´s probably also a good idea to check out the latest information from a recent government report.

The report in question, released last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), suggests that the number of people who have sought emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks and other highly-caffeinated beverages has doubled nationwide during the past four years.

This timeline follows closely the same period of time in which the so-called supercharged energy drink industry has surged in popularity throughout convenience stores, night clubs and college campuses.

The report said that, from 2007 to 2011, the number of ER visits involving these types of drinks shot up from 10,000 to more than 20,000–gleaned from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). Most of these cases have involved teenagers or young adults, said the report. These findings are significant, especially since in the neighborhood of 90 percent of Americans are looking for a caffeine fix on a daily basis.

A report by Johns Hopkins University states that more than half of those who are getting caffeine boosts are consuming more than 300 milligrams per day, and an estimated 20 to 30 percent are taking in in excess of 600 mg per day–the equivalent of six cups of coffee, 12 sodas, or four energy drinks.

The report found that during the study time frame, more males than females took a trip to the ER due to an energy drink-related issue. And patients were most often between the ages of 18 and 39. Notably, the largest increase was seen in people 40 and older, for whom ER visits jumped 279 percent from 1,382 in 2007 to 5,233 in 2011.

And 58 percent of energy drink-related ER visits in 2011 were for adverse events linked to consumption of energy drinks alone. The remaining 42 percent involved energy drinks in combination with prescription drugs (mostly Adderall and Ritalin), alcohol, and/or street drugs.

The report follows some disturbing data from two studies in 2009 and 2010 that showed kids between the ages of 5 and 7 consumed an average of 52 mg of caffeine per day, kids 8 to 12 about 109 mg per day and those 13 to 18 consumed an average of 144 mg per day.

Most experts agree that, for adults, 200 to 300 mg of caffeine (up to four cups of coffee) per day is fine, and even beneficial in some instances (based on a recent study linking health benefits to coffee and tea consumption). But in children, especially young children, caffeine should be limited, or not allowed at all. And even in adults, 500 to 600 mg of caffeine per day can have negative effects on people, especially those who are more susceptible to caffeine.

Caffeine affects the central nervous system, usually making the body more alert, but it has also been shown to cause restlessness, sleep disturbance, nervousness, irritability, heart arrhythmia, headache and upset stomach. Excess consumption can also lead to dependence and intoxication, which may amplify any of the above symptoms, causing even further abnormalities, such as high fever, body tremors and sensory disruptions.

Experts say that when caffeine becomes less like a buzz and more like a zap, users should think about giving it up, or at least cutting it back.

The report doesn´t specify which symptoms brought people to the ER but is still calling all energy drink consumption a “rising public health problem.”

Several emergency room physicians said they have seen a surge in the number of patients suffering from symptoms that could be related to energy drink consumption, and said that in most of these cases, patients said they had recently consumed an energy drink prior to their ER visit.

“A lot of people don’t realize the strength of these things. I had someone come in recently who had drunk three energy drinks in an hour, which is the equivalent of 15 cups of coffee,” Howard Mell, an emergency physician in the suburbs of Cleveland, who serves as a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, told ABC News. “Essentially he gave himself a stress test and thankfully he passed. But if he had a weak heart or suffered from coronary disease and didn’t know it, this could have precipitated very bad things.”

The findings of the report also follow reports last fall of 18 deaths that may have been linked to energy drink over-consumption–including a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died after drinking two large cans of Monster Energy drinks.

Despite that report, Monster said it does not believe the cause of death was directly related to consumption of its product.

The rash of deaths has led to two senators calling upon the FDA to launch an investigation into the incidents and the safety concerns over energy drinks and their ingredients.

The energy drink industry maintains that its drinks are safe and there is no proof the rise in ER visits and deaths can be linked to its products.

The American Beverage Association also said in a statement this week that the SAMHSA report does not provide solid data on the overall health of the patients, what symptoms brought them into the ER, or their overall caffeine intake.

The authors of the SAMHSA report said it was based on responses it receives from about 230 hospitals each year, a representative sample of about 5 percent of ER departments nationwide. The agency then uses those responses to estimate the number of energy drink-related ER visits across the country.

The more than 20,000 cases estimated for 2011 represent a small portion of the annual 136 million ER visits tracked by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The FDA said it would consider the findings of the report, but pressed for more information before it undertakes a broad review of the safety of energy drinks later this spring.

“We will examine this additional information … as a part of our ongoing investigation into potential safety issues surrounding the use of energy-drink products,” FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said in a statement.

Consumer Reports lists a ratings guide on the caffeine content of 27 top-selling energy drinks and energy shots on its website.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Each January Americans everywhere are busy making their New Year´s resolutions, resolving to quit that unhealthy smoking habit, stop procrastinating quite so much, or making amends to get into the gym a little more often. But perhaps the most popular resolution each year has to do with food.

How often have you stood in front of the mirror around the New Year a made the resolve to stop eating quite so many caloric, fat-laden, and sodium-enriched foods?

If you´re like most people, then the answer is likely at least once or twice. And for those of you who are this year making that resolution to eat a little less of those unhealthy meals, have we got a story for you.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has just released their annual (6^th) Xtreme Eating Awards list. Each January CSPI delves into the darkness of diners everywhere and unleashes their greatest horror stories, which in this case, are the seemingly endless doses of calories, fat, salt and sugar.

Nutritionists with the Washington DC-based consumer group reviewed the nutritional content on appetizers, entrees, desserts and specialty drinks from 225 popular chain restaurants around the country and shared nine contenders which are among the worst offenders.

Many, if not all, of these foods go way over-the-top in bringing calorie-drenched foods to American eateries everywhere.

Jayne Hurley, a senior nutritionist with CSPI, said: “These are huge portions of high-fat, high-calorie foods“¦ The calories are in the stratosphere. Restaurants need to slim down their menus. There are pages of foods like these that are bad for you.”

The group lists nine single entrees that have between 1,600 and 3,200 calories in a single meal, but highlight those with more calories based on added extras that come with most dishes. Hurley noted that with most of these dishes people are getting more calories in a single meal than what most should be eating in a single day.

Hurley said the average American should be getting about 2,000 calories per day. But this depends on height, weight and activity level. Some people need fewer calories and others need more.

Hurley advises that people should limit what they eat when they dine out. She said that skipping the appetizer or dessert or even sharing the meal is a much healthier option. Other ideas would be to order off a diet or light menu if the eatery offers it. “You’ll get fewer calories, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get less sodium,” she cautioned.

The CSPI has been at this game now for the 6 years and after careful consideration, lists the winners, or losers, depending on how you look at it, in its Nutrition Action Healthletter.

While each year the group finds a sizable assortment of top offenders, Hurley believes this year´s winners take the cake.

Michael F. Jacobson, executive director at CSPI, said it seems like many of those on the list this year “are scientifically engineering these extreme meals with the express purpose of promoting obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”

“You’d think that the size of their profits depended on their increasing the size of your pants,” he remarked.

Most people would not sit down and eat a 12-piece bucket of chicken from KFC all by themselves, said CSPI. But some of these restaurants on the list are offering single entrees that equal, or even surpass, the amount of calories found in that KFC 12-pack.

Legislation passed in 2010 under President Obama that will require chain restaurants to begin showing how many calories come packed in their dishes, as the government looks at ways to reverse a growing health crisis in America. The FDA has recently drafted up regulations that will implement those calorie-labeling provisions, yet final regulations have been stalled for months, according to the CSPI.

“I hope the Obama Administration promptly finalizes overdue calorie labeling rules for chain restaurants,” Jacobson said. “Not only do Americans deserve to know what they’re eating, but, as our Xtreme Eating ℠winners´ clearly indicate, lives are at stake. And perhaps when calories become mandatory on menus, chains will begin innovating in a healthier direction, instead of competing with each other to make Americans heavier and sicker.”

With that being said, here is a rundown of some of CSPI´s worst offenders from the Xtreme Eating Awards:

-Topping the list is The Cheesecake Factory´s ℠Bistro Shrimp Pasta´ which may sound healthy because it comes with mushrooms and arugula. But the truth is this extreme dish comes packed with a whopping 3,120 calories (roughly 1.5 days´ worth for the average consumer). The dish also has a hefty 89 grams of saturated fat and more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium (nearly 70 percent of a daily serving).

-Not to be outdone, another dish from The Cheesecake Factory comes in at a close second on the calorific contention list. Its Crispy Chicken Costoletta may also sound somewhat on the healthy side. To be honest, it is only lightly breaded and comes with mashed potato (instead of fried) and tasty asparagus. But it may surprise you to learn that this healthy-appearing dish is packed with 2,610 calories and 89 grams of fat. And while the Bistro Shrimp dish ousts this one in the calorie department, the Crispy Chicken Costoletta racks up a very unhealthy 2,720 milligrams of sodium.

-When you think of Italian food, do you think of veal? Apparently many people seem to associate Italian food with healthy eating, simply for the fact that they believe veal is a healthier food option than beef. However, this is sadly not true. Especially when you consider Maggiano´s Little Italy´s 18oz. Veal Porterhouse, which comes drizzled in butter sauce and a half-pound of roasted, fried, garlic-butter-glazed Crispy Red Potatoes. Even if you don´t eat the starchy side dish, you are pulling in 1,900 calories, 40 grams of saturated fat and 2,860 milligrams of sodium with the slab of veal. Add those potatoes in and the numbers jump up 2,710 calories and 3,700 mg of sodium. I say“¦ Where´s the Beef?

-Taking a slight dip in the calorie department is Chili´s ℠Full Rack of Baby Back Ribs with Shiner Bock BBQ Sauce.´ But don´t be fooled, although this zesty, lip-smacking, finger-sucking, dinner option only weighs you down with 1,660 calories, it does add 39 grams of saturated fat to your hips and attacks your blood pressure with more than 5,000 mg of sodium (more than 3 times the daily recommended intake). Toss in the sides that come standard (Homestyle Fries and Cinnamon Apples) and your sodium intake quickly swooshes past 6,490 mg, not to forget another 670 calories.

-Looking for a tasty dessert now that you stuffed in a week´s worth of calories and sodium? Try Maggiano´s Little Italy´s ℠Chocolate Zuccotto Cake.´ This chocolaty decadent dessert comes standard with 1,820 calories, 62 grams of saturated fat and 26 teaspoons of added sugar (about 4 days the recommended allotment). Just one helping of this delightfully dreadful dessert is nearly equal to an entire Entenmann´s Chocolate Fudge Cake, which can give you up to eight servings.

-Lastly we take a look at Smoothie King, which offers one drink that is surely to give your taste buds a treat, but will also give your body a boost of the blahs. Its offering, the “King” size 40 oz. Peanut Power Plus Grape Smoothie (or the Strawberry Smoothie) treats you to 1,460 calories and 22 teaspoons of added sugar. This doesn´t include the already 17 teaspoons of natural sugar that comes with the grape. Add them together and you just administered yourself a 6.5-day-dose of glucose in one sitting. If you are thinking you will go for the strawberry version instead, don´t bother–the outcome is not much different.

While these are startling and disturbing findings, Registered dietitian Joy Dubost, director of nutrition for the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement that “restaurants provide an array of menu options including a growing selection of healthful menu options [for everyone]. In fact, the National Restaurant Association’s 2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast shows that over 85% of adults say there are more healthy options at restaurants than there were two years ago.”

Still, such options make it difficult to choose when restaurants usually bury them in the back of their menus and typically do not give good image descriptions of what you are getting, saving their menu space for more appealing, appetizing and mouth-watering entrees.

Check out CSPI’s full list of Xtreme Eating Awards here.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Replacing brand-name, antiretroviral drugs recommended for control of HIV infection with generic medications could save nearly $1 billion a year on health care costs in the US.

This strategy of replacing the brand-name drugs with the soon-to-be-available generic drugs could also come with its risks, diminishing the efficacy of the HIV treatment.

“The switch from branded to generic antiretrovirals would place us in the uncomfortable position of trading some losses of both quality and quantity of life for a large potential dollar savings,” Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Medical Practice Evaluation Center, lead author of the study, said in a statement. “By estimating the likely magnitude of these offsetting effects now — before generic antiretrovirals actually hit the shelves — we can confront our willingness as clinicians, patients and as a society to make these difficult choices.”

The cost of antiretroviral drugs in the U.S. in 2011 was around $9 billion, most of which was paid for by the government. The recommended treatment for newly diagnosed patients is a single pill taken daily that combines three brand-name antiretrovirals, including tenofovir, emtricitabine and efavirenz.

A generic form of emtricitabine became available in January 2012, and a generic variation of efavirenz is expected to be released in the near future.

The authors said replacing two of the three branded drugs with generics could significantly reduce costs, but such a strategy would also have disadvantages.

A more complicated treatment regimen requires three daily pills instead of one, increasing the risk of some patients missing doses, which could lead to the loss of antiretroviral effectiveness called treatment failure.

Studies have found lamivudine may be slightly less effective and more vulnerable to the development of drug-resistant viral strains than emtricitabine.

The team employed a widely used mathematical model of HIV progression to simulate the effects of a daily three-pill regimen of generic efavirenz and lamivudine plus brand-name tenofovir, compared with the current one-pill combination drug.

Their results indicated that switching all HIV-infected patients in the US to the three-drug generic strategy would produce lifetime savings of $42,500 per patient.

“Diverting patients from the most effective, branded treatment alternative could be made more acceptable if the savings were directed to other HIV-related needs,” Bruce Schackman, PhD, associate professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, said in a statement. “For example, fewer than half the state-funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs include the effective protease-inhibitor-based treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV), which infects up to 25 percent of HIV-infected individuals.”

He said they calculated that for every 15 patients switched to the generic-based regimen, one who is also infected with HCV could be treated and potentially cured of that infection.

“For patients who take their medications well and adhere to the medical regimen, the generic option will be a bit more complex but could be as effective as the standard regimen,” adds Walensky, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained. “But a patient who relies heavily on the simplicity of taking a single pill is more likely to suffer detrimental effects, since missing doses will increase the risk of treatment failure.”

She said there is no getting around the fact savings from generics will only be realized if we route patients away from the most effective, branded treatment alternative.

“This is a trade-off that many of us will find emotionally difficult, and perhaps even ethically impossible, to recommend. All of us — consumers, providers and advocates — would be far likelier to embrace such a policy change if we knew the savings would be redirected towards other aspects of HIV medicine,” Walensky said.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

There´s a saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Based on new research, there may be other fruits that should be added to this list. Researchers recently discovered that consuming three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries per week could help women lower the risk of a heart attack.

In the study, the team of investigators looked at the high levels of the dietary flavonoids in blueberries and strawberries. Flavonoids are naturally occurring compounds that are also found in other foods such as blackberries, eggplant, grapes and wine, as well as other types of fruits and vegetables. Anthocyanins, a particular sub-class of flavonoids, were discovered to help stop the buildup of plaque, dilate arteries, and assist in other cardiovascular benefits. As a result, the scientists found that heart attack risk could be decreased as much as one-third with the consumption of blueberries and strawberries.

“Blueberries and strawberries can easily be incorporated into what women eat every week,” explained the study´s senior author Eric Rimm, an associate professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, in a prepared statement. “This simple dietary change could have a significant impact on prevention efforts.”

The findings, recently featured in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, focused on blueberries and strawberries as they were the most popularly consumed berries in the United States. The scientists proposed that other foods could produce similar results. With these results, the American Heart Association supports the consumption of berries along with other fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain products for a balanced diet that is full of varied nutrients.

The team of investigators consisted of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States and the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. They conducted a prospective study with 93,600 women who were between the ages of 25 and 42; these women were also part of the Nurses´ Health Study II. During an 18-year study period, they filled out questionnaires about their diet every four years.

During the study period, a total of 405 heart attacks occurred and the females who consumed the highest amount of blueberries and strawberries had a 32 percent decrease in their heart attack risk, as compared to their counterparts who consumed berries once a month or less.

“We have shown that even at an early age, eating more of these fruits may reduce risk of a heart attack later in life,” commented the study´s lead author Aedín Cassidy, who serves as head of the Department of Nutrition at Norwich Medical School of the University of East Anglia, in the statement.

The study follows a report in the Journal of the American Heart Association that revealed that there was a wide range of cardiovascular health for residents in different states of the U.S. They found that three percent of the total U.S. population reportedly had ideal heart health, while 10 percent of the total population had poor heart health. Overall, those who lived in the New England and Western States reported to have a higher percentage of the population who met the ideal cardiovascular health.

“Americans reported having on average more than four of the seven risk factors for heart disease,” noted Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Heat Disease and Stroke Prevention), in a prepared statement. “We also found large disparities by age, sex, race/ethnicity and levels of education.”

Furthermore, the American Heart Association has set out a goal to help boost the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 2020; they aim to improve heart health by 20 percent, while decrease deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent.

“This diversity necessitates that innovative, customized strategies be developed to most effectively improve cardiovascular health for specific states and among subpopulations,” remarked Donna Arnett, president of the American Heart Association, in response to the JAHA report.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

According to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics, 30 percent of teenage girls have met someone offline who they first met online.

The teenage girls reported that they had offline meetings with people they met on the Internet, and whose identity had not been fully confirmed before meeting.

“These meetings may have been benign, but for an adolescent girl to do it is dangerous,” Jennie Noll, PhD, a psychologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the study’s lead author, said in a statement.

According to Dr. Noll, director of research in behavioral medicine and clinical psychology at Cincinnati Children’s, the research shows that high-risk, online profiles are more likely to lead to offline meetings.

“If someone is looking for a vulnerable teen to start an online sexual discourse, they will more likely target someone who presents herself provocatively,” she said. “Maltreatment poses a unique risk for online behavior that may set the stage for harm.”

The researchers studied 251 adolescent girls between the ages of 14 and 17, about half of which were victims of abuse or neglect.

Noll said that if families of the girls in the study had installed Internet filtering software at the house, it did not make a difference in the association between maltreatment and high-risk Internet behaviors.

These behaviors included intentionally seeking adult content, provocative self-presentations on social network sites and receiving sexual advances online.

The new study is part of a larger study by the team on high-risk Internet behaviors. During a “pilot study,” Noll said she asked girls whether they had ever met anyone offline after meeting them online.

“One patient told a story about a guy who started texting her a lot, and he seemed ‘really nice.’ So she agreed to meet him at the mall, she got in his car, they drove somewhere and he raped her,” Noll said.

Ultimately, the study points out the dangers in meeting strangers online, and show that parents should be having conversations with their teenagers about these risks.

The study was supported by a $3.7 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health to help deepen the data about high risk Internet behaviors.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Bangladesh has set up a “Death Clock” in its capital to try and raise some awareness about the dangers related to smoking.

According to Sayed Badrul Karim from the Progga NGO, about 57,000 people die each year due to tobacco-related diseases in Bangladesh. The country is ranked as one of the world’s highest in tobacco consumption.

The “Death Clock” was installed on a road near Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s residence in the capital Dhaka. This clock will be keeping a rolling tally of people dying of tobacco-repeated illnesses every day.

Taifur Rahman, Advocacy and Media Coordinator in Bangladesh of CTFK, said that the clock will be running until the next parliament session, January 27.

About 58 percent of men, and 29 percent of women in Bangladesh are tobacco users. The country is considering a new law that will restrict the use of tobacco, and increase taxes on tobacco products.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said the move gives assurance to provide all possible support in passage of the amended anti-tobacco law.

The clockmakers hope that the Death Clock will be a tool to draw attention to policymakers, and help expedite amendment of anti-tobacco law. The cabinet approved the draft of the amended tobacco control act 2012 in principle on August 27, 2012.

According to a report by the Financial Express, over 20,000 people have already died in the past 132 days due to tobacco use.

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world, and the rate of consumption in Bangladesh is higher than any other country in the world.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Scientists said a simple breath test could diagnose infections in the respiratory system based on a study identifying the chemical ℠fingerprints´ that are given off by certain bacteria that are present in the lungs.

Publishing the new findings in today´s issue of the Journal of Breath Research, the researchers said they have successfully distinguished between different types of bacteria, as well as different strains of the same bacteria. Working with mice, they were able to analyze the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in exhaled breath.

The research team, led by Jane Hill from the University of Vermont, said a simple breath test could potentially reduce diagnosis of a lung infection from days to just minutes.

“Traditional methods employed to diagnose bacterial infections of the lung require the collection of a sample that is then used to grow bacteria. The isolated colony of bacteria is then biochemically tested to classify it and to see how resistant it is to antibiotics,” said Hill in a statement.

“This whole process can take days for some of the common bacteria and even weeks for the causative agent for tuberculosis. Breath analysis would reduce the time-to-diagnosis to just minutes,” she added.

Breath-testing would be an attractive method for diagnosis of lung infections due to its ease of use and non-invasiveness. Breath-testing has already seen some success in other medical avenues, such as diagnosis of certain cancers, asthma and diabetes.

In the study, Hill and colleagues analyzed the VOCs given off by two common and acute chronic lung infections: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

The team infected mice with both bacteria and took breath samples after 24 hours of infection. The VOCs were analyzed using secondary electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (SESI-MS), which is capable of detecting VOCs down to parts per trillion.

Using the breath-test method, the team found a significant difference between the breath profiles of the mice infected with the bacteria and a group of uninfected mice. The team was also able to distinguish the two bacteria with a statistically significant level, and also able to distinguish between two strains of P. aeruginosa that were used.

“We have strong evidence that we can distinguish between bacterial infections of the lung in mice very effectively using the breathprint SESI-MS approach and I suspect that we will also be able to distinguish between bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lung,” Hill noted.

“To that end, we are now collaborating with colleagues to sample patients in order to demonstrate the strengths, as well as limitations, of breath analysis more comprehensively,” Hill concluded.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring pharmaceutical companies to lower the recommended doses of popular sleeping pills, due to the potential risk of injury resulting from morning drowsiness associated with the medications in recent studies.

According to Reuters, studies have demonstrated that pills containing the prescription drug zolpidem (which include products sold under the brand names Ambien, Edluar, Stilnox, Sublinox, and Zolpimist) could interfere with a person´s alertness and coordination during the early hours of the following day. The risk was highest for patients using extended-release forms of the sleeping pills, the news organization noted.

As a result, the FDA is requiring manufacturers to lower the recommended dosage for women by half — “from 10 milligrams to 5 milligrams for regular products, and 12.5 milligrams to 6.25 milligrams for extended-release formulations,” reports AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone.

The agency is recommending that those doses also be applied to men, but they are not strictly enforcing that requirement, he said. Furthermore, the agency is recommending that doctors prescribe the lowest amount of zolpidem and similar insomnia medications that effectively treat a patient´s symptoms, while also warning them that morning impairment from the drugs is possible, even in individuals who feel completely awake, added Susan Jeffrey of Medscape Medical News.

“The agency decided to take action after recent driving simulation studies showed that, in some patients, drug levels remained high enough to cause difficulty driving. The data came from company studies of Intermezzo, a new form of zolpidem which was approved in 2011 for people who wake late at night and can’t get back to sleep,” Perrone said.

“The data showed that 33 percent of women and 25 percent of men taking extended-release zolpidem had enough of the drug in their blood to interfere with driving as much as eight hours later. When the dose was cut in half only 15 percent of women and 5 percent of men had those same drug levels,” he added. “FDA analysis was unable to determine why women metabolize zolpidem so much more slowly than men.”

Lowering the dosages will mean that less of the medication will still be in a person´s system come morning, thus lowering the risk that it will cause users to be impaired while operating a motor vehicle, Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times explained.

“Reports of aftereffects from sleeping pills have circulated for years, and some doctors questioned why the drug agency took so long to act. Mishaps with sleepy driving – and even strange acts of texting, eating or having sex in the night without any memory of it in the morning – have long been familiar to the medical community,” she added.

“In this case, the F.D.A. may be behind the eight ball. Few doctors will be surprised hearing about this. They´ll say, ℠Oh yeah, we´ve already seen this in our patients,´” Tufts University associate clinical professor of psychiatry Daniel Carlat told the times. Nonetheless, he said that the FDA´s new regulations “will be good for public health because it will get patients to ask their doctors about the appropriate dosage.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers from George Washington University recently discovered that e-games can increase the amount of physical activity children participate in and could potentially be a valuable weapon in the war against child obesity in the U.S.

The study, recently published in the online journal Games for Health, investigated the benefits rather than drawbacks of video games in relation to childhood obesity. The researchers at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) believe that some video games can increase energy expenditure for inner city kids. This group, in particular, is at a higher risk for suffering from childhood obesity.

“A lot of people say screen time is a big factor in the rising tide of childhood obesity,” says lead author Todd Miller, PhD, an associate professor at Georgetown SPHHS´ Department of Exercise. “But if a kid hates playing dodge ball but loves Dance Dance Revolution, why not let him work up a sweat playing E-games?”

Past studies have also looked at the impact of video games — specifically those that require users to dance or play virtual sports games — on children in terms of increasing their energy expenditure. The team of investigators noted that hundreds of schools throughout the U.S., including campuses in West Virginia, have been utilizing video games in their physical education (P.E.) courses. They hope that this kind of exercise may motivate children to be more physically active, even if they don´t enjoy traditional sports.

For this project, the researchers specifically looked at the affect of e-games on children in urban public schools. They say that this is the first study to look at the effect of active gaming on African Americans and other minority children in inner cities.

The scientists recruited 104 participants who were students at a public school in the District of Columbia. The researchers observed the students, who ranged in age from third to eighth grade, and their response to traditional P.E. activities and video games such as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and Winds of Orbis: An Active Adventures (Orbis).

During the study, the children attended their regularly scheduled P.E. classes but were then also randomly given three 20-minutes sessions of either DDR, Orbis or another regular gym class. For those kids who participated in DDR, they were engaged in dance routines with complicated movements to an electronic dance beat. For those who participated in Orbis, they were given the role of a virtual superhero and participated in active adventures where they had to climb, jump and slide around the room. A researcher attended the study session and measured the amount of energy that the children expended.

Based on the findings, the researchers found that, on average, the children used more energy when they were involved in P.E. activities. However, they also observed that students between grades three to five were more motivated by the e-games to continue their vigorous activity throughout the day. Contrary to recent studies indicating that the risk of obesity is higher for kids with TVs in their rooms, these scientists believe that active gaming could be an important component for encouraging younger children to pursue physical activity.

“Many of these children live in neighborhoods without safe places to play or ride a bike after school,” continued Miller in the statement. “If E-games can get them to move in school then maybe they’ll play at home too and that change could boost their physical activity to a healthier level.”

However, for the older kids and teens, the team noted that the video games were not enough to inspire them to continue pursuing physical activity throughout the day. The teenage girls barely engaged with the game or the activities in the P.E. class. Teenage boys, however, did play enough to meet the intensity requirements of recommended physical fitness for their age group.

The researchers were admittedly alarmed by their findings, noting that kids who stop playing team sports during their teen years have a greater risk of gaining extra weight. This weight gain can continue as they age, increasing the likelihood that they will become obese adults and develop related health complications such as type 2 diabetes.

To better understand the impact and potential health benefits of these e-games, the researchers have proposed further studies that look at whether children and teens will play for a longer time with games like Orbis or DDR.

This study comes at a particularly important time, as the growing obesity epidemic currently affects about 17 percent of all children and teens in the U.S.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new report shows that Americans live in poorer health and die at younger ages than people in other developed countries–and researchers say the gap is steadily growing. The report also shows that Americans are also dying at far higher rates due to guns, car accidents and drug use than their foreign counterparts.

Although researchers have known for some time that the US fares poorly in comparison to other rich nations, most studies have focused mainly on older ages, when death is more commonly expected anyway.

The researchers were blunt and to the point about their findings.

About two-thirds of deaths seen in ages before 50 were attributable to a difference in life expectancy between males in the US and their counterparts in 16 other developed nations, and about one-third of the difference for females.

The 378-page report is the first to systematically compare death rates and health measures for people of all ages, including American children. It went further than in previous studies by documenting deaths from more than just health-related causes. The report was based on a broad review of mortality and health studies and statistics.

The report, formulated by a panel of experts, was assembled by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

The panel said the pattern of higher disease rates and shorter lifespans in the US is responsible for dragging the country down the tubes when it comes to life expectancy rates over the past 30 years. American men ranked dead last in life expectancy among 17 countries in the report, and American women were second to last.

“The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries,” the report says, “but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary.”

Steven Woolf, a family physician and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, who chaired the panel of experts, said he and his colleagues were “stunned by the findings.”

The most important purpose for the report, according to Woolf, is to alert Americans of the problems. “Our sense is that Americans don’t really know about this… I don’t think people realize that their children are likely to live shorter lives than children in other countries.”

Not only are American men and women at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to life expectancy, but infant mortality in the US is also the highest of any developed country, and has been for several decades, due in part to a high rate of premature birth. The US also has the highest child poverty rate among 17 countries, with more than 20 percent of children living impoverished.

Poor outcomes are especially depressing because the USA spends twice as much on healthcare–an estimated $9,000 per person–as other developed countries, Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, told Liz Szabo of USA Today.

Authors of the report examined health by income and race to ascertain whether Americans´ overall low health scores were mostly due to the poor health among minorities and low-income Americans, according to Woolf. Studies often note the stark disparities in health between whites and blacks, he noted.

Yet even wealthy, white Americans fare worse than equally wealthy people in other countries, Woolf remarked. Well-educated Americans–those with medical insurance and healthy living-habits–have been shown to still be sicklier than their peers abroad.

It´s not all bad news, however. Woolf did say that the USA fares better in a few areas, such as cancer death rates and greater control of cholesterol and blood pressure. But for the most part, the US sits at, or close to, the bottom in all other areas.

The report found that the USA ranks at or near the bottom in nine key areas of health: low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; respiratory illness; and general disability.

The authors said a number of factors likely contribute to Americans’ poor health.

Although Americans are smoking and drinking less, they have many other bad habits that contribute to poorer lifespans, the report said. Americans consume more calories per person and are more likely to abuse drugs; less likely to wear their seatbelt when driving or riding in a vehicle; and are more likely to use a firearm for acts of violence.

These trends could be reversed if more people invest in early childhood education, David Howard, and associate professor at the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, said in an interview with USA Today. He added that better-educated people have an easier time navigating the medical system and applying health information to their lives.

This report is an important reminder that Americans “need to do a better job of prevention,” intervening early in life to make sure our kids are, and stay, healthy, said Thomas McInerny, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

McInerny said he was most concerned about new research on chronic, “toxic stress” that is caused by poverty, violence, neglect and other traumas. Unlike temporary obstacles, which help build character, long-term “toxic stress” can damage children for a lifetime.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that the first 1,000 days of life are critically important for children’s development, and can determine the course of their life span from then on,” McInerny said. “Investing in children in the first three years of life provides higher returns, for improving their productivity as adults, compared to intervening later.”

Woolf said that experts already know what they have to do. “It’s more a matter of having the resolve and resources to actually do it,” he remarked.

One of the most shocking findings in the report revolved around homicides.

The rate of firearm homicides in the US was 20 times higher than in other countries included in the report. That finding drew from a 2011 study of 23 countries. The report also found that while overall suicide rates were lower in the US, suicide by firearms was six times higher.

Samuel Preston, a demographer and sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who was on the panel of experts, said one study they looked at showed 69 percent of all American homicides in 2007 involved firearms.

“The bottom line is that we are not preventing damaging health behaviors,” he said. “You can blame that on public health officials, or on the health care system. No one understands where responsibility lies.”

Something else strange appeared in the report findings, admitted Woolf.

While children born in the US are less likely to reach their fifth birthday than kids from other developed countries, and while teenagers have higher rates of death from car accidents, murders, teenage pregnancy and STDs, for those who are lucky enough to make it to their 75^th birthday, the playing field changes. Woolf said if Americans make it to 75, then they actually have a higher life expectancy than people in other well-developed nations.

But why are we faring so poorly up until 75? There are a number of reasons why many of us do not see the golden age.

Diet, exercise, traffic safety, firearm safety, etc. are all factors that play a role in how far we make it through life. And we cannot just do one or two things right and expect to live a full, happy life. We need to conform to all standards, and if we do, and do make it to 75, then we can enjoy life at the top of the heap.

It´s not hopeless, Woolf said. “There is action that can be taken at the individual, family, community, and national levels that can address the various conditions.” For example, there are recommendations about the importance of healthy food choices and weight management that can help prevent obesity and diabetes. And this is just one step in a room full of stairs.

One of the biggest problems in the US is that expert solutions more often than not tend to look at how we can treat problems once they occur, when they should be looking at how they can prevent the problem from occurring in the first place. The country needs to shift emphasis from treatment to prevention.

“This report shows where the differences and disparities exist and who bears the greatest burden, but they don´t tell us why these differences exist,” said Allison Norris, MD, PhD, assistant professor in epidemiology at Ohio State University´s College of Public Health, who reviewed the report for WebMD.

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

If variety is the spice of life, then, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Open, salt very well could be the spice of death. And those deaths, according to the paper out of the Warwick Medical School, are affecting individuals who reside on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. At least in Britain.

The study, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Nutrition, which is based in the Division of Mental Health & Wellbeing of Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick, focused on observing the geographical distribution of habitual dietary salt intake in Britain. They also studied what, if any, association there might be in connection with manual occupations and education level. Both occupation and education are indicative markers of both socio-economic level and general health.

The team based their study on the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which is a representative national sampling of 2,105 men and women aged 19-64. They were able to determine salt intake via two independent methods. The first method relied upon a subject-submitted 7-day dietary record. The second method, referred to by researchers as the ℠gold standard´, is 24-hour urine collections for sodium determination. This second method is a direct marker of salt intake of the survey subjects.

With the results of this study, the researchers assert that this will have been the first evidence that ties a significantly higher salt intake to lower educated subjects and those who work in manual occupations. The results did show also that survey subjects residing in Scotland had a higher overall salt intake than those subjects living in England and Wales.

Lead author and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre, Professor Francesco Cappuccio stated, “These results are important as they explain in part why people of low socio-economic background are more likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) and to suffer disproportionately from strokes, heart attacks and renal failure.”

The Bupa Foundation´s Ms. Teresa Morris added, “Habitual salt intake in most adult populations around the world exceeds 10 grams per day and the World Health Organization recommends that daily intake should not exceed 5 grams.

“Population salt reduction [programs] are a cost-effective way of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease nationally and globally.” The Bupa Foundation was responsible for funding the study.

“We have seen a reduction in salt intake in Britain from 9.5 to 8.1 grams per day in the period 2004-2011,” stated Cappuccio. He continued, saying it was, “thanks to an effective policy which included awareness campaigns, food reformulation and monitoring. Whilst this is an achievement to celebrate, our results suggest the presence of social inequalities in levels of salt intake that would underestimate the health risks in people who are worse off – and these are the people who need prevention most,” Cappuccio continued.

“The diet of disadvantaged socio-economic groups tends to be made up of low-quality, salt-dense, high-fat, high-calorie unhealthy cheap foods. [Behavioral] approaches to healthy eating are unlikely to bring about the changes necessary to halt the cardiovascular epidemic and would also widen inequalities.

“Since the majority of dietary salt is added during commercial food production, widespread and continued food reformulation is necessary through both voluntary as well as regulatory means to make sure that salt reduction is achieved across all socio-economic groups,” Cappuccio concluded.

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

If you´ve driven past a McDonald´s lately and you get a tingle of excitement at seeing that the McRib is back, just know that ingesting the saturated fats in that sandwich and the side of fries that inevitably are ordered with it are harmful not only to your health, but also to your attempts at propagating your bloodline.

Previous studies into a link between saturated fats and diminished sperm counts have typically focused on men who were already seeking medical attention to recognize and possibly alleviate their impotence. This new study out of Denmark has traveled a different path to find the same result. While most men seeking help with their sub-fertility tend to be older and married or in a committed relationship, the Danish researchers surveyed and examined 701 young Danish men who were about 20 years old and getting checkups for the military. These examinations occurred between 2008 and 2010.

While surveying the subjects, Tina Jensen, lead author from Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and study collaborators asked the young men about the foods they ate over the previous three months. Then they collected semen samples from the subjects. From the results of their observations, researchers then divided the subjects and samples into four groups. These groups were determined dependent upon how much of the men´s energy intake came from saturated fats. They then compared how much sperm each of the men in the groups produced.

Jensen´s study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was launched amid concern that not only the quantity but also the quality of sperm seems to be in a state of decline in Western countries. Some previous studies even go so far as to show that average sperm counts have fallen by more than half over the past 60 years.

The possible culprit for this decline has been linked to saturated fats. Saturated fats are found in a variety of foods such as butter, processed meats, fried foods and other junk foods that contain hydrogenated oils. Too high of a concentration of saturated fats in your diet can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood which, in turn, increases the risk of heart disease.

What Jensen´s study found was that the young men who got 11.2 percent or less of their energy from saturated fats typically had an average sperm concentration of 50 million per milliliter of semen and a total sperm count of about 163 million.

By contrast, the subjects whose overall energy was derived from more than 15 percent of saturated fats had a more diminished concentration and count of semen. Concentration levels were 45 million per milliliter and an overall count of 128 million.

These findings show that those men who had a higher saturated fat diet had a sperm concentration level some 38 percent lower than those who consumed less saturated fat. Also, the overall counts were 41 percent lower.

According to Jensen, “We cannot say that it has a causal effect, but I think other studies have shown that saturated fat intake has shown a connection to other problems and now also for sperm count.”

A study conducted last year in Brazil did find hope for correcting the slump in sperm quality. In their study, researchers found that eating more grains like wheat, oats and barley could help to improve sperm concentration and motility. Also, they found that fruit could aid in increasing the speed and agility of sperm.

Jensen and her team´s study is not the end of research on this topic. There is no way to determine whether or not other lifestyle factors might also account for the link. Jensen claims her study may only begin to partially explain studies that have found sperm counts decreasing the world over. “I think obesity is another cause, but [saturated fats] could also be a possible explanation,” she said.

In a concession that her research is but a stepping stone to future study, Jensen acknowledged that the direction to go is to try to locate the mechanism by which these saturated fats could influence sperm count. From there, the next logical step would be to conduct trials to see if sperm counts could be improved solely by having subjects cut down on the overall saturated fats in their diets.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Cancer deaths amongst adults in the US declined modestly over the past decade, but incidence rates for children and teenagers has risen slightly since 1992, claims an annual report compiled by a coalition of some of the country´s top cancer organizations.

The rate of death from all cancers dropped in both men and women between the years of 2000 and 2009, researchers revealed on Tuesday. Also during that time, overall cancer incidence rates decreased for men and remained steady for women, increasing only an average of 0.6-percent per year over the past 20 years, they added.

“Cancer rates are declining, continuing a trend that started some years ago. People are surviving more and we are getting better at preventing some cancers,” said Dr. Edward J. Benz, Jr., the president of the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

However, Benz was concerned that the overall incident and mortality rates had not declined enough, in part because “we’re not taking advantage of all the ways to detect cancers at an early stage when they can be the most curable.”

“We don’t look at this as progress,” National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) President Fran Visco, who was not involved in the study, told Sharon Begley of Reuters Health. “This is such incremental improvement, when you look at the decades of investments, the cost of treatments, the number of researchers and journals, and then at the number of people who die … well, we are clearly doing something wrong.”

The cancer-related fatality rate in men decreased 1.8-percent per year from 2005 to 2009, while it fell 1.5-percent per year for women during that same period. Males experienced an average 0.6-percent decline in cancer incident rate from 2000 to 2009. Over the same period, the rate for females held steady, but from just 2005 to 2009, there was actually a 0.6-percent increase in incidence rate.

“The trend in childhood cancer is also going in the wrong direction. From 2000 to 2009, cancer incidence among children 19 and younger rose 0.7 percent per year, on average,” Begley wrote, citing report figures. “Experts are not sure why the numbers are rising. But one reason may be, paradoxically, greater access to health insurance.”

“An uninsured child who developed flu-like symptoms in the 1990s might have died from what was actually leukemia, but without medical care his death certificate said pneumonia,” the Reuters reporter explained. “With insurance, that child now is more likely to see a doctor and get correctly diagnosed.”

The report, which was co-authored by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS), did report that death rates among some forms of cancer are still increasing. Those cancer types include liver, pancreatic, and melanoma (severe skin cancer).

Prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancers all saw decreases in incidence rate, according to the Associated Press (AP). Breast cancer rates among women have leveled off in terms of incidence rates, except in black women, where they have actually increased, according to the report, which appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders,” the wire service said. “HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 per cent of teen girls have received all three doses of the vaccine available to them, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.”

“We are seeing a large number of patients with HPV-associated head and neck cancer and these patients are relatively young, are typically non-smokers and quite often have children,” Dr. Robert I. Haddad, chief of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute´s head and neck oncology program, explained. “HPV is a cause of many cancers, so it is really important to support endeavors to vaccinate.”