About 1 in 200 young Americans are vegetarians, according to the first government study to provide a nationwide estimate of how many children eat meat.

The new estimate comes from a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of thousands of Americans in 2007. The study used surveys to gather information about the eating habits of children and teens from about 9,000 parents or guardians.

The survey found that about 367,000 US children are vegetarians ““ meaning their diet consists of no meat. Other surveys suggest the rate could be four to six times that among older teens who have more control over what they eat than young children do.

Many children are prompted to turn down meat after learning about the slaughter process of many animals for food.

“Compassion for animals is the major, major reason,” Richard Schwartz, president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, an organization with a newsletter mailing list of about 800, told the Associated Press. “When kids find out the things they are eating are living animals – and if they have a pet….”

Nichole Nightingale, 14, was exposed to a YouTube video that showed the graphic details of how chickens are slaughtered for meat. The letter ended with an invitation to visit the Web site of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for more information.

This information prompted Nightingale to become a vegan ““ meaning she consumes no animal meat or animal products such as eggs or milk.

“A lot more kids are using the Internet. They’re curious about stuff and trying to become independent and they’re trying to find out who they are,” she said.

Previous studies have shown that vegetarians are more often females from higher-income families.

“Vegetarian doesn’t mean low-calorie,” said Dr. Christopher Bolling, who directs weight management research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He said roughly 10 to 15 percent of the overweight kids who come to his medical center’s weight loss program have tried a vegetarian diet at some point before starting the program.

However, vegetarian diets can be very healthy, although typical vegetarian diets miss out on key nutrients such as vitamins B12 and D, iron, calcium mostly obtained from meat.

Experts say this highlights the need for children who want to be vegetarians to discover non-meat options that will still provide them with the proper amount of nutrients.

These options include soybeans, fortified soy milk and nuts, which can be good sources of protein, iron, zinc, calcium and vitamin D.

Dr. David Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston, a specialist in pediatric nutrition, told AP that vegetarian diets for children are very feasible, but vegan diets can be much tougher.

“It really requires much more attention to avoid nutrient deficiencies,” Ludwig said.

As children age, the amount of protein needed in their diets continues to increase.

The CDC offers certain alternatives including legumes (dry beans and peas), tofu, nuts and seeds, grains and some fruits and vegetables that include important sources of protein.

—

On the Net:

• CDC
• Jewish Vegetarians of North America
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Children’s Hospital Boston

Does your family have a history of blood clots? If you do, the good news is that the newest anti-clotting medication is moving closer to distribution in the US. The interesting and unusual thing about the drug is that that is made from”¦. goat’s milk.

The scientific first, the drug, prepared from the milk of genetically engineered goats received approval from the experts at the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has announced that the medication is effective and safe.

Named ATryn, the drug is meant to aid those suffering from an unusual hereditary disorder that caused accelerated vulnerability to blood clots.

The medicine’s authorization would be a huge step toward innovative medications made from active organisms genetically altered by scientists. Related drugs could become accessible in the next following years for a variety of problems, including hemophilia.

A Massachusetts biotechnology corporation, GTC Biotherapeutics, created ATryn by shifting around the genes of goats so they would make milk loaded with antithrombin, a protein that in performs like a natural blood thinner.

1 in 5,000 individuals do not make antithrombin, which raises the risk of developing blood clots. These clots can be painful, and if move into the bloodstream, lungs or brain, the results can be deadly. Pregnant women affected with the disorder are more likely to miscarriage or have a stillbirth, due to clots in the placenta.

Karen Janes, who lost her teen daughter Mary Karen from a brain clot connected to the disorder, says the important thing is that the drug is effective, not that it is made from goat’s milk.

“I think this goat thing is just wonderful,” said Janes. “I do want this drug to go through all the rigors of testing by the FDA. But if it can work, and it can save other families from what we went through, I think that’s marvelous.”

The FDA will consider the hazards and benefits of ATryn at a meeting on Friday, and make a proposal to, or not to, approve the medicine.

“It’s the first time we’ve held an advisory committee meeting on any product from a genetically engineered animal,” said FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey.

If the drug passes the tests, the FDA could call for additional monitoring to ensure that patients’ immune systems avoid creating antibodies in response to the medicine.

“I think this is an important tipping point,” said Geoffrey Cox, chairman of GTC, the drug maker. “The real dramatic thing that is happening here is that we’ve been able to reduce some very clever science to the practical level of producing a drug that’s safe and efficacious. Those things aren’t trivial.”

In the past, antithrombin was manufactured from blood products harvested from human donors. Creating the goat protein could be healthier for humans, stated Dr. Stephan Moll, a hematologist at the University of North Carolina. It would guarantee a continual supply and lessen worries about infection.

“It’s a new mechanism by which drugs could be produced in pretty large volume in the future,” said Moll.

ATryn is already on the market in Europe.

——

On The Net:

FDA

University of North Carolina

A new Japanese study suggests that drinking coffee may reduce a person’s risk of developing oral cancers.

The Japanese consume relatively high amounts of coffee, and Japanese men also experience comparatively high incidences of esophageal cancer. Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai, and his colleagues wanted to examine whether the consumption of coffee provided any protective effects from these cancers.

They analyzed data from the population-based Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan, which included information about diet, including coffee consumption.  Of the more than 38,000 participants, all of which were aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.

The researchers found that those who drank one or more daily cups of coffee had a 50 percent reduced risk of these cancers compared with those who did not drink coffee.  Furthermore, the reduction in risk applied to all participants, including those who were current drinkers and/or smokers at the start of the study and were therefore at higher risk for these cancers.

“We had not expected that we could observe such a substantial inverse association with coffee consumption and the risk of these cancers, and the inverse association in high-risk groups for these cancers as well,” Naganuma said in an interview with Reuters.

“Although cessation of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking is currently the best known way to help reduce the risk of developing these cancers, coffee could be a preventive factor in both low-risk and high-risk populations,” the researchers wrote in a report about their study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, December 15, 2008.

—

On the Net:

• Tohoku University
• American Journal of Epidemiology

Scientists have developed a three-dimensional model of a virus that causes SARS, which they believe will assist future efforts to battle the disease.

Dutch researchers created the model using a hepatitis coronavirus from mice, they reported in the Jan. 13 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“I think we can translate what we found for this virus to the SARS virus,” Berend Jan Bosch, a virologist at Utrecht University who worked on the study, told Reuters.

“If you are going to study the SARS virus you will basically find the same features.”

Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses containing the largest reported RNA genomes, which are known to cause hepatitis C, influenza, and SARS. They primarily infect the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract of animals and birds.

There are about five known forms of coronaviruses that infect humans. They are considered to be a significant percentage of all common colds in human adults.

Bosch and his colleagues used 3-D electron microscopy to photograph frozen samples of the virus. The outer layer of the virus appeared to be thicker than expected, researchers said. The virus uses the layer to stick to healthy cells to spread.

“Because we take so many pictures from different angles, we could combine the images to recreate the virus in 3D,” Bosch said.

“It is a broader understanding of the architecture of coronaviruses,” he said. “It is really fundamental knowledge.”

Scientists hope their findings will help them gain a better understanding of the deadly SARS outbreak in China in 2002 that killed some 800 people worldwide ad cost as much as $100 billion. The disease was ultimately kept under control after travel restrictions and quarantines were applied.

—

On the Net:

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Utrecht University

Doctors are warning patients who use new titanium drivers that they should use earplugs to protect against hearing loss.

New generation titanium drivers are becoming more popular because they add distance to golfers’ strokes. But doctors say the ultra-thin faced clubs can create a “sonic boom” sound when it strikes the ball.

This sound may be loud enough to damage hearing, M.A. Buchanan, an ear nose and throat specialist, and colleagues at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital reported in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers analyzed the case of a 55-year-old man who had entered the outpatient clinic with tinnitus ““ ringing in the ears ““ and reduced hearing in his right ear.

The man had been playing golf with a King Cobra LD titanium club three times a week for 18 months, and he told doctors that the sound of the club face striking the ball was similar to the sound of a gun going off.

After MRI scans of the man’s middle and inner ear, doctors concluded that the hearing loss was linked to the loud noise coming from the golf club.

Researchers found other interesting reviews of the King Cobra LD club on the Internet.

“Drives my mates crazy with that distinctive loud “ËœBANG’ sound. Have never heard another club that makes so distinctive a sound. It can be heard all over the course, it is mad!!” one golfer wrote.

“This is not so much a ting but a sonic boom which resonates across the course!” said another.

Researchers use something known as the coefficient of restitution (COR) to measure of the elasticity or efficiency of energy transfer between a golf ball and club head.

“The United States Golf Association, in conjunction with the Royal and Ancient, St Andrews, Scotland, stipulates that the upper limit of COR for a golf club in competition use is 0.83.3 This means that a club head striking a ball at 100 miles per hour (mph) will cause the ball to travel at 83 mph. Thinner faced titanium clubs, such as the King Cobra LD, have a greater COR and deform on impact more easily, the so called trampoline effect, not only propelling the ball further, but resulting in a louder noise.”

The doctors asked a professional golfer to participate in the study by hitting three two-piece golf balls with six thin-faced titanium golf drivers and six standard thicker faced stainless steel golf drivers.

They used a modular precision sound level meter to determine the level of sound resonating from each club.

They found that each of the thin faced clubs were louder than the traditional stainless steel clubs. However, they noted, the King Cobra LD was not the loudest one of the bunch.

“The study presents anecdotal evidence that caution should be exercised by golfers who play regularly with thin faced titanium drivers to avoid damage to their hearing,” researchers concluded.

—

On the Net:

• British Medical Journal
• Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

Researchers found a more accurate way to deliver cancer drugs, by harnessing the power of gold nanoparticles.

They wrote in the journal ACS Nano that the system could release a number of drugs in a specific part of the body at desired times.

The device relies on the fact that different particles melt when exposed to different levels of infrared light. Therefore, different drugs on the particles could be released in a controlled way.

Researchers say delivering drugs directly to a specific site within the body is beneficial because you can use relatively toxic drugs without causing widespread damage to healthy tissue.

A number of trials are using nanoparticles to take drugs directly to the site of a tumor.

Doctors shine near-infrared light on the site, penetrating the skin to reach the tumor. It causes the particles to heat up and release the drugs contained inside.

The device developed by the MIT team involves two differently shaped nanoparticles which have separate melting points, meaning complex HIV/Aids drugs can be released in a controlled way at appropriate intervals.

“Just by controlling the infrared wavelength, we can choose the release time,” said lead author Andy Wijaya.

Kat Arney, of Cancer Research UK, said that nanoparticles were a “hot topic in cancer research because they can directly target tumors to deliver a payload of drugs”.

“This new technique is clever because it means a number of different drugs can be released. But although it’s exciting the work is still at an early stage and is not yet ready to be used in patients.”

—

Image 2: The top image shows a mixture of gold nanoparticles. The longer particles are called nanobones, and the smaller are nanocapsules. Bottom left: After the nanoparticles are hit with 800 nanometer wavelength infrared light, the nanocapsules melt and release their payload. Nanobones remain intact. Right: After the nanoparticles are hit with 1100 nanometer wavelength infrared light, the nanobones melt and release their payload. Nanocapsules remain intact. Image / Andy Wijaya

—

On the Net:

• ACS Nano
• MIT

A new Italian study finds that anxiety, depression and certain other mental health conditions are more prevalent among infertile couples than those who are not infertile.

The small study, led by Dr. Chiara Sbaragli of the University of Siena School of Medicine in Italy, suggests that mental health screenings might be beneficial to those being treated for infertility, researchers say.

Although most of the 81 infertile couples involved in the study did not experience any of the psychiatric conditions the researchers looked for, they did have higher rates of certain disorders when compared with 70 couples that were not infertile.

The biggest discrepancy was in the diagnosis of “adjustment disorder,” something that refers to symptoms of depression and anxiety in response to an identifiable cause.  In this case, that cause was likely patients’ infertility. 

The researchers found the discrepancy was particular notable among women.  Among infertile women, 28 percent had an adjustment disorder marked by anxiety and depression, compared with only 3 percent of fertile women. Furthermore, 18 percent of infertile women currently had binge-eating disorder, while none of the fertile women did, reported the researchers.

Among men, infertility patients had higher rates of “subclinical” obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia.  “Subclinical” means signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders were present, but not in a degree to which a diagnosis could be made.

The researchers said it wasn’t possible to determine whether these mental health conditions were the result of, rather than a contributing factor to, the patients’ infertility. In the case of adjustment disorders, it’s likely that patients’ symptoms were a response to their fertility problems, Sbaragli and her colleagues wrote in a report about the study.

However, these symptoms could perhaps make it harder for patients to recover from infertility, the researchers added.  Indeed, the effects of anxiety and on the body’s nervous system, for example, could affect reproductive function.

If larger studies confirm the current findings, doctors may choose to  routinely screen infertile patients for anxiety disorders, depression and eating disorders, the researchers said.

The study was published in the December 2008 journal Fertility and Sterility.  

—

On the Net:

• University of Siena
• Fertility and Sterility

New Australian research finds that some ethnic groups and women with lower socioeconomic status are at higher risk of developing diabetes while pregnant, or gestational diabetes.

The study found that 30 percent of women who develop gestational diabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes within the next 7 to 10 years.

“In some groups, the incidence may increase to 50 percent in 5 years,” said Dr. Hidde P. van der Ploeg of the University of Sydney, Australia, in an interview with Reuters.

Dr. van der Ploeg and colleagues reviewed data on nearly a million births in New South Wales, Australia, between 1995 and 2005.  During that time, the incidence of gestational diabetes jumped 45 percent, increasing from 3.0 to 4.4 percent.

The analysis showed that women born in South Asia were roughly four times more likely than women born in Australia to develop gestational diabetes.  Meanwhile, women born in North Africa or Middle East were 2.4 times more likely to develop pregnancy-related diabetes.

Furthermore, women of lower socioeconomic status were 54 to 74 percent more likely to develop diabetes while pregnant that women in the highest socioeconomic status.  

Increased age was also a significant risk factor, with those over 40 experiencing a six-fold increase of gestational diabetes compared to women in their 20s.

The researchers said that pregnancy-related diabetes is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and ethnicity and socioeconomic status appear to significantly influence the risk of gestational diabetes.

“Cultural specific interventions should be developed to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in these women at high risk,” said van der Ploeg, “

The study was published in Diabetes Care, December 2008. 

—

On the Net:

• University of Sydney
• Diabetes Care

UK researcher Corry Gellatly believes he has a new explanation for how the human race keeps a balance of males and females.

The research scientist from Newcastle University proposes that a gene determines whether a man will father more sons or daughters. 

According to Gellatly, when the female population is low, women have a better chance of finding a mate, which makes them more likely to pass the gene for fathering daughters to their children.  When men are scarce, they also have a better chance of finding a mate and passing along the gene for more sons to their offspring.

“It’s kind of a counterbalancing mechanism,” Gellatly told Reuters. “You can’t get a population that becomes too skewed toward males or too skewed toward females.”

At the end of each world war, the ratio of male to female births jumped in countries involved in the fighting.  Many hypotheses have been made to explain why.  One says that returning soldiers have extra sex with their partners, leading to fertilization earlier in the menstrual cycle which could lead to more male births. 

Another hypothesis says that larger males are more likely to survive battles, and to have male offspring.

Gellatly devised his hypothesis after sorting through 927 family trees from North America and Europe.

The researcher suggests that men carry a gene controlling their ratio of X to Y sperm.

Gellatly made a computer model to simulate how the gene would work over 500 generations, and studied whether offspring sex ratios in real family trees could support his idea.

Both experiments supported his hypothesis.

Gellatly believes the gene is very ancient, and is probably carried by any species that produces sexually.  He also believes the gene comes in twos in a male (X) and female (Y) version with three combinations of the pair:  XX to produce more male sperm, YY to produce more female sperm, and XY to remain neutral.

“The structure of the proposed gene is essentially very basic, and its function is simply to say ‘produce more boys’ or ‘produce more girls,'” Gellatly added.

Gellatly’s theory explains why male births increased after the world wars.  Families with many sons are more likely to have surviving male children who can pass along genes.  Families with fewer male offspring would be less to likely to have sons who survived the wars.

Academic paper: Trends in Population Sex Ratios May be Explained by Changes in the Frequencies of Polymorphic Alleles of a Sex Ratio Gene. Corry Gellatly. Published in: Evolutionary Biology, DOI 10.1007/s11692-008-9046-3

—

On the Net:

• Newcastle University
• Evolutionary Biology

People who regularly suffer from migraines are more apt to have a headache before a stroke, according to new research by Italian scientists.

The report is published in the current issue of the journal Headache.

Lead investigator Dr. Paola Sarchielli said, “Headache is a common clinical symptom preceding or accompanying stroke, and migraine patients have a greater probability of complaining of headache, often with migraine-like features, before and during acute stroke than non-migraineur patients.”

Sarchielli and her research team from the University of Perugia said there is limited information available on the characteristics of headaches associated with ischemia.

Researchers analyzed 146 ischemic stroke patients, 70 who had a lifetime history of migraine and 76 who did not.

Ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, stems from a blockage of a vessel in the brain.

The blockage stops the supply of blood and the supply of oxygen to surrounding brain tissue.

Eighty percent of the migraine patients report a headache in the 24 hours before their stroke, compared with 20 percent of those without migraine.

This “suggests that cerebral ischemia lowers the threshold for head pain more easily in these ‘susceptible’ patients,” the researchers wrote.

“The more frequent involvement of brainstem in migraineur patients with ischemic infarction supports the hypothesis that vascular events preceding the clinical stroke…can cause a dysfunction of this structure, which may be more predisposed to be abnormally activated,” concluded Sarchielli.

—

On the Net:

• Headache
• University of Perugia

Leukemia cells are no match for grape seed extract, according to a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky.

Their recent finding, published in the January issue of Clinical Cancer Research, suggests that grape seed extract is effective ““ killing 76 percent of all leukemia cells that were exposed to the extract.

Xianglin Shi, professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky, led a team of researchers who sought to study the extract’s activity in hematological cancers. Previous research had shown that grape seed extract was effective against several laboratory cancer cells such as skin, breast and colon

One powerful antioxidant found in grape seed extract is resveratrol, which is known to have anti-cancer properties, as well as positive effect on the heart.

“These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers,” said Shi.

“What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grape seed extract fits into this category.”

Shi and his colleagues have been studying chemicals known as proanthocyanidins in fruits that prevent cancer growth. Shi has found that apple peel extract contains these flavonoids, which have antioxidant activity, and which cause apoptosis in several cancer cell lines but not in normal cells.

“This is a natural compound that appears to have relatively important properties,” Shi said.

Additionally, the team discovered a natural method of pushing the cancer cells to commit suicide by using higher doses of the extract. The extract activates a protein called JNK, which causes the natural cell suicide to occur.

While the study could hold promising benefits in the future, scientists said it’s too early to suggest that people increase their grape consumption in order to fight their risk of cancer.

“This is very promising research, but it is too early to say this is chemo-protective,” Shi said.

—

On the Net:

• University of Kentucky
• Clinical Cancer Research

A new study released today by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that teens who make a pledge of abstinence until they marry are just as likely to engage in premarital sex as those who don’t. Furthermore, those making a “virginity pledge” are substantially less likely to use condoms and other birth control methods.

The study is based on a new analysis of data from a large federal survey. It found that more 50 percent of young people became sexually active before marriage, regardless of whether they had made a pledge of abstinence. 

However, the percentage of those who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) was 10 points lower for those who made the pledge than for those who did not.

“Taking a pledge doesn’t seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior,” wrote Janet E. Rosenbaum, the study’s lead author.

“But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking.”

The study is only the latest to raise questions about the effectiveness of abstinence programs, including those that involve students publicly declaring their intention to remain virgins. However, the new analysis extends beyond earlier studies by focusing on teenagers with similar values about sex and other issues prior to making the abstinence pledge.

“Previous studies would compare a mixture of apples and oranges,” said Rosenbaum.

“I tried to pull out the apples and compare only the apples to other apples.”

The findings have restarted the debate about the effectiveness of abstinence-based sexual education. They come just as Congress is set to reconsider the more than $176 million in annual funding for such programs.

“This study again raises the issue of why the federal government is continuing to invest in abstinence-only programs,” Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy told the Washington Post.

“What have we gained if we only encourage young people to delay sex until they are older, but then when they do become sexually active — and most do well before marriage — they don’t protect themselves or their partners?”

Supporters of such programs dismissed the study as faulty, and claim that true abstinence programs go much further than simply asking teens to make one-time pledges.

“It is remarkable that an author who employs rigorous research methodology would then compromise those standards by making wild, ideologically tainted and inaccurate analysis regarding the content of abstinence education programs,” Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association told the Washington Post.

In the current study, Rosenbaum looked at data collected by the federal government’s National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.  The survey collected detailed information from roughly 11,000 students in grades seven through 12 in 1995, 1996 and 2001.

And while researchers have analyzed the survey data before, Rosenbaum’s study is the first to use a more stringent way to account for other factors that could influence the teenagers’ behavior, such as their sexual attitudes before making the pledge.

Rosenbaum centered the study on roughly 3,400 students who had not had sex or who had made a virginity pledge in 1995. She compared 289 students who were on average 17 years old in 1996 when they made a virginity pledge, with 645 who did not make a pledge but were similar in other ways. These similarities were based on 100 variables such as the youths’ sexual attitudes and their parents’ and friends’ attitudes about sex and birth control.

“This study came about because somebody who decides to take a virginity pledge tends to be different from the average American teenager. The pledgers tend to be more religious. They tend to be more conservative. They tend to be less positive about sex. There are some striking differences,” Rosenbaum said.

“So comparing pledgers to all non-pledgers doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

By 2001, 82 percent of those who had taken a virginity pledge had gone back on their promise, and there was no significant difference in the percentage of students in either group who had engaged in sexual activity.  This included vaginal intercourse or giving or receiving oral sex.  Furthermore, there were no differences seen at the age at which the teen first had sex, or the number of partners.  

Rosenbaum found that more than half of both groups had engaged in various types of sexual activity, and had an average of three sexual partners. By the age of 21, they had engaged in sex for the first time, regardless of marital status.

“It seems that pledgers aren’t really internalizing the pledge,” Rosenbaum said.

“Participating in a program doesn’t appear to be motivating them to change their behavior. It seems like abstinence has to come from an individual conviction rather than participating in a program.”

Rosenbaum found no difference in the rate of STDs in the two groups, but the percentage of students who said they used condoms was roughly 10 points lower among those who had made the virginity pledge, and they were 6 points less likely to have used any form of contraception at all.

For instance, nearly one in four of those who had pledged abstinence reported that they always used a condom, compared with about 34 percent of those who had not made the pledge.

Rosenbaum said the difference in the two groups is due to what the youths learn about condom use in abstinence programs.

“There’s been a lot of work that has found that teenagers who take part in abstinence-only education have more negative views about condoms,” she said.

“They tend not to give accurate information about condoms and birth control.”

However, Huber disagreed.

“Abstinence education programs provide accurate information on the level of protection offered through the typical use of condoms and contraception,” she said.

“Students understand that while condoms may reduce the risk of infection and/or pregnancy, they do not remove the risk.”

Rosenbaum’s report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics.

—

On the Net:

• John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
• National Abstinence Education Association
• Pediatrics

Hospitals in many states nationwide are looking into new simple methods of reducing breast cancer survivors’ risk of developing lymphedema.

Lymphedema is a painful condition that causes a patient’s arm to swell. It is a common side effect of cancer treatments such as surgery and radiation.

“I have ladies tell me the lymphedema is much worse than their cancer because the cancer’s cured,” says Dr. Electra Paskett, an epidemiologist at Ohio State University. Paskett is among those health care professionals who are trying to find the most effective methods of keeping lymphedema at bay.

One of such methods involves elastic sleeves when doing activities that may cause arms to swell.

“The theory is building up muscles in your arm acts as a natural pneumatic pump to move the fluid,” explains Paskett, herself a breast cancer survivor who developed lymphedema.

Since lymphedema is caused by an uncontrolled infection, other limbs, such as the legs, can swell as a result of damaged nodes from other cancers. Former presidential candidate John McCain suffered from facial swelling as a result of melanoma treatment.

But, as it affects an estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of patients who have 10 or more under-the-arm nodes examined, called “axillary lymph node dissections,” the condition is assumed to be most common among breast cancer survivors

In November, researchers reported findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that suggests few such women may be aware that they have the condition.

University of Minnesota researchers analyzed records from the huge Iowa Women’s Health study, to cull more than 1,200 patients who’d had breast cancer between 1986 and 2003. Only 8 percent of patients had been diagnosed and another 37 percent of the women suffered persistent lymphedema symptoms, including a swollen arm.

Researchers in the Iowa study found that only 40 percent of the women with swollen arms but no diagnosis had heard of lymphedema and less than 2 percent had sought care for their arm symptoms.

Early treatment of lymphedema is crucial. After 61-year-old Minna Manalo, a nurse practitioner at Georgetown University Hospital’s breast cancer unit, was diagnosed with the condition she underwent what’s called complete decongestive therapy, where a machine massaged fluid from her arm and it then was tightly bandaged to counter swelling. Once her arm shrank, Holman was prescribed a lifelong therapy: A tight elastic sleeve and fingerless glove to wear regularly, especially during her job as an international flight attendant, plus arm exercises to help push out returning fluid.

“I’m trying to stay ahead of the game,” says Holman. “You can’t cure this, but you can manage it.”

—

On the Net:

• National Lymphedema Network
• Ohio State University
• Journal of Clinical Oncology

Two reports in the Annals of Emergency Medicine say health care workers in emergency departments are often carriers of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or (MRSA), potentially putting patients at risk.

Dr. Elise O. Lovell from Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Illinois, said the results of the study, along with the findings of the second report, reinforce concerns that MRSA carriers are an important part of the transmission of MRSA among patients.

The researchers collected nasal swabs from a sample of 105 emergency department staff at their institution. Sixteen subjects (15 percent) tested positive for MRSA, including 12 nurses, 2 physicians, and 2 technicians.

Dr. Lovell said the MRSA positivity rates in surrounding emergency department health care workers was much higher than that found in the general US population, but is similar to rates seen in other studies of non-ED medical personnel.

In the second report, Dr. Brian P. Suffoletto and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Emergency Medicine measured the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA in 255 emergency department health care workers.

The researchers reported that just under one third of nasal cultures (31.8 percent) were positive for S. aureus, and the overall prevalence of MRSA 0was 4.3 percent.

The investigators say none of the demographic and exposure characteristics examined were significantly associated with MRSA colonization, but MRSA colonization was restricted to nurses, nursing assistants, and radiology and respiratory technicians.

“The varying prevalence among the different health care workers was unexpected,” Suffoletto said.

Suffoletto said the relationship between MRSA-positive ED personnel and patient transmission is still largely unexplored.

“First we will need to establish if MRSA in ED personnel is transient or persistent. Then we wish to determine the rate of unprotected contacts between ED personnel and patients.”

However, both Lovell and Suffoletto emphasized the importance of using universal infection control practices in the emergency department.

“It’s been demonstrated repeatedly that these hygiene techniques are poorly followed in the ED, yet they represent the best (and simplest) way to minimize the spread of MRSA between our patients and to keep our patients and ourselves safe,” Lovell said.

Dr. John A. Jernigan from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, agreed, saying the findings in these reports may have important implications for infection control practice.

“Better implementation of current recommendations for preventing transmission of MRSA and other multidrug-resistant organisms will likely yield important benefits for both patients and health care personnel.”

—

On the Net:

• Annals of Emergency Medicine
• Advocate Christ Medical Center
• University of Pittsburgh Department of Emergency Medicine
• CDC

Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, MIT researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion.

Such a system could one day be used to provide more control when battling diseases commonly treated with more than one drug, according to the researchers.

“With a lot of diseases, especially cancer and AIDS, you get a synergistic effect with more than one drug,” said Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, assistant professor of biological and mechanical engineering and senior author of a paper on the work that recently appeared in the journal ACS Nano.

Delivery devices already exist that can release two drugs, but the timing of the release must be built into the device — it cannot be controlled from outside the body. The new system is controlled externally and theoretically could deliver up to three or four drugs.

The new technique takes advantage of the fact that when gold nanoparticles are exposed to infrared light, they melt and release drug payloads attached to their surfaces.

Nanoparticles of different shapes respond to different infrared wavelengths, so “just by controlling the infrared wavelength, we can choose the release time” for each drug, said Andy Wijaya, graduate student in chemical engineering and lead author of the paper.

The team built two different shapes of nanoparticles, which they call “nanobones” and “nanocapsules.” Nanobones melt at light wavelengths of 1,100 nanometers, and nanocapsules at 800 nanometers.

In the ACS Nano study, the researchers tested the particles with a payload of DNA. Each nanoparticle can carry hundreds of strands of DNA, and could also be engineered to transport other types of drugs.

In theory, up to four different-shaped particles could be developed, each releasing its payload at different wavelengths.

Other authors of the paper are Stefan Schaffer and Ivan Pallares, who were National Science Foundation REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) summer students through the MIT Department of Biological Engineering in 2008.

—

Image Caption: The top image shows a mixture of gold nanoparticles. The longer particles are called nanobones, and the smaller are nanocapsules. Bottom left: After the nanoparticles are hit with 800 nanometer wavelength infrared light, the nanocapsules melt and release their payload. Nanobones remain intact. Right: After the nanoparticles are hit with 1100 nanometer wavelength infrared light, the nanobones melt and release their payload. Nanocapsules remain intact. Image / Andy Wijaya

—

On the Net:

• MIT
• ACS Nano

New Year’s Eve is marked by constant celebration and time spent with friends, but if you find yourself straining to hear, it’s your brain – not your ears – that could be to blame.

Scientists are now learning why and how age affects the brain’s dimmer switch for controlling the level of input from your ears.

Researchers say if you have trouble understanding conversation in a noisy room, you’re experiencing what’s sometimes called the cocktail party problem.

It’s just one of the first signs of an age-related hearing loss; it affects one-third of adults ages 65 to 75.

Scientists want to slow down or reverse hearing loss, and are trying to discover why our hearing goes downhill with age.

Researchers say they’re still trying to determine what else besides the dimmer switch contributes the cocktail party problem.

“I think it’s a significant player,” said Robert Frisina of the University of Rochester in New York, who is studying it.

Scientists understand that the brain can receive signals from the ears, and also talk back to them. So, when there’s too much noise, the dimmer-switch brain circuitry tells the ears to reduce their flow of signals to the brain.

Frisina said since background noise at a party tends to be lower-pitched than speech sounds, the dimmer switch probably can block out that distracting noise more than it does the speech.

In 2002, Frisina and colleagues published evidence that the dimmer switch effectiveness declines with age.

They noted the same trends occur in mice, which meant they could study those animals to get clues to what’s going on in people.

Frisina hopes to use genetically altered mice to focus his studies on particular parts of the dimmer switch circuitry. There is some evidence that shortcomings in this wiring harm the inner ear as well, he said.

While it is not yet clear how big a role the dimmer switch plays in the cocktail party problem, Frisina’s work “makes a good case that it’s got to be one of the important factors,” said Charles Liberman, who directs a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

—

On the Net:

• University of Rochester
• Information on aging and hearing
• How hearing works

Researchers have discovered what caused the 1918 flu pandemic to be so fatal: a combination of three genes that allows the virus to enter the lungs and produce pneumonia.

They combined samples of the 1918 influenza with contemporary flu viruses to locate the three genes and stated that their investigation may aid in the expansion of newer flu drugs.

The findings may indicate mutations that could cause the regular flu virus to mutate into a hazardous pandemic strain.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues at the Universities of Kobe and Tokyo in Japan worked with ferrets, which have the flu in a comparable way to humans.

Normally the flu produces an upper respiratory infection distressing the nose and throat, as well as fever, muscle aches and weakness.

Nevertheless, many individuals become dangerously ill and build up to pneumonia. In pandemics, like in 1918, a perilous flu strain materializes.

“The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in human history, accounting for about 50 million deaths worldwide,” Kawaoka’s team wrote.

It was fatal to 2.5 percent of those who fell ill, contrasting the 1 percent who dies in the yearly flu epidemic. Autopsies indicated numerous victims perished from acute pneumonia.

“We wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia,” Kawaoka said.

The three genes, alongside a 1918 adaptation of the nucleoprotein, or NP gene, made contemporary seasonal flu destroy ferrets in the same way as the 1918 flu.

Flu experts concur that a pandemic of influenza will occur in the future.

Four licensed drugs can combat the flu but the viruses normally transform into defiant forms, like bacteria shifts into kinds that shirk antibiotics.

—

Image Caption: American Red Cross nurses tend to flu patients in temporary wards set up inside Oakland Municipal Auditorium, 1918

—

On the Net:

• University of Wisconsin

When the weather outside is frightful, it can take a heavy toll on elderly members of the community, according to an expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

“It’s essential for elders to prepare for the winter season,” said Dr. Robert Roush of the Huffington Center on Aging at BCM.

One of the main concerns is the cold winter weather, but it’s important to be sure that the precautions don’t turn into the problems.

“As we age, the body loses the ability to regulate temperature,” said Roush, also an associate professor of medicine – geriatrics at BCM. “Frail elders may turn the heat on higher than most of us, which can lead to dehydration and that causes confusion, increasing one’s risk of falling or taking too much or not enough essential medications.”

Elders must be careful to control the temperature to avoid having their places of residence become too hot or conversely too cold, leading to hypothermia. And since older people often lose their sense of thirst, always be sure to drink plenty of liquids.

Extremely cold weather can also cause severe conditions including ice and snow and power outages, so Roush recommends stocking up on essential groceries and other items ahead of time. Older people also lose lean muscle mass, and bones become more brittle; thus, there is less padding around the hips and even a small slip or fall on ice can result in a broken hip or forearm, leading to severe medical complications. 

Roush recommends having someone frequently check on elderly family members or neighbors, and help them with driving as the sun goes down earlier and it becomes difficult to see on the roads. Roush also recommends elders always have a form of communication with others, whether it’s a portable phone, cell phone or even an emergency response system. 

Another important precaution to take is getting a flu shot, but this is not just for elders.

“We recommend that elders do get the flu shot, but other family members, especially young children, should also get vaccinated to prevent spreading it to others,” said Roush.

Because the immune system is affected by age, elders should seek medical care if symptoms of a cold or flu don’t subside.

Aside from these physical and safety concerns, Roush also emphasizes preventing the holiday blues. Bereavement and other stress issues require special attention during the holidays to prevent one from becoming unduly depressed.

Roush encourages elders to get involved in holiday festivities and ask for help once in a while.  Family members and neighbors can also lend a helping hand by putting up decorations or running errands to make the holidays a joyous time for elders.

—

On the Net:

• Baylor College of Medicine

Gainesville, Florida’s first community hospital has been struggling since it was acquired by the Shands Healthcare system in northern Florida twelve years ago. But now the plug is being pulled from the 80-year-old, money-losing Shands AGH because of the recession.

Its eight-hospital not-for-profit parent company will close the 220-bed hospital next fall. Patients and staff will be moved to a nearby newer, larger teaching hospital as part of an effort to conserve $65 million over three years throughout the healthcare system.

Like many U.S. hospitals, Shands is being hit by higher borrowing costs, tight credit, investment losses and a spike in non-paying patients, many of which are recently unemployed or otherwise underinsured.

These factors have conspired to trigger more hospital closings, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures along with the abandonment or delay of many new building projects.

Experts say more closings and mergers are on the way.

“They’ll get swallowed up by somebody else, if they need to exist, and if they don’t, they’ll just close,”  Tuck Crocker, vice president of BearingPoint’s healthcare practice, told the Associated Press.

Those most at risk include rural hospitals and urban healthcare facilities in areas with excess hospital beds and many poor, uninsured patients.

Hospitals are reporting a sharp decrease in donations and investment returns, while patient visits are flat. Meanwhile, profitable diagnostic procedures and elective surgeries are on the decline as those with inadequate insurance put off healthcare.  Eventually, however, these patients turn up at emergency rooms, often seriously ill, making it difficult for hospitals to lay off staff.

These problems are magnifying many long-standing stresses, such as low reimbursements from insurance companies, even-lower payments that typically don’t cover costs for Medicare and Medicaid patients, and high technology and labor costs.

Industry consultants and hospital executives say the increasing number of people with high-deductible health plans is driving up unpaid patient bills. Many are concerned that health reform efforts by the Obama administration could mean cuts in Medicare reimbursements.  Indeed, many states short on cash have already started reducing payments for poor people covered by Medicaid.

Patients and insurers, who have been paying hospital bills more slowly during the past few months, have been complicating matters further. As a result, some think hospitals will begin requiring up-front payments for elective procedures.

Citing “prospects of a protracted recession,” bad debt and the credit crunch, Moody’s Investors Service changed its 12- to 18-month outlook from “stable” to “negative” in November for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals.

“Looking forward, the cost of borrowing will likely be higher – and may be nonexistent for lower-rated hospitals,” Moody’s said.  This is problematic because hospitals typically borrow for everything from payroll and supplies to expansions and equipment.

Paul Keckley of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions said  he’s seen a “dramatic slowdown” in plans for new building projects since October.

“It probably means we won’t have as many new things in the hospital,” he told the AP.

Tim Goldfarb, CEO of Gainesville-based Shands Healthcare, Florida’s second-largest provider of charity care, said his system has seen bad debt jump 20 percent this year from uninsured patients.

“We write them off,” Goldfarb said.

“It’s a burden that we cannot carry any longer.”

Florida began reducing Medicaid reimbursements two years ago when its economy started to slow, Goldfarb added. He worries about another significant cut next year.

Shands already has delayed variable-rate bonds to avoid higher interest rates, deferred nearly $25 million in equipment purchases, moved management meetings to church halls and enacted employee suggestions to save millions more.

Goldfarb believes closing Shands AGH will result in nearly $100 million in cost savings over seven years, primarily by avoiding expensive renovations.  However, some administrative jobs will go away.

Although some hospitals still are doing well, closings and bankruptcies appear to be accelerating throughout the nation.

In New Jersey, for instance, where 47 percent of hospitals lost money last year, five of the 79 acute-care hospitals closed this year, and a sixth may close soon. And nearly every hospital is struggling in Hawaii, with two filing for bankruptcy and one nearly closing recently.

Throughout the country hospitals are reducing costs by outsourcing services such as security and housekeeping and cutting staff through attrition, layoffs and hiring freezes.

Most are trying not to affect those jobs that directly affect patient care, such as nurses, therapists, pharmacists and X-ray technicians.  Many of these positions already have staff shortages.

“The last thing we can do is skinny down our staffing right where we need it the most,”  Mike Killian, vice president of marketing for the three Beaumont Hospitals in suburban Detroit, told the Associated Press.

In Detroit, job losses from the auto industry and other factors now mean fewer patients with commercial insurance.  The system now predicts a $22 million loss, its first in at least four decades according to Killian.

As a result, this fall Beaumont announced a $60 million restructuring program, including a 4-10 percent pay reduction for doctors and managers, reduced overtime for some employees and the elimination of 500 jobs.

Some of the hardest-hit hospitals started cutting staff and services last spring, with more to follow, according to Rich Umbdenstock, CEO of the American Hospital Association.

Umbdenstock expects that some facilities would eliminate services that lose money, such as behavioral health treatment, or those with high operating costs such as burn units, instead of making broad-based cuts across their entire operation.

An association survey of more than 700 hospitals revealed that two-thirds have seen a decline in elective procedures and overall admissions since July, while 50 percent have seen moderate or significant increases in nonpaying patients. Meanwhile, a database on more than 550 hospitals found their third-quarter investment returns amounted to a combined loss of $832 million, a sharp reduction from last year’s $396 million gain.

Additionally, those hospitals paid 15 percent more in borrowing costs during the quarter, swinging to a 1.6 percent average loss, down from an average 6.1 percent profit margin a year ago.

“They’re having serious problems getting the capital they need for needed renovations and upgrading their facilities,” Mike Rock, an AHA lobbyist, told the AP. 

The AHA is currently seeking increased federal reimbursements from both Medicare and Medicaid.

At Exempla Healthcare, which has three hospitals in Denver and its surrounding suburbs, CEO Jeff Selberg said there’s typically a 5-7 percent annual profit margin.  However, this year’s investment losses wiped that out.  He’s now reduced a $200 million plan to upgrade facilities, information technology and clinical equipment and may stop the building of a new maternity unit and operating rooms at one of the hospitals.

Selberg said he’s seen a small increase in bad debt, but predicts more problems ahead.

“We feel like the wave is coming, but it hasn’t hit yet, and we don’t know how big this wave is going to be,” he said.

—

On the Net:

• Moody’s Investors Service
• American Hospital Association

New research from the Netherlands provides yet another reason not to smoke. 

The study found that current and former smokers have an increased risk of a condition known as atrial fibrillation, or AF, the most common type of heart arrhythmia in the United States.

Those with AF experience abnormal electrical activity in the heart, which causes its two upper chambers to beat in a fast, uncoordinated rhythm. And while arrhythmia itself is not life threatening, over time AF can contribute to heart failure or stroke in some people. In the United States AF affects nearly 2 million people.

Although smoking has long been known to be a risk factor for heart disease, it was not clear whether it raised the risk of AF.  However, the latest study suggests that it does, for both current and former smokers.

Researchers in the Netherlands found that of the roughly 5,700 Dutch adults age 55 and older whose records they examined, current and former smokers were about 50 percent more likely to develop AF over 7 years.

AF “has to be added to the long list of diseases” associated with smoking, said Dr. Jan Heeringa of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in an interview with Reuters.

“An independent effect of smoking on atrial fibrillation has never been found, until now, in our study,” said Heeringa, the study’s lead researcher.

Even after the scientists accounted for factors such as age, high blood pressure and history of heart attacks, smoking remained linked to an increased AF risk.

Heeringa was surprised that former smokers had an AF risk comparable to that of current smokers.

However, the results do not suggest that kicking the habit is “meaningless,” since it is well known that smokers who quit lower their risk of developing lung cancer and heart attacks, Heeringa said.

“Stopping of smoking, at any age, has huge beneficial effects on health,” he added.

The study was published December 2008 in the American Heart Journal.

—

On the Net:

• American Heart Journal

Researchers at Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Melbourne have moved a step closer to identifying a broad spectrum treatment for the dreaded ‘viral tummy bug’ or rotavirus.

These highly-infectious viruses are the leading cause of severe diarrhea in young children, responsible for thousands of hospitalizations in the developed world, and hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in developing countries.

Institute Executive Director Professor Mark von Itzstein said research findings published in the world-leading chemical biology journal Nature Chemical Biology this week demanded a total rethink of how these viruses work.

“Rotaviruses are thought to infect the bodies by sticking to certain types of sugars called sialic acids on the surface of our stomach cells. They then enter cells and reproduce rapidly, causing illness,” he said.

“Rotavirus vaccines are still in their infancy, as problems emerged with the first vaccine that was trialed a number of years ago. While other vaccines are now in clinical use, new directions are required in the development of potential drugs to prevent or treat this deadly virus.”

He said that to better understand how carbohydrates are involved in rotavirus infection, researchers had focused on treating mammalian cells with a protein called sialidase which cuts these surface sugars so the virus cannot attach.

Previous to his group’s work most scientists believed only some of the many strains of rotavirus infection could be prevented with sialidase treatment while others were apparently immune to its effects.

This led to the conclusion that some viruses depend on sialic acid to infect the body while others were thought to cause infection independent of sialic acid.

“Unsuccessful attempts to reduce rotavirus infection with this treatment led scientists to group rotaviruses into two classes: ‘sialidase-sensitive’ and ‘sialidase-insensitive’ strains,” he said.

The team used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 3D modeling and cell-based assays to observe the interaction between the virus and host cells.

“We found that a human strain previously through insensitive to sialidase does in fact recognize and bind to sialic acid, but it is a sialic acid not accessible to sialidase treatment.” Professor von Itzstein said.

“This reveals that there is a common chink in the armor of these rotaviruses.

“This discovery is the first step in designing a broad-spectrum drug able to exploit this weakness to combat many types of human and animal rotaviruses.”

Image Courtesy Wikipedia

—

On the Net:

• Research Australia
• Griffith University
• Nature Chemical Biology

A new study suggests that college students may handle stressful situations better if they have a pet.

Research has already shown that pets can improve the quality of life for people who are aging or those who are chronically ill.  But researchers at Ohio State University recently found that many college students may also benefit from owning a cat or a dog. 

A survey of students at a large university and other adults in the area found that nearly a quarter of college students surveyed believed their pets helped them get through difficult times in life.  Students who chose to live with at least one dog, one cat, or a combination of the two were less likely to report feeling lonely and depressed; something they directly attributed to their beloved pet.

These findings highlight how even younger, healthier young adults can benefit from living with our four-legged friends, said Sara Staats, lead author of the study and professor emeritus of psychology at Ohio State’s Newark Campus.

“We might not think of college students as being lonely, but a lot of freshman and sophomores are in an early transition from living at home to living in dorms or off-campus.  College is a very stressful environment for them and sometimes they can feel isolated or overwhelmed with the change,” she said.

“We found that a lot of young adults are choosing to have an animal companion for important reasons.  Many feel their pets will help get them through these difficult and stressful situations, and many more say that without their pet, they would feel lonely.”

The study was based on survey responses from nearly 350 college students at a Midwestern commuter campus and nearby community members. Only those people who currently or previously owned a cat, a dog, or a combination of the two were included in the present study.  People who were 18 to 87 years of age were all surveyed to study the differences between adults and students.

Participants were asked to indicate their current level of health, the type of pet(s) owned, and whether they believed a pet affected their overall health.  They were then asked to identify their top reasons for owning a pet in both multiple-choice and open-ended surveys.  The results were recently published in the journal Society and Animals.

The results showed that most adults and college students chose to own a pet for similar reasons.  Although the results were based on self-reports, many of those surveyed believed their pet contributed to their overall health in a number of ways. 

Nearly a quarter of all college students and adults reported that their pet was useful in keeping them active.  This answer was more common for those who owned dogs, but those who had feline friends also reported their cat helped keep them active.

Likewise, 18 percent of college students and 13 percent of adults said their pet was important to helping them cope during difficult times.  This belief was far more likely among those who were single rather than married, but it was listed by both groups in both open-ended and multiple choice questions.

But the results showed that avoiding loneliness was the top reason given by both students and adults.  Nearly identical percentages of married and single persons gave this response, but students and those over 50 years of age were far more likely to list this as their top reason.

While previous work has demonstrated that the elderly benefit from animal companionship, this study is the one of the first to suggest that animal companions help those younger than 30 years of age, Staats said.

“Most of the studies on pet ownership focus directly on those adults and older generations who have heart problems or special needs.  But there hasn’t been much recognition of that fact that young, healthy college students also derive benefits from pet ownership such as hedge against loneliness and improved ability to cope,” she said.

While the reasons for keeping a pet may be similar among adults and college students, the lifestyles differences between the two may provide clues as to why students rely on their pets more often, Staats said.

Many people in their late twenties to mid-forties have established circles of friends.  Adults usually live in areas with friends, colleagues, and family nearby, making their lives more stable than those beginning to build their lives. Many more adults are married or have started raising a family, and have years of experience learning how to cope with difficult situations.
 
Many first and second-year students, however, are in the beginning stages of building a new network of friends.  College students living far from home may find it harder to deal with difficult situations because they are thrown into a new environment and expected to find their way, often for the first time in their lives.

As a result, many students may find themselves feeling isolated and withdrawn from their environment.

“Many students said that their pets fulfill a significant role that is missing in their lives.  The pets are not a substitute for human social interaction and support, but they do provide important interaction for these kids who might otherwise feel isolated from their current environment,” Staats said.

“I wouldn’t advise everyone to go out and buy a puppy. But I think this research clearly shows that many students can benefit both psychologically and socially from living with an animal companion.”

Staats conducted the study with undergraduate psychology students Heidi Wallace and Tara Anderson.

—

On the Net:

• Ohio State University
• Society and Animals