Health : Health Buzz: Smoking Ban Takes Effect in China |
| Health Buzz: Smoking Ban Takes Effect in China Posted: 02 May 2011 07:49 AM PDT China Bans Smoking in Most Public Places China, home to more than 300 million smokers, has banned lighting up in most public places. Starting Sunday, all bars, restaurants, hospitals, theaters, hotels, parks, and mass-transit vehicles became smoke-free—a move designed to curb one of the country's greatest health threats. China accounts for a third of all cigarettes smoked worldwide, and smoking is linked to the deaths of 1 million people there each year. Public venues are now required to prominently display "No Smoking" signs; since smoking is still allowed in offices, employers are encouraged to ask their staffers not to smoke. Fines or punishments for breaking the ban, however, aren't specified, leading some critics to cast doubt on its effectiveness. "I acknowledge that there are imperfections in the guidelines," Yang Gonghuan, director of China's National Office of Tobacco Control, told the Associated Press. "But I think we should all come together to help push forward the regulation's implementation." 12 Reasons to Really Quit Smoking We'll spare you the lecture. (Seriously, though. Stamp out that butt and flush the pack, already.) Tobacco use, namely cigarette smoking, is the chief cause of preventable death in the United States. Left unbridled, smoking could kill more than a billion people this century, according to the World Health Organization. That equals the number who would die if a Titanic sank every 24 minutes for the next 100 years, as former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop so starkly put it during a 2008 press conference. The reasons to quit smoking keep amassing—and they're not all about heart disease, lung cancer, or respiratory problems. Here's a few downsides you might not have considered. 1. It fogs the mind. Smoking may cloud the mind, according to accumulating research. A 2008 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that smoking in middle age is linked to memory problems and to a slide in reasoning abilities, though these risks appeared lessened for those who'd long quit; this is important, the authors wrote, because other research has shown that people with mild cognitive impairment in midlife develop dementia at an accelerated rate. Their report piggybacks on several focused on the older set: A 2007 analysis of 19 prior studies concluded that elderly smokers face a heightened risk of dementia and cognitive decline, compared with lifelong nonsmokers. And in 2004, researchers reported in Neurology that smoking appeared to hasten cognitive decline in dementia-free elderly smokers, bringing it on several times faster than in their nonsmoking peers. 2. It may bring on diabetes. As if we need any more risk factors for diabetes, an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that across 25 prior studies, current smokers have a 44 percent greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes than nonsmokers do, and the risk was strongest for those with the heaviest habit, who clocked 20 or more cigarettes per day. In an accompanying editorial, researchers made a striking estimation: That some 12 percent of all type 2 diabetes cases nationwide might be attributable to smoking. [Read more: 12 Reasons to Really Quit Smoking.]
Is It Possible to Be Smoke Free in 30 Days? By now, it's almost a cliché to reiterate that smoking is the chief cause of preventable death in the United States. Yet approximately 46 million Americans are still lighting up, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. News spoke to clinical psychologist Daniel Seidman, director of smoking cessation services at Columbia University Medical Center, about his book Smoke-Free in 30 Days: The Pain-Free, Permanent Way to Quit (Fireside Trade Paperback Original). In it, Seidman draws on his 20-plus years of experience with thousands of patients and walks people through the quitting process—including how to prepare for the "quit day" and how to maintain their success. The big obstacles to quitting, he said, are numerous: "Really, there are three hurdles people have to get past: the physical, the automated behavior (which is the habit), and emotional belief systems. Most people, when they think about this addiction to smoking, think of it as a physical problem with some element of habit. But I think people really don't get that for many smokers, making a good emotional adjustment after they quit is the hardest thing. If every time for 20 years you get upset you take a cigarette, that's going to become very much a part of your emotional repertoire, right? Once you can get [people] to think differently about that emotional belief system, it really helps them move beyond smoking and lose interest in it." [Read more: Is It Possible to Be Smoke Free in 30 Days?] This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Health Buzz: Screening Tool Could Diagnose Autism Earlier Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:25 AM PDT New Screening Tool Could Help Identify Autism in Infants A simple five-minute questionnaire could help detect autism in babies as young as 12 months. Researchers tested such a screening tool on nearly 10,500 California children, and diagnosed about 32 with autism, as well as another 100 with other language or developmental delays. On average, those children began treatment at 19 months—far earlier than the typical child diagnosed with the disorder, according to findings published Thursday in the Journal of Pediatrics. Autism is difficult to detect in young children, who tend to show only subtle signs until age 2 or 3, when symptoms like a lack of eye contact and engagement become more evident. In the study, parents were asked a series of questions about their 1-year-old, including: Can you predict when your baby is likely to be happy or upset? Does your baby use gestures and make babbling sounds, and look to see if you're watching her play? The screening tool should become standard during 1-year check-ups, the researchers say. Currently, less than half of pediatricians report screening for autism before age 2. "The earlier we can identify a child with autism, the earlier we can intervene with treatment, and the better off the child will be in the long run," study author Karen Pierce, a neuroscientist at the University of California--San Diego, told The Boston Globe. "It's simple for parents to fill out, simple to score, and simple for a doctor to make a referral right there on the spot."
4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer's Drug Namenda Medicine hasn't come up with a cure for autism, the often-devastating developmental disorder that now affects 1 in 150 children, and one big reason is that doctors don't yet know what causes it. Parents frustrated by the lack of options often turn to the Internet for help, where dozens of medical and behavioral treatments are promoted. Unfortunately, most of the treatments out there have not been tested to find out if they work, making it tough for parents to figure out what might help. Those that have been rigorously tested so far have failed to measure up. That includes secretin, a hormone affecting liver and pancreas function that was popular until a 2003 trial found it did nothing to alleviate symptoms. Yet treatments for autism do exist. Those proven to work include structured behavioral interventions that teach children social and language skills, as well as medications that reduce disabling symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal disorders. Increasingly, researchers are looking at autism as a "state" that could be changed rather than a "trait," according to Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. And researchers are starting to rigorously test other potential treatments, including methyl vitamin B12 and an Alzheimer's drug known as Namenda. [Read more: 4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer's Drug Namenda.] 10 Things That Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss So you've got your plot to drop the extra pounds. It certainly seems sensible: You're going to eat right, eat less, and exercise. After weeks of declining dessert and diligently hitting the treadmill, you step on the scale and...only 2 pounds gone? You conclude that something or someone must be sabotaging you. You might be right. While experts say weight loss can always be reduced to the simple "calories in, calories out" mantra—meaning if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight—a host of oft-hidden saboteurs may be meddling with the balance. Here's a smattering of them: 1. Treating healthy foods as low-calorie foods. "A lot of times they're not consistent," says Scott Kahan, co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program in Washington, D.C. So while whole grains, avocados, and nuts might be kind to your heart or cholesterol levels, dieters who binge on such foods can, before they know it, add hundreds of calories to the day's total. Enjoy calorie-rich healthy foods, dietitians urge, but ration them out: a quarter of an avocado on a salad or a small handful of almonds for a snack. 2. Shunning shuteye. Some research has linked shorter sleep duration to a higher body mass index (a measure of body fat) and increased hunger and appetite. Additionally, if you're tired, you might be prone to grab a sugar-laden treat for a midday boost, skip the gym, and have takeout for dinner to avoid cooking. It's a vicious cycle. Aim for seven or eight hours a night. [Read more: 10 Things That Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss.] This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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