| Science Could Erase Stigma of Anorexia
FRIDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- When people understand the genetics and biology of anorexia nervosa, they are less likely to blame those with the eating disorder for their illness, says a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) study. "This is a potentially important finding because it suggests that wide dissemination of information about the biological and genetic underpinnings of anorexia nervosa could help decrease the blame-based stigma that is associated with the disorder," study author Michele A. Crisafulli said in a prepared statement. It's believed that stigma creates additional difficulties for people with anorexia, including making them more reluctant to seek treatment. In people with anorexia nervosa, obsessive fears of being fat lead to abnormal and dangerously low body weight.
SAFETY SCHOOL Bucking Privacy Concerns, Cornell Acts as Watchdog
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For 19 years as a custodian at Cornell University, Sue Welch has been taking out the garbage and mopping the floors of residence halls. Recently, she added a new responsibility: trying to prevent student suicide. Ms. Welch noticed during a recent semester that she was repeatedly having to clean up after a particular student's apparent bouts of nausea, and told her supervisor she feared the young woman had an eating disorder. The supervisor told the residence-hall director, who encouraged the student to go to the university health center. Counselors there arranged for her to get treatment for bulimia nervosa. Ms. Welch credits the training sessions that she and other custodians attended on how to spot students with mental-health problems. "These kids are looking to us to provide care," she says.
New Guidelines Proposed for Preschoolers on Antidepressants
With the number of preschool-age children being prescribed stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs on the rise, a group of researchers has suggested a standardized approach to treatment. Child mental health professionals from Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center in Rhode Island and 11 other institutions have developed recommendations for specific disorders to help clinicians who are considering medications for children ages 3 to 6. The guidelines are published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Click here for the full study (subscription required) "These guidelines emphasize the importance of a family-focused assessment by clinicians with experience working with young children, the use of psychotherapy as the first line treatment for young children with severe psychiatric disorders, and the value of careful monitoring of symptoms and side effects when treating young children," said lead author Dr.
Celebrity birthdays | History
On Dec. 29, 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state. In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them. In 1940, during World War II, Germany dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as "The Second Great Fire of London." In 1975, a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people. In 2006, word reached the United States of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (because of the time difference, it was the morning of Dec. 30 in Iraq when the hanging took place). .
Smoking Before, After Pregnancy Harms Daughters' Fertility
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified the chemical pathway by which a mother's smoking before and after pregnancy might reduce her daughter's fertility by as much as two-thirds. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy has been shown in retrospective studies to affect the fertility of a woman's offspring, but this is the first study to offer an explanation of the biology behind the effect, the Canadian scientists claim. .
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She set out as she had done every Sunday afternoon for years. She locked her door, turned to the weather, and held the hand rail as she stepped carefully down from the porch. Once on the ground she adjusted her hat on her gray head. As this was a winter day in the Christmas season, a cold day, she also adjusted her coat. Had it been raining, she would have pulled a large lawn and leaf bag, as if it were a poncho, over her head and upper body. Most times she shouldered her hand bag. This day she also shouldered a bulging plastic shopping bag. She walked along the dirt road that would lead her to the paved road that would lead her to the highway. Her only company was her shadow, small and indistinct at her feet. She walked without the deliberate care of someone unfamiliar with the terrain, but neither was her gait quick.
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