Lack of Sleep Puts Teens At Higher Risk of Diabetes

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Teens who don't get enough sleep are at increased risk of developing diabetes, besides improving their insulin resistance, according to a study.


"High levels of insulin resistance can lead to the development of diabetes," said Karen Matthews, who teaches psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.

"We found that if teens that normally get six hours of sleep per night get one extra hour of sleep, they would improve insulin resistance by nine percent," said Matthews, who led the study. 
Insulin resistance is a set of metabolic dysfunctions linked with or contributing to a range of serious health conditions that include type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes), metabolic syndrome, obesity, among others. 
The study tracked the sleep duration and insulin resistance levels of 245 healthy high school students. 
Participants provided a fasting blood draw, and they kept a sleep log and wore a wrist actigraph for one week during the school year, the journal SLEEP reported. 
Results show that higher insulin resistance is associated with shorter sleep duration independent of race, age, gender, waist circumference, and body mass index, according to a Pittsburgh statement. 
The study is the only one in healthy adolescents that shows a relationship between shorter sleep and insulin resistance that is independent of obesity, added Matthews. 


Source-IANS
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Exposure To Common Herbicide Raises Birth Defect Risk

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Exposure to common herbicide, which is used in United States, increases the the risk of congenital abnormality of the nasal cavity known as choanal atresia.

The study by Dr. Philip Lupo, assistant professor of pediatrics – hematology/oncology at BCM and Texas Children's Cancer Center, is scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics.


Choanal atresia is a disorder where the back of the nasal passage is blocked by tissue formed during fetal development. It is a rare condition but can be serious because it affects a baby's ability to breath. It is typically treated through surgery.

Very few risk factors for choanal atresia have been identified, however chemicals that disrupt the maternal endocrine system may be associated with risk, according to Lupo. The study focused on atrazine, which is the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. – especially in corn crops – and is believed to be an endocrine disrupter.

"Endocrine disrupters aren't fully understood, but it is believed they interfere with or mimic certain hormones, thereby blocking their proper function and potentially leading to adverse outcomes," Lupo said.

The study found that mothers who lived in Texas counties with the highest levels of estimated atrazine application were 80 percent more likely to have children with choanal atresia or stenosis compared to women who lived in the counties with the lowest levels. Choanal stenosis is a less severe form of the condition.

Data for the study was collected from the Texas Birth Defects Registry.

"Our results warrant more detailed exploration before any public health or policy-related recommendations are made," Lupo said, "but this study is a good first step in trying to understand the origin of this birth defect, including a possible role of atrazine."



Source-Eurekalert


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Onscreen Tobacco Use on Rise in Youth-rated Movies

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Top box office films continue to depict smoking, states new UCSF study.

In fact, many of the top-grossing films of 2011 with significant amounts of smoking targeted a young audience, among them are the PG-rated cartoon 'Rango' and 'X-Men: First Class,' it said.


"Hollywood has still not fixed this problem," said lead author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, a professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

"The result of the increase in onscreen smoking in youth-rated films will be more kids starting to smoke and developing tobacco-induced disease," he has warned.

The UCSF study was conducted in conjunction with Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!, a project of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, which annually tracks tobacco use in the nation's top-grossing movies.

Altogether, the 134 top-grossing films of 2011 depicted nearly 1,900 tobacco "incidents," the analysis found.

Total tobacco incidents per movie rose seven percent from 2010 to 2011. Among movies rated G, PG or PG-13, smoking incidents per movie soared by 36 percent.

Some of the films that showed the most smoking were "period" movies, such as 'The Help,' 'Midnight in Paris,' and 'Hugo,' which depicted an era when smoking was more common than it is today.

But others were fantasy films, including 'Cowboys 'n' Aliens,' 'Green Hornet' and 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1,' which were aimed squarely at the youth market, noted Glantz.

In stark contrast to prior years, the three major film companies that have adopted policies designed to discourage smoking in their movies depicted just as many tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie as companies that lack tobacco use policies.

Those three studios with tobacco reduction policies are: Time Warner (established policy in 2005), Comcast (2007) and Disney (2004). The three companies with no such policies: Viacom, News Corp. and Sony.

The researchers recommended that health departments to work with policy makers to correlate movie subsidies with public health interests in reducing smoking.

"These results underscore a need for an industry-wide policy to keep smoking out of films marketed to youth," Glantz said.

"An R rating for movies with smoking would give film producers an incentive to keep smoking out of movies aimed at young viewers. The exception would be when the movie clearly reflects the dangers and consequences of tobacco use, or represents the smoking of a real historical figure," he added.

The study will be available in Preventing Chronic Disease Journal, an online, peer-reviewed publication of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.


Source-ANI


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Molecular Process in Fat Cells That Influences Stress and Longevity Identified By Joslin Scientists

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Scientists have identified a new factor — microRNA processing in fat tissue — which plays a major role in aging and stress resistance. This was done as a part of their ongoing research investigating the biology of aging, the greatest risk factor for type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases. The scientists are from the Joslin Diabetes Center. This finding may lead to the development of treatments that increase stress resistance and longevity and improve metabolism. The findings appear in the September 5 online edition of Cell Metabolism.


Over the past several years, it has become clear that fat cells (adipocytes) are more than just repositories to store fat. Indeed, fat cells secrete a number of substances that actively influence metabolism and systemic inflammation. Previous studies have found that reducing fat mass by caloric restriction (CR) or surgical or genetic means can promote longevity and stress resistance in species from yeast to primates. However, little is known about how CR and fat reduction produce these beneficial effects. This study investigated one type of molecular mediator – change in microRNAs (miRNAs) and the processing enzymes required to make them – that is influenced by aging and reversed by caloric restriction. miRNAs are involved in the formation of mature RNA.

Based on studies conducted using human cells, mice and C. elegans (a microscopic worm used as a model organism for aging studies), the researchers demonstrated that levels of multiple miRNAs, decrease in fat tissue (adipose) with age in all three species. This is due to a decrease in the critical enzyme required from converted pre-miRNAs to mature miRNAs, Dicer. In the human study, which compared the miRNA levels in preadipocytes (fat cell precusors) of young, middle-aged and older people, people aged 70 and older had the lowest miRNA levels. "The fact that this change occurs in humans, mice and worms points to its significance as a general and important process," says lead author C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Chief Academic Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Caloric restriction, which has been shown to prolong lifespan and improve stress resistance in both mice and worms, prevents this decline of Dicer, and in the case of the mice, restore miRNAs to levels observed in young mice. Conversely, exposure of adipocytes to major stressors associated with aging and metabolic diseases, including toxic agents, Dicer levels decreased. Mice and worms engineered to have decreased Dicer expression in fat showed increased sensitivity to stress, a sign of premature aging. By contrast, worms engineered to "overexpress" Dicer in the intestine (the adipose tissue equivalent in worms) had greater stress resistance and lived longer.

Overall, these studies showed that regulation of miRNA processing in adipose-related tissues plays an important role in longevity and an organism's ability to respond to age-related and environmental stress. "This study points to a completely new mechanism by which fat might affect lifespan and is the first time that anyone has looked at fat and miRNAs as factors in longevity," according to co-author T. Keith Blackwell, MD, PhD, co-head of Joslin's Section on Islet Cell and Regenerative Biology and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Based on this study, Blackwell suggests that "finding ways to improve miRNA processing to keep miRNA levels up during aging might have a role in protecting against the stresses of everyday life and the development of age- and stress-related disease."

Dr. Kahn and the study investigators are currently working on ways to genetically control Dicer levels in the fat tissues of mice, to create mouse models that are more or less resistant to stress. "We would love to find drugs that would mimic this genetic manipulation to produce a beneficial effect," says Dr. Kahn. "If we can better understand the biology of aging, we might also understand how age impacts diabetes," says Kahn.



Source-Eurekalert


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Link Between Second-hand Smoke and Urinary Disorders in Kids

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Exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke ups risk of urinary disorders in children, says study.

"Our research shows that exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke increases the risk of severe urinary disorders in children, that may otherwise be reduced or even prevented," Joseph G. Barone, said.


"Our results emphasize the importance of smoking cessation for parents. Pediatricians and family physicians are urged to discuss with parents opportunities that are available to quit smoking," he said.

The study included children aged 4 through 17 who sought care of a pediatric urologist for irritative bladder storage symptoms including urinary urgency, increased urinary frequency and incontinence.

28 percent of the children in the study were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. More than half of the children in the study had moderate to severe symptoms, 50 percent of which were exposed to cigarette smoke within a car and 23 percent of which had mothers who smoked.

The presentation noted that symptom severity increased with greater exposure to second-hand smoke; in children aged 4 through 10, the increase in severe urinary symptoms was significant.

"Cigarette smoke is an environmental toxin and dangerous to children's health - particularly hazardous to very young and pre-pubescent children.

"Parents should make a concerted effort to reduce their child's exposure to smoke in confined places, especially in the home and in cars. Quitting smoking is the healthiest option for children," Barone said.

The pediatric urology program, overseen by Dr. Barone, at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital was ranked 35th in the nation in the 2012-13 U.S. News and World Report ranking of America's Best Children's Hospitals released on June 5.

The study was presented at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting.



Source-ANI

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Eyecare Medical Group Mobile Web Site Launch

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The Maine Ophthalmologists and Optometrists at Eyecare Medical Group are pleased to announce the launch of its new mobile web site. “Patients who use an iPhone or Android-really any mobile smartphone or computer tablet like an iPad and need to schedule eye exams, LASIK consultations, cataract and lens implant evaluations and appointments for any type of eye disease or problem including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration-will be able to easily find and contact us on their mobile devices today,” stated Clement Berry, Chief Executive Officer of Eyecare Medical Group. “It’s really very easy to reach us on your smartphone-just search Eyecare Medical Group on your smartphone you can click right through to see it!,” said Mr. Berry. 
If you are at a desktop computer and want to use a regular phone to schedule an appointment reach us at 888-374-2020 or for greater detail and more in depth information visit Eyecare Medical Group or to just be social come see us at facebook.com/eyecaremedicalgroup

Cost of LASIK in Maine: Can I Afford It?

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Eyecare Medical Group in Portland, Maine shared some thoughts about the cost of LASIK in Maine and how to see if it’s affordable. “I speak to many patients from throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont who call us and really want LASIK but are concerned about how to make it affordable, “commented Erica Mitchell, Refractive Surgery Coordinator at EMG. “With the economy being tough it can be unnerving to think about spending money on anything-no less something that seems a bit frivolous. For folks who consider their eyes and vision correction frivolous-LASIK is not for them. For people who can imagine doing the kinds of things they do each day-or would like to do each day-without the hassle of having to wear glasses or contacts all the time-LASIK can be a real priority,” she further stated. 
Many people who decide to have LASIK think they should shop for the best price. We’re not sure what would possess folks to think about price shopping for surgery. Maybe because they forgot that LASIK is surgery? Maybe it’s because they see a bunch of deceptive advertisements and hype. It’s tough to believe that folks would shop around for LASIK like they shop for a brake job for their car-but it happens every single day. It’s also tough to believe that folks would shop price for LASIK RATHER than shop for the best LASIK Surgeons to whom they are entrusting their eye health and vision.
LASIK is about three things…..First, LASIK is about safety and results. Second, LASIK is about safety and results. Third, LASIK is about safety and results. Safety and results depend on the skill, experience and expertise of surgeon and the staff. 
Almost ALL practices today have ways of making LASIK affordable. This can be through the use of monthly payment plans, the use of employer Flex Plans and special offers that can help you use your tax refund or bonus. Shop surgeon quality-NOT price……find the best LASIK surgeon with whom you can develop TRUST. One who gets to know you. One who you can get to know. You may already know them based on their reputation in the community or by the fact that they have taken care of a family member, co-worker or friend. There is no way of setting a best price on empathy, trust, comfort, safety and results. 
If you or someone you know is thinking about LASIK please call Eyecare Medical Group for a Free LASIK Evaluation at 888-374-2020. Let us tell you if you are even a good candidate for Laser Eye Surgery for Laser Vision Correction. Then let us help make LASIK affordable. To schedule a FREE LASIK Consultation call us at 888-374-2020, visit Eyecare Medical Group or facebook.com/eyecaremedicalgroup. 
Eyecare Medical Group is a leading ophthalmology practice in Portland, Maine staffed by a team of eye care specialists including eye doctors who are fellowship trained glaucoma specialists, retina specialists, cornea specialists and cataract and lens implant specialists-all board certified Ophthalmologists-as well as Optometrists, Opticians, technical and administrative staff who provide eye examinations for adults and children, cataract surgery and intraocular lens implants, (IOL), laser vision correction such as LASIK, diagnosis and treatment of cornea disease including cornea transplants, care for diseases of the retina including diabetes and age related macular degeneration and diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma. 
Eyecare Medical Group is conveniently located for patients from throughout Maine including
Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Bath, Berwick, Biddeford, Bridgeton, Brunswick, Cape Neddick, Casco Bay, Cumberland Center, Eliot, Freeport, Gardiner, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kittery, Lewiston, Old Orchard Beach, Sanford, Scarborough, South Portland, Springvale, Topsham, Waterville, Westbrook, Winslow, Wiscasset, Yarmouth, Portland, Skowhegan and York Maine.