U.S. Records Increase in Kids With Down Syndrome

— A growing number of children in the United States are being born with Down syndrome, federal researchers say.

The overriding reason, experts add, is that more older women are having babies.

Data from 10 regional registries of birth defects show that the incidence of Down syndrome among U.S. children increased by 31 percent between 1979 and 2003, from 9.0 to 11.8 per 100,000 live births.

The survey of U.S. children with Down syndrome provides a benchmark for determining whether adequate health services for them are being provided, the researchers say.

“In the past we have focused on the prevalence at birth,” said Dr. Adolfo Correa, a supervisory medical officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead author of the report, published online Nov. 30 in Pediatrics. “The survival of children with Down syndrome has improved over the years, so we were interested in knowing the prevalence among children.”

The growing incidence, however, could paint a false picture, said Dr. Siobhan Dolan, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women’s health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and a consultant to the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

The increase simply reflects the fact that more American women are having babies later in life, and “there is a strong epidemiological association between Down syndrome and maternal age,” Dolan said.

Down syndrome occurs when a child has an extra chromosome, number 21 of the 23 that determine genetic characteristics. Though most people think of the syndrome as a cause of mental retardation, some children with Down do not need special schools, Dolan said. But the extra chromosome is associated with a number of major physical problems, including life-threatening heart abnormalities.

The numbers in the new study “allow us to plan for Down syndrome, to see what is working for the children, including cardiac surgery to extend the life span,” she said.

Correo said the findings will help determine “whether the availability of specialty services will be enough to meet the needs of the Down syndrome population.”

The increased number of people with Down syndrome reflects “an accomplishment in our health system that should be noted,” Dolan said. “The care for Down syndrome individuals is probably improving, so that life expectancy is improving.”

Studies of the relationship between maternal age and the incidence of Down syndrome are continuing, she said. “That is the subject of very active research — what causes chromosomes to divide abnormally at certain ages. The genetics is really interesting.”

Tests to detect chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy now are widely available, Dolan said. Such tests “can allow us to plan for health care, to plan for delivery, having a cardiology team there to care for the child,” she said.

A number of organizations provide advice and services for families with children who have Down syndrome, she said. “Getting educated from other families and support groups is an important asset,” she said.

Dolan also noted, however, that the data in the federal study now are now nine years old. “It is not 2009 data, and this is a continually changing field,” she said. “It is going to be interesting to see what happened between 2003 and 2009.”

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Never Mind the Flu—Loneliness is Going Around

Happiness, laughter, and smiles are often described as infectious. It turns out you can catch loneliness too.

Having just one lonely friend, relative, or neighbor increases your risk of feeling lonely by 52%, according to a new study led by John Cacioppo, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. Loneliness, in fact, spreads through networks of friends, families, and neighbors more quickly and easily than a sense of social connectedness does, the study says.

It’s the latest research from a team who has discovered that your friends and family influence you more than you may think. In a series of recent studies, Cacioppo’s coauthors, Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, and James H. Fowler, PhD, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, have shown that happiness, smoking, and obesity can all spread through social networks.

But can you really “catch” loneliness? The researchers suggest that a lonely person’s body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice may actually make the people around him or her feel lonely too.

What’s more, loneliness appears to be a vicious cycle, according to the study, published this week in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Lonely people tend to lose friends over time, which makes them feel more lonely and isolated; it pushes them to the edge of the social web.

Plus, loneliness spreads—far. The effects were seen not only in the lonely person’s close friends, but his friends’ friends and his friends’ friends’ friends.

People in the study felt lonely 48 days a year, on average. A person surrounded by lonely connections would spend six hours more a week feeling lonely than someone with no direct links, the study found.

Loneliness was more contagious among friends than family. The size of a person’s family didn’t influence the likelihood of being lonely, and, surprisingly, a lonely spouse had less of an impact than a lonely friend.

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Why Lymph Nodes Are a Magnet for Breast Cancer

You may need to have your lymph nodes biopsied or removed.

(RICK GOMEZ/RADIUS/MASTERFILE)

Lymph nodes are small glands that act as a filtering system for the body; the nodes in your armpit can become a magnet for breast cancer on the move. "What I tell patients is that there are two parts to breast cancer surgery—the first part is the operation on the breast itself, whether the lumpectomy or mastectomy, and the second part has to do with the lymph nodes, which is the first place cancer cells tend to go when they leave the breast," says Monica Morrow, MD, chief of the Breast Service in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

If you have breast cancer, here's what you need to know about your lymph nodes.

• If you're "node negative" (meaning no lymph nodes show cancer cells), that automatically cuts the seriousness of your diagnosis and puts you in stage I.
• Being "node positive" means the cancer may have spread. The more nodes involved, the more serious things get.

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What Puts You at Risk for High Cholesterol?

A bad diet is a sure way to spike your triglyceride reading.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

Blood cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary artery disease and heart attack, so reducing your risk of high cholesterol is a worthy goal. However, the next time you brag that your cholesterol is nice and low—or lament that your number is in the mid-200s—know this: "Your total cholesterol is a pretty meaningless number," says Maureen Mays, MD, a preventive cardiologist and lipid specialist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. "Not only does the general public not know this, some doctors don't either."

Here's why "the number" is so misleading. Total cholesterol is calculated by adding LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), and one-fifth of your triglyceride total. "We have been using this formula of adding a bad thing to a good thing and factoring in one-fifth of a bad thing, and it's not useful," Dr. Mays says.

That's one reason 50% of people who have a heart attack have normal cholesterol readings.

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Natural Body Detox for Kids

If you have been benefited a lot by following a body detox program, then it is possible that you are thinking of passing the same benefits to your little one as well. However, you should know that it is very important to choose detox food items for children carefully as their kidneys and liver are not as strong as of adults. There are some food items which can be given to children for cleansing their body.

One should know that whole foods are very effective in detoxifying a kid’s body. Children also love to eat whole food items. They will help in removing toxins from their body, in a gentle and safe way. You should keep in mind that most of the body detox recipes cut down the protein intake significantly. However, protein is very important for the growing children. So, while you give them such food items which aim at cleansing their bodies, you should also add some protein in them. If you are planning to follow detox diet for your obese child, you should consult a professional.

Other than trying detoxifying food items, you should also ensure that your child is drinking adequate quantity of water. This will improve their bowel movement and simplify digestive disorders. Experts also insist that every kid should be involved in some kind of physical activities. This will make them sweat, which is regarded as one of the most natural way of body detoxification. When it comes to your kid, don’t experiment with the body detox products available in the market.

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Using Smoke Assist To Stop Smoking

Everyone knows that smoking is extremely dangerous for our health. In spite of this, there are a large number of people who are posing a risk to their precious lives by smoking cigarettes. This may cause incurable diseases like mouth and lung cancer.

If you want to find an alternative to cigarettes for satisfying your oral fixation, then you should purchase Smoke Assist. You will feel like you are smoking a real cigarette while using this product. Using Smoke Assist will cost you a lot less than tobacco cigarettes.

It has benefited many to quit the ill habit of smoking. It does not contain tobacco, nicotine, tar or any harmful chemical or carcinogens associated with regular cigarettes.

While using Smoke Assist, people will feel that they are inhaling real nicotine and exhaling it as smoke. However, the truth is that while using Smoke Assist, you will be emitting only water vapors. This way you can also avoid consequences of passive smoking.

If you face a lot of trouble while spending time in no-smoking areas, this product will come as a great solution. You can use Smoke Assist even in no-smoking zones. A single cartridge of this e-cigarette will last for 400 smoke mouthfuls. Each pack comes with 4 such cartridges.

This product can be purchased only from its official website. Do not wait for buying this product for the sake of your health. There’s also an option of getting this product absolutely free of cost. Visit the website to know more.

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India, not a land of erotica?

The newly released anthology Electric Feather, published by Tranquebar, is a celebration of the sexual desire, and compiles 13 stories by South Asian writers. The release of the book has initiated a debate on erotic literature and whether it has any takers in India. In Indian literature, certain subjects have always been taboo. While love has always been there, most writers, perhaps in their attempt to write more pan-Indian novels which speak to a larger audience, get inhibited to write for pleasure. Is India still uncomfortable with erotic art and literature? Or is the newly released anthology a sign of changing times? Watch the debate on Verdict.

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