Midwest Freelancer
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When Should You Talk To Your Child About Sex? Now.
(Published Wednesday, April 12, 2006)
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
It was 16 years ago that Salt-N-Pepa encouraged listeners to talk about sex and now some of those are trying to figure out how to do just that -- with their children.
Marilyn A. Maxwell, a medical doctor and professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, recently contributed to the book “Questions Kids Ask About Sex: Honest Answers for Every Age.” She says its never too early to start.
“Parents should be the primary source of what parents want kids to know,” Maxwell says. “It’s not only talking about sex. It’s being there and developing a relationship. As you go along, maybe you’re watching a TV show or movie together and a sexual situation comes up, discuss that.”
Maxwell, who has discussed teens and sexuality on the Today Show, joined with a team of physicians to write the book, which was edited by The Medical Institute for Sexual Health, a nonprofit organization that communicates values and medical information to children and their families about the health risks associated with premarital sex. The book was designed to give clear answers to questions about sex in easily understandable language while promoting abstinence until marriage.
“It’s an area of great need,” Maxwell says. “We didn’t believe there’s anything out there exactly like this book.”
Read more here.
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
It was 16 years ago that Salt-N-Pepa encouraged listeners to talk about sex and now some of those are trying to figure out how to do just that -- with their children.
Marilyn A. Maxwell, a medical doctor and professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, recently contributed to the book “Questions Kids Ask About Sex: Honest Answers for Every Age.” She says its never too early to start.
“Parents should be the primary source of what parents want kids to know,” Maxwell says. “It’s not only talking about sex. It’s being there and developing a relationship. As you go along, maybe you’re watching a TV show or movie together and a sexual situation comes up, discuss that.”
Maxwell, who has discussed teens and sexuality on the Today Show, joined with a team of physicians to write the book, which was edited by The Medical Institute for Sexual Health, a nonprofit organization that communicates values and medical information to children and their families about the health risks associated with premarital sex. The book was designed to give clear answers to questions about sex in easily understandable language while promoting abstinence until marriage.
“It’s an area of great need,” Maxwell says. “We didn’t believe there’s anything out there exactly like this book.”
Read more here.
Drop that doughnut: healthy eating is key to fighting America’s obesity problem
(Published Wednesday, April 12, 2006)
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
Americans like things big. We build the biggest houses, drive the biggest SUVs and eat the biggest meals. Unfortunately, all that “supersized” living has taken its toll on the country’s health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight and of these, more than 30 percent are obese. That works out to more than 60 million people over the age 20.
To make matters worse, the problem isn’t faced by adults alone. Statistics show that the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens aged 6 to 19 years, 16 percent (over 9 million young people) are considered overweight.
While television commercials are filled with magic pills and effortless weight loss plans, the experts agree that there are two key ingredients in any weight loss recipe.
“Eating right and being physically active are keys to a healthy lifestyle,” said Donna Mehrle, manager of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. “We must step up our efforts to make healthier choices for ourselves and our families. ”
In Mehrle’s home state, obesity has increased dramatically -- nearly doubling in the past 15 years. In 2002, more than 23 percent of Missourians over age 18 were obese, compared to 11.9 percent in 1990. More than half of Missouri adults are overweight, a condition which can lead to obesity.
The U.S. Surgeon General’s office warns that obesity is a contributing factor in a number of chronic illnesses including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis and some types of cancer.
Read more here.
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
Americans like things big. We build the biggest houses, drive the biggest SUVs and eat the biggest meals. Unfortunately, all that “supersized” living has taken its toll on the country’s health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight and of these, more than 30 percent are obese. That works out to more than 60 million people over the age 20.
To make matters worse, the problem isn’t faced by adults alone. Statistics show that the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens aged 6 to 19 years, 16 percent (over 9 million young people) are considered overweight.
While television commercials are filled with magic pills and effortless weight loss plans, the experts agree that there are two key ingredients in any weight loss recipe.
“Eating right and being physically active are keys to a healthy lifestyle,” said Donna Mehrle, manager of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. “We must step up our efforts to make healthier choices for ourselves and our families. ”
In Mehrle’s home state, obesity has increased dramatically -- nearly doubling in the past 15 years. In 2002, more than 23 percent of Missourians over age 18 were obese, compared to 11.9 percent in 1990. More than half of Missouri adults are overweight, a condition which can lead to obesity.
The U.S. Surgeon General’s office warns that obesity is a contributing factor in a number of chronic illnesses including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis and some types of cancer.
Read more here.
They call it puppy love: Lonely seniors prefer dogs to people
(Published Tuesday, April 11, 2006) 
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
The expression that dog is man’s best friend is ages old, but recently-published research indicates that there may be more truth to the cliche than original thought.
William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics in the department of internal medicine and professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, authored the study which found nursing home residents felt much less lonely after spending time alone with a dog than they did when they visited with a dog and other people.
“It was a strange finding,” said Banks, who also is a staff physician at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis. “We had thought that the dog acts as a social lubricant and increases the interaction between the residents. We expected the group dog visits were going to work better, but they didn’t.”
Pets are often used by long-term care facilities as a way to enhance socialization between people. For example, time spent with a pet gives nursing home residents something to talk about or an experience to share, Banks said.
However, it now appears the main way pets reduce loneliness in nursing homes is simply by being with people.
“The residents found a little quiet time with the pooch is a lot nicer than spending time with a dog and other people,” he said.
In the SLU study, 37 nursing home residents who scored high on a loneliness scale said they wanted to receive weekly, 30-minute visits from dogs. Half spent time alone with the dog, and the other half spent time with one to three other nursing home residents and the dog.
While both groups felt less lonely, the group that had one-on-one quality time with the dog experienced a much more significant decrease in loneliness after five to six weeks of visits.
“There is no need for a dog to be a social lubricant or icebreaker in a nursing home. Residents live with each other, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with each other, play bingo with each other,” Banks says. “The study also found that the loneliest individuals benefited the most from visits with dogs.”
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
The expression that dog is man’s best friend is ages old, but recently-published research indicates that there may be more truth to the cliche than original thought.
William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics in the department of internal medicine and professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, authored the study which found nursing home residents felt much less lonely after spending time alone with a dog than they did when they visited with a dog and other people.
“It was a strange finding,” said Banks, who also is a staff physician at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis. “We had thought that the dog acts as a social lubricant and increases the interaction between the residents. We expected the group dog visits were going to work better, but they didn’t.”
Pets are often used by long-term care facilities as a way to enhance socialization between people. For example, time spent with a pet gives nursing home residents something to talk about or an experience to share, Banks said.
However, it now appears the main way pets reduce loneliness in nursing homes is simply by being with people.
“The residents found a little quiet time with the pooch is a lot nicer than spending time with a dog and other people,” he said.
In the SLU study, 37 nursing home residents who scored high on a loneliness scale said they wanted to receive weekly, 30-minute visits from dogs. Half spent time alone with the dog, and the other half spent time with one to three other nursing home residents and the dog.
While both groups felt less lonely, the group that had one-on-one quality time with the dog experienced a much more significant decrease in loneliness after five to six weeks of visits.
“There is no need for a dog to be a social lubricant or icebreaker in a nursing home. Residents live with each other, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with each other, play bingo with each other,” Banks says. “The study also found that the loneliest individuals benefited the most from visits with dogs.”
Women could benefit from simple heart test
(Published Tuesday, April 11, 2006)
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the United States, but echocardiography testing methods being developed by researchers at the St. Louis University School of Medicine are giving doctors new tools in predicting life-threatening heart problems in women between the ages of 49 and 75.
“Our research is extremely important because women in this age group are historically underdiagnosed, and by detecting problems earlier, we can help prevent heart attack or death and extend these women’s lives,” says Melda S. Dolan, M.D., associate professor in the division of cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
In conducting their research, the St. Louis team worked with 421 diabetic women in the target age group. The women underwent dobutamine stress echocardiography, a type of stress test that the researchers found to provide valuable information that could help doctors predict future fatal heart problems.
What makes dobutamine stress echocardiography tests different is that they are done without exercise. In traditional echocardiography tests, patients run on a treadmill to increase their heart rate.
The dobutamine stress echocardiography tests use ultrasound technology to scan the hearts of patients who have been injected with a drug that makes the heart beat faster. The tests determine if the patients have abnormalities of the heart wall.
“Women with diabetes and other clinical risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and a family history, are more likely to have heart disease or die from it,” says Dolan. “Dobutamine stress echo tests serve an important role in predicting heart attacks or cardiac death in these higher-risk women.”
here.
By Chris Post/Midwest Freelancer
Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the United States, but echocardiography testing methods being developed by researchers at the St. Louis University School of Medicine are giving doctors new tools in predicting life-threatening heart problems in women between the ages of 49 and 75.
“Our research is extremely important because women in this age group are historically underdiagnosed, and by detecting problems earlier, we can help prevent heart attack or death and extend these women’s lives,” says Melda S. Dolan, M.D., associate professor in the division of cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
In conducting their research, the St. Louis team worked with 421 diabetic women in the target age group. The women underwent dobutamine stress echocardiography, a type of stress test that the researchers found to provide valuable information that could help doctors predict future fatal heart problems.
What makes dobutamine stress echocardiography tests different is that they are done without exercise. In traditional echocardiography tests, patients run on a treadmill to increase their heart rate.
The dobutamine stress echocardiography tests use ultrasound technology to scan the hearts of patients who have been injected with a drug that makes the heart beat faster. The tests determine if the patients have abnormalities of the heart wall.
“Women with diabetes and other clinical risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and a family history, are more likely to have heart disease or die from it,” says Dolan. “Dobutamine stress echo tests serve an important role in predicting heart attacks or cardiac death in these higher-risk women.”
here.
