Young Black children living in racially segregated U.S. neighborhoods are at heightened risk of potentially brain-damaging lead exposure, a new study warns. The study, of nearly 321,000 North Carolina children under the age of 7, found that those living in predominantly Black neighborhoods had higher blood levels of lead than those living in more integrated areas. Experts said the findings, published Aug. 30 in Pediatrics, highlight two issues that many Americans may think are relics of the past: childhood lead poisoning and neighborhood racial segregation. But in fact, the study found, residential segregation has endured and actually increased in many areas — in North Carolina and nationwide. That residential segregation is no accident, experts pointed out: It is rooted in a long history of policies such as “redlining” that isolated Black Americans into neighborhoods marked by little to no investment and high poverty rates. And the children who live in those neighborhoods can be exposed to lead due to rundown housing, said lead researcher Marie Lynn Miranda, chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago. Lead is a naturally occurring metal that can cause serious health effects if it accumulates in the blood. Young children are particularly vulnerable, as lead can damage their developing brains and contribute to learning or behavioral problems. In general, children in the United States now have much less exposure to lead…  read on >  read on >

Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in the United States Wednesday. Idalia was forecast to be a powerful Category 3 storm by the time it reaches Florida’s Big Bend, an area prone to storm surge that stretches from Tampa to just south of Tallahassee. It’s also expected to hit eastern parts of Georgia and the Carolinas before heading out to sea late Thursday or early Friday. As all of this happens, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) is urging everyone in the storm’s path to prepare and keep carbon monoxide safety top of mind. Portable generators can be a source of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, the commission emphasized. CO is colorless, odorless and can kill in minutes, rendering someone unconscious before they even begin to experience telltale signs like nausea, dizziness and weakness. Nearly 100 people a year die in the United States from CO poisoning from portable generators, according to the CPSC. Never use a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, the CPSC urges. Even open doors and windows will not prevent lethal levels of CO from building up. Use portable generators outside only, at least 20 feet away from the house. Direct the generator’s exhaust away from the home and any other buildings that someone could enter. Close windows and other openings in the path of the…  read on >  read on >

If you are a new mom struggling with postpartum depression, taking antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may also bear benefits for your child’s development. That’s according to new research that found the medications were associated with improvements in a child’s behavior up to five years after birth. Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London collaborated with their counterparts at the University of Oslo in Norway, analyzing data on more than 61,000 mothers and their children who were recruited during pregnancy from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. Among the findings were reductions in child behavioral difficulties, such as conduct problems; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms; and maternal depression. This also led to improved satisfaction in partner relationships. “Postnatal depression is a common psychiatric disorder that affects 10 to 15% of women in the first year after childbirth. In the U.K., however, only 3% of women with postnatal depression receive SSRI treatment. This is likely due to a lack of awareness of postnatal depression, alongside concerns about the long-term impact that taking antidepressant medications in the postnatal period may have on child outcomes,” said study first author Dr. Kate Liu, a research associate at the institute. “Our study found no evidence suggesting that postnatal SSRI treatment conferred an increased risk for child development,” she added in…  read on >  read on >

Men’s testosterone levels remain pretty steady until age 70. After that, production of the male sex hormone starts to decline, new research indicates. This begs the question: Is testosterone loss among seniors really a function of the normal aging process? Or might it reflect other health issues that often confront men as they get older? Both may be true, say investigators, with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and even marital status among the factors that appear to drive testosterone levels down, in conjunction with age. When testosterone does fall, the result may be increased weakness and fatigue, diminished sexual performance, loss of muscle mass, and a higher risk for diabetes and dementia. While you can’t do anything about your age, the findings suggest some positive lifestyle changes might help preserve your masculinity. Study author Bu Yeap said that after 70 the pituitary gland at the base of the brain actually sends out signals to increase, not decrease, testosterone production. To find out what might be short-circuiting that signal, the study team analyzed 11 studies from Australia, Europe and North America, involving some 25,000 men in total, said Yeap, an endocrinologist and medical school professor at the University of Western Australia. All the studies were conducted prior to 2020. In each, men’s testosterone levels were repeatedly measured over time using a technique called mass spectrometry. Collectively,…  read on >  read on >

It’s known that older men with type 2 diabetes have higher odds for erectile dysfunction, or ED. Now, new research suggests problems in the bedroom for younger men may signal undiagnosed prediabetes or diabetes. Researchers found that men 40 and younger with ED have about a one-third increased risk for prediabetes or full-blown type 2 diabetes compared to men without impotence. The results indicate younger patients with ED should be screened for diabetes, they say. “This indicates a remarkable ability to predict the potential onset of illness and treat it early with lifestyle or medication,” study co-author Dr. Jane Tucker said in a school news release. She’s an associate professor of family and community medicine at Saint Louis University. For the study, Tucker and her colleagues looked at the electronic health data of more than 1.9 million male patients from 2008 to 2022 and examined the links between these two conditions, at a time when 2.5% of the U.S. population has persistent, undiagnosed diabetes. Narrowing it down to men aged 18 to 40, the researchers found that ED patients had a 34% increased risk for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Additionally, 75% of patients developed prediabetes or type 2 diabetes within a year of ED diagnosis. The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes declined from 1988 to 2020 in the United States. Yet about 8.5 million adults…  read on >  read on >

Using ECMO, a highly advanced form of breathing support, does not appear to complicate treatment for obese adults in intensive care. ECMO, which is short for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, may even help these patients when they experience respiratory failure, despite the fact that its use has been questioned for those with obesity. Obese patients who received ECMO for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) had lower death rates compared to patients with ARDS who received ECMO and were not obese, according to the study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). To come to that conclusion, the researchers reviewed data from 790 patients from more than 20 medical centers across 10 countries who received ECMO for ARDS. In all, 320 of these patients were obese. The study found 24% of patients with obesity died in the intensive care unit, compared to 35% of patients who weren’t obese. Although the authors couldn’t control for all variables, including disease severity, they concluded the findings support the concept that obesity shouldn’t factor into treatment decisions for ECMO. “We hope that clinicians will consider the data from this study when making bedside decisions for ARDS patients with obesity, instead of preemptively withholding this lifesaving therapy,” study author Dr. Darya Rudym, a pulmonologist and assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said in an…  read on >  read on >