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Many studies have found that getting high on weed and then getting behind the wheel is dangerous for young drivers, and now new research finds it’s no different for seniors. In a driving-simulator experiment, seniors who were long-term marijuana smokers were weaving in and out of their lanes 30 minutes after getting high, Canadian researchers report. The effect was not seen when the same drivers were tested again three hours after smoking weed. However, the seniors themselves still rated their ability to drive as “impaired.” There was one silver lining: Senior tokers tended to slow their driving speed once high, perhaps because they knew they were intoxicated, said a team led by Patricia Di Ciano, a scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Di Ciano’s team noted that the percentage of aging Boomers who regularly use marijuana continues to rise. They believe that “older adults may be particularly affected by cannabis, given age-related changes in cognition,” they added. Many seniors are also prescribed medications, and the combination of those meds with marijuana could also be problematic. While there’s been lots of study on the effect of marijuana on younger drivers, the effects of cannabis on driving among seniors “remain unknown,” according to the Toronto team. To help answer the question, they recruited 31 seniors, averaging about 69 years of age, to… read on > read on >

Expecting moms who often turn to acetaminophen for their aches and pains are more likely to wind up with kids who have behavioral issues, a new study warns. Children between the ages of 2 and 4 were more likely to have attention and behavioral problems if their mothers frequently used acetaminophen during pregnancy, researchers found. “The kinds of behaviors the caregivers reported included things like the child talking out of turn, not paying attention, not being quiet when they were supposed to be quiet, not sitting down when they were supposed to be sitting down, and being a little aggressive with other children,” said researcher Susan Schantz, a professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Acetaminophen — widely known by the brand name Tylenol — is considered the safest painkiller and fever reducer for pregnancy, but previous studies have found evidence of negative outcomes for children exposed to the medication while in the womb, researchers said in background notes. For example, a recent study co-led by Schantz linked increased acetaminophen exposure in pregnancy to language delays in children. For this latest research, investigator asked pregnant women about their acetaminophen use six times during the course of their pregnancy, to capture a more precise picture of drug exposures. The team then followed the children born of these pregnancies, asking caregivers dozens of standard questions… read on > read on >

Fetal exposure to opioids may change a baby’s immune system, triggering a rise in risks for eczema and asthma through early childhood, new research shows. Children born to women who used opioids during pregnancy had much higher rates of eczema, as well as conditions such as “diaper rash,” during infancy, Australian researchers report. These children also went on to have significantly higher odds for asthma and eczema by the age of 5. The findings echo those seen in prior animal studies and suggest that “prenatal opioid exposure may have a long-term impact on the immune system and child health,” the researchers said. The study was led by Erin Kelty of the University of Western Australia, in Crawley, and was published Jan. 17 in the journal JAMA Network Open. As Kelty’s team relate, rodent studies have already shown that fetal exposure to opioids “may result in immune priming, such that the immune system overreacts to subsequent and later immune activation.” The new study focused on data on outcomes for more than 400,000 children born in Western Australia between 2003 and 2018. Of those births, 1,656 children were diagnosed as having been exposed to opioids in the womb. Crunching the numbers, Kelty’s team found that short-term (just after delivery) risks for eczema and dermatitis (issues such as diaper rash) soared for babies exposed to opioids. The risk… read on > read on >

Do you drive with the window open? Sip coffee behind the wheel? Blast the car radio and sing along? Fidget and fuss in the driver’s seat? These sorts of driving habits could be a sign that you’re getting poor sleep because you suffer from sleep apnea, a new study suggests. Folks with sleep apnea frequently employ more than three of these strategies while driving, in an attempt to remain awake and alert, British researchers found. “Our research suggests that untreated OSA [obstructive sleep apnea] patients often use coping strategies that could be surrogate markers of sleepiness,” said researcher Dr. Akshay Dwarakanath, a consultant in respiratory medicine at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. People with sleep apnea have breathing that stops and starts during the night, often causing them to repeatedly wake up. They also tend to snore loudly. “Up to one fifth of collisions on the road may be caused by fatigue or sleepiness,” Dwarakanath said. “Many OSA patients drive either for personal or for professional reasons, and there is good evidence to suggest that some patients are at increased risk of collisions on the road.” For this study, researchers compared 119 people with sleep apnea with 105 people without the sleep disorder. All participants answered questions about their sleepiness in general, sleepiness while driving, strategies they use to stay alert and their history… read on > read on >

College freshmen who are more outgoing and agreeable — and less moody — are more likely to feel a sense of belonging at their new school, new research has found. Those personality traits could result in better academic performance and better mental health during college, the study authors concluded. However, two other important personality traits — conscientiousness and openness to new experiences — played no role in how well students felt they fit in at college. “Students who were more agreeable and more extroverted tended to have higher belonging in college, especially in big schools, and students who were more neurotic [that is, nervous and/or handle stress poorly] tended to have lower belonging in college,” concluded the research team, led by Alexandria Stubblebine, an independent researcher in Ocala, Fla. “Additionally, and contrary to what many people might think, openness to new ideas and conscientiousness were unrelated to students’ feelings of belonging,” the researchers added. For the study, Stubblebine’s team analyzed survey data from more than 4,700 freshman college students at 12 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The surveys analyzed a collection of widely studied personality traits collectively called the “Big Five” — extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Students also were asked questions aimed at assessing how well they were fitting in at school. Responses showed that students with higher levels… read on > read on >

Women who consume more plant-based protein tend to age more gracefully, a new study reports. Women with diets rich in protein — especially from plant-based sources — develop fewer chronic diseases and enjoy healthier aging overall, researchers report in the Jan. 17 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Overall, women who ate more plant-based protein were 46% more likely to be healthy into their later years. “Consuming protein in midlife was linked to promoting good health in older adulthood,” said lead researcher Andres Ardisson Korat, a scientist at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, in Boston. “We also found that the source of protein matters,” Ardisson Korat added in a university news release. “Getting the majority of your protein from plant sources at midlife, plus a small amount of animal protein, seems to be conducive to good health and good survival to older ages.” For the study, researchers analyzed self-reported data from more than 48,000 women participating in the Harvard-based Nurses’ Health Study, which followed female health care professionals from 1984 to 2016. The women entered the study between the ages of 38 and 59, and all were deemed to be in good physical and mental health at the start. The research team evaluated surveys that tracked participants’ diets, and then compared that information to the women’s overall… read on > read on >

An American’s income and ethnicity could play a role in how clean the air is that they breathe, a new study finds. Air pollution emissions have fallen more in wealthier areas, and less in areas with larger Hispanic or American Indian populations. Overall, U.S. air pollution emissions have decreased substantially, but the magnitude of the change varies based on demographics, the researchers found. “Policies specifically targeting reductions in overburdened populations could support more just reductions in air pollution and reduce disparities in air pollution exposure,” said lead researcher Yanelli Nunez, an environmental health scientist with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. “This is an important lesson gained from 53 years of Clean Air Act implementation, which is particularly relevant as we develop policies to transition to renewable energy sources, which will have a collateral impact on air quality and, as a result, on public health,” Nunez added in a university news release. For the study, Nunez’ team analyzed emissions data from the Global Burden of Disease Major Air Pollution Sources inventory, a collaborative academic project involving three different universities. On average, U.S. air pollution emissions declined substantially from 1970 to 2010 from all sources, except for ammonia emissions from agriculture fertilizer and organic carbon particle emissions from indoor heating of the residential sector, researchers said. Despite this overall downward trend,… read on > read on >

Casgevy, a groundbreaking treatment that was approved to treat sickle cell disease in December, was given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s blessing on Tuesday to treat another inherited blood disorder. Casgevy is the first CRISPR-based medicine, where gene editing is used to develop the treatment, to be approved for use in the United States. The one-time dose permanently changes DNA in a patient’s blood cells, but experts note the relief will not come cheap. The treatment list price is $2.2 million for its use in both sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, CNN reported. This latest approval allows Casgevy to be used in patients over the age of 12 with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. With this disorder, the body doesn’t make enough of the oxygen-carrying molecule in blood known as hemoglobin. “Today’s approval is an important step in the advancement of an additional treatment option for individuals with beta-thalassemia, a debilitating disease that places individuals at risk of many serious health problems,” Dr. Nicole Verdun, director of the Office of Therapeutic Products within the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release. “The approval of a cell-based gene therapy for this condition using CRISPR/Cas9 technology reflects FDA’s continued commitment to supporting safe and effective treatments that leverage the most promising and cutting-edge medical technologies,” she added. In December, the FDA approved Casgevy… read on > read on >

Using two feet or two wheels to get back and forth to work each day could reduce the inflammation that leads to cancer, heart disease and diabetes, new research shows. So-called “active commuting” — walking or biking to work — for at least 45 minutes daily lowered levels of a blood marker for inflammation called C-reactive protein (CRP), Finnish researchers report. That was true even after the team factored in any other exercise the active commuters might have been doing. Avoiding cars and buses to get to work is also good for the planet, they noted. So, “in addition to climate change mitigation, active commuting could lead to public health benefits,” concluded a team led by Sara Allaouat, a researcher at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. It’s normal for people to suffer brief periods of inflammation, which is part of the body’s healthy short-term immune response. However, chronic inflammation lasts for months or years, and prior research has shown that it can raise the risk for a host of common health problems. Exercise has long been known to reduce inflammation. In the new study, Allaouat and her colleagues examined the commuting habits and blood CRP levels of over 6,200 middle-aged Finnish workers. Compared to folks who drove or took transit to work, those who spent at least 45 minutes per days walking or cycling… read on > read on >

Stressed-out teens are likely to have more heart health risk factors in adulthood, a new study says. Teens with elevated stress levels tended to have high blood pressure, obesity and other heart risk factors as they aged, compared to those teens with less stress, researchers found. “Our findings suggest that perceived stress patterns over time have a far-reaching effect on various cardiometabolic measures, including fat distribution, vascular health and obesity,” said researcher Fangqi Guo, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. “This could highlight the importance of stress management as early as in adolescence as a health protective behavior,” Guo added in a university news release. For this study, researchers analyzed data from 276 participants in the Southern California Children’s Health Study, an ongoing research project that included follow-up health assessments at average ages 13 and 24 for participants. The participants’ stress levels were measured using a perceived stress scale, and they were placed in one of four categories – consistently high stress, decreasing stress over time, increasing stress over time or consistently low stress. Researcher found that teens who had higher levels of stress into adulthood were more likely to have higher total body fat, more fat around the belly and a higher overall risk of obesity as adults, researchers found. They also tended to have worse… read on > read on >

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Seniors Who Smoke Weed & Drive Are Road Hazards: Study

Study Links Use of Acetaminophen in Pregnancy With Child Behavioral Issues

Mom’s Opioid Use in Pregnancy Raises Child’s Asthma, Eczema Risk

Are Your Driving Habits Pointing to a Sleep Disorder?

These Traits Help Keep College Kids Happy

Getting Protein From Plant-Based Foods Might Extend Women’s Lives

American Air Is Getting Cleaner, But Benefits Aren’t Reaching All

FDA Clears Sickle Cell Drug to Treat Another Blood Disorder

Walking, Biking to Work Lowers Inflammation That Could Trigger Disease

Stressed Teens at Risk of Heart Trouble Years Later

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