Air pollution may trigger more asthma attacks in urban children and teens, a new study reports. Even moderate levels of ozone and fine airborne particulates — two ingredients of smog — appear to increase kids’ risk of asthma attacks, according to findings published online Jan. 4 in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. “The strong association this study demonstrates between specific air pollutants among children in impoverished urban communities and non-viral asthma attacks further augments the evidence that reducing air pollution would improve human health,” said Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The U.S. National Institutes of Health, of which NIAID is a part, funded the new study. The study also tied the two pollutants to distinct changes in children’s airways that could trigger an asthma attack, according to study leader Dr. Matthew Altman, an associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, and colleagues. It’s one of the first times elevated levels of distinctive air pollutants in specific urban locations have been tied to the risk of asthma attacks. During an asthma attack, inflammation causes the lining of airways to swell as muscles around the airways contract and mucus floods the passages — all substantially narrowing the space through which air passes in and out of…  read on >  read on >

Generous parental leave policies at work can do wonders for a new mom’s mental health. This is among the key messages from a new review of 45 studies examining how parental leave policies affect mom and dad’s mental health and well-being. Mothers working for companies with generous parental leave policies were less likely to experience symptoms of depression, poor mental health, psychological distress, burnout, or to require mental health care. The more generous the policy, the greater and more long-lasting the benefits, the new Swedish study showed. “Parental leave was protective against poorer maternal mental health including depressive symptoms, general mental health, psychological distress and burnout; however, improved mental health among mothers was associated with more generous parental leave policies [such as] those with longer length of leave or paid leave,” said study author Amy Heshmati. She is a doctoral student in the department of global public health at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The findings on dads were less conclusive, but there haven’t been as many studies done on the benefits of father’s paid leave and mental health yet, she noted. Almost all countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — except the United States — provide new mothers with at least 14 weeks of paid leave around childbirth. New mothers can take up to nine months of paid maternity leave in…  read on >  read on >

Cigars are linked with victory, new babies and Winston Churchill, not nicotine addiction, but are they any better for your health than cigarettes? No, say experts who point out the many dangers of cigar smoking. Over the past few decades, through clever marketing, cigar smoking has taken on a rarified aura, with cigar bars and magazines like Cigar Aficionado devoted to a cigar-smoking lifestyle that appeals to male fantasies of power and class. It’s also a way to relax because it is a more leisurely smoke than the frenetic rush of a cigarette. What are cigars made of? Unlike cigarettes, they are all tobacco from the inside to the tobacco leaf wrapper. Do cigars have nicotine? Like cigarettes, they contain nicotine and the same cancer-causing compounds found in cigarettes and are not a safe alternative for smokers. Do you inhale cigars? Some people may think that cigar smoking is less harmful than cigarettes because you don’t inhale. But even if you don’t inhale, large amounts of nicotine can be absorbed through the lining of your mouth. Cigars can be as addictive as cigarettes because it’s the nicotine in tobacco that the body craves. ”While the production, look and consumption of cigars and cigarettes are different, they both pose serious health risks,” Dr. Edwin Lin, a hematology oncology physician at PIH Health Whittier Hospital in California,…  read on >  read on >

College students who routinely cram at the last minute may not only see their grades suffer, but their health, too, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 3,500 college students they followed, those who scored high on a procrastination scale were more likely to report certain health issues nine months later. The list included body aches, poor sleep, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Experts said the findings do not prove that procrastination, per se, directly caused those problems — by, for example, delaying a medical visit and allowing a niggling health issue to worsen. But they do reinforce the fact that procrastination, when chronic, is a red flag. “Everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator,” said Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago, who has been studying the subject since the 1980s. Dragging your feet on doing your taxes, or something equally unpleasant, is normal. Chronic procrastination is different, and it’s not just a benign personality quirk, said Ferrari, who was not involved in the new study. When procrastination is a way of life — rearing its head at work, home and in relationships — that’s a problem, Ferrari said. It’s also common: In his own research, Ferrari has found that about 20% of adults qualify as chronic procrastinators — making it more prevalent than mental health disorders…  read on >  read on >