Weekly Gravy « Weekly Gravy

All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Migraine drugs that might work for adults won’t prevent the debilitating headaches in kids and teens, a new study shows. A number of drugs are used to prevent migraines, but treatment of youngsters has largely been based on the results of adult studies, the international team of researchers pointed out. What really works in kids? To find out, the researchers reviewed 23 studies conducted between 1967 and 2018. In total, these studies included more than 2,200 young patients. About one-quarter of these patients received an inactive placebo, while the remainder were treated with a range of drugs (antiepileptics, antidepressants, calcium channel blockers, blood pressure drugs) or food supplements. None of the medications were more effective than placebo in the long term (five to six months or longer), and only two — propranolol and topiramate — provided benefits in the short term (less than 5 months), according to the study published online Feb. 10 in JAMA Pediatrics. The bottom line, according to researcher Cosima Locher: “The preventive pharmacological treatment of pediatric migraine with all these drugs is barely more effective than placebo.” Locher is with the faculty of psychology at the University of Basel, in Switzerland. The findings highlight the need for more research into migraine prevention in children and teens, and into the power of the “placebo effect” specifically in these patients, the researchers said.… read on >

Smartphones, and being on Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and the like may be taking a big toll on teens’ mental health, a new survey of collected data on the subject shows. Canadian researchers pored over dozens of studies and said the negative effects of social media on teens’ well-being is on the rise. “Physicians, teachers and families need to work together with youth to decrease possible harmful effects of smartphones and social media on their relationships, sense of self, sleep, academic performance, and emotional well-being,” said study lead author Dr. Elia Abi-Jaoude. He’s a staff psychiatrist at The Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Western Hospital, both in Toronto. As part of their research, Abi-Jaoude and his colleagues uncovered patterns across multiple studies. For example: In one U.S. study, the rate at which kids and teens arrive in hospitals due to suicidal thoughts or attempts “almost doubled between 2008 and 2015, with the highest increase among adolescent girls,” the researchers noted. U.S. overdose rates for young people ages 10 to 18, which has previously been on the decline, “increased substantially from 2011 to 2018, primarily among girls,” another study found. At the same time “the proportion of [U.S.] young people who between the ages of 13 and 17 years who have a smartphone has reached 89%, more than doubling over a 6-year period,” the data review… read on >

Women who receive general anesthesia during a cesarean section delivery are at higher risk of severe postpartum depression that requires hospitalization, as well as self-inflicted harm and suicidal thoughts, a new study finds. Researchers from Columbia University analyzed more than 428,000 discharge records of women who delivered by C-section in New York state hospitals between 2006 and 2013. Eight percent had general anesthesia. In all, 1,158 women (3%) had to be hospitalized for severe postpartum depression. Of those, 60% were diagnosed at readmission, about 164 days after their initial discharge. Compared with local anesthesia, general anesthesia was associated with a 54% increased odds of postpartum depression, and a 91% higher risk of suicidal thoughts or self-inflicted injury. The study only found an observation rather than a cause-and-effect link. “General anesthesia for cesarean delivery may increase the risk of postpartum depression because it delays the initiation of mother to infant skin-to-skin interaction and breastfeeding, and often results in more acute and persistent postpartum pain,” study first author Dr. Jean Guglielminotti said in a university news release. “These situations are often coupled with a new mother’s dissatisfaction with anesthesia in general, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes,” he added. Guglielminotti is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. General anesthesia can hasten delivery in an emergency,… read on >

Choosing the right antidepressant for someone who is depressed can be hit or miss. But a new study shows that artificial intelligence (AI) technology may be able to help. Researchers input information from electrical signals in the brain into a computer program that learns as it goes. Based on brain activity, the AI technology helped predict whether or not an antidepressant will help treat a particular person’s depression. So far, the new technology has only been tested on one type of antidepressant — sertraline (Zoloft). But the researchers think it will be useful for other antidepressants. They also hope it can predict how well other types of depression treatments might work, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation. “Right now in psychiatry, when we see a patient with depression, we have very little idea of what the most effective treatment will be. Then we start treatment in a trial-and-error fashion, which can lead to a lot of frustration,” explained senior study author Dr. Amit Etkin, a psychiatry professor at Stanford University in California. He’s currently on leave from Stanford to work on developing this technology as CEO of a company called Alto Neuroscience. “It’s not that antidepressants don’t work well. Some work extremely well. An objective test could help bridge the gap in knowing which treatments are effective and for whom they will be effective,” Etkin said.… read on >

MONDAY, Feb. 10, 2020A single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine works as well as multiple doses to protect older teen girls against preinvasive cervical disease, which can develop into cervical cancer, researchers say. For the study, the researchers analyzed data on more than 133,000 females aged 9 to 26. Half weren’t vaccinated and half received one or more HPV vaccine doses between January 2006 and June 2015. Among 15- to 19-year-olds, those who were vaccinated had lower rates of preinvasive cervical disease than those who weren’t, the findings showed. Within five years, about 2.6% of those who weren’t vaccinated developed preinvasive cervical disease, compared with less than 2% who had received one shot or more, according to the report. The risk of preinvasive cervical disease was 36% lower for those who had one shot, 28% lower after two shots and 34% lower for those who had three doses, compared with those who weren’t vaccinated. For the youngest (9 to 14 years) and oldest (20 to 26 years) age groups, there were no significant differences in risk for preinvasive cervical disease, according to the study published online Feb. 10 in the journal Cancer. “This study shows the impact of vaccinating at younger ages and its lasting long-term protection against cervical cancer,” said study author Dr. Ana Rodriguez. She’s an associate professor of obstetrics and… read on >

Suicidal behavior is declining among U.S. teenagers who identify as LGBT, but the problem remains pervasive. That’s the conclusion of two new studies that tracked trends among U.S. teenagers over the past couple of decades. Over the years, more kids have been identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) — and their likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts and behavior has gone down. The bad news is they remain at much higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual peers, the researchers said. In one study, LGBT teenagers were over three times more likely than heterosexual teens to report a suicide attempt. The other study charted a similar pattern, with LGBT kids still reporting a high prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 2017 — and roughly a quarter saying they’d attempted suicide in the past year. The studies, published online Feb. 10 in Pediatrics, could not dig into the reasons. But past research has suggested that bullying plays a role, according to Brian Mustanski, director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University in Chicago. LGBT students are more likely to be targeted by bullies than their heterosexual peers are. But in school districts with strong anti-bullying policies, Mustanski said, LGBT students typically report less suicidal behavior. So efforts to combat bullying could be part of the solution, according to Mustanski.… read on >

The coronavirus outbreak that is raging in China continued to spread Monday, with just over 40,000 cases and 908 deaths now confirmed. Those numbers far exceed the toll of the 2003 SARS outbreak, in which 8,098 were infected and 774 died worldwide, the Associated Press reported. Outside China, more than 440 cases have been reported, including two deaths. As of Monday morning, a total of 23 Americans onboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have also now tested positive for the virus, according to the AP. So far, a total of 136 passengers on the Diamond Princess, docked in Yokohama, Japan, have confirmed illness and 600 0f the 3,711 passengers have requested medications. Late last week, a 60-year-old man living in Wuhan, China, became the first American citizen to die from the new coronavirus that first surfaced in that Chinese city. The man, whose name has not been disclosed, died Thursday at Jinyintian Hospital in Wuhan, the U.S. Embassy in China said Saturday. According to the Washington Post, the embassy issued a statement with “our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.” It’s not clear why the man was not able to leave Wuhan on one of a number of U.S. State Department evacuation flights that brought hundreds of Americans to… read on >

Roses are red, violets are blue, sleep experts have a Valentine’s Day gift idea for you. A box of chocolates and a candlelight dinner might seem romantic, but your partner might also embrace a lifestyle change: no more snoring. “While snoring is disruptive to bed partners and can cause frustration in a relationship, it can also be an indicator of a serious health problem,” said Dr. Kelly Carden, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). “Snoring is a common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, a chronic disease that involves the repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep,” she explained in an AASM news release. “When sleep apnea is untreated, it can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and other health problems.” For occasional snorers, the AASM offers this advice: Lose weight. Weight gain can worsen snoring and lead to obstructive sleep apnea. Shedding a couple of pounds might eliminate your snoring. Change positions. Some people find that they snore while sleeping on their back. If this is the case, try sleeping on your side instead. Avoid alcohol, muscle relaxants and certain medications. Substances like these can relax your throat or tongue muscles, leading to snoring. Get a diagnosis. If you’re snoring loudly each night, talk to your doctor about it or consult a sleep specialist.… read on >

A 60-year-old man living in Wuhan, China, has become the first American citizen to die from the new coronavirus that first surfaced in the Chinese city. The man, whose name has not been disclosed, died Thursday at Jinyintian Hospital in Wuhan, the U.S. Embassy in China said Saturday. According to the Washington Post, the embassy issued a statement with “our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.” It’s not clear why the man was not able to leave Wuhan on one of a number of U.S. State Department evacuation flights that brought hundreds of Americans to the United States over the past week, but he may have already been too ill to fly. In Tokyo, Japan’s Foreign Ministry also announced the death from coronavirus of the first Japanese citizen, a man in his 60s living in Wuhan, the Post reported. Only two people living outside of China have so far died of coronavirus, the Post noted — a Wuhan man in the Philippines and a man in Hong Kong. Also on Saturday, the death toll in China took it’s biggest one-day jump ever, with 86 new deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, Chinese officials said. That puts the total number of deaths from the outbreak at 723. Confirmed cases on… read on >

Viagra can salvage a man’s sex life, but in rare cases it may temporarily steal his sight. Researchers report that some men who took sildenafil — the generic form of the impotence drug — suffered from vision problems, including a kind of color blindness that could take weeks to resolve. The case report details 17 Turkish males who wound up in the hospital after taking sildenafil for the first time. The men suffered a number of vision problems, including dilated pupils, blurred vision, light sensitivity and color blindness, the doctors reported. The men had all taken the highest recommended dose of 100 milligrams, even though none had been prescribed sildenafil, the report said. The visual side effects began shortly after taking the drug, and were still present when the men came to the hospital a day or two later, the researchers reported. All the symptoms eventually cleared up, but it took three weeks for some. The findings were published Feb. 7 in the journal Frontiers in Neurology. These sort of vision effects aren’t uncommon in people who take Viagra, U.S. medical experts said. It turns out that the enzyme that Viagra blocks to promote erections is closely akin to another enzyme that’s important for the function of photoreceptors in the eyes, said Dr. Richard Rosen, a vitreoretinal surgeon at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary… read on >

Weekly Gravy

Look Good – Feel Good – Feed Good

A little about: Weekly Gravy

All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Meds May Not Prevent Migraines in Kids

More Evidence Links Social Media Use to Poorer Mental Health in Teens

General Anesthesia Boosts Postpartum Depression Risk After C-Section: Study

AI May Help Guide Patients to Most Effective Antidepressant

One Dose of HPV Vaccine May Protect Against Cervical Cancer

Fewer LGBT Teens Plagued by Suicidal Thoughts, But Rates Still High

Coronavirus Cases Top 40,000, While Deaths Hit 908

Silence Your Snore, Save Your Romance

Man Residing in China Is First U.S. Citizen to Die From Coronavirus

Could ED Drugs Threaten Men’s Vision?