Sneaking cigarettes might seem like a harmless pre-teen rite of passage, but it’s more dangerous than you think, a new study warns.  Regular smoking at a young age doesn’t just lead to a higher chance of smoking later in life — it can also cause serious harm to young hearts. Experts have understood that children who smoked earlier in life were more likely to continue the habit, and the risks that come with it, later into their lives. Now, the new study gives a better idea of the damage it does early on. “Teen smoking doesn’t just increase the risk of heart disease later in life — it causes early and lasting damage to heart muscle and function,” said Dr. Emily Bucholz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Until now, there wasn’t a lot of data on cardiac structure and function in healthy children, since assessing the hearts of healthy young people is uncommon.  Overall, persistent smoking from childhood to young adulthood was associated with an over 50% increased risk of premature heart damage, the study, published Dec. 11 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), showed. The damage, such as an enlarged heart or increased pressure in blood flow to the heart, was evident by the age of 24. This analysis followed more than…  read on >  read on >

It can feel like a shameful moment, bracing yourself to hand over a Christmas or birthday gift that’s days or months overdue for one reason or another. But slackers take heart — a new study has found that your friend or loved one likely won’t be as upset about getting that late gift as you suspect. “Go ahead and send that late gift, because it doesn’t seem to bother most people as much as givers fear,” said lead researcher Cory Haltman, a doctoral student in marketing at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. A series of six studies showed that people receiving late gifts generally tend to be patient and appreciative, rather than annoyed or hurt, according to results published Dec. 5 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. That runs counter to what most folks think. About 65% of Americans believe a gift should arrive on time for a holiday, birthday or other occasion, according to a survey performed by the research team. “A majority of U.S. consumers seem to think that gifts should be given on time — but our study shows that there’s more to the story,” said researcher Rebecca Walker Reczek, a professor of marketing at Ohio State University. In one study, participants were asked to imagine giving or receiving a birthday gift that would arrive either on time or two…  read on >  read on >

Ableism, or prejudice against people with disabilities, is an established problem in general healthcare. Now, a small study shows those same issues persist in mental healthcare. Sometimes, the barriers to care are physical, such as inaccessible entrances or a lack of reliable transit. Other times, the hurdles are informational, such as hard-to-use online patient portals. “Participants identified ableism as a major concern when they talked about their experiences in seeking mental health services,” said study author Katie Wang, a social psychologist and associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn. Some 25% of Americans live with disabilities, and many face greater mental health issues and are more likely to need counseling and medication. But are they getting that care? Maybe not. In the study, 20 disabled participants, who ranged in age from 22 to 67, had mobility problems (such as spinal cord injury), sight issues, chronic health conditions or a mixture of disabilities alongside mental health conditions. The researchers unearthed several recurring themes that exacerbated care for these folks: not understanding how much disability can harm mental health, not paying enough attention to the link between mental health and disability and unwittingly causing emotional pain during treatment. Researchers also found that being Black or transgender in addition to being disabled presented additional barriers to receiving care. “These individuals often struggle…  read on >  read on >

Heavy smoke from wildfires more frequently chokes the skies over the Western United States, but cities farther to the east are no longer being spared, new research shows. Canada’s unusually intense 2023 wildfire season smothered American cities as far off as Baltimore and New York City, according to research presented Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. “2023 was this strange year where the Canadian forests were just torched like crazy, and the Midwest got hit extremely hard,” lead researcher Dan Jaffe, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Washington, said in an AGU news release. Cities in Oregon, Nevada, Washington and other Western states have had the highest smoke levels, on average, researchers said. But in 2023, several Eastern Seaboard cities were flooded with unhealthy smoke. Further, cities in Wisconsin and Minnesota bore the brunt of incoming smoke from Canadian forest fires, they found. Smoke from forest fires impacts the health of millions of Americans each year, creating a level of haze that promotes asthma attacks and makes it harder for everyone to breathe. This smoke can travel thousands of miles from a wildfire, depending on atmospheric conditions. For this study, researchers tracked wildfire smoke using satellite data and ground-level measures of particle air pollution. Three cities in western Oregon — Medford, Grants Pass and Bend — were the…  read on >  read on >