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Seven Seconds Can Protect Pedestrians At Intersections

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A seven-second head start for pedestrians can save lives and prevent injuries at busy intersections, a new study says. Pedestrian-related injuries dropped by 33% at crosswalks where New York City rejiggered traffic lights to give walkers those extra seven seconds, researchers report in the journal Nature Cities. The most dramatic impact came during the day, with fatal pedestrian crashes reduced by 65%, results show. The strategy, called Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI), involves offering pedestrians a chance to start crossing the street before vehicles get the green light to turn, researchers said. “The idea is to give pedestrians time to reach the center of the intersection where they’re more visible,” senior researcher Christopher Morrison said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “Most pedestrian-vehicle crashes happen near the curb, where drivers are less likely to see people crossing,” he noted. New York City started implementing LPI at intersections in 2013 as part of the U.S. Vision Zero program, a large-scale effort to reduce traffic injuries and deaths, researchers said in background notes. Other low-cost measures promoted by U.S. Vision Zero include speed humps and rubber speed bumps, researchers said. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 New York City intersections between 2013 and 2018, of which nearly 2,900 featured the pedestrian…  read on >  read on >

Depression Risk Greater In Some Women With Premature Menopause

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Some women have a greater risk of depression as they go through premature menopause, according to a new study. Premature menopause occurs when the ovaries stop functioning normally before age 40, researchers said in background notes. The condition has been linked with a more than tripled risk for depression and nearly quintupled risk for anxiety, researchers said. But these new findings — published July 15 in the journal Menopause — show that some women with the condition have a higher risk of depression than others. Women were at greater risk for depression if they entered premature menopause earlier; their condition had a genetic cause; or they experienced worse menopause symptoms, researchers found. Women grieving the loss of their fertility or without sufficient emotional support also had a higher risk, results showed. Interestingly, the use of hormone therapy had no bearing on a woman’s depression risk, even if it eased some symptoms of menopause, researchers found. “This suggests that psychosocial factors are crucial,” wrote the research team led by senior investigator Geranne Jiskoot, a post-doctoral researcher with Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. “Psychological interventions should focus on these factors to address the unique needs of this population.” And even though overall severe menopause symptoms increased depression risk, one of the most maddening symptoms — hot flashes — was not associated with depression, results show. About…  read on >  read on >

Depression Risk Greater In Some Women With Premature Menopause

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Some women have a greater risk of depression as they go through premature menopause, according to a new study. Premature menopause occurs when the ovaries stop functioning normally before age 40, researchers said in background notes. The condition has been linked with a more than tripled risk for depression and nearly quintupled risk for anxiety, researchers said. But these new findings — published July 15 in the journal Menopause — show that some women with the condition have a higher risk of depression than others. Women were at greater risk for depression if they entered premature menopause earlier; their condition had a genetic cause; or they experienced worse menopause symptoms, researchers found. Women grieving the loss of their fertility or without sufficient emotional support also had a higher risk, results showed. Interestingly, the use of hormone therapy had no bearing on a woman’s depression risk, even if it eased some symptoms of menopause, researchers found. “This suggests that psychosocial factors are crucial,” wrote the research team led by senior investigator Geranne Jiskoot, a post-doctoral researcher with Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. “Psychological interventions should focus on these factors to address the unique needs of this population.” And even though overall severe menopause symptoms increased depression risk, one of the most maddening symptoms — hot flashes — was not associated with depression, results show. About…  read on >  read on >

Insomniacs With Inflammation Prone To Depression

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Insomniacs have a much higher risk for depression if they have chronic inflammation, a new sleep lab experiment says. Seniors with insomnia were three times as likely to report symptoms of depression if they’d been dosed with a substance that promotes inflammation, according to results published July 16 in JAMA Psychiatry. “Insomnia not only robs older adults of rest but also primes their immune system to make them uniquely vulnerable to depression when faced with inflammation,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Irwin, director of UCLA Health’s Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. “Treatments targeted at this inflammation-related depression may prevent depression and benefit these patients to improve their overall quality of life,” he said in a news release. For the study, researchers recruited 160 adults 60 and older in Los Angeles, of whom 53 had insomnia. Roughly half of the participants were exposed to an endotoxin intended to create short-term inflammation, including 26 people with insomnia and 53 healthy sleepers. Results showed that insomniacs with inflammation were three times more likely to have depressive mood and symptoms than healthy sleepers with inflammation. People with insomnia also were depressed far longer after their inflammation was induced, showing a bummed mood for six hours or longer. By comparison, any increases in depression among healthy sleepers were short-lived, researchers said. Chronic inflammation has already been tied to illnesses like heart…  read on >  read on >

Insomniacs With Inflammation Prone To Depression

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Insomniacs have a much higher risk for depression if they have chronic inflammation, a new sleep lab experiment says. Seniors with insomnia were three times as likely to report symptoms of depression if they’d been dosed with a substance that promotes inflammation, according to results published July 16 in JAMA Psychiatry. “Insomnia not only robs older adults of rest but also primes their immune system to make them uniquely vulnerable to depression when faced with inflammation,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Irwin, director of UCLA Health’s Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. “Treatments targeted at this inflammation-related depression may prevent depression and benefit these patients to improve their overall quality of life,” he said in a news release. For the study, researchers recruited 160 adults 60 and older in Los Angeles, of whom 53 had insomnia. Roughly half of the participants were exposed to an endotoxin intended to create short-term inflammation, including 26 people with insomnia and 53 healthy sleepers. Results showed that insomniacs with inflammation were three times more likely to have depressive mood and symptoms than healthy sleepers with inflammation. People with insomnia also were depressed far longer after their inflammation was induced, showing a bummed mood for six hours or longer. By comparison, any increases in depression among healthy sleepers were short-lived, researchers said. Chronic inflammation has already been tied to illnesses like heart…  read on >  read on >

Belly Fat Increases Stress Incontinence Risk

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Middle-aged women with more belly fat have a higher risk for stress urinary incontinence, a recent study says. Fat around the waist and visceral organs increases by 33% a woman’s risk of leaking when she sneezes, coughs or exerts herself, researchers reported in the journal Menopause. “Abdominal obesity may cause pelvic tissues to encounter chronic strain and stretching that eventually weakens the structures of the pelvic floor,” wrote the research team led by Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. Risk of bladder leaks also was associated with overall body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, researchers found. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. In fact, the team concluded that BMI and waist circumference probably work as well as more precise measurements of body fat in determining a woman’s risk of stress incontinence. For the study, researchers tracked the health of 376 women living in the Jyvaskyla region of Finland. They were 47 to 55 at the start of the study. The team used a variety of methods to analyze the women’s body fat mass, including bioelectrical impedance and X-ray scans. “We studied body adiposity, measured waist circumferences of the participants, and calculated body mass index,” Kuutti said in a news release. “Then we analyzed the associations of these factors with the symptoms of…  read on >  read on >

Belly Fat Increases Stress Incontinence Risk

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Middle-aged women with more belly fat have a higher risk for stress urinary incontinence, a recent study says. Fat around the waist and visceral organs increases by 33% a woman’s risk of leaking when she sneezes, coughs or exerts herself, researchers reported in the journal Menopause. “Abdominal obesity may cause pelvic tissues to encounter chronic strain and stretching that eventually weakens the structures of the pelvic floor,” wrote the research team led by Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. Risk of bladder leaks also was associated with overall body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, researchers found. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. In fact, the team concluded that BMI and waist circumference probably work as well as more precise measurements of body fat in determining a woman’s risk of stress incontinence. For the study, researchers tracked the health of 376 women living in the Jyvaskyla region of Finland. They were 47 to 55 at the start of the study. The team used a variety of methods to analyze the women’s body fat mass, including bioelectrical impedance and X-ray scans. “We studied body adiposity, measured waist circumferences of the participants, and calculated body mass index,” Kuutti said in a news release. “Then we analyzed the associations of these factors with the symptoms of…  read on >  read on >

Chronically Ill Kids Carry Heavy Emotional Burden

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Kids coping with chronic health problems like asthma also are struggling with the emotional burden of stress, fear and sadness, a new study says. Almost 94% of comments posted online by chronically ill kids and their caregivers expressed negative feelings like disgust, sadness and fear, according to results published recently in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Fewer than 6% of the comments were positive, researchers said. “I was particularly struck by how clearly children’s emotional responses aligned with specific comorbidity patterns – for example, fear and sadness were especially dominant among those discussing multiple hospital visits or long-term medication,” lead researcher Israel Oluwalade, a master’s graduate at the University of Plymouth in the U.K., said in a news release. For the study, researchers used AI to analyze posts placed by 389 children or their caregivers between 2008 and 2023 on Care Opinion, a U.K. social media platform that allows people to share their experiences with health care services. Sentiments expressed by the posts were first categorized as positive, negative or neutral, and then further sorted into specific emotions like sad, fear, disgust, neutral, satisfied or amazed, the study says. Sadness was the most often expressed emotion, reflected in 3 of 5 posts (61%), researchers found. Fear and disgust were next most frequent, each showing up in 1 of every 6 posts (15%). “Sadness is frequently…  read on >  read on >

Chronically Ill Kids Carry Heavy Emotional Burden

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Kids coping with chronic health problems like asthma also are struggling with the emotional burden of stress, fear and sadness, a new study says. Almost 94% of comments posted online by chronically ill kids and their caregivers expressed negative feelings like disgust, sadness and fear, according to results published recently in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Fewer than 6% of the comments were positive, researchers said. “I was particularly struck by how clearly children’s emotional responses aligned with specific comorbidity patterns – for example, fear and sadness were especially dominant among those discussing multiple hospital visits or long-term medication,” lead researcher Israel Oluwalade, a master’s graduate at the University of Plymouth in the U.K., said in a news release. For the study, researchers used AI to analyze posts placed by 389 children or their caregivers between 2008 and 2023 on Care Opinion, a U.K. social media platform that allows people to share their experiences with health care services. Sentiments expressed by the posts were first categorized as positive, negative or neutral, and then further sorted into specific emotions like sad, fear, disgust, neutral, satisfied or amazed, the study says. Sadness was the most often expressed emotion, reflected in 3 of 5 posts (61%), researchers found. Fear and disgust were next most frequent, each showing up in 1 of every 6 posts (15%). “Sadness is frequently…  read on >  read on >