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A potentially dangerous spike in blood pressure known as preeclampsia can occur in 1 in every 25 pregnancies, but an accurate test to spot those women at highest risk has remained elusive. Now, Canadian researchers at Université Laval in Québec City say they’ve developed an algorithm that seems to do just that. In their study of more than 7,000 pregnant women, the test outperformed standard measures to pinpoint high-risk pregnancies. That could be a great tool for doctors, who can advise such women to take daily low-dose aspirin to lower their odds for preeclampsia. “Using this new screening model, treatment decisions were based on each individual’s personal risk,” said study senior author Dr. Emmanuel Bujold, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the university. “With their personal risk calculated, it’s much easier for a woman to make the right decision,” he explained. “For example, if she chooses to take daily low-dose aspirin, she is much more likely to follow through because it’s based on personalized screening test.” The findings were published May 6 in the journal Hypertension. Preeclampsia is defined as a dangerous rise in blood pressure during pregnancy — anything over 140/90 mm Hg. Unchecked preclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal death worldwide. For the mother, preeclampsia can cause headaches, vision changes and swelling of the hands, feet, face or eyes.… read on > read on >

Everyone knows that specific type of sports parent – the over-the-top dad or mom who curses, shouts and even becomes physically aggressive during their kid’s match. While they might think they’re cheering their kid to victory, such poor sports behavior actually can turn a child or teen off to athletics, psychiatrists warn. “Some of those behaviors would be setting unrealistic expectations for the young athlete, such as perfection in a game and displaying disappointment or embarrassment if their kid isn’t meeting those expectations,” Dr. Lauren Havel, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a news release. If children feel they can’t meet their parents’ expectations, they might start to doubt their own abilities, she warns. They also might worry whether their parent is proud of them, despite their struggles on the field or court. On the other hand, if a child does meet unrealistic expectations, they might equate their self-worth with perfection – a sure set-up for future self-esteem issues, Havel said. “When parents set unrealistic expectations or push too hard, kids can develop performance anxiety,” she said. Kids learn how to interact with others by watching the important adults in their lives, Havel said. As a result, children might wind up emulating the disrespect their parents show towards a coach, officials, the opposing team… read on > read on >

The silent symptoms of stress can be easily overlooked, but they’re important to recognize to protect one’s mental health, experts say. Visible symptoms of stress are fairly obvious – irritability, anger, impatience, muscle tension. “You may not be able to hide those for a long time. Immediately, people will notice it – family, friends and co-workers,” Dr. Asim Shah, chief of community psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a news release. But the silent symptoms of stress might take months to be noticeable, Shah said. “If you are isolated and alone, no one may notice except for you,” Shah said. While some stress in life is normal, monitoring silent symptoms is important. If they grow worse over time or start interfering with daily life, it might be a sign you need the help of a mental health professional, Shah said. “The silent symptoms of stress can be when people lose interest with their life. They’ll stop doing the things they once enjoyed,” Shah said. “They will get anxious, nervous or afraid and avoid things they used to do because they are overwhelmed and overburdened by it.” Other silent stress symptoms include weight loss or weight gain, purposely pulling out one’s hair, or biting one’s nails. To manage stress, Shah recommends first starting with physical activity and relaxation techniques. “You can try… read on > read on >

People in homes with gas or propane stoves regularly breathe in unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide, a new study says. Typical use of these stoves increases exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by an estimated 4 parts per billion, averaged over a year, researchers report. That’s three-quarters of the way to the NO2 exposure level deemed unsafe in outdoor air by the World Health Organization, researchers noted. “That’s excluding all outdoor sources combined, so it makes it much more likely you’re going to exceed the limit,” lead researcher Yannai Kashtan, a doctoral student in Earth system science at Stanford University, said in a news release. Breathing high levels of NO2 over time can intensify asthma attacks, and has been linked to decreased lung development in children, researchers noted. The mix of pollutants coming from gas and propane stoves could be responsible for as many as 200,000 current cases of childhood asthma, with one-quarter attributed to nitrogen dioxide alone, researchers estimated. Long-term exposure to NO2 from gas stoves also is high enough to cause as many as 19,000 deaths each year, researchers added. For the study, researchers used sensors to measure concentrations of NO2 throughout more than 100 homes of various sizes, layouts and ventilation methods. “I didn’t expect to see pollutant concentrations breach health benchmarks in bedrooms within an hour of gas stove use, and stay there… read on > read on >

Primates are capable of tending to wounds using medicinal plants, a new case report says. A male Sumatran orangutan treated a facial wound with a climbing plant known to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, researchers say in the journal Scientific Reports. The orangutan, named Rakus by observers, plucked leaves from a vine called Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) and chewed on them, researchers said. Rakus then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto his facial wound for several minutes, before fully covering the wound with a poultice formed by the chewed leaves, researchers said. This is the first documented case of a primate applying a known naturally occurring medicinal substance to a wound, researchers said. It indicates that the medical wound treatment people receive at home and in urgent care clinics might have arisen in a common ancestor shared by humans and orangutans, the research team says. “The treatment of human wounds was most likely first mentioned in a medical manuscript that dates back to 2200 BC, which included cleaning, plastering, and bandaging of wounds with certain wound care substances,” researcher Caroline Schuppli, an evolutionary biologist with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, said in a news release. Rakus’ behavior shows “it is possible that there exists a common underlying mechanism for the recognition and application of substances with medical or functional properties to… read on > read on >

Folks struggling to quit smoking might need a bump up on the dose of medication they’re using to help them stop, according to new clinical trial results. Patients are more likely to successfully quit if the dose of their smoking cessation treatment is increased in response to an initial failure, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They also found that the drug varenicline (Chantix) is more effective than nicotine replacement therapy in helping smokers quit. “These data indicate that sticking to the same medication isn’t effective for smokers who are unable to quit in the first six weeks of treatment,” lead researcher Paul Cinciripini said in a news release. He’s chair of behavioral science at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “Our study should encourage doctors to check in on patients early in their cessation journey and, if patients are struggling, to try a new approach, such as increasing medication dosage,” he added. Smokers taking varenicline who failed to quit in the clinical trial’s first phase were seven times more likely to quit by the end of the second phase if their dosage was increased, researchers found. There also was a nearly twofold increase in success if smokers switched from nicotine replacement therapy to varenicline, results show. Varenicline works similarly to the anti-opioid medication buprenorphine, by partially… read on > read on >

Advanced liver cirrhosis can push levels of ammonia in the blood to hazardous levels, but skipping meat at mealtime can help reverse that, new research shows. “It was exciting to see that even small changes in your diet, like having one meal without meat once in a while, could benefit your liver by lowering harmful ammonia levels in patients with cirrhosis,” said study lead author Dr. Jasmohan Bajaj, a gastroenterologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. As the research team explained, bacteria in your gut automatically generate ammonia as they help the body digest food. In folks with healthy livers, the organ takes that ammonia and sends it to the kidneys, where its excreted harmlessly via urine. However, cirrhosis impairs the organ’s ability to process ammonia so that it builds up in a toxic way. Ammonia can even travel to the brain and trigger confusion or delirium, the researchers noted. That’s called hepatic encephalopathy, and without treatment it can lead to coma and death. Diet can play a big role in these processes, because Western diets low in fiber and high in meat and carbohydrates boost levels of ammonia produced by the gut. So, what if a culprit like meat was cut out of the mix? The new study involved 30 meat-eating adults treated for cirrhosis at the Richmond VA Medical Center. Patients were asked… read on > read on >

A looming presidential election, continued economic struggles and the threat of gun violence have a rising number of Americans more anxious this year compared to last, a new poll finds. The survey, conducted in early April among 2,000 adults by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), found 43% of respondents saying they were more anxious this year than last. That’s a higher percentage than was found in polls conducted in 2023 (37%) or 2022 (32%) , the APA noted. Seventy percent of adults say they’re worried about current events, particularly the economy (77%), the upcoming election (73%) and news of gun violence (69%). “Living in a world of constant news of global and local turmoil, some anxiety is natural and expected,” APA president Dr. Petros Levounis said in a news release. “But what stands out here is that Americans are reporting more anxious feelings than in past years. This increase may be due to the unprecedented exposure that we have to everything that happens in the world around us, or to an increased awareness and reporting of anxiety.” Other issues weighing heavily on Americans’ minds: Keeping themselves or their families safe, 68% Keeping their identity safe, 63% Their health, 63% Paying bills or expenses, 63% The opioid epidemic, 50% The impact of emerging technology on day-to-day life, 46% Climate change, 55% When asked what daily factors… read on > read on >

Giving your kid a drink, snack or small bag of fast food on the way home from day care might distract them during a busy commute, but it’s not doing their daily diet any favors, a new study warns. The hour after kids are picked up from day care stands out as a high-calorie, less healthy part of their overall diet, researchers report April 27 in the journal Children’s Health Care. Chlidren ages 3 to 5 consume about 20% of their day’s entire calorie intake in the hour after leaving day care, researchers found. That’s 290 calories, on average, out of nearly 1,500 calories eaten daily, an amount on the high end of recommended daily limits. What’s more, that hour’s snacks and drinks account for more than one-fifth of the day’s added sugars and around one-third of a kid’s daily sweet and salty snack foods. “Every parent knows how busy that time of day can feel. Parents can feel stressed, the kids may be cranky, hungry or tired. There’s nothing wrong with treats once in a while,” said senior researcher Dr. Kristen Copeland, a pediatrician with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “But that car ride home also can be an opportunity to instill healthier habits instead of less healthy ones.” For the new study, researchers analyzed daily food journals kept by more than 300 families of children… read on > read on >

Brianna Starr, 29, didn’t think twice about sunbathing without sunscreen, hoping to get a golden tan that to many connotes health and beauty. But when her sister was diagnosed with melanoma at the age of 19, she got serious about protecting her skin health, says Starr, a certified physician assistant at Orlando Health in Florida. “There is a history of melanoma in my family, and so I started seeing a dermatologist every six months and actually flagged two separate moles, one on my neck and one on my shoulder,” Starr said in an Orlando Health news release. The moles were abnormal and could have developed into melanoma. Unfortunately, there are far too many young adults with the same mindset Starr once had, a new survey finds. Nearly a third of Americans (32%) think that a tan makes people look better and healthier, a dangerous beauty standard that can increase a person’s risk of skin cancer, poll results show. “There is no such thing as a healthy tan, as it’s really just a visual manifestation of damage to the skin,” said Dr. Rajesh Nair, an oncology surgeon at the Orlando Health Cancer Institute. “But we’re fighting against a perceived positive image and health benefits of something that actually has a totally opposite reality, which is that suntanned skin represents an increased risk of a deadly disease.”… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

New Test Might Alert Pregnant Women to Preeclampsia Danger

How ‘Unruly’ Sports Parents Harm Their Kids’ Mental Health

Could You Spot the Silent Symptoms of Stress?

Gas Stoves Could Leave Your Lungs Vulnerable to Nitrogen Dioxide

An Orangutan Healed Himself With Medicinal Plant

Quit-Smoking Meds Not Working for You? Try Upping the Dose

Even Skipping Meat for One Meal Helps Liver Disease Patients

Economy, Election Spur Rising Anxiety Among Americans in 2024

Day Care Pick-Up Often Involves Sugary Snacks, Study Finds

A Third of Young Adults Still Believe ‘Tan Is Healthier’ Myth: Survey