Using a rich moisturizer, even an inexpensive one like petroleum jelly, is one part of keeping eczema under control. Now researchers have found that this skin care step can keep many newborns at risk for the condition from developing it. Eczema, or atopic dermatitis, is the most common inflammatory skin condition among children. With eczema, the skin’s natural barrier isn’t working correctly, leaving skin red, dry and itchy. It typically runs in families with a history of asthma and allergies, and affects up to one in five infants. The most common areas of the body affected are the face, neck and head. Note that eczema in children is more likely to appear in the bends of elbows and knees. Eczema Symptoms Itchy skin Redness Dry, scaly skin Skin that has become leathery Tiny blisters that may ooze Studies have found that moisturizing for six to eight months, starting within baby’s first few weeks, can reduce their eczema risk. What moisturizer should you use? Researchers from Northwestern Health recently looked at seven over-the-counter moisturizers, including several popular drugstore brands, as well as plain petroleum jelly. The investigators found that petroleum jelly was the most cost-effective, but that even the most expensive product was a fraction of what the cost of eczema care would be. What’s more, this has the potential to save baby from great discomfort…  read on >

Forty percent of U.S. parents say they would likely find a new doctor if their child’s primary care provider sees families who refuse childhood vaccines, a nationwide poll finds. And three in 10 say their child’s primary care provider should not treat youngsters whose parents refuse all vaccines. Those are key findings of the latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health from the University of Michigan. The findings, published Aug. 19, are based on responses from 2,032 parents of at least one child aged 18 or younger. “When a family refuses all childhood vaccines, it puts providers in a challenging position,” poll co-director Sarah Clark said in a university news release announcing the findings. Not only is an unvaccinated child unprotected against harmful and contagious diseases (such as measles, whooping cough and chickenpox), those who skip vaccines also pose a risk of transmitting diseases to other patients, she pointed out. “This can be especially risky exposure for vulnerable populations, including infants too young to receive vaccines, elderly patients, patients with weakened immune systems or pregnant women,” Clark added. But many parents were unaware of their health care provider’s policies, and some were unconcerned. Thirty-nine percent said their child’s primary care provider requires patients to get all recommended vaccines; 8% said only some vaccines are required; and 15% said their provider has no…  read on >

If you often find yourself dosing off during the day, new research suggests it might be an early warning sign that you have Alzheimer’s disease. Areas of the brain that keep you awake during the day are damaged in the early stages of the memory-robbing disease, which is why people with Alzheimer’s may nap excessively long before they start to struggle with forgetting things, the study authors said. Not only that, the scientists also found that damage to brain regions involved in daytime wakefulness was caused by a protein called tau. This provides more evidence that tau may play a larger role in Alzheimer’s than the more extensively studied amyloid protein, the researchers noted. “Our work shows definitive evidence that the brain areas promoting wakefulness degenerate due to accumulation of tau — not amyloid protein — from the very earliest stages of the disease,” said study senior author Dr. Lea Grinberg. She is an associate professor of neurology and pathology at the Memory and Aging Center and a member of the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Previous research has suggested that excessive napping is due to poor sleep caused by Alzheimer’s-related disruptions in brain regions that promote sleep, or that sleep problems themselves contribute to Alzheimer’s disease progression. In this study, the researchers analyzed the brains of 13…  read on >