Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Men under 50 who smoke cigarettes are increasing their risk for a stroke, researchers warn. And the more they smoke, the greater their stroke risk, reported the University of Maryland investigators. The bottom line: quit. But if you can’t, smoking fewer cigarettes may help reduce your risk, the researchers said. “We found that men who smoked were 88 percent more likely to have a stroke than men who never smoked,” said lead researcher Janina Markidan, a university medical student. At the lower end, men who currently smoked fewer than 11 cigarettes daily were 46 percent more likely to have a stroke than those who never smoked, she said. But heavier smokers — those with a two-pack-a-day or greater habit — were nearly five times more likely to have a stroke than those who never smoked, Markidan said. These findings are particularly important because ischemic strokes among younger adults are increasing. And tobacco use among young adults is also on the rise, she said. Markidan’s team’s prior research identified a strong link between smoking and stroke in young women, but less was known about the relationship in younger men, the researchers said in background notes. Ischemic strokes — the most common kind — occur when blood supply to the brain is blocked. Stroke is the leading preventable cause of disability, according to the American Stroke Association.… read on >

Women are more likely than men to suffer a knee injury called an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear. But — surprisingly — the injury occurs the same way in both genders, a new study reveals. Prior research suggested women are two to four times more likely to suffer ACL tears due to differences in how this type of injury occurs in the sexes, researchers at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., noted. But that theory is wrong, according to the results of a new study of 15 women and 15 men with torn ACLs. Those prior studies were based on slow-motion replays of injuries, while the new work relied on scans and other advanced techniques. “Based on watching videos of athlete injuries, previous researchers have suggested that females may have a different mechanism of injury than males. But it’s difficult to determine the precise position of the knee and the time of injury through footage,” said study leader and biomedical engineer Louis DeFrate. “We used MRI scans taken within a month of the ACL rupture and identified bruises on the surface of the two large bones that collide when the ACL tears — the femur and the tibia — then used 3-D modeling and computer algorithms to reconstruct the position of the knee when the injury occurred,” he explained in a Duke news release. “Our results… read on >

If you suffer from allergies, you already know that pollen is in the air — even in the parts of the United States with unseasonably cool temperatures. So what kind of allergy season can we expect this year? Will we see a return of the pollen vortex? Might we have a blooming bombogenesis of pollen? Don’t scoff: There is some evidence that climate change and increasingly warm temperatures may lead to more pollen each year. “Just like weather forecasting, it’s hard to know eventually what climate change will do to pollen counts. But what we’ve seen is unpredictability. The winters haven’t been as cold, and pollens may not become as dormant, so the allergy season might last longer,” said Dr. Punita Ponda, assistant chief of allergy and immunology at Northwell Health in Great Neck, N.Y. Or, as some areas of the country have seen this year, fluctuations between warm and then cold weather can lead to “shorter, but more impactful pollen seasons,” Ponda said. And some of what people experience as the “worst allergy season ever” may be a matter of perception, she said. “In situations like New York has had this year — [with cold and warm weather alternating instead of a gradual progression to warmer temperatures] — trees will bloom because they’re dependent on the light cycle, not the temperature,” Ponda explained. “But… read on >

It’s no secret that weight gain results from consuming too many calories. But at its core is an imbalance of healthy and unhealthy habits. On one side of the scale — the healthy side — are foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean protein and plant-based fats. On the other side are the not-so-healthy options — sugary foods, those high in saturated fats, and packaged and processed foods. It’s not just the foods, though, that can cause weight issues. Unhealthy behaviors play a role, too. That’s because they can lead you to take in more calories, sometimes without even realizing it. A group of researchers in Spain identified key habits that promote a poor-quality diet. Things like frequenting fast-food restaurants, snacking from vending machines and eating while watching TV. But the researchers also determined that significant weight gain usually isn’t due to just one bad habit, but rather to a combination. To learn more, they followed 1,600 people for up to four years, focusing on the effects of seven specific unhealthy habits: Not planning how much you’re going to eat. Consuming pre-cooked or canned food. Buying snacks. Eating in fast-food restaurants. Not choosing low-calorie foods. Not removing visible fat from meat or skin from chicken. Eating while watching TV or sitting on the sofa. The more of these unhealthy habits people had, the… read on >

Headed to a Major League Baseball game? Be prepared to duck and cover. As the 2018 season gets underway, a new study finds that fans’ risk of being struck by a foul ball or flying bat at Major League Baseball (MLB) games is on the rise. Each year, about 1,750 fans are hurt by foul balls at MLB games. That works out to about two injuries for every three games — more common than batters getting hit by wayward pitches, according to Indiana University researchers. The researchers did not examine injuries among the more than 40 million fans who attend minor league games. But fans’ risk of getting hit at MLB games rose as nearly two dozen new stadiums opened since 1992, the study found. The added risk is easy to explain, the researchers said. “Fans today frequently sit more than 20 percent closer to home plate than was the case throughout most of the 20th century,” said study author Nathaniel Grow, an associate professor of business law and ethics at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “When you combine that with an increase in the speed with which baseballs are being hit into the stands, fans have less time to avoid errant balls or bats heading in their direction,” Grow explained in a university news release. A typical foul ball enters the stands at… read on >

New research suggests that a special MRI technique can spot abnormal connections in the brains of preschoolers with autism. The discovery “may be a clue for future diagnosis and even for therapeutic intervention in preschool children with [autism],” study co-author Dr. Lin Ma, a radiologist at Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, explained in a news release from the journal Radiology. The findings were published in the journal on March 27. One U.S. expert agreed that the imaging advance could be a boon to autism research. “This discovery gives us a more objective diagnostic method by using MRIs to aid us in the diagnosis of children who do have autism, and also gives us a better understanding of the abnormal differences in the brain,” said Dr. Matthew Lorber. He’s a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. In the study, the Chinese team used an MRI technology known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). This technique provides important information on the conditions of the brain’s “white matter,” the researchers explained. In the study, Ma’s group compared DTI results from 21 preschool boys and girls with autism (average age 4-and-a-half years) and 21 similarly aged children without autism. The children with autism had significant differences in what’s known as the basal ganglia network, a brain system that’s important in behavior. They also had differences in… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Smoking is associated with 1 in 5 deaths in the United States, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The agency suggests these methods that may help you quit: Commit to quitting and get motivated to make a change. Get support from friends and family. Consider using medicine to help you quit, and if you do, use it correctly. Take up a new hobby as a distraction. Be prepared for the effects of withdrawal and the possibility of relapse.

U.S. war veterans who sustained severe combat wounds and have chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at increased risk for high blood pressure, a new study says. The study included nearly 3,900 military veterans who had been severely wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan from February 2002 to February 2011. Their average age when they were wounded was 26. More than 14 percent of the veterans developed high blood pressure at least 90 days after being wounded. The severity of the injuries and how frequently PTSD was noted in their medical records after the wounding separately affected their risk for high blood pressure. “What we found surprised us,” said study senior author Dr. Ian Stewart, a major at the U.S. Air Force Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in California. For every 5-point increase on a 75-point injury severity score, the risk for high blood pressure rose 5 percent. Veterans with an injury severity score of 25 or lower and no recorded PTSD diagnosis had the lowest risk for high blood pressure, according to the study. Compared with veterans with no PTSD diagnosis, the risk for high blood pressure was 85 percent higher among those who had PTSD noted one to 15 times in their medical records — indicating chronic PTSD. High blood pressure was 114 percent more likely among veterans with PTSD noted more… read on >

Tiny pellets could treat arthritic knee pain, delaying the need for knee replacement surgery, a small study has found. Microparticles inserted into small blood vessels around the knee helped reduce the pain and improve function in eight arthritis sufferers, according to clinical trial results. The results were presented Monday at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s annual meeting, in Los Angeles. “Patients overall were able to improve their physical function in the knee after the procedure, and there were no adverse events related to this treatment,” said lead researcher Dr. Sandeep Bagla. Bagla is director of interventional radiology at the Vascular Institute of Virginia in Woodbridge. Boston Scientific, maker of the microparticles, funded the study. Much of the pain that comes from knee arthritis actually stems from inflammation in the lining of the knee joint, also called the synovium, Bagla said. In fact, small blood vessels created by degenerative arthritis feed this inflammation by increasing blood flow to the lining. To treat this, Bagla and his colleagues decided to try blocking those tiny blood vessels using microparticles — spheres about a tenth of a millimeter in size made from a synthetic gel-like material. The microparticles are inserted using a catheter run through a pinhole-sized incision, in a procedure that lasts between 45 and 90 minutes, Bagla said. “It’s an outpatient procedure, and no physical therapy is… read on >

If you’re planning a career change or wondering if a challenging job could have positive effects, research might provide some intriguing answers. In a 2014 study, scientists in Scotland used levels of job complexity based on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for an analysis of more than 1,000 participants with an average age of 70. They found that two types of complex jobs lead to longer-lasting memory and thinking ability, years after retirement. One is working at a high level with data. The other is working at a high level with other people, on tasks like teaching, negotiating and mentoring. According to the lead author of the study, the theory is that more stimulating work environments may help people retain these mental skills. While the effect of occupation accounts for just a 1 to 2 percent variance between people with high- and low-complexity jobs, that differential is similar to some lifestyle factors that affect better thinking skills in later life, such as not smoking. The most complex jobs involving data include: Architect. Civil engineer. Graphic designer. Musician. The least complex jobs involving data include: Construction worker. Telephone operator. Food server. The most complex jobs involving other people include: Surgeon. Lawyer. Social worker. Probation officer. The least complex jobs involving other people include: Factory worker. Painter. Carpet layer. Bookbinder. Do complex jobs buffer the brain, or… read on >