Researchers have discovered a link between access to welfare payments and foster care. As many as 29,000 fewer children may have entered the foster care system during the 12-year study if U.S. states had made it easier for poor families to receive cash through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. “The relatively small amount of income provided through TANF may be enough to help prevent some child maltreatment and result in fewer kids being placed into foster care,” said study co-author Michelle Johnson-Motoyama, a professor of social work at Ohio State University. “That’s about 29,000 children who might have a different life trajectory if their family had more resources,” she said in a university news release. “I think we have a pretty strong case for why we should invest in families and support them to do their best at parenting.” The TANF program was established in 1996 as a block grant program that gives states up to $16.5 billion a year to provide assistance for needy U.S. families. Benefits vary widely. One example: Monthly cash payments for a family of three were $170 in Mississippi and $923 in Alaska in 2016. “States have a lot of discretion in how they use the block grants for TANF and that allowed us to see how differences between states — and changes in states over…  read on >  read on >

A facial scar may make a person self-conscious, but it doesn’t change another person’s first impressions of their attractiveness or confidence, a new survey shows. The results found that a single, well-healed facial scar may even increase perceived friendliness, according to the researchers, who had predicted different results and said the findings might be “surprising and perhaps welcome news” to those who have facial scars. For the online survey, Dr. Jesse Taylor, of University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues digitally altered facial photographs by adding 14 unique scars in various locations on the faces. About 1,800 online respondents made 89,000 ratings of 50 different faces, assessing confidence, friendliness and attractiveness. The findings were published in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. “The presence of a facial scar did not have a significant impact on attractiveness,” Taylor and his co-authors reported. The average ratings for attractiveness were made on a 0-to-5 scale. Results were 4.25 for faces that had scars and 4.26 for those without scars. Ratings of confidence were not significantly different, while faces with scars got higher friendliness ratings. The researchers broke this down further by looking for possible interactions between key factors considered by plastic surgeons in evaluating facial scars. “We predicted that scars closer to highly viewed structures of the face (i.e., upper lip and lower lid), scars aligned…  read on >  read on >

Pregnant and postpartum women are dying of drug overdoses in record numbers, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse, a new study shows. Deaths increased about 81% over the past four years, hitting a record high in 2020, according to researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. “We’ve seen significant increases in fatal and nonfatal overdose in the general population during the pandemic,” said first study author Emilie Bruzelius, a doctoral student at Columbia. “It now appears that pregnant and postpartum women are being affected as well.” The researchers used national death certificate data, which lists whether someone was pregnant or recently pregnant, for the years 2017 to 2020. The investigation included calculating annual overdose death rates and examined the specific drug types involved in each overdose, then comparing those to overdose death rates in non-pregnant women of reproductive age. They found a total of more than 7,600 pregnancy-associated deaths. More than 1,200 of these were due to drug overdose. Overdose deaths spiked to a record high of just over 11.9 per 100,000 in 2020. This compares to a 38% increase among all reproductive-age women. Researchers found large increases in deaths involving fentanyl, methamphetamines and cocaine. Deaths from benzodiazepines, heroin and prescription opioids remained stable. “Pregnant and postpartum people are known to face barriers to accessing drug…  read on >  read on >

Depression may be a disorder of the brain, but new research adds to evidence that it also involves the gut. While depression is complex, recent research has been pointing to a role for bacteria that dwell in the gut — suggesting that certain bacterial strains might feed depression symptoms, while others might be protective. In a pair of new studies, researchers identified 13 groups of bacteria that were related to the odds of adults having depression symptoms. In some cases, the gut bacteria were depleted in people with depression, while in others they were present at relatively high levels. However, experts stressed that the findings do not prove that any of the gut bugs cause or protect against depression. So, it’s far too soon to recommend probiotics as a depression treatment. In fact, gut bacteria seem to change in their diversity and abundance when any chronic disease is present, said Dr. Emeran Mayer, director of the Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine. Mayer, who was not involved in the research, is also the author of the book “The Mind-Gut Connection.” He said the findings may reflect a “general disease effect,” rather than gut bacteria patterns that are specific to depression. The research, published Dec. 6 in the journal Nature Communications, is the latest…  read on >  read on >

Finally, more than two years into the pandemic, Americans are sleeping better. A new survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) found that 31% of people have had insomnia since the pandemic began. That was much lower — a 25% decrease — compared to the 2021 survey that found 56% of people were experiencing pandemic-linked insomnia. “The stress and uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic led to an increase in disruptions in our sleep quality and quantity,” Jennifer Martin, a licensed clinical psychologist and president of the AASM, said in an academy news release. “While some people continue to experience subpar sleep, the good news is that the population is feeling the impact of ‘COVID-somnia’ less now than last year. For those still experiencing ongoing sleep problems, it may be time to speak with your doctor to determine the best course of action for improving your essential nightly sleep,” Martin suggested. Among those surveyed who were still having sleep disturbances, 61% were having trouble falling asleep. About 47% were experiencing worse quality sleep, 39% were sleeping less and 33% were having more disturbing dreams. The academy recommends that those having sleep problems try some “sleep hygiene” techniques: First, maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Get at least seven hours of sleep each night. Go to bed and wake up about the same time each day,…  read on >  read on >

Firearm injuries traumatize children, saddling them with mental health issues that include stress disorders and drug or alcohol use, according to a new study. In all, 35% of kids injured by firearms receive a new mental health diagnosis in the following year, the research found. That compares to a 26% rate of mental health diagnoses that follows a car crash, investigators said. “We know that trauma exposure, such as that experienced with a firearm injury, is a well-established risk factor for child mental health conditions, but until recently we knew very little of about the mental health consequences following a firearm injury,” said Dr. Peter Ehrlich, director of pediatric trauma care at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. “We hope that our study will illuminate the magnitude and types of disorders most likely to arise in young firearm injury survivors, so they can receive timely diagnosis and care,” Ehrlich said in a university news release. About 20,000 young people survive firearm injuries each year. Firearms surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the No. 1 cause of death for 1- to 19-year-old Americans in 2020. Most of the children studied who were diagnosed with mental health issues had problems with drugs or alcohol or a condition like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Such disorders were twice as likely to be diagnosed in youths…  read on >  read on >

Winter weather brings with it plenty of hazards, including risks from carbon monoxide poisoning, and fires. But the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) offers suggestions for staying safe on those cold winter nights. When storms knock out power, a portable generator can be a go-to tool, but it does raise the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and can kill in minutes if not used properly, the CPSC warned in a news release. An odorless, colorless gas, CO can render someone unconscious before they even have a chance to have symptoms of nausea, dizziness or weakness. To stay safe, never operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed. Even open doors or windows will not provide enough ventilation to prevent the buildup of lethal levels of CO, the CPSC advised. Portable generators should only be used outside and kept at least 20 feet from the house or any other building someone might enter, with the exhaust blowing away from the home. Keep any windows or other openings in the path of the exhaust closed. Porches and carports are still too close to the home to operate a generator safely there, the CPSC said. Generators should also be properly maintained and used exactly as instructions and warnings advise. When buying one, get the type with a CO shut-off safety feature, designed…  read on >  read on >

A national hotline that people can call in a mental health emergency went down for a day before it was restored late Thursday. Those in crisis could still reach counselors by texting 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org during the outage. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Distress Helpline was also down. It’s unclear what happened to cause the outage, though a spokeswoman from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the agency was investigating, the Associated Press reported. “While HHS and VA [Veteran’s Administration] immediately acted to provide support to 988 callers via text, chat and alternate numbers, the disruption of phone service was unacceptable, and HHS continues to investigate the root cause of the outage,” spokeswoman Sarah Lovenheim said on Twitter. Intrado, a Nebraska telecommunications company, provides the emergency service. The company issued a statement Thursday, saying it was “working as quickly as possible to resume full service,” the AP reported. The company did not return repeated requests for comment, the AP reported. The 988 hotline started in July with mental health counselors working around the country and has answered about 8,000 calls a day since then, the AP reported. People can dial in those three numbers, similar to a 911 call, to get help. More information The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on help…  read on >  read on >