Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

A racist mortgage appraisal practice used in the United States decades ago has resulted in less green space in some urban neighborhoods today, researchers say. Those so-called “redlined” neighborhoods have higher rates of air and noise pollution, racial segregation and poverty — all of which can contribute to poorer health. In the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) gave neighborhoods nationwide risk grades that were based on racial makeup and other factors. “Hazardous” areas — often those whose residents included people of color — were outlined in red on HOLC maps. In the decades since, these neighborhoods have seen less private and public investment and have remained segregated. “Though redlining is now outlawed, its effects on urban neighborhoods persist in many ways, including by depriving residents of green space, which is known to promote health and buffer stress,” said study first author Anthony Nardone, a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. Senior author Joan Casey called for action to remedy the problem. “Future policies should, with the input of local leaders, strive to expand availability of green space, a health-promoting amenity, in communities of color,” she said. Casey is an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. For the study, the researchers examined the relationship between HOLC risk grades and… read on > read on >

In findings that may ring true to parents, a new government survey shows that a paltry 2% of U.S. high school students are eating enough vegetables. The study is the latest look at teenagers’ eating habits by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And experts described the results as “disappointing.” Of more than 13,000 high school students surveyed in 2017, only 2% were getting the minimum recommended allotment of veggies: 2.5 to 3 cups per day. Fruit, meanwhile, was only mildly more popular. About 7% of high schoolers were getting enough, and 100% fruit juice counted toward those servings. The figures show no progress since the CDC’s previous report on the topic: In 2013, as well, 2% of high school kids were eating their veggies as recommended. “The findings aren’t necessarily surprising, but they are discouraging,” said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, in Hartford. There have been some positive policy moves in recent years, according to Schwartz, who was not involved in the study. They include efforts to make fresh produce more accessible to low-income Americans through food stamps and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. There are also rules around fruits and vegetables in the National School Lunch Program. The problem is that relatively few high school students participate… read on > read on >

Kids aren’t scared when surgical staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE), and many feel reassured by use of the gear, researchers say. Anxiety is common before, during and after surgery, and can result in complications such as pain and delayed recovery. Concerns have been raised that seeing staffers wearing PPE such as hoods, masks and gowns during the coronavirus pandemic might increase anxiety among kids having surgery. To see whether that is true, researchers assessed 63 children, ages 2 to 16, for anxiety before surgery. Half had none, and there were no significant differences in anxiety levels between those who received a sedative and those who didn’t, the study found. That suggests that PPE didn’t have a greater effect on non-sedated children than on those who were given a sedative to manage their anxiety, according to researchers at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England. They also asked youngsters who were scheduled for day surgery how they felt about PPE. Sixty-five percent said it made them feel safe and happy. None said it made them feel anxious. Researchers also found that parents overestimated their children’s fear of PPE. The findings were presented at the winter meeting of the Association of Anaesthetists, held online last week. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. The authors said their findings were… read on > read on >

Heart disease risk factors are common among men with breast cancer, a new, small study finds. Researchers analyzed the medical records of 24 male breast cancer patients, aged 38 to 79. Half had a family history of breast cancer. Nearly 8 in 10 of the patients had invasive ductal carcinoma, which is the most common type of breast cancer and occurs when cancer starts in the breast ducts and spreads into surrounding breast tissue. About 9 in 10 of the patients were overweight, 58% had high blood pressure and 54% had high cholesterol. All patients had a mastectomy, 4% received anthracycline chemotherapy, 8% received HER2-targeted therapy, 16% received radiation and 71% received hormone therapy. Six of the men were diagnosed with a secondary primary malignancy and three with a third primary malignancy. An abnormally increased heart rate (tachyarrhythmia) was already present in 8% of patients and developed in 13% of patients while undergoing treatment. Two patients had decreased ejection fraction (a decrease in how much blood the heart pumps out with each beat), and two patients developed heart failure after treatment. The study was presented Monday as part of the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient Virtual course. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. “Due to the rarity of male breast cancer, there… read on > read on >

As more infectious coronavirus variants first detected in Britain and South Africa circulate globally, President Joe Biden plans to bar travel by non-citizens into the United States from South Africa. A White House official said Sunday that the South Africa travel ban would go into effect on Jan. 30 and that an existing ban would be extended on non-citizen travelers from Europe and Brazil, The New York Times reported. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently warned that the British coronavirus variant could become the dominant source of infections in the United States by March and would likely trigger surges in cases and deaths. As of Monday, the British variant has been detected in 22 states, the CDC reported. The agency has also announced a new policy that requires all arriving international air passengers, regardless of vaccination status, to be tested for the coronavirus within three days of their departure for the United States, and to provide written documentation of their test results or proof of having recovered from COVID-19. The South African coronavirus variant has yet to be detected in the United States, but small studies published last week show that it is less susceptible to antibodies created by natural infection or by vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, which have both been authorized for emergency use in the United States, the… read on > read on >

Talk therapy for new mothers with postpartum depression may also benefit their babies’ brains, Canadian researchers say. “We found that after their moms were treated that their infant’s brain activity normalized to the levels seen in our healthy infants,” said study co-author Ryan Van Lieshout, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The study included 40 infants of women with postpartum depression and 40 infants of non-depressed mothers. The mothers with postpartum depression received nine weeks of group cognitive behavioral therapy. This type of therapy aims to help patients change destructive thought patterns. Their infants were assessed before therapy began and nine weeks later. That included having mothers and their partners complete a questionnaire on their infants’ behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy not only helped the mothers, but also led to improvements in their infants’ nervous and cardiovascular systems, as well as their emotions and behavior, according to the researchers. It is known that children of women with postpartum depression have changes in brain function that increase their risk of emotional and behavioral problems later in life, but it wasn’t known if treating the mother’s postpartum depression could reduce the risk. “We believe that this is the first time that anyone has shown that treating moms’ postpartum depression can lead to healthy changes in the physiology of the brains… read on > read on >

Full doses of blood thinners can benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19, but the severity of their illness matters, researchers say. The new global analysis found that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 may benefit from the drugs’ clot-preventing powers, but patients with illness so severe it requires admission to an intensive care unit may not. “SARS-CoV-2 infection can increase the risk for developing blood clots by causing a significant inflammatory response in the body,” explained Dr. Aeshita Dwivedi, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “These blood clots can further lead to debilitating and life-threatening conditions like heart attacks, strokes or pulmonary embolisms,” said Dwivedi, who wasn’t involved in the new study. She said the new data “has demonstrated that a higher dose of blood thinners, in addition to being safe, reduced the need for life support and possibly even death” in moderately ill patients in the hospital. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors worldwide noted that COVID-19 patients had high rates of blood clots and inflammation that led to complications, such as lung failure, heart attack and stroke. At the time, it wasn’t known whether providing COVID-19 patients with high doses of blood thinners would be safe and effective. Last December, the same group of researchers released findings showing that routine use of full-dose blood thinners in more critically ill COVID-19 patients… read on > read on >