Job stress, high blood pressure and poor sleep may be a recipe for an early death, German researchers report. In a study of nearly 2,000 workers with high blood pressure who were followed for almost 18 years, those who reported having both a stressful job and poor sleep were three times more likely to die from heart disease than those who slept well and didn’t have a trying job, the investigators found. “As many as 50% of adults have high blood pressure,” said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. It’s a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease and premature cardiovascular death, said Fonarow, who had no role in the new study. “A number of studies have found associations between greater work stress and subsequent risk of cardiovascular events. Impairment in sleep has also been associated with increased risk,” he said. However, these associations did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. In the new study, the researchers reported that among people with high blood pressure (“hypertension”), those who had work stress alone had a twofold higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, as did those who reported having poor sleep alone. According to lead researcher Dr. Karl-Heinz Ladwig, “Sleep should be a time for recreation, unwinding and restoring energy levels. If you have stress…  read on >

Treating men with low-risk prostate cancer with just one high dose of radiation may be safe and effective, British researchers report. Therapy for prostate cancer typically involves low-dose radiation given over several days or weeks. Conversely, high-dose radiation is given once through a set of tiny tubes inserted directly into the tumor. “For low-risk patients, a single dose of high-dose radiation is sufficient, but for medium- and high-risk patients, a single dose of 19 Gy isn’t enough. They will likely need a bigger dose or going back to multiple doses,” said lead researcher Hannah Tharmalingam. She’s a clinical research fellow at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, England. According to Tharmalingam, high-dose radiation could be more convenient for low-risk patients, and less time-consuming and costly for the medical system. But one radiation oncologist fears that the side effects make it potentially dangerous. For the study, Tharmalingam and her colleagues treated 441 prostate cancer patients between 2013 and 2018. The cancers were classified as low-, medium- or high-risk. All of the men were treated with one high dose of 19 Gy of radiation, which is equivalent to the total amount of radiation given over several days with current treatments, Tharmalingam said. In addition, 166 men were also given hormone therapy. None of the men, however, had surgery or chemotherapy. For comparison, men with prostate cancer…  read on >

Asthma inhalers can’t do the job if they’re not used correctly. And that’s an issue for many children, U.S. researchers say. “We know from past studies that both parents and children overestimate the ability of children to properly use their inhaler,” said study author Dr. Anna Volerman, from the University of Chicago. The study included 65 pairs of parents and children, ages 8-14, who had asthma and used inhalers. The children went to four Chicago public charter schools. Nine in 10 children were black and most parents were women. The researchers found that 97% of the children misused their inhaler. Only one child showed mastery, according to the study in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Many parents had misplaced confidence in their children’s ability to use their inhaler to ease their respiratory distress. Only 4% of children whose parents were confident in their use of an inhaler actually used the device properly. None of the parents underestimated their children’s ability to use an inhaler. The study also found that only 5% of children who were confident in their inhaler technique used their inhaler flawlessly. “We examined whether parent and child confidence were the same and whether either was a good sign of the child’s actual ability to use the inhaler correctly,” Volerman said in a journal news release. “We found most parents…  read on >

“No sex for six weeks” used to be the standard advice following childbirth and, according to many doctors, it is still a good practice to allow healing. But it’s not a hard-and-fast rule. Although a woman is at the highest risk for infection during the first two weeks postpartum (a period that could be longer if she had vaginal tears or a cesarean section delivery), the current approach is to let how a woman feels guide her. Still, for many women, the return to intimacy doesn’t always follow a schedule. Problems like vaginal dryness, painful sex and a lack of desire can stand in the way, often for months after childbirth. A study of 832 new moms published in the journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth found that after six months 46% reported a lack of interest in sex, nearly as many experienced vaginal dryness and for 37% sex was painful. These problems weren’t always connected to having had an episiotomy or vaginal tears. A lack of natural lubrication and even breastfeeding, which has been associated with a negative body image, were other underlying reasons. Another study of new moms, this one published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that other problems, not directly involving sexual function but affecting sexual desire, can start as early as one month postpartum and continue for six or more months. They…  read on >

A boy who wondered if snakes flick their tongues to smell prompted a surprising new discovery about how human senses work. Turns out your tongue helps you smell, according to researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia — a team that included the curious 12-year-old’s dad. Taste and smell had been thought to be independent senses that didn’t interact until input from each reached the brain. But senior author Dr. Mehmet Hakan Ozdener said his son’s question prompted him to rethink that belief. Ozdener’s new study found that odor-detecting sensors in the nose (functional olfactory receptors) are also present in the taste cells on our tongue. This suggests that interactions between the senses of smell and taste may begin on the tongue and not in the brain, researchers said. They said their findings could lead to new ways to modify food flavors to promote healthier eating. “Our research may help explain how odor molecules modulate taste perception,” Ozdener, a cell biologist, said in a Monell news release. “This may lead to the development of odor-based taste modifiers that can help combat the excess salt, sugar and fat intake associated with diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.” Results of a series of lab experiments were published April 24 in the journal Chemical Senses. The distinctive flavor of most foods and drinks comes more…  read on >

Having sex after a heart attack is a concern not only for men, but for many women, too. Because of fear and a lack of information, many may think it’s no longer possible to enjoy a sex life. Fortunately, that’s rarely the case. However, while many women do resume their sex lives within months after having a heart attack, they often do so fearing how sex could affect their hearts. There are also other factors that affect a woman’s feelings toward sex, which go beyond the purely physical. Many people become depressed after a heart attack and that can affect their desire for sexual activity. Needed medications can cause sexual dysfunction. Also troubling, many heart attack sufferers’ concerns about sex often remain hidden from their doctors. In fact, many women who’ve had a heart attack never talk to their doctors about resuming their sex life or their fears of doing so. Too often, doctors fail to bring up the issue themselves. For the women who do have this conversation, it’s usually they — not their doctors — who broach the subject. Doctors are often unsure exactly what advice to give even though experts say that, for most people, sex after a heart attack is a low-risk activity. Bottom line: Many women and men have questions about their sexuality after a heart attack. It’s important to…  read on >

Being bullied as a youngster may lead to lifelong struggles in adulthood. New research warns that victims of teenage bullying face a 40% greater risk for mental health problems by the time they hit their mid-20s. Young adults with a history of adolescent bullying may also see their odds for unemployment spike by 35%, investigators found. For the study, they tracked bullying among more than 7,000 students between the ages of 14 and 16 in the United Kingdom. The teens were interviewed at regular intervals until age 21 and again at age 25. “Examples of bullying we studied include being called names, being excluded from social groups, having possessions stolen, or being threatened with or experiencing violence,” said study author Emma Gorman. Based on that definition, roughly half the students — 70% of whom were white — were bullied between 2004 and 2006. “Girls were more likely to experience psychological forms of bullying, such as name-calling and exclusion from social groups, and boys were more likely to be victims of violent bullying,” Gorman said. By age 25, those who had been bullied as teens were much more likely to have mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and to struggle with finding a job, the study found. “Among those who were employed,” Gorman added, “pupils who experienced bullying had 2% lower income.” The more…  read on >