Six out of every 10 stroke survivors wind up struggling with depression later in their lives, a new study says. That compares to the 22% depression rate of the general population, results show. Further, 9 of 10 stroke-related depression cases occur within five years of surviving a stroke, researchers found. “Depression is common in stroke survivors but our research shows it persists for much longer than previously thought,” researcher Yanzhong Wang, a professor of statistics in population health at King’s College London, said in a news release. Biochemical changes in the brain caused by stroke injury can contribute to depression by interfering with a person’s ability to feel positive emotions, according to the American Stroke Association.  For the study, researchers reviewed the cases of 6,600 stroke survivors whose data appears in a South London stroke registry. Results showed that severe depression tended to occur earlier after stroke, lasted longer than expected, and was quicker to recur than cases of mild depression. Depression among stroke survivors can affect their mobility, hampering simple tasks like walking and holding objects, Wang said. It also can increase their overall risk of death. “Quality of life is important for stroke survivors as there is evidence depressed survivors have a reduced survival rate,” researcher Lu Liu, a doctoral candidate at King’s College London, said in a news release. “There are many…  read on >  read on >

Honey bees fly to flowers whenever the weather is right, and warmer autumns and winters are putting these crop pollinators at risk, researchers warn. Using climate and bee population models, a Washington State University team showed that longer and longer autumns with ideal flying weather increase the odds that bee colonies will collapse come spring.  “It’s not like this is something that can be expected 80 years from now,” lead author Kirti Rajagopalan, an assistant professor of biological systems engineering, said in a WSU news release. “It is a more immediate impact that needs to be planned for.” A potential intervention: Putting colonies into cold storage, where bees will cluster in their hive from October to April before too many workers wear out. The practice is relatively new.  But commercial beekeepers already rely on it to help manage logistics of moving more than 2 million hives from around the country to pollinate almond trees in California, researchers said. “A lot of beekeepers are already practicing this management technique of storing bees indoors because it has a lot of immediate potential to help in a number of ways,” study co-author Brandon Hopkins, a WSU entomologist, said in the news release.  He said the new study demonstrates that cold-storage has additional benefits for the survival of bee colonies in a changing climate. For the study, researchers used…  read on >  read on >

Most parents are torn about letting their middle or high school students take a sick day. “In some cases, the decision to keep kids home from school is clear, such as if the child is vomiting or has a high fever,” said Sarah Clark, co-director of the Mott Poll from University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. “But parents often have to guess at whether their child’s report of ‘not feeling well’ represents a good reason to miss school.” In the latest poll — based on 1,300 responses last month from parents of 11- to 18-year-olds — 2 in 3 said their child frets about how missing school will affect their grades. The same number worry about missing friends or school activities.  For parents, deciding whether kids need a sick day rests mainly on whether they think they can get through the entire academic day, whether they’re contagious and whether they will miss a test, presentation or after-school activity, the poll revealed. How any symptoms are causing them to behave is also key. When it’s not clear just how sick a child is, more than half of parents are likely to keep them home, according to the poll. Another 25% send them to school and keep their fingers crossed. About 1 in 5 let the child decide. The same number said…  read on >  read on >

Vitamin supplements are a big business, with Americans spending roughly $45 billion out of more than $177 billion worldwide on pills, gummies and powders meant to boost health. About 59 million Americans regularly use some type of vitamin or supplement, spending an average $510 each year. But most folks are wasting that money, experts say. A balanced daily diet provides all the nutrients a person typically needs to maintain their health, said Dr. Matthew Silvis, vice chair of clinical operations for Penn State Health Family and Community Medicine. “If you have a well-balanced diet and you’re able to eat nutritious foods ― fruits, vegetables, etc. ― you don’t need a multivitamin or a supplement,” Silvis said in a news release. “The broad answer is most people don’t need them, despite the multibillion-dollar industry that the vitamin industry is,” he continued. “But there are populations of individuals who do need to consider a multivitamin or a supplement. And that is individualized.” Examples of people who do need specific supplements include: Pregnant women who need folic acid to prevent birth defects. Seniors with osteoporosis who can benefit from calcium and Vitamin D supplements. Vegans or people with Celiac disease who need a multivitamin to supplement the nutrients they aren’t absorbing from their diet. High-intensity athletes who regularly participate in draining workouts and fierce competition also might be…  read on >  read on >

Some people diagnosed with schizophrenia might instead be suffering from a rare visual condition that can cause other people’s faces to appear “demonic,” a new study argues. The condition, called prosopometamorphopsia (PMO), can cause others’ facial features to appear horrific — drooped, larger, smaller, out of position or stretched in disturbing ways. “Not surprisingly, people with prosopometamorphopsia often find it disturbing to look at other people’s faces,” researchers said on their website on the condition. “Fortunately, most cases last only a few days or weeks, but some cases perceive distortions in faces for years.” Unfortunately, this disorder in vision has led to a diagnosis of mental illness in some patients.  “We’ve heard from multiple people with PMO that they have been diagnosed by psychiatrists as having schizophrenia and put on anti-psychotics, when their condition is a problem with the visual system,” said senior study author Brad Duchaine, a professor of psychological and brain sciences and principal investigator of the Social Perception Lab at Dartmouth University. To help people understand PMO, Duchaine and his colleagues have produced the first case report to provide accurate and photorealistic examples of the facial distortions experienced by a specific patient with PMO. The patient, a 58-year-old man, sees faces without any distortions if they’re on a screen or on paper. But when he sees someone in person, their face appears…  read on >  read on >

Many teens – especially girls – are affected by body dysmorphic disorder, a condition in which they become obsessed with perceived flaws in their personal appearance, a new study shows. BDD affects about two in every 100 teens (1.9%), according to a report published March 17 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The disorder is six times more common in girls than in boys, affecting 1.8% of girls compared to 0.3% of boys, the researchers said. These numbers show it’s important for doctors to keep an eye out for signs of the disorder, said lead researcher Georgina Krebs, an associate professor of psychology with University College London. “Since young people with BDD tend not to spontaneously disclose their symptoms unless directly asked, it is crucial that clinicians utilize BDD screening tools and ask young people directly about appearance concerns,” Krebs said in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 7,600 kids and teens who participated in the 2017 Mental Health of Children and Young People in England survey. The survey included a question about whether the child is ever concerned with how he or she looks. Those who answered “a little” or “a lot” underwent further screening for BDD. Nearly 70% of young people with BDD also met the diagnostic criteria for at…  read on >  read on >

A common antiseizure drug used to treat epilepsy, migraines and bipolar disorder does not appear to increase the risk of autism for kids exposed to it in the womb, a new study says. Topiramate does not contribute to any risk of kids developing autism if their moms took it during pregnancy, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Our findings provide needed clarity on the possible neurodevelopmental impacts of this commonly used drug,” lead researcher Dr. Sonia Hernández-Díaz, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release. “While our primary analyses focused on mothers with epilepsy, the study has implications for moms and moms-to-be who live with other conditions treated by topiramate as well,” she added. Topiramate can treat epilepsy and migraine by calming overactive nerves in a person’s body, experts say. Another antiseizure drug, lamotrigine, also is safe for expectant mothers to take, researchers found. However, a third drug, valproate, does appear to increase risk of autism in kids, results show. The results for lamotrigine and valproate are consistent with earlier studies. Nearly 11% of kids exposed to valproate in the womb developed autism, and the risk increased as moms took larger doses of the drug, researchers report. Researchers also noted that while topiramate appears safe for a baby’s developing brains, it remains linked…  read on >  read on >