Our weekly round up of the latest news in the world of health. This week we look at why questions have been raised over the effectiveness of the mumps vaccine, at how the amount of sleep babies get could affect their risk of childhood obesity, and at another side effect of estrogen therapy. We also look at how dyslexia varies depending on the language a child is reading.
Stay well.
This Issue:
<
Questions on Mumps Vaccine Babies' Sleep Affects Weight Gain Estrogen and Breast Lumps Dyslexia Varies With Language In the News:
Questions on Mumps Vaccine Immunity from the two-dose mumps vaccine may not last as long as doctors expected. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most college students who got the mumps during an outbreak in 2006 had received two shots as recommended. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the outbreak which sickened about 6,600 people in eight states. Among college students -- the group most affected -- 84% of those who knew they had been vaccinated had received both shots as recommended. The study raises questions about whether another booster shot or even a new vaccine might be needed, at least for college students, the Associated Press reports. The mumps virus involved in the outbreak was a less common strain in the United States that is not specifically targeted by the vaccine. The CDC says that the virus likely came from travelers and that since many countries don't vaccinate against mumps, future cases brought from overseas are likely.
Babies' Sleep Affects Weight Gain
Babies and toddlers who sleep less may be at greater risk of being overweight in preschool, and watching television increases the risk. That's the finding of a new Harvard study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. The study is based on mothers' reports of babies' sleeping habits and TV viewing starting at 6 months old and when they were 1 and 2 years old. The researchers also considered the babies' height, weight and skinfold thickness. The mothers were also asked about their children's TV viewing when the children reached 2 years old. They found that among babies who slept 12 hours or more per day, about 7% were obese at age 3, compared to 12% of babies who slept less than 12 hours. And 17% of those who slept less than 12 hours a day and watched two or more hours of television a day were obese by age 3. The researchers say the link between lack of sleep and obesity could be due to the effects of sleep on hormones that control feelings of hunger and fullness, The Associated Press reports.
Estrogen and Breast Lumps
Estrogen-only hormone therapy does not appear to increase the risk of breast cancer, but it can raise a woman's risk of developing non-cancerous breast lumps. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that postmenopausal estrogen-only users had twice the risk of developing benign proliferative breast disease compared to women who took a placebo. This is worrisome because the women in many cases had to undergo extra biopsies and anxiety over the lumps, and also because benign proliferative breast disease may be a first step toward developing breast cancer 10 years later, The Associated Press reports.
Dyslexia Varies With Language
Dyslexia affects different parts of children's brains depending on the language they learn to read. In a study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the brains of students raised reading Chinese or English. They found that the brains of dyslexic children who use an alphabetic language like English have unusual function and structure in areas of the brain believed to be involved in letter-to-sound conversions, speech sound analysis, and quick word-form recognition. Dyslexic Chinese readers showed disruptions in different areas. The Associated Press quotes other experts who say the findings suggest that different types of interventions are needed to treat dyslexic children depending on the writing system the child is raised to learn.
Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.
