What makes for a happy (very) old age?

Most developed countries have an aging population but what makes for a happy old age? People in Georgia, in the former Soviet Union, are known to live to a ripe old age and researchers from Iowa State University have been studying 158 centenarians there to see what makes them happy, or not. They found that past satisfaction with life was the key to happiness in old age. In a linked study of 78 octogenarians the researchers found that a diminished ability to solve everyday problems was a significant predictor of depression symptoms in the octogenarians although it was a loss of abilities rather than overall cognitive functioning that led to depression. For the centenarians living in a nursing home and having neurotic tendencies increased depression. Both groups worried about the direction the country was heading in and what kind of world they would leave for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/12/happiness-and-depression-in-seniors/12781.html

Research shows true cost of caring

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the Benjamin Rose Institute in Cleveland, Ohio have been looking into the toll taken on people looking after someone with dementia, and their findings do not make cheerful reading. The study of 67 caregivers found that they frequently experienced overwhelming stress that could lead to breakdown and depression. Behaviour issues were a common source of stress as well as the feeling of losing a relationship with a family member and conflict with siblings or relatives. Around 4 million people in the U.S. care for someone with dementia and some people end up doing so for 15 or 20 years.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100422112641.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Long road back to normality for borderline sufferers

Building a good social life and holding down a job can be tough for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) even when their symptoms have disappeared. Mary Zanarini from McLean Hospital in Massachusetts followed 290 people with BPD over a decade to see how their condition changed; the participants in the study had all been inpatients at the hospital. 93% of the patients had had at least one 2-year break from BPD symptoms over the course of the study and 86% had had a four-year period without symptoms. However, only about half of the participants achieved 'full recovery' which was defined as a reprieve from symptoms lasting at least two years plus good social and vocational functioning. Of those who did recover about a third later redeveloped symptoms or once again struggled socially, or with their job.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE63L4RW20100422?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Losing parents and children's mental health

Children who lose a parent to suicide are more likely to commit suicide themselves and are also at a greater risk of other mental-health problems. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore looked at suicides, psychiatric hospitalisations and violent-crime convictions over a period of 30 years in more than 500,000 Swedish children, teenagers and young adults who had lost a parent to suicide, illness or an accident and four million who hadn't. They found that those children who lost a parent to suicide as children or teenagers were three times more likely to kill themselves than children with living parents although there was no increase in risk for children who were eighteen or over when their parent committed suicide. Children whose parents had died in an accident were twice as likely to kill themselves as unaffected children but again the differences disappeared when children were older when they were bereaved. Children who lost a parent to illness did not have an increased risk of suicide. Children who lost parents to suicide were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalised for depression whereas those who lost their parents to accidents or illness had a 30-40% greater risk. Losing a parent for whatever reason increased a child's risk of committing a violent crime.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421160013.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

New gene linked to Alzheimer's risk

Researchers from the University of Miami have identified a new gene associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. In a study of 5,376 people, 2,269 of whom had Alzheimer's disease, the researchers compared a stretch of genes to see if certain variations were more common in the people with Alzheimer's. They found that a gene called MTHFD1L on chromosome six was associated with a doubling in the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's. The gene is known to be involved in influencing the body's levels of a substance called homocysteine, high levels of which are known to be a strong risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's diseases.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414083305.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Smoking and depression go together like bacon and eggs

In the U.S. the National Center for Health Statistics has been analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to look into the links between depression and smoking. They found that 43% of adult smokers aged 20 and over have depression. Among men aged between 40 and 54 55% of smokers are depressed and among women aged 20 to 39 about 50% of smokers were. Overall only 7% of adults aged 20 and over had depression. The more depressed people were the more likely they were to smoke. Adults with depression were more likely to smoke over a pack a day and to smoke their first cigarette within five minutes of waking up.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/14/many-smokers-suffer-from-depression/12846.html

Anticonvulsants and suicide risk

Certain anticonvulsant drugs could be associated with an increased risk of suicide, attempted suicide or violent death. Anticonvulsants are used to help people with epilepsy but can also be prescribed for bipolar disorder, mania, neuralgia, migraine and neuropathic pain. Researchers from Harvard Medical School analyzed data from 14 states about patients fifteen-years old and over who started taking anticonvulsants between July 2001 and December 2006. They found that the risk of suicidal acts was increased for gabapentin (Neurontin), lamotrigine (Lamictal), oxcarbazapine (Trileptal), tiagabine (Gabitril) and valproate (Depakote).

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/15/broadly-used-seizure-meds-may-increase-suicide-risk/12858.html

Omega 3s not a miracle solution for older people's cognition

Along with statins and aspirin omega-3s seem to be touted as the miracle cure for just about everything. However, a trial by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found no evidence that it can improve cognition in older people. The trial studied 867 people aged between 70 and 80. For two years half of the participants were given omega-3 and half a placebo and their cognition was tested at the beginning and end of the study. After two years there was no change in cognitive function in either group of participants.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421133116.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Why bottling up anger could be the way to an early grave

People with heart disease who bottle up their anger are at nearly three times the risk of having a heart attack or dying over the next 5-10 years. Researchers from Tilburg University in the Netherlands looked into the influence of type D personality in a study of 644 patients who were followed for an average of about six years. Type D personalities are prone to suffer from anger and other negative emotions and often bottle their anger up because they find it difficult to express themselves in social situations. There was a significant relationship between suppressed anger and the risk of heart attack or death even after the researchers adjusted for factors like blood pressure and heart disease severity. Nearly 20% of people with a type D personality had high levels of suppressed anger compared to only 4% of the rest of the sample. Having a type D personality quadrupled the risk of having a heart attack or dying during the course of the study.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE63K57A20100421?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Britain leads the way - in binge drinking

British people are the biggest binge drinkers in Europe. Polling company Eurobarometer surveyed 18,000 people across Europe and found that although British people were not the most frequent drinkers they did drink the most at a single sitting with 12% of the population admitting that they have up to ten drinks (five pints) in a single night out. Only 20% of Britons said they had drunk nothing at all in the last year compared to double that number in Portugal, Italy and Hungary. Denmark and Sweden were the countries with the fewest teetotallers - 10%. Italians and Portuguese were more likely to drink little but often with 60% saying they drank up to two glasses every day of the week. Figures from the U.K.'s Home Office show that crime and disorder caused by binge drinking costs the taxpayer between $8-13 billion a year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7616405/Britain-is-the-binge-drinking-capital-of-Europe.html

What makes a 21st turn tipsy?

The legal age for drinking in the U.S. is 21 and there has been quite a lot of coverage of people dying as a result of excessive drinking on their 21st birthday. Researchers from the University of Texas, at Austin studied 150 college students asking them how much they thought they would drink before their 21st and comparing this to how much they actually drank. The researchers found that the majority of students drank more than they thought they would and that men were more likely to underestimate their consumption than women. Drinking shots, drinking at a fast pace, celebrating with influential peers and engaging in 21st birthday traditions were all associated with drinking more than expected.

Brister, Heather A., Wetherill, Reagan R. and Fromme, Kim - Anticipated versus actual alcohol consumption during 21st birthday celebrations Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs March 2010, 71(2), 180-183

Alcohol consumption in older people

Most studies into how people drink over their lifetimes have found that consumption peaks in early adulthood and declines later but little is known about individual's drinking patterns and what factors make people drink less or more as they age. Researchers from Duke University in North Carolina studied 6,787 people who were between 51 and 61 in 1992 and tracked their alcohol consumption regularly until 2006. The study found that overall alcohol consumption in the group declined. However, for a minority of people alcohol consumption increased. These people were more likely to be affluent, highly-educated, male, White, unmarried, less religious and in excellent to good health. People who were problem drinkers before the study started were more likely to drink more as they got older whereas people who were light drinkers at the start of the study were more likely to drink less.

Platt, Alyssa, Sloan, Frank A. and Costanzo, Philip - Alcohol-consumption trajectories and associated characteristics among adults older than age 50 Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs March 2010, 71(2), 169-179

Sleep disorders take greater toll in non-White groups

Sleep disorders could take a greater toll on people's quality of life and health among Black and Hispanic people than in White people. Researchers from Arizona State University used data from the Sleep Heart Health Study covering a total of 5,237 people. Sleep disturbances were common with 46% of people having at least mild sleep apnea, 34% reporting frequent snoring, 30% having insomnia symptoms and 25% reporting excessive daytime sleepiness. The physical health of African Americans with sleep problems was significantly worse than in Caucasians. Both Hispanic and African-Americans with sleep problems had significantly worse mental health than Caucasians.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100415080841.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

French study exposes the myth of multi-tasking

Employers and management gurus often speak of the benefits of multi-tasking but a new study by Dr Etienne Koechlin of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris suggests that the human brain might only be designed to do two tasks at once. The study used imaging techniques to monitor brain activity in 32 volunteers asked to perform a letter-matching test. When the volunteers completed one task at a time one side of a certain area of their frontal lobes lit up and when they completed two the frontal lobes divided the tasks between them. The brain was able to control switching between the two hemispheres when carrying out two tasks but people's accuracy went downhill quickly once a third was added. This research ties into earlier studies which showed that people find it easy to choose between two alternatives but much harder to deal with more than two.

You can find out more about this research at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8622137.stm

Autism and child development

Not everyone with autism develops at the same rate or in the same way during early childhood. Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland collected data from 2,720 parents and found three different patterns of autism. Regression was characterised by a loss of previously acquired social, communicative or cognitive skills before the age of three. 'Plateau' was the display of only mild developmental delays until the child showed a gradual to abrupt halt in their development that restricted further advances in their skills and No Loss and No Plateau children showed early warning signs of autism without experiencing either a loss or a plateau. The children who went through the Regression pattern had a significant increase in their autism symptoms, the greatest risk of not attaining conversational speech and were more likely than other groups to need increased educational support. Compared to the No Loss No Plateau children the children from the Plateau group were more likely to need educational support and more likely to be diagnosed with autism rather than the less-serious Asperger's syndrome.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420114231.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Pollution hits intelligence in young children

Exposure to pollutants in the womb can affect children's cognition at the age of five. Researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in New York studied 214 children born to healthy, non-smoking women in Krakow, Poland. The women in the study wore backpack air monitors and provided blood samples during their pregnancy and the children's intelligence was tested at the age of five. Those children exposed to most polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) had a significant reduction in their intelligence scores. PAHs are produced when fossil fuels are burnt but are also found in cereals, oils and fats.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420132841.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Drinking women do better in couples therapy

Women being treated for alcohol problems with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) might respond better to couples therapy than individual therapy. Barbara McCrady from the University of New Mexico and Elizabeth Epstein from the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey studied 102 women with a steady partner or husband. Some received couples therapy while others received individual therapy. For each woman the researchers calculated the percentages of days abstinent and the percentage of days of heavy (more than three drinks in a day) drinking. For the first month of treatment the abstinence rate rose sharply. During the year following treatment the women in couples therapy reported fewer heavy-drinking days than the women in individual treatment.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420142037.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Brain-training games don't make you any cleverer

Brain-training games might be good fun but they probably don't make you cleverer. In an experiment for the BBC television programme 'Bang Goes The Theory' 11,000 people used the games for six weeks and took tests of their memory, concentration skills, planning ability and problem-solving. There was no improvement in the people playing the game compared to those who simply surfed the Internet for the same amount of time. Scans taken of some of the volunteers showed that the training had no effect on the make-up of the brain either.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7610884/Popular-brain-training-games-do-not-make-users-any-smarter.html

Sexual preference and violence

People who are homosexual, bisexual or lesbian or who have had a same sex relationship in the past are 1.5 to 2x more likely to have experienced violent events during their childhood and have double the risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of these events. Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and the Children's Hospital, Boston used data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and found that 48% of 'sexual minority' women and 28% of 'sexual minority' men experienced violence or abuse in childhood compared to 21% of women and 20% of men in the general population.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/16/sexual-preference-linked-with-violence-and-ptsd/12888.html

Psychiatrists underestimate antidepressant side effects

People suffering from depression may have far more side effects than psychiatrists think they do. Mark Zimmerman from Rhode Island Hospital asked 300 people being treated for depression to fill out the Toronto Side Effects Scale. The patients rated the frequency of 31 side effects and the degree of trouble they experienced and this was compared to what the psychiatrists had documented. The average number of side effects recorded by the patients using the questionnaire was 20 times higher than the number recorded by the psychiatrists. Even when limiting the side effects to those which were 'frequently occuring' or 'very bothersome' the rate was still found to be two or three times higher than that recorded by the psychiatrists. The results are important as side effects are one of the most frequent reasons patients stop taking their medication.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419151112.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader