CORVALLIS, Ore., Sept. 27 (UPI) — Teens who have abortions may be no more likely to become depressed than peers whose pregnancies do not end in abortion, U.S. researchers say.

Lead author Jocelyn Warren, a post-doctoral research associate Oregon State University, and colleagues at University of California, San Francisco, used data from 289 respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They used three surveys beginning in 1994 to1995, again a year later and then five years later.

The study, published online ahead of print in the December issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, determined young women who had an abortion were no more likely to become depressed or have low self-esteem within the first year of pregnancy, or five years later, than girls who were pregnant, but did not have an abortion.

Read more…

ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 21 (UPI) — Youth who are the targets of cyber bullying at school are at greater risk for depression than are the bullies, U.S. researchers say.

Jing Wang, Tonja R. Nansel and Ronald J. Iannotti of the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development say their findings challenge earlier studies that found the highest depression scores are among bully-victims — those who both bully others and but are also bullied themselves.

Traditional forms of bullying involve physical violence, verbal taunts, or social exclusion.

Read more…

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Sept. 16 (UPI) — A stigma regarding serious mental illness and substance abuse persists and may be increasing, despite medical explanations, U.S. researchers say.

Bernice Pescosolido, a sociologist at Indiana University in Bloomington and colleagues at Columbia University says the study findings raise questions about the effectiveness of campaigns intended to reduce the stigma by reinforcing the idea the conditions are a “disease like any other.”

“Prejudice and discrimination in the United States aren’t moving,” Pescosolido says in a statement. “In fact, in some cases, it may be increasing.

Read more…

NEW YORK, Sept. 14 (UPI) — Data on how well doctors deliver care, such as giving the right medications, are often impossible to find, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Anne-Marie Audet, vice president for health system quality and efficiency at the Commonwealth Fund in New York, says patients are urged to use research in selecting a physician — but often the only information a patient has access to is what medical school they attended, years of experience and malpractice claims.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, finds medical school, years of experience and malpractice claims are poor predictors of the quality of care doctors provide.

“This research highlights a serious problem for healthcare consumers which is that we are currently looking for doctors who provide quality care in a vacuum — with information that is not relevant and can even be misleading,” Audet says in a statement.

Read more…

LONDON, Sept. 8 (UPI) — Computer-based interventions on sexual health — successful for HIV prevention — may help with family planning or relationship issues, U.K. researchers say.

Lead researcher Julia Bailey of University College London says patients may be unlikely to discuss sexual health concerns because of the sensitivity of the issues, or because healthcare providers have limited time.

Bailey and colleagues reviewed data from 15 studies that tested interactive computer-based interventions — requiring input from the user — involving 3,917 people. The interactive packages used animations, scenarios, simulations and interactive characters.

Read more…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 6 (UPI) — Smoking shuts off a key enzyme in airways that regulates the body’s response to inflammation, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published online in Science Express ahead of print in the journal Science, finds smoke inhibits the enzyme — Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase. The shutdown means white blood cells are not stopped after successfully responding to inflammation.

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers identified a previously unknown substrate of LTA4H — proline-glycine-proline. PGP recruits neutrophils — white blood cells — that rush to the scene and attack the cause of the inflammation.

Read more…

DALLAS, Aug. 31 (UPI) — The average U.S. adult eats about 1.5 teaspoons of salt a day, more than twice the recommended amount, a U.S. professor of clinical nutrition says.

Dr. Jo Ann Carson of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas says federal regulators have begun urging food manufacturers to cut back on the amount of sodium they add to everything from breakfast cereals to soups.

The aim is for manufacturers to reduce the amount so gradually consumers would barely notice the lower sodium levels, but the final limits have not yet been determined.

“Lowering our salt intake is important to control blood pressure,” Carson says in a statement.

Read more…

EXETER, England, Aug. 26 (UPI) — British and other researchers have identified changes in testosterone levels in men exposed to bisphenol A, a chemical used in food and drink containers.

Researchers at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry and the University of Exeter, both in England, and colleagues linked higher BPA exposure with small increases in levels of testosterone in the blood.

The large population study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found the average BPA daily of more 5 micrograms per day exposure in the European study population was slightly higher than recent comparable estimates for the U.S.

Read more…