Children's Health: Grow kids' brains through sport ♦ Lead exposure impacts children's sleep ♦ Preschoolers need more outdoor time at child care centers

Grow kids' brains through sport Organized extracurricular sport activities for children help them develop and improve cognitive skills, such as greater concentration capacity, that can in term greatly help them in the classroom.

Lead exposure impacts children's sleep Lead exposure in early childhood are associated with increased risk for sleep problems and excessive daytime sleepiness in later childhood, new research shows. This is the first longitudinal, population-based study that investigated early lead exposure to sleep problems.

Preschoolers need more outdoor time at child care centers Child care centers play a pivotal role when it comes to the physical activity levels of preschoolers, new research confirms. Yet few children get to experience outdoor recess time as it is scheduled. Only 3 in 10 children had at least 60 minutes of a full child-care day outdoors for recess, as is recommended by guidelines.

Adolescent bariatric surgery reverses type 2 diabetes in 95 percent of teens, achieves major weight loss and improves quality of life New research shows that three years after undergoing bariatric surgery, adolescents experienced major improvements in their weight, metabolic health, and quality of life.

Health Research: Diabetes linked to bone health ♦ New drug protects against the deadly effects of nuclear radiation ♦ How DNA 'proofreader' proteins pick and edit their reading material

New drug protects against the deadly effects of nuclear radiation 24 hours after exposure A new breakthrough has been reported in countering the deadly effects of radiation exposure. A single injection of a regenerative peptide was shown to significantly increase survival in mice when given 24 hours after nuclear radiation exposure.

Diabetes linked to bone health A link between diabetes and bone health has been found by researchers. Clinical trials have revealed a startling elevation in fracture risk in diabetic patients.

Improving cardiorespiratory fitness reduces risk of arrhythmia recurrence Obese atrial fibrillation patients have a lower chance of arrhythmia recurrence if they have high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, and risk continues to decline as exercise capacity increases as part of treatment.

Impact of sleep disturbance on recovery in veterans with PTSD and TBI Poor sleep may impact treatment and recovery in veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A review of extensive research on sleep in TBI and PTSD has found that sleep-focused interventions can improve treatment outcomes in veterans

How DNA 'proofreader' proteins pick and edit their reading material Researchers have discovered how two important proofreader proteins know where to look for errors during DNA replication and how they work together to signal the body's repair mechanism.

Childrens Health: Possible role of gut bacteria in autism ♦ Children's sleep, mental health are related ♦ Fracture' prints, not fingerprints, help solve child abuse cases

Children's sleep, mental health are related Toddlers who take a long time to fall asleep or wake up many times during the night have put many a desperate mom and dad to the test. Tired parents are often told that night waking is part of toddlerhood, and that it will soon pass on its own, but this is not the case for everyone.

Fracture' prints, not fingerprints, help solve child abuse cases Much like a finger leaves its own unique print to help identify a person, researchers are now discovering that skull fractures leave certain signatures that can help investigators better determine what caused the injury

Possible role of gut bacteria in autism Autism:  for a condition that continues to confound researchers and physicians alike, a doctor believes that research into the role of the microbiome could hold a key to new treatments and understanding of autism.

Clinical decision tools in electronic medical records can reduce childhood radiation exposure Childhood exposure to ionizing radiation increases lifetime malignancy risk, but a team of researchers has found that with just a little bit of education, the risk can be significantly reduced. Currently, up to 40% of computed tomography, or CT, scans are ordered unnecessarily

11/5/14 Health News: Fecal testing in colorectal cancer screening ♦ Fruit, vegetables,whole grains and nuts lower stroke risk ♦ BPA exposure by infants ♦ Craving in alcoholics

Support for fecal testing in familial colorectal cancer screening

Fecal immunochemical tests may be as effective as colonoscopies when it comes to detecting colorectal cancer among first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer, according to a new study Continue Reading

Diets high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and nuts among factors to lower first-time stroke risk

Eating Mediterranean or DASH-style diets, regularly engaging in physical activity and keeping your blood pressure under control can lower your risk of a first-time stroke, experts say. Additionally, these experts not updated prevention guidelines that focus on lowering stroke risk among women Continue Reading,

BPA exposure by infants may increase later risk of food intolerance

Scientists show, for the first time, that there is a link between perinatal exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) at low doses and the risk to develop food intolerance in later life. "We may look back one day and see BPA exposure as one of the more important public health problems of our time," said one expert. "We know that too much exposure is bad, but exactly how much exposure is too much is still up for debate.Continue Reading

Breakdown in gut barriers to bacteria may promote inflammation and craving in alcoholics

Bacteria in the GI tract fulfill many vital functions and are critical for digestion. Yet, these same bacteria can induce strong inflammatory responses by the immune system if they penetrate the gut and enter the bloodstream. Prior research has established the involvement of inflammatory processes in the development of psychiatric disorders, including major depression and alcohol dependence, but the origins of such inflammation have remained unclear. Now, researchers have found that inflammatory pathways are stimulated in alcohol-dependent patients by bacteria that escape the gut barrier, which correlated with alcohol craving. Continue Reading