Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/ia2-rZBk8yo

Sleep quality impaired by breathing disruptions accelerates the aging process.  So said sleep scientists from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital earlier this summer at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting. 

A group of 622 adults underwent sleep analysis via polysomnography and quantitative aging determination by epigenetic DNA methylation.  Each standard deviation increase in apnea ages you 215 days. Each standard deviation increase in sleep disruption ages you 321 days.  Women were more susceptible than men.

Poor sleep quality negatively impacts every body organ leading to a shortened life.  This study puts it on a disease severity on par with diabetes.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/914374

#Apnea #aging #sleepdisorderedbreathing

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/ia2-rZBk8yo

Sleep quality impaired by breathing disruptions accelerates the aging process.  So said sleep scientists from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital earlier this summer at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting. 

A group of 622 adults underwent sleep analysis via polysomnography and quantitative aging determination by epigenetic DNA methylation.  Each standard deviation increase in apnea ages you 215 days. Each standard deviation increase in sleep disruption ages you 321 days.  Women were more susceptible than men.

Poor sleep quality negatively impacts every body organ leading to a shortened life.  This study puts it on a disease severity on par with diabetes.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/914374

#Apnea #aging #sleepdisorderedbreathing

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/LXahZTaYegs

Your child is more likely to suffer a head injury biking or skate boarding than playing team sports like soccer, rugby, or basketball.  So says a Australian-New Zealand study of  20,000 plus kids presenting to emergency departments with head injuries.

Bike riding, skateboarding, and golf are 20 times more likely than rugby to produce a head injury.  Of the team sports, surprisingly only baseball and softball were the most dangerous accounting for 8% of the total head injuries.

Only you can instill your children with a 6th sense of impending danger.  Encourage them to play safely and use headgear.

Nitaa Eapen, Gavin A Davis, Meredith L Borland, Natalie Phillips, Ed Oakley, Stephen Hearps, Amit Kochar, Sarah Dalton, John Cheek, Jeremy Furyk, Mark D Lyttle, Silvia Bressan, Louise Crowe, Stuart Dalziel, Emma Tavender, Franz E Babl. Clinically important sport‐related traumatic brain injuries in children. Medical Journal of Australia, 2019; DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50311

#headtrauma #teamsports #recreationalsports

Vidcast:  ttps://youtu.be/4O6kaDUCs-4

Children born even as little as 3 weeks prematurely during the summer months may be inappropriately placed a grade ahead.   Then they go through their elementary education at a profound disadvantage and are twice as likely to underperform.  

The researchers at Britain’s University of Leeds do not recommend arbitrarily holding back a premie. Instead they suggest special educational services for such kids when they stumble and require them.  

I suggest that, for educational placement purposes, the child’s date of birth be considered to be their expected due date, the date on which they should have been born.  Then, again, if the child needs help, it may be provided.

University of Leeds. "Early education setback for summer premature births." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 August 2019. to be published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

#Premies #schoolplacement #duedate

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/nt8CnzUfzIE

Protect your brains guys if you value your virility and sex lives.  The Harvard Football Players Study reports that repeated head trauma is associated with testosterone reductions and a risk of erectile problems or ED.

Included in the study were 3400 former football players.  Those with the highest concussion scores were 2.4 times more likely to have low testosterone and 1.7 times more likely to report ED.

If you played high school, college, or pro ball, don’t be shy about getting testosterone testing.   If you are counseling your sons about football, hockey, rugby, or soccer heading, have them pick a safer sport.

Grashow R, Weisskopf MG, Miller KK, et al. Association of Concussion Symptoms With Testosterone Levels and Erectile Dysfunction in Former Professional US-Style Football Players. JAMA Neurol. Published online August 26, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.2664

#Concussion #headtrauma #testosterone #erectivedysfunction

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/pTL7gMnka1s

Feeding your infant to excess triggers undesirable genetic changes that could condemn the child to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Pediatricians and molecular geneticists at Texas’ Baylor College of Medicine now report that overfed mouse neonates develop lifelong DNA methylation abnormalities.

These genetic changes led to premature aging patterns of the pancreas.  That, in turn, produces less robust insulin production with diabetes and all its dire consequences.

Parental responsibility for good child nutrition begins at birth.  This study adds to other than emphasize that the effects of an unbalanced diet are difficult if not impossible to correct.

Ge Li, Tihomira D Petkova, Eleonora Laritsky, Noah Kessler, Maria S Baker, Shaoyu Zhu, Robert A Waterland. Early postnatal overnutrition accelerates aging-associated epigenetic drift in pancreatic islets. Environmental Epigenetics, 2019; 5 (3) DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvz015

#Overfeeding #diabetes #DNAmethylation

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/nt8CnzUfzIE

Protect your brains guys if you value your virility and sex lives.  The Harvard Football Players Study reports that repeated head trauma is associated with testosterone reductions and a risk of erectile problems or ED.

Included in the study were 3400 former football players.  Those with the highest concussion scores were 2.4 times more likely to have low testosterone and 1.7 times more likely to report ED.

If you played high school, college, or pro ball, don’t be shy about getting testosterone testing.   If you are counseling your sons about football, hockey, rugby, or soccer heading, have them pick a safer sport.

Grashow R, Weisskopf MG, Miller KK, et al. Association of Concussion Symptoms With Testosterone Levels and Erectile Dysfunction in Former Professional US-Style Football Players. JAMA Neurol. Published online August 26, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.2664

#Concussion #headtrauma #testosterone #erectivedysfunction

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/pTL7gMnka1s

Feeding your infant to excess triggers undesirable genetic changes that could condemn the child to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Pediatricians and molecular geneticists at Texas’ Baylor College of Medicine now report that overfed mouse neonates develop lifelong DNA methylation abnormalities.

These genetic changes led to premature aging patterns of the pancreas.  That, in turn, produces less robust insulin production with diabetes and all its dire consequences.

Parental responsibility for good child nutrition begins at birth.  This study adds to other than emphasize that the effects of an unbalanced diet are difficult if not impossible to correct.

Ge Li, Tihomira D Petkova, Eleonora Laritsky, Noah Kessler, Maria S Baker, Shaoyu Zhu, Robert A Waterland. Early postnatal overnutrition accelerates aging-associated epigenetic drift in pancreatic islets. Environmental Epigenetics, 2019; 5 (3) DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvz015

#Overfeeding #diabetes #DNAmethylation

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kR-yJ1SX370

Positive thinking fuels a longer, happier life.  A collaborative study from Boston University, the Boston VA Medical Center, and Harvard’s School of Public Health now shows that optimistic men and women live 11 to 15% longer and have a 50-70% greater chance of living to 85 years.

The study looked at more than 70,000 participants.  Surveys quantitated their optimism, and medical records provided their health status.

Researchers speculate that optimism neutralizes stress and its nasty associated hormones.  A smile on your face and a positive half-full philosophy will not only brighten but also lengthen your life.

Lewina O. Lee, Peter James, Emily S. Zevon, Eric S. Kim, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Avron Spiro III, Francine Grodstein, and Laura D. Kubzansky. Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women. PNAS, 2019 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1900712116

#Optimism #longevity #stress

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4waXXk7vFG4

Growing up with an older brother slows a young child’s language emergence.  French developmental linguists observed this phenomenon after observing more than 1100 children from birth to 5 and a half years.

Children of either gender with older brothers had a 2 month language delay compared with those having a sister.   The investigators suggest that this gap may be the result of more language stimulation from the sister as girls tend to develop verbal language faster than boys.

Young parents whose growing families have an oldest male child should give special time and provide more language stimulation for that younger sib.

Naomi Havron, Franck Ramus, Barbara Heude, etal. The Effect of Older Siblings on Language Development as a Function of Age Difference and Sex. Psychological Science, 2019; 095679761986143 DOI: 10.1177/0956797619861436

#Languagedevelopment #siblings