Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vOOwAULCFfg

Statins, in widespread use for lowering cholesterol and right-sizing the proportions of so-called good and bad fats, HDL and LDL.   Statins such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and simvastatin (Zocor) will save lives but all too few take them regularly as prescribed.  

Utah cardiologists presented their study of nearly 5500 patients at this years spring scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology.  The good news revealed by the data is that those patients who took their statin medications at least 80% of the time enjoyed nearly a 50% reduction in risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause.  The bad news is that only 6% of the patients took their statin medications regularly.  A whopping 94% couldn’t be bothered to take these lifesaving drugs.

That statistic is just crazy!  If you are prescribed medications for your heart, breathing, or cholesterol, consider them to be as vital as food and water.  Work out a system so you won’t forget to take them regularly as directed.

Intermountain Medical Center. "Taking statins for heart disease cuts risk in half, yet only 6 percent of patients taking as directed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190318111952.htm.

#statins #heartattack #stroke #cholesterol

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vOOwAULCFfg

Statins, in widespread use for lowering cholesterol and right-sizing the proportions of so-called good and bad fats, HDL and LDL.   Statins such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and simvastatin (Zocor) will save lives but all too few take them regularly as prescribed.  

Utah cardiologists presented their study of nearly 5500 patients at this years spring scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology.  The good news revealed by the data is that those patients who took their statin medications at least 80% of the time enjoyed nearly a 50% reduction in risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause.  The bad news is that only 6% of the patients took their statin medications regularly.  A whopping 94% couldn’t be bothered to take these lifesaving drugs.

That statistic is just crazy!  If you are prescribed medications for your heart, breathing, or cholesterol, consider them to be as vital as food and water.  Work out a system so you won’t forget to take them regularly as directed.

Intermountain Medical Center. "Taking statins for heart disease cuts risk in half, yet only 6 percent of patients taking as directed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190318111952.htm.

#statins #heartattack #stroke #cholesterol

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mIwQOTwREXY

A mother smoking before and during pregnancy increases the risk that her child will die unexpectedly during infancy.  Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatricians and the data jockeys at Microsoft Corporation collaborated to analyze the CDC’s infant death data covering almost 21 million births and close to 20,000 episodes of infant death.

The risk of unexpected infant death skyrocketed by a factor of nearly 2.5 times with any maternal cigarette smoking, even one cigarette a day, during pregnancy.  The chance that her infant might die increased by 7% for each cigarette from 1 to 20 per day.  Even mothers who smoked within 3 months before becoming pregnant and quit once pregnant had a 47% increased chance of an infant death.

This study adds the precision of huge numbers to previous investigations that have already associated maternal smoking with sudden infant death.  If you are even thinking about becoming pregnant, you and anyone with whom you live should stop smoking at least 3 months before you begin trying to conceive.

If you have smoked before or during pregnancy and even if you haven’t, once your child is born take extra precautions and diligently follow Sudden Unexpected Infant Death prevention recommendations. These include: using a bare crib without covers, pillows, or bumpers; positioning your baby on the back to prevent obstructed breathing; and never fall asleep with your baby in your bed or chair.

An infant death is one of the worst tragedies any parent can endure.  Know that prevention is within your power and act on that knowledge.

Tatiana M. Anderson, Juan M. Lavista Ferres, Shirley You Ren, Rachel Y. Moon, Richard D. Goldstein, Jan-Marino Ramirez, Edwin A. Mitchell. Maternal Smoking Before and During Pregnancy and the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death. Pediatrics, 2019; e20183325 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-3325

https://sids.org/what-is-sidssuid/reduce-the-risk/

#smoking #SIDS #SUID

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mIwQOTwREXY

A mother smoking before and during pregnancy increases the risk that her child will die unexpectedly during infancy.  Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatricians and the data jockeys at Microsoft Corporation collaborated to analyze the CDC’s infant death data covering almost 21 million births and close to 20,000 episodes of infant death.

The risk of unexpected infant death skyrocketed by a factor of nearly 2.5 times with any maternal cigarette smoking, even one cigarette a day, during pregnancy.  The chance that her infant might die increased by 7% for each cigarette from 1 to 20 per day.  Even mothers who smoked within 3 months before becoming pregnant and quit once pregnant had a 47% increased chance of an infant death.

This study adds the precision of huge numbers to previous investigations that have already associated maternal smoking with sudden infant death.  If you are even thinking about becoming pregnant, you and anyone with whom you live should stop smoking at least 3 months before you begin trying to conceive.

If you have smoked before or during pregnancy and even if you haven’t, once your child is born take extra precautions and diligently follow Sudden Unexpected Infant Death prevention recommendations. These include: using a bare crib without covers, pillows, or bumpers; positioning your baby on the back to prevent obstructed breathing; and never fall asleep with your baby in your bed or chair.

An infant death is one of the worst tragedies any parent can endure.  Know that prevention is within your power and act on that knowledge.

Tatiana M. Anderson, Juan M. Lavista Ferres, Shirley You Ren, Rachel Y. Moon, Richard D. Goldstein, Jan-Marino Ramirez, Edwin A. Mitchell. Maternal Smoking Before and During Pregnancy and the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death. Pediatrics, 2019; e20183325 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-3325

https://sids.org/what-is-sidssuid/reduce-the-risk/

#smoking #SIDS #SUID

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KTnE7itSwwY

Sporadic over-consumption of alcohol during adolescent years leads to epigenetic alterations in the cells of brain tissue, and that modification forever damages later emotional stability.  Experiments proving this phenomenon from the University of Illinois-Chicago were just published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Using an adolescent rat model, the scientists showed that repeated, intense exposures to alcohol early in life led to overt anxiety later in the animals’ lifespans.  Neuroanatomic studies revealed that the binge drinking led to a significant reduction of a protein ARC in the amygdala.  This missing protein was associated with a 40% reduction in critical neuronal connections.  Worse yet, stopping drinking failed to correct the deficit.

The amygdala is the coordinating center for our emotions, and wiring problems in this zone will create emotional shortfalls including anxiety and depression.  This can lead to a closed loop and a downward spiral where the effects of early alcohol misuse can then lead to frank alcoholism later in life.

Evan J. Kyzar, Huaibo Zhang, Subhash C. Pandey. Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Epigenetically Suppresses Amygdala Arc Enhancer RNA Expression to Confer Adult Anxiety Susceptibility. Biological Psychiatry, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.12.021

#bingeing #alcoholism #adolescence #emotion #depression #anxiety

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KTnE7itSwwY

Sporadic over-consumption of alcohol during adolescent years leads to epigenetic alterations in the cells of brain tissue, and that modification forever damages later emotional stability.  Experiments proving this phenomenon from the University of Illinois-Chicago were just published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Using an adolescent rat model, the scientists showed that repeated, intense exposures to alcohol early in life led to overt anxiety later in the animals’ lifespans.  Neuroanatomic studies revealed that the binge drinking led to a significant reduction of a protein ARC in the amygdala.  This missing protein was associated with a 40% reduction in critical neuronal connections.  Worse yet, stopping drinking failed to correct the deficit.

The amygdala is the coordinating center for our emotions, and wiring problems in this zone will create emotional shortfalls including anxiety and depression.  This can lead to a closed loop and a downward spiral where the effects of early alcohol misuse can then lead to frank alcoholism later in life.

Evan J. Kyzar, Huaibo Zhang, Subhash C. Pandey. Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Epigenetically Suppresses Amygdala Arc Enhancer RNA Expression to Confer Adult Anxiety Susceptibility. Biological Psychiatry, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.12.021

#bingeing #alcoholism #adolescence #emotion #depression #anxiety

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/s4Lxva4O0Pk

Sleep deprivation will drive you to consume a wider variety of products.  Marketing researchers from the University of British Columbia’s business school draw this conclusion from several studies of buying patterns as a function of sleepiness.  

Their experiments included artificial situations such as choosing candy bars on more or less sleep and a look at the consumption patterns of some 60,000 American households whose occupants lost sleep with the shift to daylight savings time.  Their shopping is quantitated in the Nielsen consumer panel data set.  I guess Nielsen watches more than our TV viewing habits.

The results from the various experiments told similar stories.  We human consumers tend to crave variety when we’re tired.  It seems that the search for new products or a variety of the same product helps to stimulate our brains and keep us awake.  It’s shopping as the ultimate form of self-stimulation.

It’s not rocket science to conclude that the search for variety will ultimately lead to more consumption than is probably necessary.  If you want to avoid impulse buying and the ingestion of unwanted calories, avoiding supermarket expeditions and culinary adventures when you are half in the bag or completely exhausted.

Zhongqiang (Tak) Huang, Yitian (Sky) Liang, Charles B. Weinberg, Gerald J. Gorn. The Sleepy Consumer and Variety Seeking. Journal of Marketing Research, 2019; 002224371881133 DOI: 10.1177/0022243718811334

#shopping #dining #consumer #sleep #sleepdeprivation

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/s4Lxva4O0Pk

Sleep deprivation will drive you to consume a wider variety of products.  Marketing researchers from the University of British Columbia’s business school draw this conclusion from several studies of buying patterns as a function of sleepiness.  

Their experiments included artificial situations such as choosing candy bars on more or less sleep and a look at the consumption patterns of some 60,000 American households whose occupants lost sleep with the shift to daylight savings time.  Their shopping is quantitated in the Nielsen consumer panel data set.  I guess Nielsen watches more than our TV viewing habits.

The results from the various experiments told similar stories.  We human consumers tend to crave variety when we’re tired.  It seems that the search for new products or a variety of the same product helps to stimulate our brains and keep us awake.  It’s shopping as the ultimate form of self-stimulation.

It’s not rocket science to conclude that the search for variety will ultimately lead to more consumption than is probably necessary.  If you want to avoid impulse buying and the ingestion of unwanted calories, avoiding supermarket expeditions and culinary adventures when you are half in the bag or completely exhausted.

Zhongqiang (Tak) Huang, Yitian (Sky) Liang, Charles B. Weinberg, Gerald J. Gorn. The Sleepy Consumer and Variety Seeking. Journal of Marketing Research, 2019; 002224371881133 DOI: 10.1177/0022243718811334

#shopping #dining #consumer #sleep #sleepdeprivation

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/YBZgDChW8Xg

Smartphones and tablets have not reduced the 90 minutes a day that children and teens traditionally spend with other family members.  Sociologists at the British Universities of Oxford and Warwick reviewed journals from nearly 2500 children 8 to 16 years of age and journals from their parents as well.   

The data shows that personal electronics actually added about 30 minutes to the amount of time the kids spent at home. This extra time, though, was not social time but rather what the scientists referred to as “alone-together” time.  You know what that is: the child is physically present but the mind is in some other galaxy or medieval castle. 

So there is good and bad news from this study.  It’s good that true family time remains during meals, shared discussions, and communal TV time as long as the devices are not in everyone’s hands.  The news is bad as the the extra 30 minutes at home may be robbing our kids of true social interactions with their peers.  

While some of that 30 minutes may involve texting to friends, the incessant LOLs and OMGs are not as satisfying and emotionally valuable as face-to-face communications.  It’s no wonder that many 20 and 30 somethings seem to lack effective interpersonal skills.

Killian Mullan, Stella Chatzitheochari. Changing Times Together? A Time-Diary Analysis of Family Time in the Digital Age in the United Kingdom. Journal of Marriage and Family, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12564

#family #friends #smartphones #tablets #meals #texting

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/YBZgDChW8Xg

Smartphones and tablets have not reduced the 90 minutes a day that children and teens traditionally spend with other family members.  Sociologists at the British Universities of Oxford and Warwick reviewed journals from nearly 2500 children 8 to 16 years of age and journals from their parents as well.   

The data shows that personal electronics actually added about 30 minutes to the amount of time the kids spent at home. This extra time, though, was not social time but rather what the scientists referred to as “alone-together” time.  You know what that is: the child is physically present but the mind is in some other galaxy or medieval castle. 

So there is good and bad news from this study.  It’s good that true family time remains during meals, shared discussions, and communal TV time as long as the devices are not in everyone’s hands.  The news is bad as the the extra 30 minutes at home may be robbing our kids of true social interactions with their peers.  

While some of that 30 minutes may involve texting to friends, the incessant LOLs and OMGs are not as satisfying and emotionally valuable as face-to-face communications.  It’s no wonder that many 20 and 30 somethings seem to lack effective interpersonal skills.

Killian Mullan, Stella Chatzitheochari. Changing Times Together? A Time-Diary Analysis of Family Time in the Digital Age in the United Kingdom. Journal of Marriage and Family, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12564

#family #friends #smartphones #tablets #meals #texting