Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/-HhcJ1th6Z8

As our families add children, we parents turn to our older children and encourage them to be the new arrival’s big brother or sister.  The latest intelligence from psychologists at Britain’s University of Warwick reveals the worrisome intelligence that the older siblings instead tend to bully the younger ones.

The researchers tabulated data from nearly 6900 British children who were studied at ages 5, 7 and 12 years.  A total of 28% of the children were involved in sibling bullying, and many were both bullies and victims.  Bullying occurred more often in families with 3 or more children, and the eldest child or older brothers were most often the bullies.

Bullying tends to be rampant in any situation where humans live in close proximity, know which buttons to push, and compete for parental attention and other limited resources.  Older children often resent the younger ones who came along to rob them of their only child privilege.  

Parents must guard against sibling violence by insuring equal resources for each child.   They should nurture an abundance of self-esteem in each child.  Most of all, parents should emphasize that family members are on a team and should work together, play together, and have each other’s back. 

#family #bullying #healthnews #healthtips

Slava Dantchev, Dieter Wolke. Trouble in the nest: Antecedents of sibling bullying victimization and perpetration.. Developmental Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1037/dev0000700

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/-HhcJ1th6Z8

As our families add children, we parents turn to our older children and encourage them to be the new arrival’s big brother or sister.  The latest intelligence from psychologists at Britain’s University of Warwick reveals the worrisome intelligence that the older siblings instead tend to bully the younger ones.

The researchers tabulated data from nearly 6900 British children who were studied at ages 5, 7 and 12 years.  A total of 28% of the children were involved in sibling bullying, and many were both bullies and victims.  Bullying occurred more often in families with 3 or more children, and the eldest child or older brothers were most often the bullies.

Bullying tends to be rampant in any situation where humans live in close proximity, know which buttons to push, and compete for parental attention and other limited resources.  Older children often resent the younger ones who came along to rob them of their only child privilege.  

Parents must guard against sibling violence by insuring equal resources for each child.   They should nurture an abundance of self-esteem in each child.  Most of all, parents should emphasize that family members are on a team and should work together, play together, and have each other’s back. 

#family #bullying #healthnews #healthtips

Slava Dantchev, Dieter Wolke. Trouble in the nest: Antecedents of sibling bullying victimization and perpetration.. Developmental Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1037/dev0000700

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/j8mOrrCP-94

One study after another heralds the advantages of breastfeeding.  Some mothers turn to pumping their breast milk when their flow is sporadic or when they develop conflicts with sib childcare or the demands of work.  Do babies enjoy the same advantages from ingesting pumped breast milk?

The short answer is an emphatic NO.  Researchers from Canada’s University of Manitoba studied the breast milk of almost 400 healthy mothers 3 to 4 months following delivery.  Using sophisticated genetic probes, they showed that the milk the babies actually ingested was healthier when it came directly from the mother’s breast.  

The natural breast milk contained good bacteria from both the mother and from the mouth of the infant.  The pumped breast milk contained those bugs but also an abundance of bad bacteria, opportunistic types that are capable of causing respiratory disease

It isn’t clear if the bad bugs come from contaminated breast pumps, but that is a likely possibility.  If you do use a breast pump, do all you can to clean it obsessively after every use.

Milk contamination is yet another reason to breast feed naturally.  Of course, there is the main reason: to create an abundance of mother-infant bonding.

#Breastmilk #pumped milk #breastfeeding #healthnews #healthtips

Shirin Moossavi, Shadi Sepehri, Bianca Robertson, Lars Bode, Sue Goruk, Catherine J. Field, Lisa M. Lix, Russell J. de Souza, Allan B. Becker, Piushkumar J. Mandhane, Stuart E. Turvey, Padmaja Subbarao, Theo J. Moraes, Diana L. Lefebvre, Malcolm R. Sears, Ehsan Khafipour, Meghan B. Azad. Composition and Variation of the Human Milk Microbiota Are Influenced by Maternal and Early-Life Factors. Cell Host & Microbe, 2019; 25 (2): 324 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.01.011

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/j8mOrrCP-94

One study after another heralds the advantages of breastfeeding.  Some mothers turn to pumping their breast milk when their flow is sporadic or when they develop conflicts with sib childcare or the demands of work.  Do babies enjoy the same advantages from ingesting pumped breast milk?

The short answer is an emphatic NO.  Researchers from Canada’s University of Manitoba studied the breast milk of almost 400 healthy mothers 3 to 4 months following delivery.  Using sophisticated genetic probes, they showed that the milk the babies actually ingested was healthier when it came directly from the mother’s breast.  

The natural breast milk contained good bacteria from both the mother and from the mouth of the infant.  The pumped breast milk contained those bugs but also an abundance of bad bacteria, opportunistic types that are capable of causing respiratory disease

It isn’t clear if the bad bugs come from contaminated breast pumps, but that is a likely possibility.  If you do use a breast pump, do all you can to clean it obsessively after every use.

Milk contamination is yet another reason to breast feed naturally.  Of course, there is the main reason: to create an abundance of mother-infant bonding.

#Breastmilk #pumped milk #breastfeeding #healthnews #healthtips

Shirin Moossavi, Shadi Sepehri, Bianca Robertson, Lars Bode, Sue Goruk, Catherine J. Field, Lisa M. Lix, Russell J. de Souza, Allan B. Becker, Piushkumar J. Mandhane, Stuart E. Turvey, Padmaja Subbarao, Theo J. Moraes, Diana L. Lefebvre, Malcolm R. Sears, Ehsan Khafipour, Meghan B. Azad. Composition and Variation of the Human Milk Microbiota Are Influenced by Maternal and Early-Life Factors. Cell Host & Microbe, 2019; 25 (2): 324 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.01.011

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/zho25BPRc8w

Marijuana use is spreading like wildfire, and the prevailing opinion is that its components are harmless.  Another of this weeks stories highlights its potential danger for those with heart problems.  Now a study from Britain’s University of Oxford and Canada’s McGill University shows that regular cannabis use in adolescence can trigger adult depression and suicidal ideas.

The researchers reviews 11 international studies covering more than 23,000 young persons.  Regular weed use by an individual bumped his or her risk of serious depression and suicide up by a factor of about 7%.  The number isn’t huge, but the consequences are tragic for that person so affected.  Then when you amplify the individual effect over a population, it translates into more than 400,000 cases of deadly depression in the U.S., 60,000 case in the U.K., and 25, 000 cases in Canada.

Other studies have shown that a teens regular use of cannabis is associated with poor school performance, increased motor vehicle accidents, addiction, neurosis, and psychosis.  And the smoke itself creates lung disease.

Repeated use of any mind-altering substances or frankly, any substances, is bad news!  Your byword should always be moderation!

#weed #marijuana #cannabis #depression #suicide, schoolperformance #mva #addiction #healthnews #healthtips

Gabriella Gobbi et al. Association of cannabis use in adolescence and risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality in young adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 2019 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/zho25BPRc8w

Marijuana use is spreading like wildfire, and the prevailing opinion is that its components are harmless.  Another of this weeks stories highlights its potential danger for those with heart problems.  Now a study from Britain’s University of Oxford and Canada’s McGill University shows that regular cannabis use in adolescence can trigger adult depression and suicidal ideas.

The researchers reviews 11 international studies covering more than 23,000 young persons.  Regular weed use by an individual bumped his or her risk of serious depression and suicide up by a factor of about 7%.  The number isn’t huge, but the consequences are tragic for that person so affected.  Then when you amplify the individual effect over a population, it translates into more than 400,000 cases of deadly depression in the U.S., 60,000 case in the U.K., and 25, 000 cases in Canada.

Other studies have shown that a teens regular use of cannabis is associated with poor school performance, increased motor vehicle accidents, addiction, neurosis, and psychosis.  And the smoke itself creates lung disease.

Repeated use of any mind-altering substances or frankly, any substances, is bad news!  Your byword should always be moderation!

#weed #marijuana #cannabis #depression #suicide, schoolperformance #mva #addiction #healthnews #healthtips

Gabriella Gobbi et al. Association of cannabis use in adolescence and risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality in young adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 2019 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/K1gxsErYkQc

How many times have we heard our mothers and grandmothers say “Dear..... you better go to sleep to fight off that cold.”  The latest research just published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine now proves that she was dead on!

Immunologists from Germany’s University of Tübingen studied T cells from healthy volunteers as they slept or while they were pulling all nighters.  For your reference, T cells are the white cells that kill cold viruses.

The “sleeping” T cells had significantly more surface activators called integrins.  These sticky integrins help the killer T cells attach and destroy target cells.  

The targets in question could be our respiratory lining cells infected by cold viruses and making more virus to perpetuate our misery.   More importantly, the target cell could also be a cancer cell on its way to your brain, lungs, or liver.

Just as sleep bumps up your T cell integrins, stress does just the opposite.  So be sure to get those ZZZZZ and fight stress by laughing every chance you get.

#sleep #immunity #cancer #colds #stress #healthnews #healthtips

Stoyan Dimitrov, Tanja Lange, Cécile Gouttefangeas, Anja T.R. Jensen, Michael Szczepanski, Jannik Lehnnolz, Surjo Soekadar, Hans-Georg Rammensee, Jan Born, Luciana Besedovsky. Gαs-coupled receptor signaling and sleep regulate integrin activation of human antigen-specific T cells. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2019; jem.20181169 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20181169

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/K1gxsErYkQc

How many times have we heard our mothers and grandmothers say “Dear..... you better go to sleep to fight off that cold.”  The latest research just published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine now proves that she was dead on!

Immunologists from Germany’s University of Tübingen studied T cells from healthy volunteers as they slept or while they were pulling all nighters.  For your reference, T cells are the white cells that kill cold viruses.

The “sleeping” T cells had significantly more surface activators called integrins.  These sticky integrins help the killer T cells attach and destroy target cells.  

The targets in question could be our respiratory lining cells infected by cold viruses and making more virus to perpetuate our misery.   More importantly, the target cell could also be a cancer cell on its way to your brain, lungs, or liver.

Just as sleep bumps up your T cell integrins, stress does just the opposite.  So be sure to get those ZZZZZ and fight stress by laughing every chance you get.

#sleep #immunity #cancer #colds #stress #healthnews #healthtips

Stoyan Dimitrov, Tanja Lange, Cécile Gouttefangeas, Anja T.R. Jensen, Michael Szczepanski, Jannik Lehnnolz, Surjo Soekadar, Hans-Georg Rammensee, Jan Born, Luciana Besedovsky. Gαs-coupled receptor signaling and sleep regulate integrin activation of human antigen-specific T cells. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2019; jem.20181169 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20181169

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/NTxj6-8Dqts

We’ve all heard about the narcotic epidemic.  The real news is that there are potent weapons to combat opioid use as close as our medicine cabinets.  

Ibuprofen, generic or branded Advil or Motrin, either alone or with acetaminophen, generic or Tylenol, significantly reduced the need for postoperative morphine in a study of more than 550 patients undergoing hip surgery.  

The subjects started their oral pain meds one hour before surgery and continued to receive them every 6 hours for the first day after surgery.  The patients were able to obtain any additional pain relief they needed by pushing a button to self-administer IV morphine.

The finding that 400 mg of ibuprofen, that’s two adult pills, taken every 6 hours kills pain exceedingly well and eliminates the need for more powerful drugs should be useful information to you.  If you are a patient facing surgery, do discuss post-op pain control strategy with your surgeon and anesthesiologist.  When you do, tell them you’d rather start with non-narcotic pain killers and only take the opioids if absolutely necessary.

#pain #analgesic #ibuprofen #acetaminophen #morphine #pca #healthnews #healthtips

Thybo KH, Hägi-Pedersen D, Dahl JB, et al. Effect of Combination of Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) and Ibuprofen vs Either Alone on Patient-Controlled Morphine Consumption in the First 24 Hours After Total Hip Arthroplasty: The PANSAID Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019;321(6):562–571. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.22039

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/NTxj6-8Dqts

We’ve all heard about the narcotic epidemic.  The real news is that there are potent weapons to combat opioid use as close as our medicine cabinets.  

Ibuprofen, generic or branded Advil or Motrin, either alone or with acetaminophen, generic or Tylenol, significantly reduced the need for postoperative morphine in a study of more than 550 patients undergoing hip surgery.  

The subjects started their oral pain meds one hour before surgery and continued to receive them every 6 hours for the first day after surgery.  The patients were able to obtain any additional pain relief they needed by pushing a button to self-administer IV morphine.

The finding that 400 mg of ibuprofen, that’s two adult pills, taken every 6 hours kills pain exceedingly well and eliminates the need for more powerful drugs should be useful information to you.  If you are a patient facing surgery, do discuss post-op pain control strategy with your surgeon and anesthesiologist.  When you do, tell them you’d rather start with non-narcotic pain killers and only take the opioids if absolutely necessary.

#pain #analgesic #ibuprofen #acetaminophen #morphine #pca #healthnews #healthtips

Thybo KH, Hägi-Pedersen D, Dahl JB, et al. Effect of Combination of Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) and Ibuprofen vs Either Alone on Patient-Controlled Morphine Consumption in the First 24 Hours After Total Hip Arthroplasty: The PANSAID Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019;321(6):562–571. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.22039