Fed: CheckUp column for Friday, August 24

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2007
Fed: CheckUp column for Friday, August 24

EDS: Reissuing on request from subscriber.



A ROUNDUP OF ISSUES AFFECTING YOUR HEALTH



LOVE MAKES FOR BETTER TREATMENT

Nurses and midwives who feel love for their patients are better carers, an unusual
Australian study has found.

The Deakin University research explored whether midwives and nurses from 20 different
specialisations actually loved their patients.

Nurses who said they felt love or other feelings of affection were more likely to act,
be responsible and care, the study found.

One nurse said he acted out of love to stop a young patient from banging his own head
against a wall, despite putting himself at risk of injury.

"In a general sense, my work explains how one person can jump into a raging river to
save someone's life when they can't swim, and why others will just walk away," said lead
researcher Dr Les Fitzgerald.

"In the health setting, it explains why some nurses can care for patients with an infectious
disease like the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and face the risk of catching
it and dying, and why others refuse to work."



POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN DIET AND TEENAGE DEPRESSION

An unhealthy childhood diet could lead to teenage depression and anxiety, Australian
research suggests.

Researchers from Curtin University are currently analysing data collected from 2,000
mothers about their child's mental and physical development over a 16-year period.

Though the study is still in progress, already there are patterns emerging.

"For example, we're finding out that the better the quality breakfast a child has,
the more wholegrain cereals and healthy foods such as milk, yoghurt and fruit, the better
their mental health is," lead researcher Dr Wendy Oddy said.

The initial findings will be presented at the 5th International Congress of Developmental
Origins of Health and Disease in Perth in November.



MOTHERS INFLUENCE THEIR CHILDREN'S EATING HABITS

Pregnant women who eat sugary or fatty foods could put their child at risk of obesity,
according to new research.

Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in London studied 42 pregnant and lactating
rats and their 216 offspring.

The babies whose mothers ate junk food during pregnancy or lactation were fatter and
ate more, the results published in UK newspaper The Independent showed.

"Our study has shown that eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding
could impair the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for junk
food in offspring," said lead researcher Dr Stephanie Bayol.

"Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during (babies') foetal and suckling life might
help explain why some individuals may find it harder than others to control their junk
food intake."



RESEARCHERS TURN FEMALE MICE TO MALES

Australian scientists have accidentally discovered that female mice can be turned into
males in the womb, indicating benefits for humans.

Scientists at the University of Adelaide added copies of a gene called Sox3 - normally
active during brain development - to female mice in utero, and surprisingly switched on
male genes.

As a result, 80 per cent of the offspring were male.

Their findings could improve the understanding and treatment of people who are born
as hermaphrodites.

"We are hoping we can apply what we learn to patients with disorders of sexual development,"

lead researcher Edwina Sutton said.

"In three quarters of these patients, we don't even understand the genetic cause of
the condition.

"Any knowledge we gain will be an improvement."



SEXY SENIORS HAVE ACTIVE LOVE LIVES

Many elderly people maintain an active sex life even into their 80s, a survey reveals.

Researchers at the University of Chicago interviewed more than 3,000 US residents aged
between 57 to 85 about the details of their sex lives.

Participants were asked if they had engaged in vaginal intercourse, oral sex and masturbation
in the last 12 months.

The results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed 73 per cent of
people aged between 57 and 64 were sexually active as were 53 per cent of those aged between
65 and 74.

The findings also showed 26 per cent of those between 75 to 85 were sexually active
and 54 per cent in that age bracket had sex at least two or three times a month.

Women were less likely to be sexually active because they tended to stay single after
the death of a partner while men often sought out new partners, the researchers said.



SOCIAL PHOBIA TREATMENT AVAILABLE ONLINE

Rural Australians who have a fear of social situations can now seek treatment for their
disorder online as part of a new study.

A new internet program developed by the University of NSW aims to treat people in isolated
areas who have limited access to psychiatric care.

The study targets people with social phobia, a condition in which sufferers fear and
avoid social situations and might quit work, avoid leaving home and become depressed and
lonely.

The program teaches patients techniques for managing their symptoms through activities
including weekly online lessons and homework assignments.

"The program incorporates several basic techniques such as learning to control the
physical anxiety associated with social phobia, techniques for tackling a person's fears,
and developing a program for tackling those fears and recognising self-defeating thoughts,"

said Dr Nick Titov, a senior lecturer at the UNSW Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety Disorders.

AAP sg/tam/cjh/cdh

KEYWORD: CHECKUP (REISSUING)

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