Deborah Does Navel-Gazing » Parenting

Girls Feel Sadder Than Boys When Friends Let Them Down

Deborah — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:37:41 +0000

(HealthDay News) — When a friend lets them down, girls may take it harder than boys do, a new study suggests.

It included 267 fourth- and fifth-grade students in North Carolina and Rhode Island who were shown 16 hypothetical stories in which a friend had violated a core expectation of friendship, such as belittling their worry over a sick pet or failing to do their part on a joint school project.

Girls were just as likely as boys to say that they would seek revenge against the friend, verbally attack the friend and threaten to end the friendship, the Duke University researchers found.

via Girls Feel Sadder Than Boys When Friends Let Them Down.

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Brain Pathways Seem Disrupted in Kids With ADHD

Deborah — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:35:56 +0000

HealthDay News — The brains of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD show abnormalities in certain areas involved with "visual attention," new research finds.Researchers performed functional MRIs fMRIs on 19 children aged 9 to 15 diagnosed with ADHD and 19 without the disorder while the children took a test in which they were shown a set of numbers and then asked to remember whether a subsequent group of numbers matched the original.

via Brain Pathways Seem Disrupted in Kids With ADHD.

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ER Visits for Energy-Drink Ills Soar in U.S.

Deborah — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:03:47 +0000

HealthDay News — As the popularity of non-alcoholic "energy" drinks skyrockets, so do related health problems, a new study finds.In 2009, U.S. emergency rooms treated almost 10 times more cases of reactions to beverages such as Monster and Rockstar than they did in 2005, according to a new U.S. government report released Tuesday.More than 13,000 ER visits related to the highly caffeinated drinks were reported in 2009, said researchers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SAMHSA. Nearly half the emergencies occurred after the beverages were mixed with alcohol or other drugs, and young adults aged 18 to 25 accounted for more than half of those cases, the researchers found.

via ER Visits for Energy-Drink Ills Soar in U.S..

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Words Recognized by Looks, Not Sounds

Deborah — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:19:55 +0000

(HealthDay News) — Skilled readers do not have to sound out words every time they see them, a new study indicates.

Instead, once they know a word, they can access a "visual dictionary" in their brains to recognize it every time they see it, said researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. They suggested these findings could provide new insight into certain reading disorders.

via Words Recognized by Looks, Not Sounds.

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How American teens navigate the new world of “digital citizenship” | Pew Internet

Deborah — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:49:38 +0000

Social media use has become so pervasive in the lives of American teens that having a presence on a social network site is almost synonymous with being online. Fully 95% of all teens ages 12-17 are now online and 80% of those online teens are users of social media sites.1 Many log on daily to their social network pages and these have become spaces where much of the social activity of teen life is echoed and amplified—in both good and bad ways.We focused our attention in this research on social network sites because we wanted to understand the types of experiences teens are having there and how they are addressing negative behavior when they see it or experience it. As they navigate challenging social interactions online, who is influencing their sense of what it means to be a good or bad “digital citizen”? How often do they intervene to stand up for others? How often do they join in the mean behavior?

via How American teens navigate the new world of “digital citizenship” | Pew Internet & American Life Project.

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Experts Offer ‘Lucky 13′ Tips for Safe and Healthy Halloween

Deborah — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:37:06 +0000

(HealthDay News) — From decorative contact lenses to face paint, experts warn that Halloween costumes may result in a wide array of potentially serious health issues from falls to allergic reactions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provided the following "lucky 13" guidelines on how kids and their parents can enjoy a fun and safe Halloween

via Experts Offer ‘Lucky 13′ Tips for Safe and Healthy Halloween.

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Sleepy Teens More Prone to Weight Gain: Study

Deborah — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:40:22 +0000

(HealthDay News) — Teens who don’t get enough sleep may find themselves putting on extra pounds and boys, in particular, may be at risk for obesity, new research suggests.

In the study, researchers surveyed 108 male and 147 female students at a Texas high school and found that the average sleep time on weekdays was 6 hours 32 minutes for males and 6 hours 30 minutes for females. The average sleep time on weekends was 9 hours 10 minutes for males and 9 hours 22 minutes for females.

via Sleepy Teens More Prone to Weight Gain: Study.

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Bond With Teacher Can Help Curb Aggression in Kids

Deborah — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:39:07 +0000

(HealthDay News) — Having a good relationship with their teacher may help reduce aggressive behavior among first-graders and also protect them from other students’ aggression, researchers have found.

Genetic factors can influence aggression in middle childhood, but outside influences also play a role, according to the study published in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development.

via Bond With Teacher Can Help Curb Aggression in Kids.

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Some Kids Respond Better to ADHD Drug Than Others

Deborah — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:49:03 +0000

HealthDay News — Children with specific gene variants respond better to the drug methylphenidate Ritalin, Concerta, which is widely used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD, a new study says.The finding could help improve treatment of ADHD, according to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers."Physicians don’t have a good way of predicting who will experience great improvement in ADHD symptoms with a particular medication, so currently we use a trial-and-error approach. Unfortunately, as a result, finding an effective treatment can take a long time," lead investigator Dr. Tanya Froehlich, a physician in the division of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, said in a medical center news release.

via Some Kids Respond Better to ADHD Drug Than Others.

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D.E.A. Bans Chemicals Used in ‘Bath Salts’ – NYTimes.com

Deborah — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:44:52 +0000

The Drug Enforcement Administration took emergency action on Friday to ban three synthetic stimulants used to make products that are marketed at head shops and on the Web as “bath salts,” but are actually used as recreational drugs that mimic the effects of cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine.

The emergency measure places these substances — mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone MDPV and methylone — under the D.E.A.’s most restrictive category for at least a year, while they study whether they should be permanently banned. This classification is reserved for substances with high potential for abuse and no accepted use under medical supervision.

via D.E.A. Bans Chemicals Used in ‘Bath Salts’ – NYTimes.com.

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