Screen Time Linked to Speech Delay in Children

Let’s face it. Many parents nowadays are letting their children play with either tablets or smartphones in that hope that it would keep them busy. Everybody lives a busy life, so this is not to be condemned. However, there are some things parents should think about when letting the kids play for hours on a phone. How does that interaction affect them and their social behavior? Does it have any effect on their brain? And most importantly, does it provoke speech delays? A new study, released on Thursday and presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting, revealed that there might indeed be a connection between all those facts.

Screens are affecting the children

According to the study, the more time children between six months and two years spend looking at electronic devices, the more likely it is for them to develop speech delays. According to Dr. Catherine Birken, the study’s senior investigator, this is the very first study which analyzes the links between mobile devices and speech delay in children. And the results are striking. However, the doctor warns the parents to not take this first result too seriously because scientists need more time in order to come to a clear conclusion.

The study involved about 900 children whose parents reported the amount of time the kids spent in front of mobile devices of any kind. They reported this when the children were 18 months-old. Additionally, researchers used some kind of validated screen tool in order to measure the kids’ language development at 18 months. This included whether or not the kid was able to use sounds and gestures to communicate, or to put letters or word together. About 20 per cent of the children were spending about 28 minutes in front of a screen. Each 30-minute increase in that time also increased the risk of developing speech delay with 49 per cent.

Not the final conclusion

However, Dr. Catherine Birken stated that her team needs to conduct more research. They need to find out if the link between mobile devices and speech delay is really something that we should take seriously.  According to her, it may also have to do with what exactly are the kids watching and how does that affect them.

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STATES CHRONICLE – Zika is one of the most dangerous viruses, especially as there is no official treatment for it and the symptoms are not always so easy to discover. What we do know is that the Zika Virus can affect all of us, but especially pregnant women. Their babies can be born with serious mental issues. According to a new report, a small number of babies infected with Zika virus have developed a rare joint birth defect.It is called arthrogryposis and it involves muscle weakness and stiff joints.

It has been already discovered that Zika cause microcephaly, which makes a child have an abnormally small brain and head. When it comes to the new joint birth defect they discovered, doctors consider congenital Zika as a possible diagnosis. They are still researching as they want to find out all the health problems this syndrome might involve.

Those babies, who have this joint birth defect, were born in Brazil. This is one of the first countries where Zika virus was discovered, in 2015. Moreover, six out those seven babies also had microcephaly and all of them were infected in the womb. So there is almost no doubt that Zika virus is responsible for their birth defects.

However, the study found only a link between Zika and arthrogryposis and them to have to do more research before proving that the virus is causing this condition. Doctors have to understand better the neurological problems of the babies and what can be done to help them. Children will be evaluated for bones and muscle problems hoping that the scientists will discover something new.

The Zika Virus is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito and can also be passed from pregnant women to her fetus. People should stay indoor as long as possible, avoid mosquitoes and go to the doctor if they do not very well.Zika can also be transmitted without using condoms so protect yourself.

There is no need to go the hospital as symptoms can last several days, but no longer than a week. If you are pregnant, you should be more careful because you have one more life to take care of. Even though people rarely die from it, Zika is one of the most biggest threats of this century, especially for the babies. Take care of your health and be aware of the danger Zika can be.

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A new study has found that prolonged sitting may lead to health issues even if you exercise regularly. It raises cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels, and makes people vulnerable to developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

Good news is that the cure is a simple one – start standing or walking around every once in a while. Genevieve Healy, lead author on the study and researcher from the University of Queensland (Herston), gave a statement saying that converting “some of your sitting time” into standing time could benefit both your heart and your metabolism.

She went on to add that spending more time standing rather than sitting can “improve your blood sugar, fats in the blood and cholesterol levels”, and replacing sitting time with walking time can “have additional benefits for your waistline and body mass index” (BDI).

For their study, Healy and her team look at almost 800 subjects, both men and women, with the age between 36 and 80. They monitored how much time each of the subjects spent sleeping or lying down, standing, walking and running, on a daily basis (24 hours) for seven (7) days straight.

What’s more, the researchers also collected blood samples from the subjects, measured their blood pressure levels, their waist circumference, and the proportion of their weight and their height (body mass index).

What the experts found was that spending just two (2) hours at work standing rather than sitting at the desk was linked to blood sugar levels that were about 2 percent (2%) lower and triglyceride levels, a type of fat found in the blood, that were 11 percent (11%) lower.

On top if this, subjects who spent even more than two (2) hours standing were found to have an increase in good cholesterol (HDL) and a decrease in bad cholesterol (LDL).

Spending two (2) hours per day walking rather than sitting was linked to blood sugar levels that were about 11 percent (11%) lower and triglyceride levels that were 14 percent (14%) lower, all while good cholesterol levels got higher.

But the biggest change happened when subjects converted two (2) hours of their sitting time into running time. Their body mass index decreased by roughly 11 percent (11%), and their waists became nearly three (3) inch smaller.

The findings are nothing new as Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiology from the University of California (Los Angeles), gave a statement of his own stressing that many previous studies have concluded that a sedentary lifestyle raises someone’s chance of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even experiencing a premature death.

It’s worth mentioning that the researchers could not offer undeniable proof that converting sitting time into standing time automatically improves a person’s health, only that there is a connection.

The study was published just a few days ago, on July 31, 2015, in the European Heart Journal.

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Women who develop and beat breast cancer may get rid of one struggle and move on to another: obesity. A new study has found that breast cancer treatments, especially chemotherapy, may cause patients to gain weight. What’s more, the effects can last up to five (5) years after treatment has stopped.

Dr. Kala Visvanathan, lead researcher and associate professor with an expertise in epidemiology over at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore), gave a statement to CBS News saying that “Substantial increases in weight can impact breast cancer progression and can impact whether or not they get other chronic diseases”.

She went on to add that even though people usually forget this, the majority of breast cancer patients do not actually die from breast cancer, but rather from other diseases. She stressed that those things are very important to monitor as well.

The study was inspired by an observation made by experts at the Cancer Center from Johns Hopkins: breast cancer survivors have a tendency to gain weight.

Indeed, the research has found that women who underwent breast cancer treatment that involved chemotherapy gained more weight than women who never had cancer and shared their age. Weight gain can lead to number of medical problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease. But the question was “why?”. There wasn’t a lot of preexistent research that could offer any answers.

The team started a two-part study that lasted over the course of (4) years. They looked at 600 women who were identified as having a high risk of developing breast cancer because of their family history of the disease. There were two (2) groups of subject – 303 of them were women who had been diagnosed and treated for the disease, and 307 of them were women who were at risk of developing breast cancer and had not been diagnosed with the disease.

The subjects were given their first survey regarding their cancer status, treatment methods and current weigh at the beginning of the study, and a second survey a year after, or even later.

The results showed that, when compared to healthy women, women who underwent chemotherapy treatment had twice the chance of gaining at least eleven (11) pounds in the next five (5) years. If the patient also took statins, she gained even more weight.

The researchers took into account factors such as age differences, hormonal cycles, and whether or not a patient has also suffered from ovarian cancer. They found that these factors did play a part, but that the main reasons were chemotherapy treatment and estrogen negative disease.

The working theory is that chemotherapy treatment might cause hormonal imbalance.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informs that about 220.000 women in the United States get diagnosed with breast cancer on a yearly basis, and according to the National Cancer Institute 89 percent (89%) of all of them have a life expectancy of more than five (5) years, but a lot of them end up living long lives.

The study was published earlier this week, on Wednesday (July 15, 2015), in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

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