life

Rapid infant weight gain linked to obesity in African American young adults

African Americans who gained weight rapidly in the first four months of life were more likely than their peers to be obese as young adults, 20 years later, according to researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Their study, published in the June issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data on 300 people in Philadelphia who were followed as part of a long-term, larger study from 1962 through 1989.

Anti-HIV drugs save vision, improve outlook for AIDS patients

A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers shows the multiple anti-HIV drug regimen called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) saves eyesight as well as lives. A second study led by Johns Hopkins researchers finds that among AIDS patients with longstanding vision problems, those who took HAART reported higher overall quality of life.

Searching for life may boost immune system

Pursuing goals related to living a meaningful life may boost the activity of certain cells in the immune system, according to a small study of women who lost a relative to breast cancer. Women who placed more importance on these goals at the beginning of the study had higher levels of activity among their ?natural killer? immune cells. In addition, women who elevated the importance of these goals over a one-month period showed increases in natural killer cell activity, compared to women who said that the importance of these goals had decreased for them.

Study: Remaining childless does not lead to loneliness in old age

The common belief that remaining childless leads to loneliness or depression in the elderly is contradicted by a new University of Florida study, which instead found similar levels of well-being among parents and people without children in their later years. At the same time, having children is no guarantee of happiness later in life, said Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, a UF sociology professor who conducted the study.

Rapid increase of opioids benefits some dying pediatric cancer patients

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that terminally ill children with cancer who have neuropathic pain require more opioids during the final days of life than those without neuropathic pain. In addition, the team found preliminary evidence that a “cocktail” of several narcotics was significantly more effective at treating these patients than dramatically increasing the dosage of two commonly used opioids — morphine and benzodiazepine.

A new branch on the tree of life

The family tree of life has a newly discovered branch. Genetic studies comparing mitochondrial DNA have revealed that what has long been thought to be the group from which insects arose, the Collembola — wingless hexapods (or “six legs”) commonly called springtails — turns out not to be closely related to insects after all. Instead, these creatures belong to a separate evolutionary lineage that predates even the separation of insects and crustaceans.

Hitchhiking Bacteria could compromise the detection of life on Mars

Is there life on Mars? It’s possible, but it may not Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.

U.S. life expectancy hits new high

Americans’ life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2001, while age-adjusted deaths hit an all-time low, according to a new report released today by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. The report from HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents that the national age-adjusted death rate decreased slightly from 869 deaths per 100,000 population in 2000 to 855 deaths per 100,000 in 2001. There were declines in mortality among most racial, ethnic and gender groups.

Married not much happier than unmarried, study finds

In a large longitudinal study that sheds new light on the association between marital status and happiness, researchers have found that people get a boost in life satisfaction from marriage. But the increase in happiness is very small — approximately one tenth of one point on an 11-point scale — and is likely due to initial reactions to marriage and then a return to prior levels of happiness. Data from the 15-year study of over 24,000 individuals living in Germany also indicates that most people who get married and stayed married are more satisfied with their lives than their non-married peers long before the marriage occurred.

More than half of young women retain 'traditional' view of family life

Over half of young women see the ideal family situation as one where mothers either work part-time or not at all. And despite being better educated and enjoying wider career opportunities than previous generations, they also continue to take responsibility for most housework and childcare. Young male and female workers are also divided between a minority of ‘stay at home’ types with little education and a majority of adaptable careerists who move to find the right job.