مطالب انگلیسی و پزشکی برای مطالعه شخصی
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Parents might tell teenagers, "Act your age." But some scientists say that is exactly what teens are doing. They say that while teenagers can look all grown up, studies have found that their brains are still developing.
How much this explains their behavior, though, is a subject of debate. Jay Giedd of the National Institutes of Health in the United States is a leader in this area of research. Doctor Giedd has been studying a group of young people since nineteen ninety-one. They visit him every two years for a new M.R.I., or magnetic resonance imaging, of their brains. He says considerable development continues throughout the teen years and into the twenties. A part of the brain called the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex appears especially undeveloped in teens. Researchers believe that among its duties, this area controls judgment and consideration of risk. When one person gains weight, their close friends often follow. Researchers have just offered evidence in a study that says obesity appears to spread through social ties. But the findings might also offer hope.
If friends help make obesity acceptable, then they might also be influential in losing the fat. The researchers note that support groups are already an effective tool in dealing with other socially influenced problems, like alcoholism. The findings appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers used information collected from twelve thousand people. It was collected between nineteen seventy-one and two thousand three as part of the Framingham Heart Study. The information was highly detailed. There was even contact information for close friends of the people in the study. How safe and effective is the use of cough and cold medicines in children? An advisory committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration will meet in October to discuss this issue.
Some doctors say cough and cold products do not work in children, and they worry about possible risks. F.D.A. officials say that some reports of problems appear to be the result of giving too much medicine to children. This may lead to serious and life-threatening side effects, especially in children age two and younger. The products are sold without the need for a doctor's approval. Yet cough and cold medicines can be harmful if people take them more often or in greater amounts than they should. There is a risk, for example, in taking more than one product containing the same active chemicals. Too much cold medicine may affect the heart. Some medicines have also been linked to high blood pressure and strokes. Lead poisoning is a danger especially to children under six years old. High levels of
lead in their growing bodies can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, kidney disorders and other damage. Very high levels can be deadly. Currently, ten micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is what federal health officials in the United States call a level of concern. Yet recent studies have suggested that children with less than that can still suffer harmful effects. Lead is a metal found in nature. It can also be found in toys and other products painted with lead-based paint. Lead is also used in some ceramic and vinyl products, candles, hair colorings and other goods. And it can be found in soil and air pollution from factories, power stations and the use of leaded fuel. Many people take several medicines to treat different conditions at the same time.
Each medicine may be safe to use by itself, yet together there could be dangerous or even deadly drug interactions. One example happened last year. Rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter Gerald Levert died at his home in Ohio. A medical examiner found that the death was accidental, caused by a mixture of medicines. He was forty years old. The drugs in his blood included the painkillers Vicodin, Percocet and Darvocet as well as the anxiety drug Xanax. These all require a doctor's approval. Other medications that are sold without the need for a prescription from a doctor were also found in his blood. Epilepsy is a disorder where bursts of electrical activity in the brain result in seizures. A seizure can involve part or all of the brain. It can be minor and a few seconds long or severe and last for several minutes. Victims can shake uncontrollably and have brief periods where they do not wake up. Many people misunderstand epilepsy. They may see it as a mental disability or even fear it as a sign of evil. The World Health Organization says more than fifty million people have epilepsy. At least half of all cases develop in children and teenagers. The Epilepsy Foundation in the United States says ten percent of adults will have a seizure sometime during their life. In most cases the cause is unknown. On July thirtieth, the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, had a
seizure and fell near his summer home in Maine. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said neurological tests found no cause for concern. She said the fifty-two-year-old chief justice fully recovered from what doctors called a benign idiopathic seizure.
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A fitness class in Pennsylvania
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There are questions about the safety of cough and cold medicine use in children
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Fisher-Price toys that were recalled because of lead-based paint
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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
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