Pacifier ("Dummy") may aggravate ear infections!!

From the BBC and the Dutch...

Dummy use link to ear infections
By Emma Wilkinson
Health reporter, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7463911.stm
Parents should avoid using a dummy (i.e. pacifier) in infants who are prone to ear infections, research suggests.

In a five-year study of almost 500 Dutch children, researchers found almost double the risk of recurrent ear infections in those who used a dummy.

Writing in the Family Practice journal they said doctors should advise parents of the risk.

Scientifically known as acute otitis media, ear infections are very common in young children.

Antibiotics do not generally work and the infection tends clear on its own within a few days but some children are prone to repeated bouts.

"This is a very useful piece of research that shows use of dummies in children under the age of four who have a history of ear infections is not a good idea," stated Professor Steve Field, Royal College of GPs.

The researchers from University Medical Center, Utrecht said some studies before had found a link between dummy use and ear infections but they had not been very accurate.

Their research followed 476 children aged under four years, 216 of whom used a dummy.

There was a 90% increased risk of recurrent ear infections in those who sucked a dummy compared with those who did not.

Susceptibility

The researchers said results suggested that the first infection may increase susceptibility to future ear infections.

And using a dummy may allow bacteria to more easily migrate from secretions in the nose to the middle ear, they suggested.

Study leader, Dr Maroeska Rovers, said: "Paediatricians and GPs can use this information in their daily practice - they can dissuade parents from using a pacifier [dummy] once their child has been diagnosed with acute otitis media to avoid recurrent episodes."

Professor Steve Field, chair of the Royal College of GPs said there had been previous studies but they had not been put together very well.

"This is a very useful piece of research that shows use of dummies in children under the age of four who have a history of ear infections is not a good idea.

"There's no need to panic but - in those children - not using a dummy is likely to prevent recurrence."

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Common Sleep Problem Linked With Memory Loss

Common Sleep Problem Linked With Memory Loss
Brain scans reveal that the mammillary bodies, shown in box and circled, of a sleep apnea patient (right)are smaller than those of a healthy control subject (left).(U.C.L.A./Harper Lab)
The part of the brain that stores memory appears to shrink in people with sleep apnea, adding further evidence that the sleep and breathing disorder is a serious health threat.
The findings, from brain scan studies conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, show for the first time that sleep apnea is associated with tissue loss in brain regions that store memory. And while the thinking and focus problems of sleep apnea patients often are attributed to sleep deprivation, the scans show something far more insidious is occurring.
“Our findings demonstrate that impaired breathing during sleep can lead to a serious brain injury that disrupts memory and thinking,” said principal investigator Ronald Harper, professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at U.C.L.A. The data appear in the June 27 issue of the journal Neuroscience Letters.
Sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the throat, soft palate and tongue relax during sleep. They sag and narrow the airway and the tongue slides to the back of the mouth, blocking the windpipe and cutting off oxygen to the lungs. The sleeper gasps for air, wakes up briefly and falls back to sleep in a cycle that repeats itself hundreds of times per night. The result is loud snoring and chronic daytime fatigue. The disorder also is linked to a higher risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes. An estimated 20 million Americans have sleep apnea.
The study focused on structures on the underside of the brain called mammillary bodies, so named because they resemble small breasts. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 43 sleep apnea patients. Compared to images of 66 control subjects, the brains of the sleep apnea patients had mammillary bodies that were nearly 20 percent smaller, particularly on the left side.
The structures also are known to shrink in patients who have other forms of memory loss related to alcoholism or Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers don’t know why the sleep disorder affects brain tissue but theorize that it’s related to repeated drops in oxygen. During an apnea episode, the brain’s blood vessels constrict, starving its tissue of oxygen and causing cells to die. The inflammatory process, also linked with heart disease and stroke, further damages the tissue.
“The reduced size of the mammillary bodies suggests that they’ve suffered a harmful event resulting in sizable cell loss,” Dr. Harper said. “The fact that patients’ memory problems continue despite treatment for their sleep disorder implies a long-lasting brain injury.”
The data show the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. Unfortunately, the most effective treatment is a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine that many patients find unwieldy and uncomfortable. In a future study, the U.C.L.A. researchers will explore whether vitamin B1 supplements might help restore memory in sleep apnea patients by moving glucose into cells and preventing cell death.

Newborn hearing screening does more good than harm!

Parents unharmed by 'false-positive' hearing test

By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Parents do not seem to suffer lingering anxiety after routine newborn screening falsely suggests their child may have a hearing problem, a study has found.
In the U.S. and Europe, infants are screened soon after birth for potential hearing problems. If the screening test suggests they may have hearing loss, further testing is done to confirm or rule out a problem.
Newborn hearing screening is considered beneficial because without it, children's hearing problems would typically go undetected until they are between 1 and 2 years old, at which point their language development would already be delayed.
The problem is that this screening, like all medical screening tests, can yield "false positive" results. In fact, most infants who "fail" their hearing screening test are shown to have normal hearing when more-extensive diagnostic testing is done.
To see whether such false-positives cause parents lasting anxiety, Dutch researchers surveyed 442 parents six months after their infant had undergone routine hearing screening.
The group included 288 parents whose newborn had passed the first test and 154 whose infant had inconclusive or positive screening results; in all cases, these infants were later shown to have normal hearing.
Overall, the study found, parents in the two groups had similar results on a standard test of chronic anxiety -- suggesting the false-positive test results did not do parents lasting harm.
The finding adds to evidence that "the advantages of the universal newborn hearing screening are larger than the disadvantages," lead researcher Dr. Kitty van der Ploeg, of the research institute TNO in Leiden, the Netherlands, told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues report their study results in journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Despite the generally positive findings, though, some parents were concerned by their child's false-positive screening results. Six months after the test, the researchers found, 10 percent to 15 percent of these parents said they were worried about their child's hearing, versus 4 percent of parents whose newborn had passed the screening test.
Van der Ploeg said that while false-positives cannot be eliminated, it might be possible to reduce them. In this study, infants with false-positive results were slightly older than those who passed the screening test. Other research has similarly suggested that the odds of false-positive results depend partially on an infant's age.
In the Netherlands, van der Ploeg noted, it is generally recommended that newborns have their hearing screened when they are between 4 and 7 days old.
But since there will always be some false-positives, she added, screeners should explain the hearing screening process to parents in a way that would minimize their worries.
SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, June 2008.

Long-term bouts with hay fever worsen ability to breathe through your nose

Alexandria, VA – New evidence for the first time suggests that people suffering from hay fever (allergic rhinitis) will over time experience a progressive worsening of their nasal passage functioning, depending on how long they have the disorder, according to a new study published in the June 2008 edition of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
The study, authored by researchers in Italy, discovered that in 100 patients (50 with short-term rhinitis, and 50 with long-term), those who experienced longer bouts with the disorder (on average, nine years) had significantly lower airflow in their nasal passages. Furthermore, 72 percent of the patients with long-term rhinitis had “severe” nasal obstruction.
Allergic rhinitis, commonly referred to as hay fever, occurs when the body’s immune system over-responds to specific, non-infectious particles such as plant pollens, molds, dust mites, and animal hair, among others. This causes skin redness and swollen membranes in the nasal passages, combined with sneezing and congestion. It is estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of the American population suffers from hay fever, and accounts for approximately 2 percent of all visits to a doctor’s office.

This new data reinforces the importance of diagnosing and treating your nasal allergies.