Generic Drugs Getting Cheaper in U.S.
In a welcome boon for recession-racked consumers, the prices of generic pharmaceuticals have been falling in recent months - and are expected to continue their downward spiral for the foreseeable future.
The chief reason for this remarkable development, according to health information company IMS Health, is the pitched pricing competition that started in 2006 between huge retailers and drugstore chains, as well as the wars for market share between the many makers of generic drugs.
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U.S. Teens Awash in Overconfidence
Compared with high school students of the seventies, U.S. teens today rate themselves as far more intelligent, self-satisfied and able to be exceptional spouses, parents and workers, according to a recent study. Today's kids are also much more likely to say they have a high IQ and are "A" students, even though other research reveals they do a lot less homework than their counterparts of the seventies.
"What this shows is that confidence has crossed over into overconfidence," said Jean Twenge, an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University. She, together with co-researcher W. Keith Campbell, of the University of Georgia, studied data from Monitoring the Future, a large national survey of thousands of American high school students done from time to time over the past 30 years.
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events."
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ADHD & Teen Drivers
Today is National ADHD Awareness Day, and a new study focuses--no pun intended--on teen drivers with the condition.
The study finds how well they performs behind the wheel of a car may be directly influenced by optimizing dosing of medication, especially in the afternoon and evening.
The authors of the study say for all teenagers, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death.
For adolescents with ADHD, you multiply that by a factor of four, and it becomes a huge problem.
So these kids need to be armed with the right medicine and other tools to be a safe driver.
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Health Wrap: Reports on Snoring, Fetuses and Pain, Forgetfulness and Baseball
A new study finds that habitual snoring in women is strongly tied to body mass index—a marker of fatness-- and age.
Overall, 7.6 percent of women snore.
The frequency of snoring reaches its peak in women ages 50 to 59.
Frequent snoring was found to increase with alcohol dependence, smoking and physical inactivity.
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ADHD and Television
Can television actually cause your child to develop attention deficit disorder?
There have been studies suggesting this is true, and now another new study weighs in.
There are many reasons for experts to be concerned about the ill effects television can have on children.
One concern is that too much watching can trigger attention problems.
But a major study out of the American Academy of Pediatrics now says that’s probably not the case.
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ADHD Report Card
Zach Neville was 4 years old when doctors diagnosed him with ADHD.
“They were really the classic symptoms if you go on the internet and you look at what the diagnostic criteria are, the impulsivity, the hyperactive, the inattentiveness, they were social skills issues going on, there was a lot of acting out, not being about to sit still during circle time, very basic preschool activities,” says Zach’s mother, Jeanne Neville.
Jeanne, Zach’s mom, says initially she felt overwhelmed and confused on how to best take care of her son. Their family first started with an intensive behavior management plan, but, as Zach entered school he needed medication and additional therapy.
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Family History
How well do you know your family medical history?
We mean, really know –in the sense of knowing what each parent, brother, sister, grandparent, and great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, and cousin has or has had in terms of medical conditions.
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ADHD Treatment
If your child as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—ADHD--you might have found it’s not so easy to get your child diagnosed and then started on medication. That’s because, according to new research, many pediatricians don’t want to treat the problem.
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TV AND LEARNING
There are certainly programs which provide an educational value to kids. But several new studies show that the effects of television on children are not always beneficial. Early exposure of a child to television can slow the ability of the child to think. And in older kids, it can even affect whether or not they go on to a higher education.
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