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Fresh News Served Daily With Cafe MochaToday's Health, Science, Technology, Personal Finance News(please report bugs and errors: suzanne@liveinfospace.com)July 4, 5 2008
Top Ten WTF? US Sex Laws By Jessie Whitfield
1. Oral sex is illegal in 18 states, including Arizona. 2. In Virginia, it is illegal to have sex with the lights on. 3. It is illegal for husbands in Willowdale, Oregon, to talk dirty during intercourse. 4. Sexual intercourse between unmarried couples is illegal in Georgia. 5. Engaging in any sexual position other than missionary is illegal in Washington, DC. 6. In Connorsville, Wisconsin, it is illegal for a man to shoot off a gun when his female partner is having an orgasm. 7. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, it is illegal to have sex with a truck driver inside a toll booth. 8. Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal in Florida. 9. It is illegal in Utah to marry your first cousin before the age of 65. 10. Sex with animals is perfectly legal for men in Washington state, as long as the animal weighs less than 40 pounds.
Pesticides May Be Responsible For Reproductive AbnormalitiesA farm irrigation canal would seem a healthier place for toads than a ditch by a supermarket parking lot.But University of Florida scientists have found the opposite is true. In a study with wide implications for a longstanding debate over whether agricultural chemicals pose a threat to amphibians, UF zoologists have found that toads in suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms - where some had both testes and ovaries. "As you increase agriculture," said Lou Guillette, a distinguished professor of zoology, "you have an increasing number of abnormalities." Guillette is one of several UF authors of a paper on the research appearing in the online version of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The lead author is Krista McCoy, who did the work as part of her UF School of Natural Resources and the Environment dissertation. Several past studies have suggested a link between herbicides commonly used in farming and sexual abnormalities in tadpoles and frogs. Such deformities may be responsible for declines in frogs documented in areas affected by agricultural contaminants, such as Sierra Nevada, Calif., McCoy said. Amphibians are declining worldwide and agricultural chemicals are considered to be one likely cause, she said. Others include pathogenic infections and habitat loss. Past research has compared frogs collected from natural areas with those collected from agricultural areas. Other efforts have pointed to specific chemicals, including the herbicide Atrazine, as causing abnormalities. The UF study is the first peer-reviewed study to compare abnormalities in wild toads - toads are a variety of frogs -- from heavily farmed areas with frogs from both partially farmed and completely suburban areas. In so doing, it highlights the difference between the impact of agriculture versus development. "Our study is the first to explicitly ask, of these two areas of human disturbance, do we see a greater proportion of abnormal animals in one versus another?" Guillette said. Because the results implicate agriculture, future research can narrow the focus to agricultural chemicals, McCoy said. "Because we know what chemicals are used at these agricultural sites, we can begin to pin down the chemical cause of these abnormalities by conducting controlled experiments with each chemical alone and in combination," she said. The researchers gathered giant toads, known scientifically as Bufo marinus, from five sites stretching from Lake Worth to Belle Glade and down to Homestead in South Florida. Bufo marinus is a very large, exotic, invasive, species known to be deadly to small animals. Guillette said the researchers studied the toad in part because they are easy to catch and their large size ensures enough blood for analysis. Also, he said, "they are common in other agricultural areas around the world," which means they are a good generalist species. One of the sites consisted almost entirely of land devoted to sugar cane or vegetable farms. The amount of farmland declined in three other sites, with the last being entirely suburban. Researchers calculated the amount of farmland in each site using Google Earth images. Each site was 2.1 square miles, with the toads collected at the center. That's because the toad's home range is known to be about 1.2 miles, and the researchers sought only those toads living entirely within each site. The researchers collected at least 20 toads from each site in 2005 and 2006. Examination of the euthanized toads revealed a pattern: The more agricultural the land where they lived, the more sexual organ abnormalities or so-called "intersex" toads -- toads who have both female and male internal reproductive organs, not a normal condition for this and most species of amphibians. While normal male toads' forelimbs are thicker and stronger than those of their female counterparts, more of the intersex frogs only found in agricultural areas had thin, weak forearms. Also, intersexes had fewer "nuptial pads," areas of scrappy skin on their feet used to grip females during copulation. Where a sex was clear, the male toads appeared by far the most affected. Normal males are brown, while females are mottled with brown stripes. However, males from agricultural areas were mottled, looking like females. Internally, the more agricultural the sites, the more feminized the males' reproductive organs. Many had both ovaries and testes. Not only that, both the impacted males and the intersex frogs had less of the male hormone testosterone than normal males, suggesting diminished reproductive capabilities, Guillette said. Guillette and McCoy said the study's results may have important implications not only for other wild species, but also for people. "What we are finding in Bufo marinus might also occur in other animals, including other amphibian species and humans," McCoy said. "In fact, reproductive abnormalities are increasing in humans and these increases could partially be due to exposure to pesticides." The paper's other authors are Colette St. Mary, a UF associate professor of zoology; Heather Hamlin, a postdoctoral associate; and Lauriel Bortnick and Chelsey Campbell, who both worked on the study as UF undergraduates. Source: Lou Guillette University of Florida Delaying repair of childbirth injury not harmful Last Updated: 2008-07-04 7:45:37 -0400 (Reuters Health) NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For women who suffer an anal tear during childbirth, delaying surgical repair of the injury for up to 12 hours does not seem to harm long-term recovery, according to a new study. Ruptures to the anal sphincter during childbirth can cause long-term incontinence, pain and other problems for many women, so serious tears are usually surgically repaired, often immediately after delivery. However, a surgeon with expertise in the repair is not always immediately available. To see whether delaying the procedure affects women's long-term recovery, Swedish researchers randomly assigned 165 women with anal sphincter tears to receive surgery either right after delivery or 8 to 12 hours later. Over the next year, there were no significant differences in incontinence symptoms between the two groups, the researchers report in the obstetrics journal BJOG. By the one-year mark, most women in both surgery groups said they "never" had fecal incontinence, report Dr. J. Nordenstam and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Gas incontinence was a continuing problem for about half of the women in each group. The findings, according to Nordenstam's team, suggest that "there is no benefit or harm" from delaying repair of anal sphincter tears for up to 12 hours. Surgery should not routinely be delayed, the researchers say, but in cases where an experienced surgeon is not readily available, women can wait to have the procedure. SOURCE: BJOG, June 2008. Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. General relativity passes the testBy Roger Highfield, Science Editor Einstein’s greatest scientific theory, general relativity, has passed its latest test with flying colours. The finding has come as a great relief to most scientists who are happy with the status quo, though is tinged with the disappointment of a few theorists who want to see Einstein fail, which may offer a glimpse of the next "theory of everything."
General relativity is a theory of gravity that overturned the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton and, when his radical new idea was first backed after World War 1 by a British expedition, propelled Einstein to international fame so that he became as well known as Charlie Chaplin. When Einstein himself first glimpsed the truth, which he unveiled as a fully fledged theory in 1915, he said: "Something snapped inside me. The feeling was so extreme. I couldn’t work for days. I was beside myself. In all my life, I never felt such joy." Scientists are of two minds about experiments to test such theories: it is great to confirm that general relativity works but could be even better if it is shown to fail sometimes, since that points towards new theories. But, in a study published today by an international team in the journal Science, observations of unique dead star system show that Einstein still rules the cosmos. The discovery was made by researchers at The University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics studying two pulsars which were formed when a pair of massive stars exploded and their cores collapsed to create objects whose mass is greater than that of our Sun, but compressed to the size of a city like Manchester. These star "corpses" are spinning at boggling speeds and emit powerful beams of radio waves which sweep across our radio-telescopes like cosmic lighthouses producing regular pulses of energy - hence their name, pulsars. The pulsar pair, PSR J0737-3039A/B, is the only known system in our galaxy where two pulsars are locked into such close orbit around one another - the entire system could fit inside our Sun and Einstein’s theory can be used to predict the timing of pulses sent out by this cosmic coincidence. Prof Michael Kramer of Manchester, said: " It has proved to be the best test we have for the predictions of Einstein’s theory of gravity, general relativity". Prof Victoria Kaspi, of McGill University, explained. "Einstein predicted that, in such a field, the axis about which an object rotates will precess - or change direction slowly as the pulsar orbits around its companion. Imagine a spinning top tilted over slightly to one side - the spin axis wobbles." After patiently collecting the radio pulses over the past four years, they have now determined that its spin axis precesses exactly as Einstein predicted. Dr René Breton of McGill University, who led the international collaboration, added that even though spin precession has been observed in Earth’s solar system, differences between general relativity and alternative theories of gravity might only become apparent in extremely powerful gravity fields such as those near pulsars. "So far, Einstein’s theory has passed all the tests that have been conducted, including ours," said Dr Breton. "We can now say that if anyone wants to propose an alternative theory of gravity in the future, it must agree with the results that we have obtained here. "I think that if Einstein were alive today, he would have been absolutely delighted with these results," concluded Prof Kramer. "Not only because it confirms his theory, but also because of the novel and amazing way the confirmation has come about." And what if Einstein had been wrong? "If general relativity had really proven to be wrong, this would have been extremely puzzling for us because every other tests with flying colours so far," said Dr Breton. "Certainly, theorists from around the world would have had to go back to their drawing boards while we would have scratched our heads trying to obtain more observations to confirm the result." Prof Kramer added: "I actually believe that general relativity will be proven wrong at some point. What scientists around the world try to do is to find the elusive 'quantum gravity' which would combine quantum mechanics with the theory of gravitation. At the moment, both theories are very successful in their own regime (very small versus very large scales) but so far we cannot combine them. "By finding that general relativity is correct under even more extreme conditions, we learn a lot about what quantum gravity has to look like. "It cannot be vastly different from general relativity (otherwise we may have deviations from it in our experiments already) but it is probably also not our last word. So, we keep on trying to find even more challenging tests again and again. "Perhaps, one day, we may break it. That should in no ways reduce the great achievement by Einstein to come up with a theory that has withstood so many different tests with such great success. What’s left is true admiration." Cot death risk test to come from brain chemical find
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 This kind of research into the causes of Alzheimer's could lead
scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease.  Rebecca Wood
Alzheimer's Research Trust |
But soy consumption is also on the increase in the west, where it is often promoted as a "superfood".
Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, which mimic the impact of the female sex hormone oestrogen.
There is some evidence that they may protect the brains of younger and middle-aged people from damage - but their effect on the ageing brain is less clear.
The latest study suggests phytoestrogens - in high quantity - may actually heighten the risk of dementia.
Lead researcher Professor Eef Hogervorst said previous research had linked oestrogen therapy to a doubling of dementia risk in the over-65s.
She said oestrogens - and probably phytoestrogens - tended to promote growth among cells, not necessarily a good thing in the ageing brain.
Alternatively, high doses of oestrogens might promote the damage caused to cells by particles known as free radicals.
A third theory is that damage is caused not by the tofu, but by formaldehyde, which is sometimes used in Indonesia as a preservative.
The researchers admit that more research is required to ascertain whether the same effects are found in other ethnic groups.
However, previous research has also linked high tofu consumption to an increased risk of dementia in older Japanese American men.
Fermented product
Professor David Smith, of the University of Oxford, said tofu was a complex food with many ingredients which might have an impact.
However, he said: "There seems to be something happening in the brain as we age which makes it react to oestrogens in the opposite way to what we would expect."
The latest study also found that eating tempe, a fermented soy product made from the whole soy bean, was associated with better memory.
Professor Hogervorst said the beneficial effect of tempe might be related to the fact that it contains high levels of the vitamin folate, which is known to reduce dementia risk.
"It may be that that the interaction between high levels of both folate and phytoestrogens protects against cognitive impairment."
She also stressed that there was no suggestion that eating tofu in moderation posed a problem.
Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, which funded the study, said more research was needed to pin down the potential risks and benefits of so-called superfoods.
However, she said: "This kind of research into the causes of Alzheimer's could lead scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease.
"As over half a million people have Alzheimer's in the UK today, there is a desperate need to find a new prevention or cure."
Early surgery best for gallbladder inflammation
Last Updated: 2008-07-04 10:00:56 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients who develop acute inflammation of the gallbladder, its best to have the gallbladder removed using minimally invasive surgery within 24 hours of hospital admission, rather than waiting weeks to years after a course of antibiotics has been given, new research shows.
Early gallbladder removal using laparoscopic or "key-hole" surgery reduces time spent in the hospital without increasing the risk of complications, Dr. Robert A. Casillas and colleagues, from Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, found.
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped, muscular sac attached to the undersurface of the right lobe of the liver, whose function in the body is to store and concentrate bile and aid in the digestive process. Cholecystitis is often caused by gallstones in the gallbladder and less commonly by trauma.
Casillas and colleagues reviewed the records of 173 patients with acutely inflamed gallbladders (also called cholecystitis). In 71 patients (41 percent), early laparoscopic gallbladder removal, or "cholecystectomy" was performed. Of the remaining 102 patients (59 percent) who were treated with antibiotics alone, 57 were successfully treated and 45 were not.
Twenty-six of the patients who failed antibiotic therapy underwent late laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 19 underwent a procedure called cholecystostomy in which an opening through the abdominal wall into the gallbladder is made, usually to drain off fluid.
Ultimately, 55 patients underwent "interval" laparoscopic cholecystectomy, defined as gallbladder removal 2 weeks to 2 years after successful treatment with antibiotics alone or with cholecystostomy.
Compared with the interval procedure, early gallbladder removal was associated with a significant reduction in time spent in the hospital. Moreover, the early operation did not increase complications.
Despite the advantages seen with early gallbladder removal, it is not the most common treatment for acute gallbladder inflammation, Casillas and colleagues note. They urge doctors "worldwide to adopt a consistent policy of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy unless specifically contraindicated."
SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, June 2008.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Heart tests for all athletes could save lives: study
Last Updated: 2008-07-04 8:01:52 -0400 (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters) - Mandatory heart screenings for all athletes could detect potentially fatal problems and save lives, Italian researchers said on Friday.
The issue of pre-screening programmes using electrocardiograms is controversial but the findings published in the British Medical Journal suggest that a family history and physical exam may miss many undiagnosed heart problems.
"Among people seeking to take part in competitive sports, exercise electrocardiograms can identify those with cardiac abnormalities," Francesco Sofi and colleagues at the Institute of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence wrote.
Last year, Sevilla footballer Antonio Puerta died three days after collapsing during a Primera Liga match and Cameroon's Marc-Vivien Foe died during a Confederations Cup match in 2003.
The risk is not just for top athletes either. Figures show one young athlete dies every three days from an unrecognized heart problem in the United States alone, the Italian researchers said.
For their study, Sofi and colleagues analyzed data from more than 30,000 heart screenings during a five year period between 2002 and 2006. Italy is the only country where these tests are mandatory, Sofi added.
The study found 1,459 showed some form of heart problem during an exercise electrocardiogram and 348 people had abnormal results during their resting electrocardiogram. Of these, 159 had conditions serious enough prevent them from competing.
Yet, only six of these athletes would have been identified through a family history and physical examination, Sofi said in a telephone interview.
The results bolster arguments that the tests costing about 40 euro should be mandatory in other countries, he added.
Not everyone agrees. The American Heart Association in 2007 reaffirmed their recommendation against universal use of electrocardiography, citing cost, low prevalence of disease and a high false positive rate.
The European Society of Cardiology, International Olympic Committee and other sports league endorse the screenings on grounds on grounds some studies have found them effective, Jonathan Drezner of the University of Washington, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
"Although a detailed personal and family history and physical examination will detect an important but limited number of athletes with underlying (heart) disease, adding electrocardiography to the screening process will detect more athletes with silent cardiovascular disorders at risk of sudden death," he wrote.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Many kids carry the superbug MRSA: study
Last Updated: 2008-07-03 14:23:45 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many children may be carrying the drug-resistant "superbug" MRSA in their nasal passages, unbeknownst to anyone, research suggests. Investigators at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, report that MRSA "is widespread among children in our community."
Dr. Stephanie A. Fritz and colleagues obtained nasal swabs from 1,300 patients from 11 practices in the St. Louis area. The prevalence of MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, varied from 0 percent to 9 percent (the average was 2.6 percent), depending on the practice.
The estimated prevalence of MRSA among children in the two-county St. Louis area was 2.4 percent, Fritz and colleagues report in the journal Pediatrics.
They found that 28 percent of the MRSA isolates were types often seen in healthcare settings and 66 percent were the types often seen in the community.
A significantly greater number of children found to have "community-acquired" MRSA were black and were enrolled in Medicaid, in comparison with children carrying healthcare-associated MRSA strains, the investigators report.
Fritz and colleagues say they are currently monitoring children identified as being exposed to MRSA and noting their progress to infection.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, June 2008.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Cesarean delivery may increase kids' asthma risk
Last Updated: 2008-07-03 14:38:46 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies born by Cesarean section may have a moderately increased risk of developing asthma compared with those born naturally, Norwegian researchers report after investigating this link in a population-wide study.
Dr. Mette C. Tollanes, of the University of Bergen, in Norway, and colleagues looked at the modes of delivery among more than 1.7 million single births reported to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway between 1967 and 1998. They used registry data from Norway's National Insurance Scheme to determine the number of children who, through the age of 18 or the year 2002, developed severe asthma.
Between 1967 and 1998, asthma risk was about 50 percent higher among children born by C-section compared with children born spontaneously and vaginally, the researchers report. They found 19 percent increased risk among children born by vaginal delivery requiring the use of instruments (forceps or vacuum).
From 1988 through 1998, when the birth registry designated between emergency and planned C-section deliveries, unexpected differences emerged. Compared with spontaneous vaginal deliveries during this period, emergency C-sections carried higher asthma risk (59 percent) than planned C-sections (42 percent increased risk). Instrument-assisted vaginal deliveries brought a 14 percent increased asthma risk during this 10-year period.
Overall, these findings confirm a moderate association between C-section delivery and later development of asthma, Tollanes and colleagues say. However, the reasons behind this association must still be determined.
According to Tollanes, there are two main theories about why C-sections could cause asthma. "The first is that babies who are born by Caesarean section are not exposed to their mothers' bacteria during birth, which is detrimental for development of the immune system," Tollanes explains in a written statement.
"The other is that babies born by Caesarean section have more breathing problems after birth because they are less exposed to stress hormones and compression of the chest, since these mechanisms contribute to emptying the lungs of amniotic fluid. Maybe this can negatively affect lung function in the long term," Tollanes said.
"The fact that emergency Caesarean section apparently has a stronger effect on the risk of asthma than planned Caesarean section cannot easily be explained by any of these theories," Tollanes admits. "It is possible that there are other common causes that can induce the need for Caesarean section and the development of asthma."
SOURCE: The Journal of Pediatrics, June 2008
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Breast reconstruction can have lasting benefits
Last Updated: 2008-07-04 7:45:29 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breast reconstruction after cancer surgery can have lasting benefits for women's psychological well-being and body image, a new study suggests.
Research has shown that for women who have a mastectomy to treat breast cancer, reconstructive surgery can provide a psychological lift, helping to improve self-esteem and body image.
But whether those benefits last -- and whether they differ based on the type of breast reconstruction -- has been less clear.
In the current study, of 173 breast reconstruction patients, researchers found that many of the psychological gains women had shortly after the surgery were still apparent two years later.
On average, the women were still reporting improvements in energy, anxiety and ability to work and enjoy social activities.
And the type of reconstruction had "surprisingly limited effect," according to the researchers, led by Dr. Dunya Atisha of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.
They report the findings in the June issue of the Annals of Surgery.
The study included 173 women who had undergone breast reconstruction at one of 12 U.S. medical centers. The majority had immediate reconstruction, done at the time of their mastectomy, but some waited to have the procedure.
The patients also varied in the type of reconstruction they had. The majority underwent a procedure known as TRAM, where tissue from the lower abdomen is used to reconstruct the breast, while about one-quarter were given artificial implants.
In general, Atisha's team found, the long-term psychological benefits were similar regardless of the type of surgery the women had. There were some differences, however, between women who'd had immediate reconstruction and those who'd delayed the procedure.
Women in the latter group tended to have fewer gains in psychological well-being -- the one exception being body-image improvements.
The reasons for the differences between the two groups are not clear. But the decision to delay breast reconstruction is not always based on a woman's preferences; some women, for example, may need to delay the procedure because they are having radiation therapy after their mastectomy.
According to Atisha's team, studies should continue to follow breast reconstruction patients over the long term to see how different procedures ultimately affect their psychological well-being.
SOURCE: Annals of Surgery, June 2008.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Postmortem studies show alterations in serotonin neurons in the brainstem of such infants. However, the mechanism by which altered serotonin homeostasis might cause sudden death is unknown. We investigated the consequences of altering the autoinhibitory capacity of serotonin neurons with the reversible overexpression of serotonin 1A autoreceptors in transgenic mice. Overexpressing mice exhibited sporadic bradycardia and hypothermia that occurred during a limited developmental period and frequently progressed to death. Moreover, overexpressing mice failed to activate autonomic target organs in response to environmental challenges. These findings show that excessive serotonin autoinhibition is a risk factor for catastrophic autonomic dysregulation and provide a mechanism for a role of altered serotonin homeostasis in sudden infant death syndrome.
Click here for
Abstract.
Source: Journal abstract, EMBL.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Fussy babies are more likely to develop into bullies and liars, according to new research.
It found the odds of later behaviour problems are closely linked to infant
temperament - such as 'fussiness', unpredictable moods, or general levels of
contentment.
Babies who were often fussy or had unpredictable behaviour patterns - being hungry or tired at different times each day, for instance - were more likely later to cheat at school, lie, bully or disobey their parents, the scientists said.
In contrast, children who were less fussy and had predictable moods as infants were at 'very low risk' of future conduct problems, research leader Dr Benjamin Lahey from the University of Chicago said.
All this seems to bear out the importance of nature - particularly genetics - in shaping personality.
The study of nearly 1,900 children up to age 13 also highlights the importance of nurture, the US scientists said - especially the benefits of teaching parenting skills.
'The current findings are consistent with the hypothesis that interventions focusing on parenting during the first year of life would be beneficial in preventing future child conduct problems,' they wrote in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
A low risk of unruly behaviour was also seen among children who enjoyed plenty of intellectual stimulation in infancy - a sign of how caring and affectionate parents are but also a crucial factor in language development, making it easier for children to communicate and socialise.
AP - Tropical Storm Bertha continues to speed across the Atlantic Ocean.
AFP - Nigerian health workers Saturday began house-to-house immunization of 4.6 million children under the age of five in the northern state of Kano in a new drive to eradicate the disease.
AP - The government on Saturday increased the number of people reported being sickened in a record salmonella outbreak in which tomatoes are the leading suspect although investigators are testing other types of fresh produce.
AFP - A review of the European Union's procedures for vetting genetically modified crops does not imply the policy will undergo far-reaching change, a French environment minister said Friday.
AP - The global food crisis will only worsen because of climate change, the U.N. climate chief said Friday, urging leaders of the world's richest countries meeting in Japan next week to set goals to reduce carbon emissions within the next dozen years.
AP - Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says.
AP - Expect fewer slices of red, ripe tomatoes next to the grill this holiday weekend.
The MPAA offers an initial assessment, but not an endorsement, of DreamStream's file streaming technology. (PRWeb Jul 5, 2008)
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/DreamStream/MPAA/prweb1076954.htm
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