Sexual Identity and Bullying

High school can be tough on kids, it's not always the "best days" of their lives. But it can be especially challenging for gay, lesbian and bisexual teens.

So researchers in England wanted to know if it gets better for this group after high school. Using data collected from more than 4,000 teens between 2004 and 2010, the team looked at how rates of bullying changed as the teens got older, and what effect bullying has on their emotions.

Compared to their heterosexual peers, LGB boys and girls were about twice as likely to be bullied throughout high school. But generally, the bullying for girls declined significantly as they left high school. 57 percent of lesbian or bisexual girls reported being bullied at age 13 or 14, compared to 6 percent at age 19 or 20.

Among boys, the bullying declined from 52 percent in the early teen years to 9 percent at 19 or 20. But the likelihood of still being bullied actually increased after high school when compared to straight boys. LGB males and females had significantly higher levels of emotional distress than their heterosexual-identified peers.

Researchers say these findings show how critical it is to address LGB victimization during adolescence.

I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the health news for you and your family.

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Injectable Foam Blocks Internal Bleeding On The Battlefield

Injectable Foam Blocks Internal Bleeding On The Battlefield

By John Eischeid
(Click here for the original article)

Despite their best efforts to stabilize abdominal wounds sustained on the battlefield, military first-responders have few options when it comes to stanching internal bleeding caused by, for example, gunshots or explosive fragments. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says it is studying a new type of injectable foam that molds to organs and slows hemorrhaging. This could provide field medics with a way to buy more time for soldiers en route to medical treatment facilities.

The polyurethane foam begins as two liquids stored separately and injected together into the abdominal cavity. One liquid is a polyol, a type of alcohol. The other is made of isocyanates, a family of highly reactive chemicals widely used in the manufacture of flexible and rigid foams. Within about one minute after a medic inserts the liquids at the midline--near the belly button--the mixture expands to nearly 30 times its original volume and then turns solid. It slows or halts hemorrhaging by sealing wounded tissues. Once the patient can get to intensive care, doctors would remove the solid mass and then perform surgery to permanently stop any bleeding.

"Initial battlefield care is provided in austere, often hostile conditions by field medics," says Brian Holloway, program manager for DARPA's Wound Stasis System program, which was launched in 2010 to find a technological solution to control internal hemorrhaging. The foam, made by Arsenal Medical, Inc., indiscriminately blocks the sources of the bleeding, almost like a scorched-earth campaign against blood loss.

"We've been waiting for this," says Donald Jenkins, trauma director at Saint Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn., and a 24-year Air Force veteran who has spent more than 700 days in combat zones, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. When asked how often he has seen soldiers suffer from abdominal hemorrhaging caused by explosives or gunshot wounds, he pauses and says, "Too many times."

Arsenal Medical initially developed the foam to serve as a delivery mechanism for another treatment that would differentiate between healthy and wounded tissue, and then stop bleeding by binding only to the wounded portion. Using swine as subjects, researchers induced liver injury by wrapping a wire around the organ during surgery, closing the animal, and then pulling on a portion of the wire that had been left protruding through the skin. They waited 10 minutes between pulling the wire and injecting the two liquids in order to allow the blood to pool inside the body, as it often does in combat wounds.

Researchers were surprised at what they found when they removed the solidified foam. "When we saw the animal models that we had used, we realized that we had solved the [internal hemorrhaging] problem," says Upma Sharma, lead researcher on the project. The foam reduced blood loss sixfold in those tests, and three hours after the injury the survival rate was 72 percent in the treatment group versus only 8 percent in the control group. Swine are often used as test subjects because pigs have an organ structure very similar to humans.

This particular foam is one of about 1,300 that Arsenal Medical researchers tested as they experimented with variables such as the rate of expansion and the amount of time in which the two chemical precursors became a solid foam. The researchers also had to consider whether or not the foam reacted with other fluids in the body. "We specifically engineered it as a two-part system so it would interact with itself," Sharma says, explaining that the liquids, once injected, could not have a chemical reaction with other bodily fluids. Some foams also would not work because they could not push against the blood flow or they stuck to the tissue.

Although Arsenal Medical's foam has a lot of potential, it still needs some work before it is field ready. After the material solidifies, it can cause bruising. In addition, the reaction between the two liquids generates heat, which raises the temperature of surrounding tissue by about 2 or 3 degrees Celsius. Sharma says this temperature increase is on par with a high-grade fever. Some patients might also have an allergic reaction to the foam.

Jenkins points out another potential problem: Pieces of solidified foam could break off inside the body and go adrift in a patient's bloodstream, eventually blocking blood flow to the legs or lungs. Sharma says the researchers have not seen any evidence of this happening, however.

Nevertheless, Jenkins sees some promise in this new approach to a common problem for field medics, and perhaps first-responders in remote rural areas. "If half the deaths on the battlefield are torso hemorrhaging, and you were able to save 10 percent, would the survivors say it's worth [the risk]?" he asked. "I'd say yes."

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

USDA Unveils New Effort To Cut Junk Food In Schools

USDA Unveils New Effort To Cut Junk Food In Schools

WASHINGTON -- Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Home Remedies For Acne - How to Get Rid Of Acne

Home Remedies For Acne - How to Get Rid Of Acne
The oldest home remedy for acne still holds true. If you really want to get rid of acne and even reduce some of your acne scars, try doing the tried and tested facial steam. Facial steams are guaranteed to work on any type of skin and with some degree of acne. Note that it can only be done about twice a week but no more because it can actually dry your face out. First, wash your face with very cold water and pat it dry.
Source: EzineArticles.com

Stroke Standards

Each year, approximately 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke. That means, on average, a stroke happens every 40 seconds.

With that in mind, the experts at the American Heart Association are out with new guidelines to help healthcare professionals speed up treatment.

The key point is to give appropriate patients clot-dissolving therapy, called tPA, within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital. tPA must be given no more than 4-and a half hours after the first symptom of stroke. But the faster it's given, the more likely it can dissolve the clot that is causing the problem and minimize damage to the brain.

The new guidelines also recommend transporting stroke patients to certified stroke centers when possible. Or having smaller hospitals partner with larger centers, via telemedicine, to make quicker life saving decisions.

With advances like treatment with tPA, stroke has dropped from third to fourth leading cause of death in the U.S, and that's good news for all.

Signs of stroke include facial drooping, arm weakness and speech difficulties like slurring. If you or anyone you are with exhibit any of these symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately.

I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with news you can use for healthier living.

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