BELOW ZERO

Foetal alcohol exposure may prime offspring for alcoholism Rats exposed to alcohol...

Foetal alcohol exposure may prime offspring for alcoholism

Rats exposed to alcohol while still in the womb learn to like the substance and are more drawn to it as young rats, a new study found. The observation may help explain why teens with prior foetal exposure to drinking may be more likely to abuse the substance, researchers say. Exposure to something mom ate during gestation will alter its response, reported researchers from State University of New York in Behavioral Neuroscience. Even more than family history, foetal exposure to alcohol will predict if a person abuses alcohol later in life. And, the earlier that first experience, the higher the probability the person will have problems with this substance into adulthood, experts say. Full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome involves profound mental retardation as well as cranial facial defects. But there are also more subtle effects of being exposed to alcohol in utero.

ZERO TO 20

TV can raise blood pressure in obese children

Obese children who watch a lot of television are more likely to have high blood pressure than heavy children who don8217;t spend as much time in front of the tube. Increased psychological stress and junk food eaten while watching TV could be factors in the relationship, researchers from University of California, San Diego, reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Obese children who watched 2 to 4 hours of TV each day were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure. Kids who watched more than 4 hours daily had more than triple the risk.

20 TO 60

Too little or too much sleep tied to death risk

Adults who routinely get too little or too much sleep may die sooner than those who get the standard 8 hours each night. Researchers from University College London found that among nearly 10,000 adults followed for 17 years, those who slept less each night during the early part of the study were more likely to die of heart disease or stroke than those who kept catching 7 or 8 hours of sleep. On the other hand, those whose typical sleep time increased beyond 8 hours were at elevated risk of dying from non-cardiovascular causes. The study, published in Sleep, did not pinpoint the reason for the findings.

60 AND ABOVE

High blood pressure tied to dementia in the elderly

Elderly people with high blood pressure may be more likely to develop thinking and learning problems that can lead to dementia. Hypertension was linked to one of two types of mild cognitive impairment, a condition that can foreshadow the development of dementia, but not the type strongly associated with Alzheimer8217;s disease, according to the study published in the journal Archives of Neurology.

The impairment is not enough to interfere with daily life and the person does not show other symptoms of dementia. It looks like hypertension leads to a cognitive impairment which is actually not really memory impairment but impairment in other cognitive domains, in particular, language and the ability to perform familiar tasks, concluded the researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in New York.