Laundry detergent pods pose "serious poisoning risk" for children: Study

One young child per day was hospitalized in the United States in 2012 and 2013 because of laundry detergent pods, according to a study published.

Laundry detergent pods began appearing on U.S. store shelves in early 2010, and people have used them in growing numbers ever since, but the convenience has come with risks for young children, Xinhua news agency quoted.

U.S. poison control centers received reports of 17,230 children younger than 6 years of age swallowing, inhaling, or otherwise being exposed to chemicals in laundry detergent pods in 2012 and 2013, or about one per hour, researchers at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio said.

A total of 769 young children were hospitalized during that period, an average of one per day, and one child died, the researchers said.

One and two year-olds accounted for nearly two-thirds of cases as children that age often put items in their mouths as a way of exploring their environments.

According to the researchers, children who put detergent pods in their mouths risk swallowing a large amount of concentrated chemicals and the vast majority of exposures in this study were due to ingestion.

"Laundry detergent pods are small, colorful, and may look like candy or juice to a young child," co-author Marcel Casavant, chief of toxicology at Nationwide Childrens Hospital, said in a statement.

"It can take just a few seconds for children to grab them, break them open, and swallow the toxic chemicals they contain, or get the chemicals in their eyes."

Nearly half of children vomited after laundry detergent pod exposure, the researchers said. Other common effects were coughing or choking, eye pain or irritation, drowsiness or lethargy and red eye or conjunctivitis.

A leading manufacturer of laundry detergent pods began changing its packaging in the spring of 2013, introducing containers that were not see-through and adding latches and a warning label to the containers, the researchers said.

However, laundry detergent pods from many makers continue to be sold in see-through packages with zip-tops or other easily opened containers, they noted.

"It is not clear that any laundry detergent pods currently available are truly child resistant; a national safety standard is needed to make sure that all pod makers adopt safer packaging and labeling," said lead author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Childrens Hospital.

"Parents of young children should use traditional detergent instead of detergent pods."

The study was published in the U.S. journal Pediatrics.

Researchers find why smoking riskier for men than women

Men who smoke are over three times more likely than nonsmokers to lose their Y chromosomes, according to researchers who have previously shown that loss of the Y chromosome is linked to cancer.

The study, published Thursday in the U.S. journal Science, may help explain why smoking is a greater risk factor for males compared to females and, in the broader perspective, also why men in general have a shorter life expectancy.

Only men have the Y chromosome, which is important for sex determination and sperm production.

"We have previously in 2014 demonstrated an association between loss of the Y chromosome in blood and greater risk for cancer. We now tested if there were any lifestyle or clinical factors that could be linked to loss of the Y chromosome," said Lars Forsberg of Uppsala University in Sweden, who led the study, in a statement.

"Out of a large number of factors that were studied, such as age, blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol intake and smoking, we found that loss of the Y chromosome in a fraction of the blood cells was more common in smokers than in non-smokers," said Forsberg.

The risk was dose dependent, meaning that loss of the Y chromosome was more common in heavy smokers compared to moderate smokers. Some men who quit smoking even appeared to regain their Y chromosomes.

"These results indicate that smoking can cause loss of the Y chromosome and that this process might be reversible," Forsberg said. "This discovery could be very persuasive for motivating smokers to quit."

How loss of the Y chromosome is connected with the development of cancer throughout the body is still not clear, the researchers said. One possibility is that immune cells in blood, that have lost their Y chromosome, have a reduced capacity to fight cancer cells.

Meteorites found in S. Korea some 4.6 bln years old

South Korean scientists said Tuesday four meteorites discovered in the southern part of the country earlier this year are estimated to be as old as the solar system.

In early March, residents in Jinju, a city some 434 kilometers south of Seoul, found the space rocks that weighed 34 kilograms in total, a rare discovery in the country. Some 312 grams were donated by the owners for analysis, Yonhap news agency reported.

Announcing the results of its months-long analysis, the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) said the rocks appear to be between 4.48 billion to 4.59 billion years old, or about the age of our solar system at 4.56 billion years.

It suggests that the rocks are most definitely from space, marking the first meteorites owned by South Koreans.

The analysis was done using a device called a secondary ion mass spectrometer, which analyzes the abundance of different minerals in a sample, the KBSI said.

The spectrometer bombards the sample with an ion beam to eject "secondary ions," which are in turn sorted out by mass and energy. A detector in the machine will then count how many ions there are for each kind.

Spectrometers are commonly used to analyze meteorites because they cause minimal damage to what are often precious samples.

Plugging the numbers into a uranium-lead dating equation will give the age of the sample, according to the think tank.

KBSI scientists said they plan to report the results to an international conference due to be held in Daejeon from Thursday to Friday.

The third International Conference on Analytical Science and Technology is expected to attract more than 250 scientists from the United States, Japan, Australia and Britain, among other countries.

Vigorous activity may help avoid early death: Study

Even small amounts of vigorous activity, the kind that makes you breathe harder and sweat, could help reduce your risk of early death, a large Australian study of middle-aged and older adults suggested Monday.

The results, published in the U.S. journal JAMA Internal Medicine, were based on 204,542 people who were followed for more than six years. During the study period, over 7,400 deaths were registered.

Compared with those who reported zero physical activity, those who reported up to 149 minutes per week of physical activity had a 34 percent reduced risk for dying, and the reduced risk was 47 percent for those who reported up to 299 minutes per week of physical activity, and 54 percent among those who reported 300 minutes per week or more of physical activity.

More importantly, the risk of mortality for those who included some vigorous activity, such as jogging, aerobics or competitive tennis, was 9 to 13 percent lower, compared with those who only undertook moderate activity, such as gentle swimming, social tennis, or household chores.

"The benefits of vigorous activity applied to men and women of all ages, and were independent of the total amount of time spent being active," said lead author Klaus Gebel from James Cook Universitys Center for Chronic Disease Prevention. "The results indicate that whether or not you are obese, and whether or not you have heart disease or diabetes, if you can manage some vigorous activity it could offer significant benefits for longevity."

Co-author Ding Ding from University of Sydneys School of Public Health said the results indicated that vigorous activities should be more strongly encouraged in clinical and public health guidelines.

The current advice from the World Health Organization and health authorities in countries including the U.S., Britain and Australia is for adults to accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.

"The guidelines leave individuals to choose their level of exercise intensity, or a combination of levels, with two minutes of moderate exercise considered the equivalent of one minute of vigorous activity," Ding said. "It might not be the simple two-for- one swap that is the basis of the current guidelines. Our research indicates that encouraging vigorous activities may help to avoid preventable deaths at an earlier age."

The researchers cautioned that older people and those with medical conditions should talk to their doctor before engaging in vigorous exercise.

Like humans, chimps can smile silently: Study

Just like humans, chimpanzees can smile without making a laughing sound, a new study revealed,

The new findings, published in the U.S. journal PLOS ONE, suggested that chimpanzees communication is more similar to humans than was previously known.

"Humans have the flexibility to show their smile with and without talking or laughing," lead author Marina Davila-Ross from Britains University of Portsmouth said in a statement.

"This ability to flexibly use our facial expressions allows us to communicate in more explicit and versatile ways, but until now we didnt know chimps could also flexibly produce facial expressions free from their vocalizations."

In the new study, Davila-Ross and her colleagues filmed 46 chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia and used a facial action coding system called ChimpFACS to measure their subtle facial movements.

The study showed that chimpanzees produced the same 14 types of "laugh faces" when laugh sounds were present as when they werent, Xinhua reported.

Furthermore, the study indicated that the facial expression plus vocalization, as well as the facial expression alone, were used differently in social play, for instance, when in physical contact with playmates and when matching playmates open-mouthed faces.

The findings led the researchers to suggest "laugh faces of humans must have gradually emerged from laughing open-mouth faces of ancestral apes."

There are still key differences between humans and our ape ancestors, Davila-Ross noted.

"Chimps only rarely display crows feet when laughing, but this trait is often shown by laughing humans. Then, it is called Duchenne laughter, which has a particularly positive impact on human listeners," she said.

Health sense: Managing and mitigating childhood myopia

Parents — especially those who are short-sighted and who have had to wear glasses since childhood — are often concerned about the causes of myopia and whether their children are also fated to be as visually impaired.

Childhood myopia begins during a child’s growing years and worsens throughout childhood.

Those suffering from this visual condition usually complain of having difficulty seeing distant objects such as oncoming bus numbers, classroom whiteboards or even television screens.

In a bid to “see better”, some might squint or hold objects up close to their eyes.

These are signs that should alert parents to the need for their child to see an optician. After all, it is commonly understood that myopia can easily be corrected with eyeglasses.

Myopia is a type of refractive error or focusing problem of the eye, where the light rays entering the eye are focused at a point in front of the retina rather than on it. This results in blurry vision when viewing distant objects and is why myopia is also known as short-sightedness.

The most common mechanism for myopia’s progression is a gradual elongation of the eyeball. So in essence, childhood myopia occurs because the eye has grown too large.

Researchers typically attribute myopia to a combination of two risk factors — genetics and environment.

For instance, if both parents are short-sighted, there will be a greater risk that their child will be short-sighted.

However, simply looking at a couple’s family tree will not always provide definitive answers, as environmental factors, such as the extent of close visual work, level of education and lack of exposure to outdoor activities have been documented to affect the progression of childhood myopia.

To fight this, parents can encourage their children to go outdoors to play and ensure that there is adequate lighting when they are reading. Children should also hold reading material at least 30 centimeters from their eyes and sit back from the computer or television.

Parents should also ensure that children sit up to read whenever possible, take vision breaks of 5 to 10 minutes after long periods of close work and have a healthy diet and adequate sleep each night.

If your child already has good eye habits — and if your child’s myopia continues to progress rapidly — interventional measures such as atropine eye drops can be considered.

Clinical trials by the Singapore National Eye Centre and the Singapore Eye Research Institute have shown that low-dose (0.01 percent) atropine is effective in slowing myopia’s progression by 50 to 60 percent over a two-year period.

While normal concentrations of the drug might cause side effects such as pupil dilation, the inability to focus on near objects and a sensitivity to light; the low dosage in this treatment means the side effects are almost unnoticeable. Treatment is most suitable for those aged between 6 and 12 years.

Typically, children undergoing this treatment would apply low-dose atropine eye drops to the eyes once daily.

In the rare case that a child does not respond to the low dosage, a higher concentration might be considered. There may be 7 percent of children who may not respond as well to atropine.

For children with myopia, parents should be aware that their vision needs to be checked at least once a year to see if their glasses need to be changed.

If you suspect that your child has myopia, or any other eye conditions such as amblyopia (“lazy eyes”) or strabismus (“misaligned eyes”) that commonly manifest during childhood, do bring your child to an eye specialist to ensure early treatment.

The sooner a condition is identified and managed, the less likely it will result in visual problems.

Finding peace on a yoga mat

Sunday was International Yoga Day, which gave me the perfect excuse for some reflection.

A friend got me to attend my first yoga class at Pacific Plaza in 2010.

At that time, I was just about to turn 40 years old. I was no longer a spring chicken. I had given up the battle of attempting to get fit after my second child was born and, like most despairing mothers across the globe, had convinced myself that my pear-shaped body was here to stay.

I reconciled myself with my body shape by drinking more white wine and munching on more curry puffs.

Before attending the yoga class, friends had extolled the benefits of yoga to me. "Life changer," I was told.

As a journalist, I think I was curious to see if all the global yoga hype was justified. During the first class, the postures were not too complex, yet I could barely stretch.

Yet even when my body was at its most inflexible, the yoga teacher had me hooked from the word go.

In "Yoga: The Science Of Living", Indian spiritual teacher Osho writes: "Remember, nobody can start it for you. You have to start it for yourself. Yoga teaches you to trust yourself; yoga teaches you to become confident of yourself. Yoga teaches you that the journey is alone. A master can indicate the way, but you have to follow it."

My cynical, questioning self opened up to that possibility - of a master indicating the way and making the choice to follow it.

After many false starts in getting fit and after a series of trainers who had given up on me, I finally found what I was seeking in a simple yoga mat.

The tonal variations, the range of poses. In just 60 minutes, I went from a gentle meditative state to an intense Surya Namaskar workout.

My heart pumped like it rarely had before and then my body relaxed as it slipped into Shava Asana (The Corpse Pose). It was a physical and emotional release like no other.

There was a line I heard in 2010, which I would hear many times again in the classes I started attending. "No ego, no comparison, no competition."

It seemed too good to be true - this six-word mantra. It seemed too idealistic to try, but try I did. I started fitting at least three yoga classes each week into my busy work schedule. During holidays, I did more.

At some point, while I was not looking, I began looking different and, well, feeling different. I remember that moment when I could fit into a size 10 H&M dress my daughter had picked for me.

But my yoga journey has not simply been about the challenges of losing weight and keeping fit.

Yoga has taught me how to cut out the surround sound, to stay singularly focused. I am an inherently restless soul who gets bored easily.

I am constantly seeking new things to do, yet yoga has kept me rooted. It has allowed me to channel moments of stillness which I never knew existed. It is in those very moments that new beginnings showed up.

In 2013, I went on a sabbatical to write my debut novel, "The Red Helmet", about love and loss against the backdrop of 1980s India.

I do not think that I could have finished the novel if not for the sheer discipline I had learnt from doing yoga.

Yoga has taught me to focus my mind, to cut out the chatter, to put my cellphone on silent and not give in to the temptation to touch it for the next 60 minutes.

Doing yoga is like going on a journey. Because once you start, there is always a second and a third time.

You see, once you are on a mat, you simply stop counting. You learn to go with the flow.

Kids' picky eating can have depression, anxiety links: study

Picky eating among children may not be just a passing phase but could flag potential concerns such as depression and anxiety, a study released Monday found.

According to the Duke Medicine report in the journal Pediatrics, more than 20 percent of children aged 2-6 are picky eaters.

About 18 percent of those were classified as moderately picky and another three percent as extremely so.

It was in these subsets -- kids who are moderately or severely fussy about the foods they eat -- that scientists found greater occurrence of mental health issues such as clinical depression or anxiety.

Since picky eating can also cause poor nutrition and family conflict, the report said, it appears important for parents and medical staff to keep an eye on a risk of underlying emotional issues.

"These are children whose eating has become so limited or selective that it's starting to cause problems," said lead author Nancy Zucker, director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders.

"Impairment can take many different forms. It can affect the child's health, growth, social functioning, and the parent-child relationship. The child can feel like no one believes them, and parents can feel blamed for the problem."

Children whose picky eating becomes a serious challenge also may have what doctors now call "Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder."

Mental health professionals believe they can help some of these children with behavioral therapy over foods that may cause them anxiety.