TD AMERITRADE Offers Financial Tips for a New Generation of College Grads

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New survey suggests young adults are on the right track to retirement
OMAHA, Neb.–(Business Wire)–
Young adults understand the importance of starting early when it comes to saving
for retirement, suggests a recent survey from TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation
(NASDAQ: AMTD). Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents age 18-34 expect to
contribute more often to a retirement or long-term savings account in 2010 than
they have in the past.

“It`s reassuring to see younger generations prioritizing and taking action when
it comes to long-term planning,” said Stuart Rubinstein, Managing Director,
investment products, TD AMERITRADE. “Starting early is key, keeping in mind they
can always cut back if needed. That option can put investors in a much better
position, as opposed to starting too late and not being able to make up for lost
time.”

Starting early allows investors to take advantage of the power of compounding,
and ultimately provides more freedom and flexibility later in life.

Suppose you were to start consistently investing $100 per month starting at age
21, continuing for 20 years and then stopping at age 41  a total investment of
$24,000. Assuming an 8 percent annual return, compounded monthly, you will have
accumulated $471,358 by age 67. However, if you wait until 20 years before you
plan to retire and start investing the same $100 per month for 20 years,
assuming the same rate of return, you will have invested an equal $24,000, but
you will have accumulated only $59,295. That`s a difference of over $412,000.

Investors can use TD AMERITRADE`s Cost of Waiting Calculator to estimate the
impacts of delaying their own retirement savings. They should also understand
the difference between saving and investing, the latter always includes risk of
loss.

TD AMERITRADE offers the following financial tips to help recent college
graduates and all young adults get a head start on retirement:

1. As soon as you receive a paycheck, save regularly even if the amount is
minimal. Your savings will add up quickly, compound over time and come in handy
for major purchases, such as a new car, a home or wedding expenses.

2. Track your monthly income and expenses and establish a budget accordingly.
This will show what you are able to realistically spend and help you avoid
turning to credit cards.

3. Be sure to participate in employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s or 403(b)s
to begin building your retirement savings. Ask about company matches or profit
sharing programs and try to invest as much as your company will match to
maximize your benefits.

4. Determine your long-term goals and use a free calculator like
WealthRulerTM(1) to help you assess your financial situation and devise a plan
to help you pursue those goals.

5. Increase your savings when you can, especially when you receive a raise or a
bonus.

6. Subscribe to a financial magazine or visit financial Web sites at least a few
times per week. Educating yourself on money trends will help you become
financially savvy over time.

For tools and services to help plan for the long haul, visit TD AMERITRADE`s
online Retirement Center, offering help and guidance no matter where you are on
your path to retirement.

For additional survey findings, please visit TD AMERITRADE`s newsroom.

AMTD-G

Survey Methodology

These results are based on a survey conducted by Infogroup | ORC of Princeton,
New Jersey on behalf of

TD AMERITRADE. 1,058 adults, employed full time, part time or self employed,
participated in a telephone survey conducted February 18-22 and 25-26, 2010. The
margin of error in this survey is ±3 percentage points. This means that in 19
cases out of 20, survey results based on 1,058 respondents will differ by no
more than three percentage points in either direction from what would have been
obtained by seeking the opinions of all eligible U.S. adults employed full time,
part time or self employed. Infogroup | ORC and TD AMERITRADE Institutional are
separate, unaffiliated companies and are not responsible for each other’s
products and services.

About Infogroup | ORC

Infogroup | ORC is a leader in global market research with expertise in
Information Technology and Telecommunications, Healthcare, Financial Services,
Public Services and Consumer Behavior. For more information, visit
www.opinionresearch.com.

About TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation

TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD), through its brokerage
subsidiaries,(2) combines innovative trading technology, easy-to-use and
understand trading tools, investment services, investor education and superior
client service to create a market-leading financial services experience. Now
home to the award-winning thinkorswim trading technology(3) and the Investools
investor education program, TD AMERITRADE provides millions of retail investors,
traders and independent registered investment advisors with the tools, service
and support they need to help build confidence in today’s rapidly-changing
market environment. For more information and resources for journalists, please
visit the TD AMERITRADE newsroom at www.amtd.com.

(1) Kiplinger`s Personal Finance magazine, December 2009, WealthRulerTM named to
2009 Best List: Retirement Resources.

(2) TD AMERITRADE, Inc., member FINRA (www.FINRA.org) /SIPC (www.SIPC.org)/NFA
(www.nfa.futures.org). TD AMERITRADE Clearing, Inc., member FINRA
(www.FINRA.org) /SIPC (www.SIPC.org).

(3) thinkorswim, prior to joining TD AMERITRADE, earned 4.9 stars, the top
score, in the category “Trading Technology,” and was rated #1 overall online
broker in Barron`s ranking of online brokers, 3/15/2010; thinkorswim was
evaluated versus others in eight total categories, including trade experience,
trading technology, usability, range of offerings, research amenities, portfolio
analysis & reporting, customer service & education and costs. thinkorswim topped
the list in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 with the highest weighted-average score.
Barron`s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company © 2006-2010.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6313696〈=en

TD AMERITRADE
For Media:
Christina Goethe, 201-369-8541
Communications and Public Affairs
christina.goethe@tdameritrade.com
or
For Investors:
Jeff Goeser, 402-597-8464
Investor Relations
jeffrey.goeser@tdameritrade.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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Mental stress doesn’t distract young people behind the wheel

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): A new study has shown that anxiety and depression do not play a role in teen motor vehicle accidents.

“Psychological distress does not appear to pose the risk we thought it did for motor vehicle crash in young people,” said lead author Alexandra Martiniuk, a senior research fellow at the George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney in Australia.

The study followed 20,822 new drivers in New South Wales for two years. Participants from ages 17 to 24 reported whether they had symptoms of psychological distress, such as nervousness, restlessness, depression or sadness.

Researchers used police database records to link teens’ responses to future motor vehicle crashes.

During the study, 1,495 teens and young adults had one or more crashes and 289 had a single crash, but stress levels did not appear to raise a teen’s risk.

“No group of young drivers with psychological distress had an increased risk of crash. We did not find an increased risk of motor vehicle crash for young drivers who had severe psychological distress — a level of distress that correlates with a mental health diagnosis,” Martiniuk said.

In fact, teens with some anxiety or depression were 15 percent less apt to crash their vehicles over the two-year period, Martiniuk said.

The authors theorized that young drivers with symptoms of mild anxiety and depression might be less prone to take risks and more likely to be vigilant behind the wheel.

The study appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. (ANI)

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Conceiving babies naturally may be a dying art

May 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 16 (ANI): Conceiving babies using IVF rather than naturally could soon become rife among couples who have delayed having children until their late thirties or forties, perhaps to pursue a career, say scientists.

A new report says that advances in IVF technology mean it will be possible to produce embryos with a success rate of virtually 100 percent and cultivate them in computer-controlled storage facilities.

The couples may routinely go for IVF rather than sex to reproduce, giving themselves a better chance of conceiving through IVF than young adults in peak condition, who have only a one-in-four chance a month of conceiving naturally, according to the report.

Among over-35s, the chance of natural conception falls to less than one in 10. Modern fertility techniques have meant the healthiest couples already have a 50:50 chance of success using IVF, but the authors of the report say this is just the beginning.

They point to rapid advances in artificial reproduction for farm animals, which have led to a near-100 percent success rate in the production of cattle embryos and claim the technology could easily be adapted for humans.

“We are not quite at that stage yet, but it’s where we’re heading. Natural human reproduction is at best a fairly inefficient process. Within the next five to 10 years, couples approaching 40 will access the IVF industry first when they want to have a baby,” The Times quoted John Yovich, a co-author of the report, as saying.

The report has been published in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online. (ANI)

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Nicotine-containing hookah an unhealthy hit among youngsters

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 11 (ANI): A study has found that a hookah or shisha, which is believed to be safer than smoking cigarettes, contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, and carcinogens that are more harmful.

Hookahs or waterpipes are gaining in popularity among the younger generation, with almost one-quarter of young adults in Montreal having used them in the past year.

“The popularity of waterpipes may be due in part to perceptions that they are safer than cigarettes,” senior investigator Jennifer O’Loughlin, a professor at the University of Montreal Department Of Social and Preventive Medicine and a scientist at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center, said.

“However, waterpipe smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, carcinogens and may contain greater amounts of tar and heavy metals than cigarette smoke,” she warned.

As part of a longitudinal cohort investigation (NDIT Study), 871 youth aged 18 to 24 completed questionnaires on their smoking habits.

The research team, which included scientists from the University of Montreal, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec and McGill University, found that 23 percent of respondents had used a waterpipe within the last 12 months and that 5 percent had used waterpipes one or more times in the past month.

The study found waterpipes to be particularly popular among young, English-speaking males who lived on their own and had a higher household income.

In addition, the research team found that waterpipe users were more likely to use other psychoactive substances such as cigarettes, marijuana, illicit drugs and alcohol.

The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics. (ANI)

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Prenatal smoking exposure may lead to psychiatric problems

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 4 (ANI): Prenatal smoking can lead to psychiatric problems in children and increase the need for psychotropic medications in childhood and young adulthood, claims a new study.

In the study, Finnish researchers found that adolescents who had been exposed to prenatal smoking were at increased risk for use of all psychiatric drugs especially those uses to treat depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and addiction compared to non-exposed youths.

The study has been presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

“Recent studies show that maternal smoking during pregnancy may interfere with brain development of the growing fetus,” said Mikael Ekblad, lead author of the study and a pediatric researcher at Turku University Hospital in Finland. “By avoiding smoking during pregnancy, all the later psychiatric problems caused by smoking exposure could be prevented.”

Ekblad and his colleagues collected information from the Finnish Medical Birth Register on maternal smoking, gestational age, birthweight and 5-minute Apgar scores for all children born in Finland from 1987 through 1989. They also analyzed records on mothers” psychiatric inpatient care from 1969-1989 and children”s use of psychiatric drugs.

Results showed that 12.3 percent of the young adults had used psychiatric drugs, and of these, 19.2 percent had been exposed to prenatal smoking.

The rate of psychotropic medication use was highest in young adults whose mothers smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant (16.9 percent), followed by youths whose mothers smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes a day (14.7 percent) and unexposed youths (11.7 percent).

The risk for medication use was similar in males and females, and remained after adjusting for risk factors at birth, such as Apgar scores and birthweight, and the mother”s previous inpatient care for mental disorders.

Smoking exposure increased the risk for use of all psychotropic drugs, especially stimulants used to treat ADHD (unexposed: 0.2 percent; less than 10 cigarettes/day: 0.4 percent; and more than 10 cigarettes/day: 0.6 percent) and drugs for addiction. An increased risk for use of drugs to treat depression also was seen (unexposed: 6 percent; less than 10 cigarettes/day: 8.6 percent; and more than 10 cigarettes/day: 10.3 percent). (ANI)

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Hand-clapping songs improve motor and cognitive skills

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researcher conducted the first study of hand-clapping songs, revealing a direct link between those activities and the development of important skills in children and young adults, including university students.

“We found that children in the first, second and third grades who sing these songs demonstrate skills absent in children who don”t take part in similar activities,” explains Dr. Idit Sulkin a member of BGU”s Music Science Lab in the Department of the Arts. “We also found that children who spontaneously perform hand-clapping songs in the yard during recess have neater handwriting, write better and make fewer spelling errors.”

Dr. Warren Brodsky, the music psychologist who supervised her doctoral dissertation, said Sulkin”s findings lead to the presumption that “children who don”t participate in such games may be more at risk for developmental learning problems like dyslexia and dyscalculia. There”s no doubt such activities train the brain and influence development in other areas. The children”s teachers also believe that social integration is better for these children than those who don”t take part in these songs.”

As part of the study, Sulkin went to several elementary school classrooms and engaged the children in either a board of education sanctioned music appreciation program or hand-clapping songs training – each lasting a period of 10 weeks.

“Within a very short period of time, the children who until then hadn”t taken part in such activities caught up in their cognitive abilities to those who did,” she said. But this finding only surfaced for the group of children undergoing hand-clapping songs training. The result led Sulkin to conclude that hand-clapping songs should be made an integral part of education for children aged six to 10, for the purpose of motor and cognitive training.

During the study, “Impact of Hand-clapping Songs on Cognitive and Motor Tasks,” Dr. Sulkin interviewed school and kindergarten teachers, visited their classrooms and joined the children in singing. Her original goal, as part of her thesis, was to figure out why children are fascinated by singing and clapping up until the end of third grade, when these pastimes are abruptly abandoned and replaced with sports.

“This fact explains a developmental process the children are going through,” Dr. Sulkin observes. “The hand-clapping songs appear naturally in children”s lives around the age of seven, and disappear around the age of 10. In this narrow window, these activities serve as a developmental platform to enhance children”s needs — emotional, sociological, physiological and cognitive. It”s a transition stage that leads them to the next phases of growing up.” (ANI)

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Stiff skin syndrome causes found

March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): In a study, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers have shed light on a rare inherited disorder called stiff skin syndrome.

By studying the genetics of the syndrome, boffins have learned more about scleroderma, a condition that leads to hardening of the skin as well as other debilitating and often life-threatening problems.

The findings, which appear this week in Science Translational Medicine, open doors to testing new treatments.

“Scleroderma is a common and often devastating condition yet its cause remains mysterious. My greatest hope is that this work will facilitate the development of new and better treatments,” says Harry C. Dietz, M.D., the Victor A. McKusick Professor of Genetics and director of the Johns Hopkins William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research.

Also known as systemic sclerosis, scleroderma generally affects previously healthy young adults, causing scarring of skin and internal organs that can lead to heart and lung failure.

“Most often individuals with scleroderma do not have other affected family members, precluding use of genetic techniques to map the underlying genes. Instead we turned to a rare but inherited form of isolated skin fibrosis called stiff skin syndrome, hoping to gain a foothold regarding cellular mechanisms that might prove relevant to both conditions,” says Dietz.

A number of clues led Dietz and his team to strongly suspect a role for the connective tissue protein fibrillin-1 in these skin conditions. First, excess collagen is a hallmark feature of both stiff skin syndrome and scleroderma. While studying Marfan syndrome, a condition caused by a deficiency of fibrillin-1, the researchers discovered that fibrillin-1 regulates the activity of TGFbeta, a molecule that induces cells to make more collagen. Second, other researchers have shown that duplication of a segment within the fibrillin-1 gene is associated with skin fibrosis in mice. And third, Dietz treated a patient at Johns Hopkins who had both stiff skin syndrome and eye problems associated with Marfan syndrome. “This seemed too much of a coincidence,” he says.

So Dietz’s team examined patients with stiff skin syndrome and found them to have excessive amounts of fibrillin-1 in the skin. The researchers then sequenced the fibrillin-1 gene in these same patients and found all the stiff skin syndrome mutations clustered in a single region of the fibrillin-1 protein known to interact with neighboring cells.

Further examination showed that these mutations prevent fibrillin-1 from interacting with neighboring cells and lead to increased amounts and activity of TGFbeta, which causes excessive collagen outside cells.

The researchers then examined biopsies from patients with scleroderma and found all of the abnormalities seen in stiff skin syndrome. “It appears that fibriillin-1 helps to inform cells about the quality of their surroundings and also provides a mechanism — by concentrating TGFbeta — to induce extra cellular matrix production if the cell senses a deficiency,” says Dietz. “A breakdown in signaling coupled with excessive fibrillin-1 and TGFbeta leads to a perfect storm for skin fibrosis in stiff skin syndrome.” (ANI)

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Today’s youngsters aren”t self-centered antisocial slackers after all

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 16 (ANI): Contrary to stereotypes, young people of today are not self-centered antisocial slackers and generally just as industrious and outgoing as young people in generations past, according to a new study.

In a scientific analysis of nearly a half-million high-school seniors spread over three decades, MSU’s Brent Donnellan and Kali Trzesniewski of the University of Western Ontario argue teens today are no more egotistical – and just as happy and satisfied – as previous generations.

“We concluded that, more often than not, kids these days are about the same as they were back in the mid-1970s,” said Donnellan, associate professor of psychology.

The study appears in the research journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Donnellan acknowledges that many people will be surprised by the findings, which refute previous studies classifying today’s youth as selfish loafers with extremely high levels of self-esteem.

But while much previous research has relied on “convenience studies” of relatively small samples of young adults, Donnellan said, the current study analyzes the psychological profile data of 477,380 high school seniors from 1976 to 2006. The data comes from the University of Michigan’s federally funded Monitoring the Future survey, which each year tracks the behaviors, attitudes and values of American students.

Some of the other findings of the study are: Today’s youth are more cynical and less trusting of institutions than previous generations. But Donnellan said this is generally true of the broader population.

The current generation is less fearful of social problems such as race relations, hunger, poverty and energy shortages. Today’s youth have higher educational expectations, the study found.

“Kids today are like they were 30 years ago – they’re trying to find their place in the world, they’re trying to carve out an identity, and it can be difficult,” Donnellan said. “But lots of research shows that the stereotypes of all groups are much more overdrawn than the reality.” (ANI)

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Magical tricks may help treat children with locomotor disabilities

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 16 (ANI): A researcher at Tel Aviv University has found a new approach to help kids with paralysis and motor dysfunction improve their physical skills and inner confidence — magic.

Dr. Dido Green developed an innovative yet remarkably simple series of therapeutic exercises for children and young adults based on sleight-of-hand tricks used by professional magicians.

Green and her magicians used sponge balls, elastics and paper clips to teach the children how to perform the challenging, fun and engaging exercises.

“Children with motor disorders like hemiplegia — or paralysis on one side of the body — perform routine exercises with their hands and wrists to be able to carry out basic functions such as opening a door, doing up their zipper, or closing buttons. Not only did the kids get a kick out of the magic tricks, they loved doing the exercises every day,” explained Green.

Green is hoping to create summer “magic camps” for disabled children in both the U.K. and Israel, and will further investigate the benefits of magic for improving motor development of children with disabilities.

Her initial research looked at a sample of nine children.

“We had a hunch that learning magic tricks could do wonders for kids” movement problems, but we wanted to see if the kids would actually practice them,” said Green.

The children practiced ten minutes a day over four to six weeks, resulting in a significant and measurable change in motor skills. “It was a big enough effect to make us want to marry the concept of magic with more specific treatment regimes important for motor learning,” added Green.

In the next part of the study, Green will bridge the worlds of behavioural therapy with science. She plans not only to give a large group of U.K. and Israeli kids intensive magic training to help improve their motor skills, but also to look into their brains to see if there is a neurological effect.

“We”ll be using functional MRIs to see how extensive practice — using the magic tricks as motivators — affects centres in the brain. Having information from the MRI can help us see what works, and for how long a treatment regime will need to be carried out to have sustained changes,” said Green. (ANI)

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Long-term cannabis use can double risk of psychosis

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Using cannabis for 6 years or more doubles psychosis risk

* Experts say 190 million people around world use the drug

By Kate Kelland

LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) – Young people who smoke cannabis or marijuana for six years or more are twice as likely to have psychotic episodes, hallucinations or delusions than people who have never used the drug, scientists said on Monday.

The findings adds weight to previous research which linked psychosis with the drug — particularly in its most potent form as “skunk” — and will feed the debate about the level of controls over its use.

Despite laws against it, up to 190 million people around the world use cannabis, according to United Nations estimates, equating to about 4 percent of the adult population.

John McGrath of the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia studied more than 3,801 men and women born between 1981 and 1984 and followed them up after 21 years to ask about their cannabis use and assessed them for psychotic episodes. Around 18 percent reported using cannabis for three or fewer years, 16 percent for four to five years and 14 percent for six or more years.

“Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had six or more years since first use of cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis (such as schizophrenia),” McGrath wrote in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal.

They were also four times as likely to have high scores in clinical tests of delusion, he wrote, and a so-called “dose-response” relationship showed that the longer the duration since first cannabis use, the higher the risk of psychosis-related symptoms.

A study by British scientists last year suggested that people who smoke skunk, a potent form of cannabis, are almost seven times more likely to develop psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia than those who smoke “hash” or cannabis resin [nGEE5AT1JQ].

Previous studies had also suggested smoking cannabis can double the risk of psychosis, but the British study was the first to look specifically at skunk. Skunk has higher amounts of the psychoactive ingredient THC which can produce psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and paranoia.

McGrath said, however, that “the nature of the relationship between psychosis and cannabis use is by no means simple” and more research was needed to examine the mechanisms at work.

As part of his study, McGrath and his team looked at links between cannabis use and psychotic symptoms among a group of 228 sibling pairs and found the association still held. This suggests other influences like genes or the environment were less likely to be responsible for the psychosis, they said.

A international group of drug policy experts published a book earlier this year arguing that laws against cannabis have failed to cut its use but instead led to vast numbers of arrests for drug possession in countries like Britain, Switzerland and the United States, which cause social division and pointless government expense. [nLDE60O08O] (Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Jenna Bush Hager roped in for NBC’s ‘Today’

September 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 31 (ANI): Former US President George Bush’s daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, has been roped in to serve as a once-a-month contributor on topics like education on the NBC show ‘Today’.

Jim Bell, the executive producer of the show, has confirmed the news, reports Politico.

He said the show decided to give Jenna a chance after she had come off as a “natural presence” in two previous appearances on “Today”, to promote her book for young adults “Ana’s Story”.

It was about a young woman born with HIV/AIDS who met the former president’s daughter while working as a UNICEF intern in Latin America.

Hager’s first story for Today is expected to air sometime next month. (ANI)

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Swine flu could kill as many as 30,000 to 90,000 people in US

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, August 25 (ANI): In a recently released report, the Obama administration’s advisory group on Science and Technology has said that the H1N1 flu virus, dubbed ‘Swine flu’, could cause as many as 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States and pose a serious health threat.

According to Fox News, deaths would be concentrated among children and young adults, determined the report.

In contrast, the typical seasonal flu kills between 30,000 and 40,000 annually – mainly among people over 65.

The report predicts 1.8 million will be hospitalized during the epidemic, with up to 300,000 patients requiring intensive care units.

These patients could occupy 50-100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions at the peak of the epidemic and would place “enormous stress” on ICU units.

More needs to be done to speed up the “preparation of flu vaccine for distribution to high-risk individuals,” otherwise the vaccine campaign – currently scheduled to begin in mid October – will have potentially missed the peak of the epidemic, according to the report.

The report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, PCAST, shows a sober assessment of the dangers of a pandemic, but also serves as a pat on the back for a White House preparing for its first public health crisis.

“Based on the history of influenza pandemics over the past hundred years, PCAST places the current outbreak somewhere between the two extremes that have informed public opinion about influenza,” stated the report.

“On the one hand, the 2009-H1N1 virus does not thus far seem to show the virulence associated with the devastating pandemic of 1918-19. On the other hand, the 2009-H1N1 virus is a serious threat to our nation and the world,” it added.

This is due to the likelihood that more people will be infected because so few people have immunity to the strain.

As a result, PCAST recommends that the Food and Drug Administration “accelerate a decision about the availability of antiviral drugs for intravenous use.”

The current expectation is that the vaccine will be available in mid-October.

According to Harold Varmus, PCAST co-chair and President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, despite the long ‘to-do’ list, the Obama administration has thus far done a good job of preparing for a national outbreak.

“The Federal Government’s response has been truly impressive and we’ve all been pleased to see the high level of cooperation among the many departments and agencies that are gearing up for the expected fall resurgence of H1N1 flu,” he said. (ANI)

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Ciggies ‘deaden’ smokers’ taste buds

August 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 20 (ANI): Cigarette smokers have fewer and flatter taste buds, says a new study on Greek soldiers.

The research on the tongues of 62 soldiers, published in the open access journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders, has demonstrated how cigarettes deaden the ability to taste.

Pavlidis Pavlos led a team of researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who used electrical stimulation to test the taste threshold of the soldiers and endoscopes to measure the number and shape of a kind of taste bud called fungiform papillae.

He said, “Statistically important differences between the taste thresholds of smokers and non-smokers were detected. Differences concerning the shape and the vascularisation of fungiform papillae were also observed”.

By applying electrical current to the tongue, a unique metallic taste can be generated. Measuring how much current is required before a person perceives this sensation allows determination of their taste sensitivity.

The 28 smokers in the study group scored worse than the 34 non-smokers. Upon close examination with a contact endoscope, the smoker’s tongues had flatter fungiform papillae, with a reduced blood supply.

Pavlos concludes, “Nicotine may cause functional and morphological alterations of papillae, at least in young adults”. (ANI)

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Younger teens really do care what others think about them

July 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): They might be fond of chanting ‘I don’t care’ slogans every now and then, but deep down inside younger adolescents or “tweens” care a lot about what others think about them, a new study has found.

The study confirmed this using brain-mapping techniques that shed new light on this complex period of social development.

The study, authored by researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of California Los Angeles, has been published in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development.

Previous research into this area has relied on reports by teenagers themselves. However, the latest study eliminated the potential bias of self-reports by using brain scans to look at the neural systems that support individuals’ perceptions of themselves.

During the brain scans, 12 early adolescents (11- to 13-year-olds) and 12 young adults (22- to 30-year-olds) responded to researchers’ questions about whether short phrases (such as “I am popular”) described them, and whether they believed others (mothers, best friends, classmates) thought these phrases described them, too.

The researchers then examined activity in the brain that occurred when the participants gave their responses.

In comparison to the young adults, the tweens see themselves in ways that may depend more on what they believe others think about their abilities and attributes. And these others-including parents and friends-may have more influence in some areas than in other areas, with moms having more sway over how the tweens view their academic abilities but best friends exerting influence over how they see their social skills, the study found.

“These findings provide a novel form of evidence confirming the sensitivity of adolescents to what they believe others think of them, especially parents and peers,” suggests Jennifer H. Pfeifer, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon and the lead author.

“More importantly, they suggest that being able to see others’ perspectives on oneself may be particularly critical to development in adolescence. As a result, individuals who lack this social cognitive skill (including those with autism spectrum disorders) may face significant obstacles,” she added. (ANI)

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Nostalgic, internet-weary young adults heading back to old times

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 14 (ANI): Young adults in Australia are increasingly getting nostalgic and pining for simpler times, as they have got sick of the internet and partying.

A study of young adult culture has revealed that the 16-30 year olds have had enough of chatting with friends since a year ago, and now they want to spend more face-to-face time with loved ones.

And they increasingly prefer to do that at home rather than going out to noisy, potentially dangerous pubs and nightclubs.

The annual Urban Market Research survey compiled by youth marketing agency Lifelounge, was conducted on 1600 young adults.

It was found that those still living with their parents (about half) had noticed the global financial crisis’s impact on the family, and pared back their lifestyle in response.

The survey also showed that the youngsters were no longer intrigued by technology, as the time spent online had gone down 30 minutes a week from last year, while their consumption of newspapers increased by the same amount.

Facebook and Twitter are also still on the rise, but losing some of their cachet.

“Nostalgia and simplicity … (are) influencing the styles they’re adopting, the products they’re purchasing and their entertainment choices,” The Australian quoted Lifelounge chief executive Dion Appel as saying.

“Parents’ vinyl records are suddenly interesting and vintage clothes are de rigueur.

“And they want more connections with their friends that aren’t digital, that are tangible. They’re starting to question the authenticity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

“They want technology to assist rather than dominate the way they communicate,” added Appel.

The study found that overall spending on music, entertainment, travel, fashion, and sport was down more than 5 billion dollars in the year to March, from 47.5bn dollars to 42.4bn dollars.

It also found declines in time spent on the Internet (down almost half an hour from last year to 8.6 hours a week) and free-to-air television viewing, down 1.3hours to 4.4hours a week.

However, young adults average another five hours a week watching DVDs and four hours on pay-TV. (ANI)

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Low birth weight ‘ups long-term respiratory problems risk’

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 8 (ANI): A new study has shown that infants who weigh less than five and a half pounds at birth often enter the world with a host of medical complications, including respiratory problems.

The study has also shown that these respiratory problems may persist well beyond their infancy and childhood and into adulthood.

“We report a previously unrecognized excess risk of hospitalization for respiratory illnesses in young adults with a history of low birth weight,” wrote lead researcher Eric C. Walter, M.D., of the University of Washington Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care.

“Our findings suggest that not only are [low birth weight] survivors at increased risk for long-term respiratory disorders, but that these disorders are clinically significant and associated with increased health care utilization,” Walter added.

The researchers used hospitalization records from the Washington State Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System’s discharge database between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2007.

They selected as potential cases any person who was 18 years old at the time of hospitalization and who was discharged with a respiratory code listed among the top four diagnoses.

They then linked these cases to birth weight data listed on birth certificates where possible. Control subjects were randomly selected from birth certificate data.

They found that individuals with very low birth weight (less than 1.5 kg, or 3.3 lbs.) or moderately low birth weight (1.5 to 2.5 kg or 3.3 to 5.5 pounds) had a 83 and 34 percent higher risk of hospitalization for respiratory diagnoses respectively.

Those who had a history of very low birth weight had twice the risk of being hospitalized for asthma or respiratory infection and 2.6 times the risk of respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation.

After adjusting for covariates, including demographic characteristics and maternal smoking, the significant association between birth weight and risk of hospitalization persisted.

Furthermore, while the data could not definitively prove a linear link, researchers did note a trend toward greater risk of respiratory problems with lower birth weights.

“In our study the percentage of respiratory disease attributable to moderately or very low birth weight was estimated to be 1.8 percent. If this were extrapolated to the 1.2 million U.S. hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses per year for ages 18 to 44, low birth weight may account for over 22,000 adult hospitalizations per year, with charges in excess of 225 million dollars per year,” said Dr. Walter.

The study appears in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. (ANI)

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Early Alzheimer’s patients fail to remember what’s important

June 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 26 (ANI): People in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease have trouble focusing on what is important to remember, according to University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers.

“One of the first telltale signs of Alzheimer’s disease may be not memory problems, but failure to control attention,” said lead researcher Alan Castel, UCLA assistant professor of Psychology.
The study consisted of three groups-109 healthy older adults (68 of them female), with an average age of just under 75; 54 older adults (22 of them female) with very mild Alzheimer’s disease, who were functioning fine in their daily lives, with an average age of just under 76; and 35 young adults, with an average age of 19.

All participants were presented with eight lists of 12 words, one word at a time, each paired with a point value from 1 to 12. A new word with its value was presented on a screen every second. The words were common, like “table,” “wallet” and “apple.”

The participants were given 30 seconds to recall the words, and were told to maximize their scores by focusing on remembering the high-value words.

They found that the young adults were selective, as they remembered more of the high-value words than the low-value words.

They recalled an average of 5.7 words out of 12, while the healthy older adults remembered fewer words, an average of 3.5, but were equally selective in recalling the high-value words.

“It’s not surprising that the older adults recalled fewer words. Memory capacity declines with age. However, the older adults were just as selective as the younger adults,” said Castel.

The people with very mild Alzheimer’s disease recalled an average of just 2.8 words, and had some trouble in focusing on just the high-value words, recalling some lower-value words.

“They recall fewer words and their ability to be selective is worse. They understand that they should attend to the high-value words, but they can’t do it as well,” said Castel.

He added: “Memory can be a limited resource. If we can recall only so much information, we need to be selective in old age. A trick for successful aging is to know what the important things are and to remember those things. Many older adults learn to be more selective because they know they can’t remember everything. The ability to be selective might decline when our attention is divided and in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The research has been published in the journal Neuropsychology. (ANI)

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How to text message without any pain in neck, arms and hands

June 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 24 (ANI): Suffering sore thumbs, pain in the neck, arms and hands owing to that constant text messaging to your girlfriend? Well, then you are certainly typing those messages differently than others.

According to a study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, young adults with symptoms in these parts of the body use a different technique when texting.

Ergonomist Ewa Gustafsson studied mobile phone habits among 56 young adults who text message on a daily basis.

Half of the subjects reported problems with the neck, arms or hands, while the other half had no such symptoms.

“Considering how much we use the small mobile phone keypads, it is important that we learn how they affect our bodies. We need to identify factors related to mobile phone usage that may affect our health and ability to work,” said Gustafsson.

Her thesis has shown that mobile phone users with neck, arm or hand symptoms tend to use their mobile phones differently than seen in a healthy control group.

‘Those with symptoms more often text messaged hunched over. Just like when using a computer, such posture should be avoided’, said Gustafsson.

She observed that those with neck, arm or hand problems have the tendency to use one thumb to text instead of two, thus using that one thumb with a higher speed and giving it fewer breaks.

‘It was fascinating to see how fast some individuals could use their thumbs and still find the right letters. Those with symptoms should use both thumbs to reduce the stress on their hands, but these individuals instead use the single-thumb technique to a larger extent than those without problems’, said Gustafsson.

There were also differences in terms of work technique, thumb movements and muscular activity.

She assessed thumb movements with a so-called electrogoniometer, and the muscular activity through electromyography (using electrodes to measure electrical activity in muscles).

Gustafsson also interviewed 25 young adults who use mobile phones and computers extensively to communicate.

‘These people use the technology as a tool to be and act in the present, to be social, effective and independent with almost unlimited possibilities. But there are also risks. Those interviewed related health risks to long-term usage, bad work posture and reduced physical activity’, she said. (ANI)

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Generation Y still seek advice from their parents

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne, June 23 (ANI): No matter how independent they think they are, but Generation Y brigade still look for advice of their parents, according to a research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

The study, which is a part of the Australian Temperament Project, gives a rare insight into the relationship between parents and their adult children.

The Australian Temperament Project has been following the life of nearly 2000 Australians since they were born in 1983.

Diana Smart, institute general manager of research, said that not much research had been done about how the role of parents evolved as their children reached their early adult years.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty about what parents are meant to do once their children reach those early adult years,” the Courier Mail quoted Smart as saying.

She added: “Where it is different these days is that many young people are still living at home, where 30 or 40 years ago at this age of 23 to 24, most young people were married and even parents.”

The study also found that the parents have no inclination how much their adult children still value their input.

While 88 per cent of young adults said they still counted on their parents for advice and emotional support, only 70 per cent of parents thought of themselves as still helping in that role.

The study found that 94 per cent of young people said that their relationship with their parents was important to them, and 84 per cent said their parents played a major role in their lives.

Smart said that the study showed parents underestimated just how much support their children felt they provided.

The research has been published in the journal Family Matters. (ANI)

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Unfit young adults may develop diabetes in middle age

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON: Men and women between 18 and 30 years with low aerobic fitness levels are more likely to develop diabetes in 20 years, a study said.

Study lead author Mercedes Carnethon from Northwestern University said: “These young adults are setting the stage for chronic disease in middle age by not being physically active and fit.”

“People who have low fitness in their late teens and 20′s tend to stay the same later in life or even get worse. Not many climb out of that category,” Carnethon added.

In the study, Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of the body’s fat content was the most important predictor of who would develop diabetes. Results of the study were measured using a treadmill test.

Carnethon said: “Research shows that combining regular physical activity with a carefully balanced diet can help most people maintain a healthy body weight and lower the likelihood of developing diabetes.”

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