Gun surrender laws in domestic violence situations save lives

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 20, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Obtaining a restraining order may not be enough to prevent domestic violence, but when state laws require the removal of firearms, risk of those violent crimes goes down, a new study says.

In states that require people with restraining orders against them to surrender their firearms, the intimate partner murder rate dropped by 10 percent. In states that don't require surrender, the rate went down less than 7 percent, the study found.

And the rate of these firearm-related crimes fell 15 percent in states that require surrender, researchers said.

But, just as laws restricting firearm surrender vary from state to state -- some have "possession" laws while others have "surrender" laws -- the protection for victims isn't always the same.

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Currently, more than 1,800 people die from domestic violence in the United States every year. About half of these homicides are committed with firearms. Approximately 85 percent of victims are women.

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E cigarettes better than tobacco but still not good for your heart if you don't smoke at all

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 20, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- The nicotine in e-cigarette vapor may cause adrenaline levels to spike in the heart, potentially increasing risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death, a new study reports.

Electronic cigarettes have been promoted as a healthier alternative to tobacco cigarettes because they deliver vastly lower levels of carcinogens, researchers say.

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Based on the results, Middlekauff said, current tobacco cigarette smokers still would be better off switching to e-cigarettes. They would avoid the carcinogens produced by burning tobacco, even though they could face heart health effects from nicotine.

At the same time, there's now evidence that e-cigarettes could pose a health risk to people who have never smoked tobacco because of the nicotine they contain, Middlekauff added.

"If you don't smoke at all, I would strongly recommend against using electronic cigarettes, because they're not harmless," she said.

The study was published Sept. 20 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Spanking has negative effects on behavioral development 10 years later

From Psy Blog on 08/05/17:

Spanking can have negative consequences up to 10 years later, new research finds.

The study found that children spanked in infancy had worse behaviour and personalities in their teens.

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7-Fold Spike Seen in Opioid-Linked Fatal Car Crashes

From Med Line Health Day on 07/31/17:

MONDAY, July 31, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- In yet another sign of just how deadly the U.S. opioid epidemic has become, researchers report a sevenfold increase in the number of drivers killed in car crashes while under the influence of prescription painkillers.

Prescriptions for drugs such as oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicoprofen) and morphine have quadrupled, from 76 million in 1991 to nearly 300 million in 2014, so it's no surprise these medications are playing a growing role in highway deaths, the Columbia University researchers said.

"The significant increase in proportion of drivers who test positive for prescription pain medications is an urgent public health concern," said lead researcher Stanford Chihuri.

Prescription drugs can cause drowsiness, impaired thinking and slowed reaction times, which can interfere with driving skills, Chihuri said.

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How lead impacts the mental health of children

From PBS on 08/01/17 Editor's note: This story is not only about the effects of lead on children's brains but also about the ethics of leaders in organizations when they are in government and schools. The government of Flint and Michigan is seriously dysfunctional and the superintendent schools in Flint is a hero whom we all would do well to emulate.

Fat shaming by physicians not helpful strategy for improving patient's health

From Med Line Health Day on 08/03/17

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

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Americans Taking More Prescription Drugs Than Ever: Survey

From Med Line Health Day:

Thursday, August 3, 2017

THURSDAY, Aug. 3, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A new survey finds 55 percent of Americans regularly take a prescription medicine -- and they're taking more than ever.

Those who use a prescription drug take four, on average, and many also take over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and other dietary supplements, the survey done by Consumer Reports shows.

But many of those pills may be unnecessary and might do more harm than good, according to a special report in the September issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Among those who take prescription drugs, 53 percent get them from more than one health care provider, which increases the risk of adverse drug effects. More than a third say no provider has reviewed their medicines to see if all are necessary.

Forty-nine percent of survey respondents who regularly take prescription medicine asked their prescribers whether they could stop taking a drug, and 71 percent were able to eliminate at least one.

"We can see that when consumers ask if they can stop taking at least one of their medications, in the majority of cases, their doctors agree," Ellen Kunes, leader of Consumer Report's Health and Food Content Development Team, said in a news release.

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Editor's note:

Medications can be helpful tools to manage symptoms and underlying physical disorders, but the knee jerk reaction in the business model of delivering health care services is to prescribe a drug. It is quick and easy and gets the patient off the physician's back in 12 minutes or less. In other words, prescribing drugs is good business but can be questionable health care. 

Patient's feed into this dynamic believing that unless the physician prescribes a drug for their complaint they haven't been taken seriously. The problem of the overprescription and utilzation of pharmaceuticals is endemic to the corporate culture of modern health care delivery. As the old Latin expression Caveat Emptor states, "Let the buyer beware."