UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Infrared device may help dementia victims

EASINGTON, England, July 14 (UPI) -- A British dementia patient's progress using an infrared device in an experimental helmet could be "hugely significant," the device's developer says.

Dr. Gordon Dougal, a general practitioner from Easington, England, treated dementia patient Clem Fennell with his infrared device when Fennell's family sought help two months ago, The Daily Mail reported Monday.

He showed remarkable improvement in three weeks, Fennell's wife, Vickey, said.

"My husband, Clem, was fading away. It is as if he is back," she told the British newspaper. "His personality has started to show again. We are absolutely thrilled."

The helmet hasn't been proven in clinical trials but the family said the effects of the twice-a-day, 10-minute sessions were incredible, family members said. Fennell now can converse and go shopping unaccompanied, tasks that eluded him before the treatment, the newspaper said.

Dougal said he believes the device, which bathes the brain in infrared light, could help thousands of dementia patients.

Dougal, a director of the medical research company Virulite, developed the helmet with Sunderland University. The helmet has skull-penetrating 700 LED lights, thought to be the right wavelength that stimulate brain cell growth, slow memory decline and reverse dementia symptoms, The Daily Mail said.

Stadium construction yields tavern find

PISCATAWAY, N.J., July 14 (UPI) -- One tavern patron's beer bottles became an archaeologist's find 250 years later during a Rutgers Stadium expansion in Piscataway, N.J.

Archaeologists have been documenting their discovery to preserve remnants of the once-bustling 18th-century Raritan Landing settlement, now site of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights' football heroics, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Monday.

Other items found at the soon-to-be-completed stadium entrance plaza include the foundation of the Rising Sun Tavern, several residences, plates, pottery, tools dating to the early- to mid-18th century.

"Bit by bit, we're reconstructing this otherwise invisible village," said Rebecca Yamin, an archaeologist with John Milner Associates of West Chester, Pa. "Every project builds on what we know about this invisible place."

This recent excavation, which ended last week, cost Rutgers University $200,000 through its stadium expansion funds and helped amplify the New Jersey's significance in trade and commerce, said Yamin, who studied the settlement for three decades.

Raritan Landing was founded in the early 1700s because of its access to the Raritan River, the newspaper said. Archaeologists found remnants of the port town in Piscataway during construction on the corner of Landing Lane and River Road in 1978.

Wildlife trade convention opens

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 14 (UPI) -- Wildlife trade and resulting species decline are the topics at an international convention in Switzerland on endangered species of wildlife and native plants.

"Innovative and courageous solutions are required to correct the spiral of species decline," Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora said Monday in a statement at the start of the conference.

Representatives from the 173 CITES member nations will discuss the quantities of raw ivory stockpiled in four southern African countries that have been approved for export, Wijnstekers said. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were authorized last year to make a one-time sale of all government-owned stocks of ivory registered by the end of 2007.

The convention will also focus on tiger farming in Asia. CITES officials decided captive tiger populations should be restricted to numbers that can support wild tiger conservation and tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts, Wijnstekers said. Also on the table will be the level of mahogany exports from the Amazon basis and improvements to the timber verification system, and setting up a multi-national task force to address the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn.

Adults: Obesity is top kid health concern

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 14 (UPI) -- Childhood obesity is the top health concern for U.S. children in 2008, topping smoking and drug abuse, The National Poll on Children's Health indicates.

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital's poll asked adults to rank 20 different health problems for children living in their communities, Dr. Matthew M. Davis said.

Thirty-five percent of adults ranked childhood obesity as their top overall health concern for children. Drug abuse is viewed as the second-highest concern, followed by 32 percent of U.S. adults rating smoking as a major health concern.

New to this year's list, bullying was rated highly by both adults with and without children in their homes.

Adults with household incomes of $100,000 or more per year were more likely to view Internet safety as a big problem. Thirty-five percent of black adult respondents rate teen pregnancy as the top health concern for youth, compared to 33 percent of Hispanic adults and 21 percent of white adults asked. Twenty-three percent listed alcohol abuse as a health concern.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder tied for ninth place with sexually transmitted infections as a health concern followed by environmental toxins.

The survey was administered to a random sample of 2,064 adults, part of Knowledge Network's online KnowledgePanelSM.