UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

9M young children die worldwide annually

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Nearly 9 million children worldwide under the age of 5 die every year, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, said.

Using 2007 figures, WHO officials said about 70 percent of these early child deaths could be prevented by improving living conditions and treatments.

The leading causes of death in children under 5 are pneumonia, diarrhea and health problems during the first month of life. More than one-third of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition, officials said.

Children in developing countries are 10 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than children in developed countries. Three-quarters of all child deaths occur in Africa and Southeast Asia.

A child's risk of dying is highest in the neonatal period -- the first 28 days of life -- and safe childbirth and effective neonatal care are essential to prevent these deaths, WHO officials said. About 40 percent of child deaths under 5 occur during the neonatal period.

From the end of the neonatal period and through the first 5 years of life, the main causes of death are pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS.

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Open lake waters may defeat Asian carp

MILWAUKEE, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Invasive Asian carp pose a dire threat to the Great Lakes' ecosystem but may not be able to breed in open lake waters, a U.S. expert on the fish said.

"If a few fish get into the Great Lakes, it's not game over," said Duane Chapman, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher who studies the food-hogging fish on the heavily infested Missouri River.

Researchers believe the big fish have breached an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River basin.

To breed, enough fish have to enter the lake to find each other and then find a place to spawn. Open waters present a problem because fertilized Asian carp eggs require long free-flowing rivers.

Without a current to keep the eggs afloat, the eggs sink to the bottom and die, Chapman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a story published Friday.

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Stomach hormone effective in Parkinson's

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A naturally occurring stomach hormone shows promise in slowing the development of Parkinson's disease, researchers in Connecticut said.

Ghrelin is protective of dopamine neurons, which degenerate with the onset of Parkinson's, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Reduced production of dopamine in late-stage Parkinson's causes symptoms such as severe difficulty in walking, tremors, lack of appetite and periods of motionless known as "freezing."

Produced in the stomach, ghrelin has an influence on appetite and is responsible for direct activation of the brain's dopamine cells, Yale researcher Tamas Horvath said.

In a study, mice with impaired ghrelin action in the brain showed a greater loss of dopamine than mice that received ghrelin supplements, Horvath said. In future studies, Horvath's team will try to determine ghrelin levels in healthy people and in Parkinson's patients.

The Yale study was supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

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Program reduces autism bad behaviors

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Behavioral problems of autistic children can be reduced through medication and a parental training program, U.S. researchers say.

The 24-week study involved 124 children ages 4-13 with autism, Asperger's or related disorders at Yale University.

The research, conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Autism Network, found anti-psychotic medication risperidone, or Risperdal, reduced behavioral problems as tantrums, aggression and self-injury in children with autism.

However, most children's symptoms returned when the medication was discontinued after six months.

Researchers at Yale University, Ohio State University and Indiana University tested the benefits of medication alone compared with medication plus a parent training program that actively involves parents in managing their children's severely disruptive and non-compliant behaviors.

In a series of 14 sessions over six months, parents were taught to reduce their children's challenging behavior and to enhance daily living skills.

The study, to be published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found although both groups improved over the six-month trial, the group receiving combination therapy showed greater reduction in disruptive behavior, tantrums and aggression compared with the group receiving medication only.

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