News of Interest to Moms June 29, 2009

News to know:

Banking ovaries may extend baby-making span

New research may give women a better chance to fight their biological clocks, doctors announced today.

Recent advances to preserve ovaries and surgically implant them could make the procedures more widely available. In the past, both the cost and the uncertainties involved limiting the procedures to women with serious diseases,such as cancer, who had few options.


15 percent of U.S. teens think they'll die young

More than one in seven youths think they'll die young, according to a study published in the July issue of Pediatrics. Researchers tracked 20,594 teens who were in 7th through 12th grade at the start of the three-year study.

Almost 15 percent of American teens believe they will die before age 35 -- a perspective strongly linked to risky behavior, including:
~attempting suicide
~using illegal drugs
~sustaining fight-related injuries requiring medical care
~engaging in unprotected sex
~being arrested by the police
~contracting HIV or AIDS

Race and wealth appeared to affect a teen's risk for belief he would die young. About 10 percent of white teens bore this pessimistic view, compared with 15 percent of Asian youth, 21 percent of Hispanic teens, 26 percent of African American teens and 29 percent of Native American teens.

Heavy kids at higher risk for asthma

Research reveals children who are overweight at age 6 to 7 years are at increased risk for having symptoms of asthma when they are 8 years old.

Children who were persistently heavy from a very young age and between age 6 to 7 years were 68 percent more likely to have breathing difficulties, according to a study involving 3,756 children. Researchers found the children were also 66 percent more likely to have twitchy airways at age 8 than children who were leaner in childhood.

However, children who were heavier at a very young age, but who developed a normal weight at age 6 to 7, did not have an increased risk of breathing difficulties.

Cheerleading still most dangerous sport

Cheerleading continues to cause more serious and deadly injuries by far than other sports.

The number of cheerleading injuries fell slightly in the 2007-08 academic year, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which released its 26th annual report on the topic.

Cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college catastrophic injuries among all female sports. The report defines catastrophic injuries as any severe or fatal injury incurred during participation in the sport.

There were 1,116 direct catastrophic injuries in high school (905) and college sports (211).

High school sports were associated with 152 fatalities, 379 non-fatal injuries and 374 serious injuries. College sports accounted for 22 fatalities, 63 non-fatal injuries and 126 serious injuries.