Health tips

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Mar 30, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- ALMOST HALF OF STUDENTS HARASSED

A University of California Los Angeles study finds almost half of sixth-grade urban middle school students said they'd been harassed -- more than expected. The study, published in the journal Child Development, found the most common types of harassment were public insults, such as name calling, and physical aggression, such as kicking and shoving. "These findings are important because they show that many more kids are affected by bullying both through their own personal experiences and by what they see happening to their classmates than previously estimated," says lead author Adrienne Nishina. Peer victimization is related to negative attitudes toward school, lack of engagement in class, and fewer positive experiences in school, according to Nishina.

IMPROVED ACCESS DOESN'T HELP DIET

Improving food shopping access for people living in poorer neighborhoods has little effect on diet and health, British studies found. A study in Newcastle, England, found that access to healthy food via retail stores was not independently associated with diet, while a Leeds, England, study found positive changes in fruit and vegetable consumption when those foods were made more available in retail stores. A similar study in Glasgow, Scotland, however, found little evidence of increased produce consumption. "If new retail provision is to have an impact on diet and health, we need a multidimensional approach that also tackles food awareness, affordability and acceptability, in addition to retail change," says an editorial in the British Medical Journal.

SARS MAY BE TRANSMITTED IN THE AIR

Two studies, one in Toronto and one in Hong Kong, find the SARS virus may spread through the air, not just through direct contact with water droplets. The SARS coronavirus was detected in the air in a patient's room during the 2003 outbreak in Toronto, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The study, by Timothy F. Booth, was conducted during the Toronto SARS outbreak in March 2003. In Hong Kong, patients in hospital bays near a SARS patient had a much higher infection rate than patients in distant bays, says a study published in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The authors say the results do not document any cases of airborne transmission of the SARS virus from one person to another, only the dissemination of the virus to the air, via breathing or coughing.

ROSACEA MAY BE TRIGGERED

Nearly 16 million U.S. women suffer from facial redness, a skin condition, often diagnosed as Rosacea. It can range from a slight pink flush to noticeable red blotches on the skin, and can be triggered by a variety of factors, according to Dr. Patricia Farris, a dermatologist. "Facial redness is caused by a flushing of the tiny blood vessels in the face, which can be triggered by environmental conditions such as sun exposure and wind and even by certain foods, alcohol and caffeine," says Farris. "But even avoiding these triggers doesn't make the condition disappear."

(EDITORS: For more information on STUDENTS contact Andrea Browning at 202-336-5926 or abrowning@apa.org. For SARS, Steve Baragona at 703-299-0412 or sbaragona@idsociety.org. For ROSACEA, Monica Elias at 212-812-7088.)