Health Report: Starting Younger to Prevent Dating Abuse

A middle school in Seattle, Washington

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Programs that teach young people how to avoid abusive relationships are generally for high school or college age. But new programs are being created for younger students because they too experience abusive dating relationships.

Earlier this year the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study done in the United States. Fifteen percent of seventh graders in the study said they had been the victim of physical violence in a relationship with the opposite sex. Seventh graders are about twelve years old.

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Kelly Miller, a lawyer in the state of Idaho, directs a program called Start Strong Idaho. It started three and a half years ago. The goal is to help eleven- to fourteen-year-olds learn the skills to have healthy and safe relationships. For example, she teaches them to "wait a second and breathe" before they make a decision.

Ms. Miller says a big problem for young people is that television programs, video games and movies often show violent relationships. Mobile phones and the Internet can also create problems.

KELLY MILLER: "Now young people have access to one another 24/7, which I think really can complicate lives of young people that don't have the skills or boundaries or that ability to say, 'No I can't text you at two in the morning' or 'No, I really need to get to sleep by eleven because I've got a test tomorrow morning."

Kelly Miller says young people need adults to teach them what it means to have a healthy relationship. Several American cities have received money from the CDC, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for programs to prevent abusive relationships.

A private organization called Men Can Stop Rape has groups for boys between the ages of twelve and fourteen. These Men of Strength, or MOST, groups teach boys that being a strong man is not always about physical strength.

They learn that if they respect themselves and others, they will be men of strength. They are also taught that they can be allies of girls and women. A CDC study showed that boys in these groups are more likely help a young woman who is being mistreated by another boy.

In Idaho, the state does a Youth Risk Behavior Survey each year. Ms. Miller says the number of high school students who say they have been physically hurt by a dating partner has dropped by six percentage points in the past six years.

KELLY MILLER: "So we're hopeful if we continue this work in really promoting healthy teen relationships and teaching those skills, that we can continue to impact the Youth Risk Behavior Survey question."

Next week, we look at some of the skills needed to build healthy relationships.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, available online at voaspecialenglish.com. Read, listen and learn English with our programs and activities. You can also find links to the Start Strong Idaho and Men Can Stop Rape websites. I'm Karen Leggett.

Health Report: How a 1959 Discovery Saves Premature Babies

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Dr. Mary Ellen Avery, center, working in 1977

We told you last week about a study which found that more than ten percent of all babies worldwide are born too early. One common problem in preterm babies is respiratory disease. The lungs are the last organs to develop. But a medicine called surfactant can save babies struggling to breathe.

The story of this lifesaving medicine begins with a discovery in nineteen fifty-nine by a researcher named Mary Ellen Avery. She told this story in two thousand five to Children's News at Children's Hospital Boston, where she was the first woman to serve as physician-in-chief.

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She had been doing research at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was asked to find out more about the foam that forms in the lungs of people with a condition called pulmonary edema. At night she worked in a hospital delivery room. She saw many premature babies with hyaline membrane disease, now called respiratory distress syndrome.

She examined the lungs of babies who had died. She found there was no air in their lungs, and she discovered why. In her words, "The material that was important -- the foam -- was missing, and they were struggling to re-inflate their lungs. Nature put this foam, or surfactant, in the lung to lower surface tension. You cannot keep air spaces inflated without it."

Babies usually develop this coating while they are in the womb, but many premature babies do not.

Finally, in nineteen eighty, a Japanese pediatrician, Tetsuro Fujiwara, published a study about an artificial surfactant. It could be given to a baby and, within minutes, the baby could breathe.

The medical community had taken years to accept Dr. Avery's discovery. But she said in a Harvard Medical School interview in nineteen eighty-two that she never gave up.

MARY ELLEN AVERY: "Hanging in there is key, I think. Knowing what you want to do and not being easily discouraged is key, particularly in research. You know, you're always moving into the unknown. And you can spend months trying to prove something, only to find that you made some terrible mistakes and you have to be willing to say 'six months of my life and my hard work went down the drain,' and you have to start over -- that's terrible discouragement."

Dr. Anne Hansen in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital Boston remembers the first time she heard about Dr. Avery. It was in nineteen ninety, when the government was in the process of approving an early surfactant called Exosurf. The attending doctor she was working with in the unit had some news for her.

ANNE HANSEN: "And the attending [doctor] who I was on with said, 'When you're on call tonight, if there's a baby who's born who's premature, you should watch very closely the natural history of that disease, because this is the last night before we're going to start giving Exosurf to all our preterm babies, so this will be your last chance ever in your life to see what a preterm baby does when they don't receive Exosurf.' And then he told me the whole story of Dr. Avery and her discoveries."

Mary Ellen Avery was eighty-four years old when she died last December fourth.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Jim Tedder.

Download PDF: The Global Problem of Preterm Births

Health Report: The Global Problem of Preterm Births

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Premature or preterm births are defined as live births before a woman completes thirty-seven weeks of pregnancy. A new study found that about fifteen million babies were born prematurely around the world in twenty-ten. The study was the first of its kind, and shows that the problem exists in poor countries as well as in wealthy ones.

Researchers gathered information from eighty-four countries. The researchers were from Save the Children, a nongovernmental organization. They found that more than one in ten babies are born too soon.

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The research team found that fifteen countries -- including the United States and Brazil -- had two-thirds of all preterm births. Sixty percent of preterm births happen in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Problems related to premature birth are the second most common cause of death in children under five, after pneumonia. The study found that these complications of preterm birth result in more than a million deaths around the world every year.

Babies born early are more likely to develop learning disabilities and problems with their eyesight and hearing. They can also suffer cerebral palsy, a neurological condition, and a lifetime of lung disease. The risk of death in a newborn also increases sharply if babies are born after less than thirty-two weeks of pregnancy.

But eight out of ten premature babies are born between thirty-two and thirty-seven weeks. Joy Lawn of Save the Children in South Africa led the team that wrote the report for the World Health Organization. She says with the right medical care and loving attention, these newborns have a good chance of survival.

JOY LAWN: "They would survive with really basic care. So, being breastfed, being kept warm. And they are at much higher risk of infection, so treating with antibiotics."

She says only five percent of preterm babies were born at twenty-eight weeks or less. Those that survived birth required intensive hospital care.

Only three countries -- Croatia, Ecuador and Estonia -- reported a decrease in their preterm birth rates between nineteen ninety and twenty-ten.

JOY LAWN: "Really we can't point to one solution and say this is what caused it. Just as we couldn't point to something in the U.S. and say this is what caused the very high rates in the U.S."

In the United States, twelve percent of all live births in twenty-ten were preterm.

You can find a link to the full report, along with videos about the problem of premature births, at voaspecialenglish.com.

This study would have interested Mary Ellen Avery. She was a medical researcher who made a discovery that helped save the lives of many preemies. Next week, learn about Dr. Avery and her discovery more than fifty years ago.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Contributing: Jessica Berman and Christopher Cruise

Download PDF: The Global Problem of Preterm Births

Health Report: What Is the Relationship Between Age and Happiness?

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Are people less happy or more happy the older they get? If you answered more happy, then you were right, based on a study published two years ago. It found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age fifty. In fact, it found that by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were at eighteen.

The findings came from a Gallup survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. Stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.

Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.

The survey also found that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men did.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.

So why would happiness increase with age? One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Happiness is not the only thing that apparently improves with age. In a study published this year, people in their eighties reported the fewest problems with the quality of their sleep.

Researchers surveyed more than one hundred fifty thousand American adults. The study, led by Michael Grandner at the University of Pennsylvania, appeared in the journal Sleep.

The original goal was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle age, especially in women. But except for that, people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. To read and listen to more stories for people learning English, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder.

Health Report: Rethinking 'Good' Cholesterol; PSA Test Debate

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A study has raised questions about a widely held belief involving cholesterol. The belief is that high levels of so-called good cholesterol in the blood can reduce the risk of a heart attack.

The medical name for "good" cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. Doctors commonly believe it reduces the risk of heart attack by removing fatty deposits that can block the flow of blood in the arteries of the heart.

But Dr. Sekar Kathiresan at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says the effects of high HDL have never been proven. He says the new study that he and other researchers did suggests that HDL cholesterol does not affect the risk of heart attack.

SEKAR KATHIRESAN: "This has been the major assumption over the last thirty years, that if you raise HDL cholesterol, the risk for heart disease will be lowered. And I think we have now broken that assumption, broken that link using this gene variant."

The researchers say about four percent of people have a genetic change that gives them a naturally high level of HDL. The study found that those who were genetically "programmed" to have higher HDL levels were just as likely to suffer heart attacks as those who were not.

A second analysis looked at fourteen gene variants that increase good cholesterol. Dr. Kathiresan says people with the most variants had no more protection against heart attacks than anyone else.

But he says there is no dispute about low-density lipoprotein, or LDL. LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, causes a buildup of fatty substances inside arteries and increases the risk of heart attack.

Dr. Kathiresan and his colleagues published their findings in the Lancet medical journal.

Another widely held medical belief has also come into question recently. For years, men over the age of forty have been told to get a simple blood test to see if they have prostate cancer. Now, experts on a government committee are advising them not to. Dr. Virginia Moyer heads the United States Preventive Services Task Force

VIRGINIA MOYER: "Close to two-thirds of older men have prostate cancer and yet the huge majority of them never have a problem from it in their lifetime."

The task force examined two large studies before deciding that treating the cancer found by the PSA test can do more harm than good. Effects of the treatment can include a loss of sexual ability and bladder control, as well as other problems including heart attacks.

Some doctors support the findings of the task force, but others disagree. Urologist Deepak Kapoor says in about twenty years of PSA testing, death rates for prostate cancer have dropped by thirty-eight percent.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.

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Contributing: Jessica Berman and Carol Pearso

Health Report: A Birth Procedure Does Little to Prevent Bleeding

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Severe bleeding, also called hemorrhage, causes one-third of pregnancy-related deaths in Asia and Africa.

The World Health Organization has been recommending several ways to reduce the risk of hemorrhage immediately after birth. These include giving the mother a hormone called oxytocin. It helps the uterus expel the placenta, or afterbirth. Another recommendation to help expel the placenta has been to use what is called controlled-cord traction. In this procedure, the birth attendant gently pulls on the umbilical cord while pushing upwards on the mother's stomach.

Dr. Metin Gulmezoglu of the World Health Organization led a study on the effectiveness of controlled-cord traction. He says it is not easy to perform and, if it is not done correctly, it can harm the mother.

METIN GULMEZOGLU: "If it’s not applied by people who are skilled in doing it, then it may cause more problems."

The study involved more than twenty-three thousand pregnant women who had vaginal births. The births happened in sixteen hospitals and two primary health-care centers in eight countries. These were Argentina, Egypt, India, Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uganda.

About half of the mothers received a so-called full package of measures including controlled-cord traction. The other women gave birth helped only by gravity and pushing by the mother. Both groups of women received injections of oxytocin immediately after giving birth.

The study showed that, on average, both groups had about the same amount of blood loss. The study found that controlled-cord traction had very little effect in reducing the risk of serious blood loss -- defined as a liter or more. There was serious blood loss in 1.9 percent of the women who received the procedure, compared to 2.1 percent of those in the simplified group.

Dr. Gulmezoglu says using oxytocin was much more important than pulling on the umbilical cord to reduce blood loss.

METIN GULMEZOGLU: "The main factor that helps to reduce blood loss after birth is the oxytocin, the medication that helps the uterus to contract. And the procedure itself, in our study, adds a minute amount."

Oxytocin is injected, but only into the muscle. This makes it easier to administer for birth attendants with little training. Also, the hormone does not cost very much. But it can lose its effectiveness if stored at high temperatures. The WHO may recommend single-use syringes with sensors to warn of exposure to high temperature.

The WHO is expected to changes its guidelines based on the new findings. The study is in the Lancet medical journal. It was funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report. I’m Jim Tedder.

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Contributing: Art Chimes and Christopher Cruise

HEALTH REPORT: For Smokers, Never Too Late to Quit

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There is new medical evidence for the expression "better late than never." Researchers have found that smokers reduce their risk of dying from tobacco even if they stop smoking after the age of sixty.

Smoking is a known risk for many diseases, including many forms of cancer as well as heart disease. But most studies on the health effects of smoking involve middle-aged people.

The latest analysis by German researchers examined the findings of seventeen studies carried out in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, England, Spain and France.

Smokers sixty and older had an eighty-three percent increased risk of dying from all causes compared to people who had never smoked. Smokers also had a thirty-four percent higher risk of death compared to former smokers.

T.H. Lam is professor in the school of public health at the University of Hong Kong. He says people who continue to smoke as seniors have at least a fifty percent chance of dying from their smoking habit.

T.H. LAM: "And if they stop smoking, then they can reduce about one-quarter of their excess risk. So this is good news that older people should not continue to smoke."

What about smokers who start at a young age and stop when they are in their thirties? Dr. Lam says they can reduce their risk of dying from a smoking-related illness to almost the same level as someone who never smoked. Even people who never smoke can still die from breathing other people's secondhand smoke.

An article on smoking among older individuals, with a commentary by T.H. Lam, appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In other news, the World Health Organization now says diesel fuel exhaust causes cancer. Since nineteen eighty-eight the WHO had rated exhaust from diesel engines as "probably carcinogenic" to humans. Now, it compares the risk to that of secondhand cigarette smoke.

This month's announcement came after international experts spent a week reviewing new research findings. Those included a long-term study of more than twelve thousand miners who were heavily exposed to diesel exhaust.

The diesel industry pointed out that the mining study lacked exact data on exposure levels during its early years. Also, diesel engine makers point to their new designs that produce far less emissions than older truck and bus engines.

The WHO says stronger standards are needed to limit diesel emissions into the air.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency continues to rate diesel as only a "likely" cause of cancer.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Jim Tedder.

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Contributing: Jessica Berman