New dads gain an average of 3.5 to 4.5 pounds, whether they live with their children or not, concludes new research from Northwestern University.

For their study, scientists looked at 10,253 males over a 20-year period and examined their BMI at early adolescence, later adolescence, mid-20s, and finally in their early 30s.  The researchers controlled for weight contributing factors such as age, race, education, income, daily activity and marriage status.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Men’s Health, found that a 6-foot-tall man living with his child gained an average of 4.4 pounds – a BMI increase of 2.6 percent – after first becoming a dad. Dads with a similar height who did not live with their kid put on an average of 3.3 pounds – a BMI increase of 2 percent.

The study also found that the average 6-foot-tall man who was not a father lost 1.4 pounds during the same period.

The researchers believe the new responsibilities associated with being a father lead men to neglect their personal exercise and dietary health.  They suggest that pediatricians are in an ideal position to offer nutritional counseling and mental health education to new fathers as they begin treating their children.  Such early intervention may help reduce the risks men with higher BMIs can face as they age, such as prostate cancer and heart disease.

_NEXT: _1st “Test Tube” Baby: July 25, 1978

Sourced from: Medical News Today , New dads put on weight, while childless men lose weight

According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a Colorado teenager leapt to his death after eating a cookie made with marijuana in March of 2014.

The 19-year old man was said to have gotten the cookie from his 23-year old friend, who had purchased it in a store and was advised to divide the cookie into six pieces before eating it. If the cookie was properly divided, each piece contained about 10mg of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. The young man at first did follow instructions, eating only bits of the cookie, but after feeling no results within 30 to 60 minutes, he continued to eat the rest.

The report went on to describe that over the course of the next few hours, the young man displayed erratic speech and hostility, before jumping from a fourth floor balcony of his building. The boy was said to die from the trauma of the fall, and the autopsy revealed that his levels of THC were above the legal Colorado limit to drive a car.

Edible marijuana products typically take between one and two hours after consumption to produce an effect, compared to inhaling the drug which takes only minutes. Experts say that because of this delay, people may consume edible pot products at a higher serving size.

Colorado was one of the first states to legalize marijuana in 2012, opening products for sale in 2014. In February of 2015, officials began rolling out new rules that would strengthen the packaging and labels on edible marijuana products. These would outline each 10mg serving or require the products to contain no more than 10mg of THC altogether.

Nevertheless, experts say this incident shows that there’s a need for “improved public health messaging.” 

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Sourced from: LiveScience, Pot Death: Teen Leaps 4 Stories After Eating Marijuana Cookie

Steroid eye drops may one day be able to treat cataracts instead of extensive surgery, suggests a new study in the journal Nature. 

Cataracts is a condition that develops when the crystallin proteins that make up the lenses of our eyes are disrupted and start to form clumps and make the lens cloudy. The lens is also rich in a molecule called lanosterol that is an essential building block of many important steroids in the body. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego decided to follow up on studies finding that a gene mutation in children which caused them to inherit cataracts may also be responsible for  blocking production of the enzyme that creates lanosterol. 

From that research, the scientists believed that since normal eyes are typically rich in lanosterol, blocking the production of lanosterol could trigger crystallin proteins to clump together, forming cataracts.

The researchers were able to prove this by testing this theory on human cells in their first experiment. In their second experiment, they found that treating rabbits with lanosterol reduced cataracts and increased eye lens transparency. Lastly, the scientists tested a lanosterol solution on dogs, both as an injected form and as eye drops. They found it had the same positive results that they found with rabbits.

Currently the only way to treat cataracts is by surgery. More tests need to be done, but scientists now know lanosterol is the likely target for cataract prevention and treatment.

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Sourced from: Medical News Today, Cataracts may be treatable with eye drops instead of surgery

Preliminary research suggests that a new drug produced by Eli Lilly could reduce the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by a third.

After an 18-month trial that ended in failure in 2012, the drug manufacturer took a closer look at the data and found that its drug solanezumab appeared to slow progression by around 34 percent during the study. To get a clearer picture, they asked over 1,000 of the patients from the original trial with mild Alzheimer’s to take the drug for another two years.

The new more encouraging results were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington, D.C.earlier this week, and they showed that those taking the drug the longest had the most benefit. The suggestion is that the severity of cognitive decline typically seen in 18 months would take 24 months for people taking the drug.

Currently, no medications can slow down dementia. Existing medications work instead to manage symptoms of dementia by assisting the function of dying brain cells.

Experts cautioned against becoming overly optimistic about Eli Lilly’s finding. It is far from definitive; more will be known about the drug’s true effectiveness after the completion of another clinical trial, which is expected next year.

_NEXT: _New Dads Gain Weight

Sourced from: BBC News, Early signs that drug ‘may delay Alzheimer’s decline’