This post is about the long-lasting effects of childhood obesity.

The first of two reports is from MedlinePlus,  a service of the U.S. Library of Medicine NIH National Institutes of Health. The second report is from HealthDay News, which recently was posted on Womenshealth.gov., Dept of Health and Human Services.

MedlinePlus Report: As reported by Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV on Childhood Obesity and Adult Hypertension

According to an article recently published by HealthDay News, which was based on findings from researchers in Seattle, carbon monoxide gas can pass easily through drywall, and poison those living inside a home, apartment or condo. The report is published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.HealthDay reports:

Researchers shared that this finding highlights the need for having carbon monoxide alarms in your home, since even checking your own appliances won’t guarantee that the lethal gas might not seep through your walls from another source.

“What this study tells me is that carbon monoxide does not stay put in a building, that the barriers between apartments or condos will slow down carbon monoxide, but do not stop it,” said Dr. Eric Lavonas, associate director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver. “Therefore, the best way to protect your family is to have a working carbon monoxide alarm in your home,” according to Lavonas, who was not involved with the study.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas found in car exhaust and in fumes from fuel-burning sources such as generators, charcoal grills, gas stoves and wood fireplaces. “Any source of combustion produces carbon monoxide of some degree, no matter how clean-burning your appliances are,” said study author Dr. Neil Hampson, with the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.

Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning kills between 400 and 500 people per year in the United States. The only form of protection is a carbon monoxide alarm. “Carbon monoxide is undetectable to human senses. You cannot see it, you cannot smell it, and you cannot taste it, so you do not know you’ve been poisoned until you get sick and start getting headaches, vomiting or pass out,” Hampson explained.

Twenty-five states require residences to have these alarms, but 10 of these states now allow exemptions for homes that have no internal sources of carbon monoxide. Many experts are concerned that these exemptions will lead to an increase in accidental poisonings, particularly in multi-family dwellings, where walls between homes are shared.

To prove that carbon monoxide can go through walls, researchers placed varying thicknesses of drywall in a Plexiglas container to observe how quickly the gas could travel through the walls. Because the pores in the wallboard are 1 million times larger than a carbon monoxide molecule, the gas passed easily through the porous barrier. Painted drywall slowed down the gas only a bit.

Only alarms can detect carbon monoxide gas once it is in a home, but far too many homes either don’t have one or have one that isn’t functioning because the batteries have died or have been removed. According to Lavonas, only 30 percent of American homes have a working carbon monoxide alarm. In North Carolina, a state that has a law requiring the devices, only 67.8 percent of homes do, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2012.

There have been many cases of poisonings in homes where carbon monoxide alarms were found, “but they either had no battery in them or they hadn’t even been taken out of the package,” Hampson said. “In addition to changing the batteries regularly, it’s important to check the expiration date on the alarm itself, he added.”When you change your batteries, you should look at the back of the alarm to see when the expiration date is. It’s either five or seven years, depending on the manufacturer,” Hampson explained.

Unlike smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms may be placed anywhere, from the bottom of the wall to the ceiling, and only one is needed per level, preferably located just outside the sleeping areas. Some alarms can be plugged directly into an electrical outlet or hard-wired, but both Hampson and Lavonas caution that if these are used, they should have a battery back-up. Most carbon monoxide poisonings occur during blackouts, when power is out, they noted.

If your alarm sounds, leave your home immediately, and call the fire department.

To learn more about carbon monoxide, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat, a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, shares about the food choices we tend to make after a poor night’s sleep.

Burgers, doughnuts, pizza. Stay up real late working or studying, and your body seems to crave them. Carrots and apples, not so much. Why is that?

At the University of California, Berkeley, Matthew Walker measured people’s food choices and imaged their brain activity after a night’s sleep and after a night with no sleep. He found people preferred junk food after the sleepless night, and their sleep-deprived brains showed less capacity to make good-for-you choices and more I-wanna choices.

“There’s a shift in the behavioral choices that people are making, and that seems to be co-occurring with those changes in brain activity.”

So, if you get enough sleep, you may choose better and eat more healthfully.

The study, which appeared in the journal Nature Communications, was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

Each year, more than 300,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the Centers for Disease Control(CDC), making it the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in the United States. The new estimate suggests that the total number of people diagnosed with Lyme disease is roughly 10 times higher than the yearly reported number.

“We know people can prevent tick bites through steps like using repellents and tick checks. Although these measures are effective, they aren’t fail-proof and people don’t always use them,” said Lyle R. Petersen, M.D., M.P.H, director of CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. “We need to move to a broader approach to tick reduction, involving entire communities, to combat this public health problem.”

This community approach would involve homeowners trying to kill ticks in their own yards, and communities addressing a variety of issues. These issues include rodents that carry the Lyme disease bacteria, deer that play a key role in the ticks’ life cycle, suburban planning, and the interaction between deer, rodents, ticks, and humans. All must be addressed to effectively fight Lyme disease.

Most Lyme disease cases reported to CDC through national surveillance are concentrated heavily in the Northeast and upper Midwest, with 96 percent of cases in 13 states. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black legged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.

CDC recommends people take steps to help prevent Lyme disease and other tickborne diseases by:

• Wearing repellent

• Checking  for ticks daily

• Showering soon after being outdoors

• Calling your doctor if you get a fever or rash

For more information on Lyme disease, visit www.cdc.gov/lyme.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, CDC

Today’s post comes from Dr. Stanley T. Crawford, a public school administrator in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Three Easy Ways to Establish Exceptionally Positive Relationships with Your Child’s School

Of course a list this short is by no means all inclusive; however it is an excellent starting point for the development of exceptionally positive relationships with your child’s school. The three ways of establishing these relationships are to:
1. Meet your child’s teacher.
2. Introduce yourself to the school principal.
3. Join the school Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

The first step is to meet your child’s teacher. In our high technology times, there are several ways of doing this. You can meet the teacher in person, by telephone, or through email or other electronic means. The most personable method is to meet the teacher in person. Meeting the teacher in person allows for the communication and understanding that occurs through eye contact, voice tones, inflections, volume, and general appearance of each individual; both the parent and teacher. In these busy times this is not always the most convenient method for parents or guardians to meet their child’s teacher.

Another possibility is to meet the teacher by telephone; this is another traditional method of introducing yourself to your child’s teacher. Less personable than in person, the telephone method still allows for meaning to be conveyed through voice tones, volume, and inflections. Telephone communication offers a level of flexibility that is hard to match by other means of communication.

If time or distance does not allow for in person or telephone introductions, then one should consider an electronic means, such as email or SKYPE, just to name a few. Here we will focus specifically on email as SKYPE and other methods have their own logistical challenges. If you must use email remember that the tone of email is not always clear and is usually heavily influenced by the reader’s perception. In addition, email has been noted to generate misunderstandings between parties, from time to time, especially in sensitive situations. When sending an email as an introduction, consider attaching a picture of yourself. This way the teacher has some idea who you are.

Once you select your method of introduction, decide whether you are going to convey support and help to the teacher. Let the teacher know whether you are interested in volunteering to help the school. Remember, how much you are able to discuss with the teacher often will depend on whether you have an individual meeting or are part of several parents visiting the school, such as a meet the teacher, or open house event.

We now turn to step two. Here you should introduce yourself to the school principal. Often the best way of meeting with the principal is during open house; meet the teacher night, PTA nights, basketball games, football games, and other events. In most cases these settings will not allow for in-depth discussion, but an opportunity to gain better insight into school leadership etc.

It is possible to set-up a meeting to meet most principals, but keep in mind there is often one principal and several hundred parents to several thousand parents at the secondary level and scheduling can become a bit tricky, however, if you have a special situation that the principal should know about then an in person meeting should be considered. Again, just as with the teacher, other methods of meeting the principal are by telephone and through email.

The third step you should take is to join the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), or Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). Just by joining the organization your dues will provide a level of support to your child’s school. In addition, to joining the PTA/PTO/PTSA you should plan on attending as many meetings as possible. This will keep you informed as to what activities the PTA/PTO/PTSA is planning and conducting.

This organization will focus on the students and the teachers that teach the students. The range of activities that a PTA/PTO/PTSA oversees is practically limitless. It all depends on the creativity of the PTA/PTO/PTSA and the school. The ultimate involvement with a PTA/PTO/PTSA is to become a board member of committee member. These individuals are heavily involved in the planning and execution of events and programs.

In summary, if you meet your child’s teacher, introduce yourself to the school principal, and join the PTA/PTO/PTSA you will be on your way to establishing exceptionally positive relationships with your child’s school.

About  Dr. Crawford: Dr. Crawford has a Doctorate in Educational Administration and a Masters of Arts in Management. He is a book author and has written several published articles on education. Dr. Crawford’s Facebook address is

https://www.facebook.com/Stanley.T.Crawford