NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with chronic illnesses or disability can often benefit from the right exercise program, showing improved quality of life, greater aerobic capacity and better function, according to a report published this month.
But chronically ill or disabled children and teens who aren’t active can get out of shape and too fat, [...]

By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - To shed excess pounds, forget expensive commercial diets or diet pills; most successful dieters lose weight on their own, largely by eating right and exercising regularly, according to a survey by Consumer Reports.
Their specific successful do-it-yourself weight loss tactics are unveiled at www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org.
A total of 21,632 subscribers to [...]

GENEVA (Reuters) - Global recession may lead many governments to reduce investment in basic healthcare, putting at risk the lives of vulnerable mothers and babies, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the world’s economic woes could set back huge public health campaigns meant to eliminate diseases, tackle the root [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Since the end of 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration has received nine reports of deaths due to a parasitic infection called babesiosis transmitted by blood transfusions, following nearly a decade in which no cases were reported.
Babesiosis, caused by the parasite Babesia, is usually transmitted through the bite of [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Results of a study conducted in the Asia-Pacific region suggest that men with COPD are more likely to die or be hospitalized than women with COPD.
COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. COPD can cause coughing that produces large amounts of [...]

By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Intensive control of high blood pressure (hypertension) leads to improved pregnancy outcomes in women with type 1 diabetes and kidney disease, Danish researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.
“Diabetic women with kidney involvement have an increased risk of complications in pregnancy leading to preterm delivery,” lead investigator Dr. [...]

By Joene Hendry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - According to their parents, pre-school children have somewhat better diets than school-age children, but both groups fall short when it comes to getting recommended amounts of exercise.
Dr. Hollie A. Raynor, of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and co-investigators, assessed parents’ reports of their children’s diet and activity [...]

depression in check
By Karla Gale
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In-home counseling by health visitors trained to identify depression in new mothers reduces the prevalence of postnatal depression at 12 months, according to a trial in the UK, while a Canadian study indicates that telephone-based peer support is also effective in preventing postnatal depression among women [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In children with arthritis, the time from diagnosis to the start of treatment with methotrexate appears to be an important predictor of their response to the drug at 6 months, Dutch investigators report.
“Our results suggest that earlier initiation of methotrexate treatment will lead to an increased response,” Dr. R. ten [...]

By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Infants born at very low birth weights are at increased risk of lung ailments in the first 12 months of life, and a new study suggests that modifiable indoor respiratory triggers, namely exposure to cigarette smoke and pests in the home, may be at least partly to blame.
In [...]