Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Preterm Infants Twice as Likely to Have Birth Defects
Preterm babies (born before 37 weeks of gestation) are more than twice as likely as full-term infants to have major birth defects, say U.S. researchers who analyzed more than seven million live births in 13 states between 1995 and 2000.
Overall, eight percent of preterm infants had a birth defect, said the team of investigators from the March of Dimes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several other major institutions.
The risk was greatest in very preterm babies (born between 24 and 31 weeks' gestation), who were five times as likely as full-term infants to have a birth defect. The most common birth defects among very preterm babies were central nervous system defects, such as spina bifida, and cardiovascular defects, such as a hole in the heart.
The study is published online this week in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.
Each year in the United States more than 500,000 babies are born preterm and that rate continues to rise. Birth defects and preterm birth are the leading causes of infant death.
"The causes of most birth defects are still not known," study lead author Margaret Honein, of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in a prepared statement. "While it is likely that the most common defects are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, the identification of specific risk factors continues to be a major research and public health priority."
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Food Compound Blocks Inflammatory Response
A compound found in green peppers and celery can block part of a pathway that controls inflammatory response in the central nervous system (CNS), according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
They said the finding may have implications for research on aging and diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, United Press International reported.
The researchers found that a plant flavonoid called luteolin inhibited an important pathway in the inflammatory response of microglia, brain cells that play a critical role in the CNS immune system defenses, the news service said.
Luteolin reduced production of interluekin-6 -- used in cellular communication -- in the microglia inflammatory pathway by as much as 90 percent, according to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This was just about as potent an inhibition as anything we had seen previously," researcher Rodney Johnson said in a prepared statement, UPI reported.
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Childhood Obesity a Major Problem in China
Nearly one in five Chinese children under 7 years old is overweight, and more than seven percent are obese, according to a Chinese National Task Force on Childhood Obesity study released at the annual meeting of the World Health Organization.
"These numbers are higher than in European countries, while the gross domestic product in China is much lower," study leader Ding Zongyi told Agence France-Presse. "Only the United States (has) higher rates."
The researchers examined data on 80,000 children in 11 major cities and found a 156 percent increase in obese children and a 52 percent increase in overweight children between 1996 and 2006.
"This rate of increase has gone out of control," said Ding, who told AFP that Chinese children are eating too much high-fat, high sugar foods and aren't getting enough exercise.
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Caffeine Before Breakfast May Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Drinking caffeinated coffee before eating low-sugar cereal at breakfast may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in some people, according to researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada.
They had male volunteers drink caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee one hour before they ate cereals with low or moderate levels of sugar, United Press International reported.
Among those who ate the low-sugar cereal, blood sugar levels jumped 250 percent higher after they had caffeinated coffee, compared to when they had decaffeinated coffee. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Caffeine interferes with our body's response to insulin. It makes us resistant to insulin which in turn makes our blood-sugar levels go higher," said researcher Terry Graham, UPI reported.
People at risk for type 2 diabetes should be cautious and consider drinking decaffeinated coffee, Graham suggested.
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Terminally Ill Patients Going to Mexico to Get Euthanasia Drug
Hundreds of people from other countries have traveled to Mexico to buy an inexpensive, readily available euthanasia drug, according to the Mexican daily newspaper Reforma, Agence France-Presse reported.
Since 2001, at least 200 terminally ill people from Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the United States have come to Mexico to obtain nembutal, a drug usually used to put down animals, said the newspaper, which cited the Australian-based pro-euthanasia organization Exit International.
"On the basis of Exit research, the best places to visit are the 20-odd (U.S.-Mexico) border crossings, from Tijuana in California to Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico," says information on the group's Web site, AFP reported.
"Throughout Mexico veterinary nembutal is available for between $20 and $40 U.S. per 100 ml bottle," the Web site advises. "One only needs to know the location of a veterinary supplier and the labeling in use at that location."
The organization says nembutal is also widely and cheaply available in a number of South American countries, AFP reported.
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Seat Belt Use Increasing in the U.S.
Overall seat belt use in the United States is on the rise. But the news isn't all good, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures published Monday as safety and law enforcement officials launched the annual pre-Memorial Day campaign urging Americans to buckle up.
General seat belt use increased to 82 percent in 2007, compared to 81 percent in 2006, the Associated Press reported. Twelve states -- led by Hawaii and Washington -- had seat belt use rates of 90 percent or higher. Only three states -- Arkansas, Massachusetts and New Hampshire -- had rates below 70 percent.
But the study found that 68 percent of drivers and passengers, ages 16 to 20, who were killed in nighttime car crashes in 2006 weren't using seat belts. In that age group, 57 percent of drivers and passengers killed in daytime crashes weren't buckled up, the AP reported.
But the problem isn't limited to young people. More than 60 percent of drivers and passengers up to age 44 killed in nighttime crashes weren't wearing seat belts, along with 52 percent of people ages 55 to 64, and 41 percent of those 65 and older.
