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Some pregnancy problems may signal a higher risk of heart disease or stroke later, a new study suggests. The research focused on more than 3,400 women in a long-term health study. About 30% had some kind of problem with their pregnancy. About 5% had 2 problems. These included preeclampsia, which causes high blood pressure and other health problems. Some other women had gestational diabetes. This is high blood sugar that occurs only during pregnancy. At about age 50, all of the women received health checkups. Factors that increase the risk of heart disease were 31% more common among those who had preeclampsia while pregnant. For example, they tended to have more excess weight and higher blood pressure than other women. Heart disease risk factors were 26% more common in women who had gestational diabetes. In particular, they tended to have higher blood sugar than other women.

A pre-loaded injector may deliver drugs to halt long seizures more easily than the intravenous drugs used now, researchers say. A study published February 16 compared two ways of treating severe seizures called status epilepticus. Some can be life-threatening. To stop the seizures, drugs usually are given through a vein in the arm. But it can be difficult to insert an intravenous (IV) line while someone is having a seizure. Researchers trained more than 4,000 paramedics to treat patients with both an IV drug and an auto-injector. The injector shot was given in a muscle, usually the thigh. Half of the time, the injector was filled with a fake drug and the IV drug was real. For the other cases, the injector drug was real and the IV drug was fake. In all, 893 patients were treated.

A single mutated gene causes more than 1 out of 4 cases of an inherited form of heart disease, new research suggests. The study focused on dilated cardiomyopathy. This disease causes the heart to stretch and get larger. The walls become thinner and less able to pump blood. The inherited form occurs in people who receive a mutated gene from just one parent. The new study included 312 people with dilated cardiomyopathy. No cause was known, so they were thought to have an inherited form. Researchers compared their DNA with two other groups of people. One group had a different disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. People in the other group had healthy hearts. About 27% of people with inherited dilated cardiomyopathy had a mutation that shortened a gene known as TTN. Up to half of those with the mutation had a parent or sibling with the same mutation.

Antibiotics don’t help people feel better faster with a short-term sinus infection, a new study finds. The study included 166 adults with acute sinusitis. Everyone’s symptoms had lasted less than 4 weeks. Everyone got treatment for symptoms. But people also took pills labeled amoxicillin, an antibiotic. Half of the people got the real thing. The others got placebo (fake) pills. People were interviewed by phone several times to ask about symptoms. Those in both groups reported about the same level of symptoms after 3 days and 10 days. After 10 days, about 8 out of 10 people said their symptoms were much better or gone. Researchers also called back on day 28. People who got the fake pills were also no more likely than the antibiotic group to report a return of symptoms. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study.

Americans will sometimes accept a smaller portion in a restaurant to save calories, a new study suggests. And they might even be willing to pay the same price. The study was done by two business professors, not doctors. The setting was a Chinese food restaurant in a hospital. As they went through the serving line, people were asked if they wanted a half-size portion of the rice or noodles that went with the main course. The server told them this would save 200 calories. Some people were offered 25 cents off for choosing the smaller portion. Others got no discount at all. Depending on the day, 14% to 33% of the customers chose the half-size portion. The discount made no difference in how many people accepted. Researchers also weighed the leftovers. They found that people who took half-size portions left just as much food on their plates as those who took full portions.

Parents worry that the distractions of modern life are keeping their kids from getting enough sleep. And it looks like they’ve had the same worry for more than 100 years. A new study took a historic look at recommendations on sleep for kids. The oldest advice was from 1897 and the newest from 2009. The recommended amount of nightly sleep for kids has declined by about 80 minutes in that time. So has the amount of sleep kids actually get. Kids’ average sleep time has been about 37 minutes a night less than whatever was recommended at the time. The authors said sleep needs may vary from child to child. They said parents who wonder if their kids are sleeping enough should watch for signs of daytime sleepiness. The journal Pediatrics published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it February 13.