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Doctors Teaching Parents Baby Talk for Early Childhood Development

postpartum depression

OP/ED I was recently in a YMCA board meeting with visiting guests from our local school board. The topic was early childhood development and narrowing the achievement gap for preschoolers. In our community alone there are at least 700 children who are not prepared to start school. The solution was something our school board calls small talk. It’s not a complicated system of education preparedness, it’s simply talking to infants in full sentences from birth to age three. Brilliant idea.Who will be the teacher? You the doctor. Are you prepared to teach parents baby talk?

Perioperative Supplementation Enhances Surgical Recovery After Distal Gastrectomy

This study was a pilot study to assess the effect of perioperatively administering oral cystine and theanine in gastric surgery patients and suggested that oral administration of these amino acids may reduce inflammation and promote recovery after gastric surgery. This study postulated that cystine and theanine would reduce excessive inflammation and immune suppression during the perioperative periods of abdominal surgeries, which decreases GSH levels in blood and skeletal muscle. The researchers examined the effects of perioperatively administering cystine and theanine on the postoperative course of gastric cancer patients undergoing distal gastrectomies as a pilot study. By Tomohiro Miyachi MD, Takashi Tsuchiya, MD et al., published in J of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2012.

Cystine and Theanine: Suppression of Exercise Induced Neutrophilia and Lymphopenia

Intense exercise induces increased blood neutrophil counts and decreased lymphocyte counts, and leads to inflammation and immunosuppression. It was previously reported that cystine and theanine (CT) supplementation by long-distance runners before training camp suppressed changes of these blood parameters observed in unsupplemented control subjects after the camp. This study examined the effects of CT supplementation on the inflammatory response and the immune state before and after intense endurance exercise in long-distance runners at at training camp. By Shigeki Murakami et al, published in J or the Int’l. Society or Sports Nutrition, Vol. 7, No. 23

Double-blind, Randomized Trial on Cystine, Theanine and the Common Cold

The common cold, an acute infection properly known as “cold syndrome,” is the most common human illness. The majority of cases of cold syndrome are acute infections of the upper respiratory tract, and its major cause is viral infection. Conventional methods of treatment use medications, such as analgesic agents and antihistamines, but these are only effective for the alleviation of symptoms, such as sneezing and runny nose. The incidence of subjects with colds during this trial was significantly lower in the CT group than in the placebo group, although the duration of the colds was not significantly different between the groups. These results suggest that CT supplementation may be useful for the prevention of the common cold. By Shigekazu Kurihara, Takenori Hiraoka, Masahisa Akutsu, Eiji Sukegawa, Makoto Bannai, and Susumu Shibahara, published in J of Amino Acids, Vol, 2010.

Communicating with Patients About Dietary Supplement Use

The use of dietary supplements among patients affected by cancer is extensive, with an estimated 20-90 % of patients using these products. Their use of these products is often not shared with the treating physician. “Doctors need to understand why patients with cancer use dietary supplements in the first place. Patients tend to use these supplements because they want to do everything possible to feel hopeful, empower themselves, enhance the body’s natural defenses, use less toxic treatments, or reduce side effects of mainstream treatments,” said Dr. Victor Sierpina, UTMB professor of family medicine. “In fact, most patients choose to use dietary supplements to improve their quality of life rather than seeking a cure for their disease.” In the September issue of Current Oncology Reports, researchers at University of Texas Medical Branch, Sierpina describes a patient centered approach to managing dietary supplement use in cancer care. By Moshe Frenkel and Victor Sierpina, published in Current Oncology, Sept. 2014.

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