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HEALTH&SCIENCE
QUICK STUDY | Pregnancy
Giving up smoking before 15 weeks may benefit baby. THE QUESTION If a woman quits smoking early in pregnancy, does her baby still face higher risks than if she had never smoked? THIS STUDY analysed data on 2,504 pregnant women.About 80 per cent were non-smokers, 10 per cent quit smoking before the 15th week of pregnancy and 10 per cent continued to smoke while pregnant.Rates of premature births and smaller-than-normal babies were highest among smokers and virtually the same among women who never smoked and those who had stopped:For premature birth,10 per cent among smokers vs.four per cent for the others; for small babies,17 per cent vs.10 per cent.Uncomplicated deliveries were more common among women who had stopped smoking than those who smoked. WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Pregnant women.Smoking during pregnancy exposes the baby in the womb to nicotine and carbon monoxide,which can restrict the childs access to oxygen and food.Smoking by pregnant women also has been linked to an increase in stillbirths,ectopic pregnancies,miscarriages,premature deliveries and babies weighing less than normal at birth. CAVEATS The womens smoking status was based on their responses to questionnaires.The authors encouraged all pregnant women to stop smoking,noting thatimproved pregnancy outcomes have been noted in women who stop by as late as 32 weeksgestation. FIND THIS STUDY March 26 online issue of BMJ. LEARN MORE ABOUT smoking and pregnancy at www.lungusa.org (search forpregnancy) and www.acog.org (clickPublications,thenPatient Education Pamphlets). The research described in Quick Study comes from credible,peerreviewed journals.Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatments effectiveness is rarely found in a single study.Anyone considering treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.
Washington Post

HORTICULTURE THERAPY

110 LABEL 18 TOP OF LEARNED THIS WEEK PAGE

HEALTH

Tooth bleaching slightly reduces enamel strength

New research shows human teeth lost some enamel hardness after the application of several different products used in the home to whiten teeth.The study suggests future generations of such products might be reformulated in an effort to reduce these side-effects. The researchers noted that teeth typically can restore their previous hardness after losing small amounts of enamel calcification. However, this is the first study to show at a nanometre scale measuring in billionths of a metre how human teeth are affected by the popular home whiteners. There is some significant reduction in nano-hardness of enamel, but we are talking on a very minute scale. So even though it may not be visible to the human eye, its important for research because thats how we improve products, said Shereen Azer, assistant professor of restorative and prosthetic dentistry at Ohio State University.
HEALTH

Technology detects silent heart attacks more common

A study using new imaging technology found "silent" heart attacks may be far more common,and more deadly,than suspected,U.S.researchers said on Friday.Some studies estimate that these often painless heart attacks,also known as unrecognized myocardial infarctions,affect 200,000 people in the United States each year. But Dr.Han Kim of Duke University in North Carolina,whose study will appear next week in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine, suspects the numbers may be far higher. Doctors usually can tell whether a patient has had a recent heart attack by looking for signature changes on a test of the hearts electrical activity called an electrocardiogram and by checking for certain enzymes in the blood. For a heart attack that might have occurred in the past,doctors look for changes on an electrocardiogram called a Q-wave,a marker for damaged tissue.But not all silent heart attacks result in Q-waves. To spot these,Kim and colleagues used a new type of magnetic resonance imaging technology called delayed enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance,which is especially adept at finding damaged heart tissue.
SCIENCE

GLENN BAGLO/VANCOUVER SUN

Aime Taylor has seen the benefits of horticulture therapy with disabled adults and seniors living in care homes in Vancouver.

Gardening proves to be the wonder drug for a wide variety of human ailments
BY AMY OBRIAN
VANCOUVER SUN

Interest in horticulture therapy surging in British Columbia

ime Taylor is well versed in the power of plants. Not in their medicinal or nutritional uses, but the healthy benefits of simply being near them. Growing them, nurturing them, harvesting them Taylor has seen first-hand how plants can give purpose, pride and a sense of community to those who might be feeling isolated, depressed, or helpless. If you look at the research in environmental psychology, it shows that gardening helps people recover from stress and it can help people focus less on their problems, Taylor said. Evidence has shown that gardening makes people feel more optimistic, gives them a regular routine, a sense of purpose and achievement. Taylor is a horticulture therapist who works in Vancouver gardens alongside disabled adults and seniors living in care homes. She and her colleagues have seen seniors go from listless to animated when introduced to soil and seedlings. They have seen people in wheelchairs who once expressed feelings of physical defeat work happily in raised garden beds. They have seen signs of recognition on the faces of those with Alzheimers as they held a rose or picked a tomato. It is extremely inspiring to see it work, Taylor said. Certainly it seems to be something thats up and coming. A developing body of research is adding scientific strength to the widely held belief that working in a garden is good for your

mental and physical health. A behavioural research study conducted a few years ago at Rutgers University found the presence of flowers at the bedside or outside a window triggers happy emotions, heightens feelings of life satisfaction and affects social behaviour in positive ways that exceed what was previously believed. An earlier study, conducted by health care design expert Roger Ulrich, compared the hospital records of patients recovering from gall bladder surgery and found those with a view of trees rather than a view of a brick wall spent less time in the hospital and required fewer and less-potent drugs to remain comfortable. Horticulture therapy has been around in this province for decades, but is experiencing a surge in interest as people discover the health benefits of digging in the dirt and growing their own produce. Christine Pollard, a horticulture therapist who has grown and raised her own food in the Cowichan Valley for years, sounded vindicated when she said in a recent interview, Im trendy. I never thought Id be trendy. Pollard has worked as a horticultural therapist and educator for 25 years. She has countless stories about the people she has worked with and the ways in which theyve been helped by horticulture therapy. What I love about horticulture therapy is that we dont look at what people cant do. We look at what they can do and go from there, she said. Pollard once worked with a man who was blind and autistic, but very interested in plants and gardening. He learned how to identify plants by feel and scent, she said.

An elderly woman she once worked with was stubborn and inactive because she felt constrained by her walker. Three months later, she had tossed her walker aside and was out weeding, Pollard said. For seniors who grew up in the country or had gardens when they were younger, flowers and vegetables can help them tap into their long-term memory. But there is no sweeping model for everybody. Horticulture therapists are trained to design specific programs based on individual needs and skills. For people with mental health issues, horticulture therapy can be particularly effective. Gardens are seen as a safe place to be and gardeners are seen as safe people, Pollard said. If you take responsibility for a garden, you take responsibility for yourself. Pollard will be leading a course in horticulture therapy at VanDusen Botanical Garden starting at the end of April. But for something less structured which will still satisfy the urge to get dirt under the fingernails Pollard is a big supporter of the community garden movement. Nobody cares about your income or your job. They only want to know if you grow good tomatoes, she said. Gardening is a great leveller. For more information on horticulture therapy, see Aime Taylors website at: www.horticulturaltherapist.com, or Christine Pollards website at: www.christinepollard.org
aobrian@vancouversun.com

Meat for sex in wild chimpanzees

Wild female chimpanzees copulate more frequently with males who share meat with them over long periods of time, according to a study led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. In recent research conducted in the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast, Cristina Gomes and Christophe Boesch show female chimpanzees copulate more frequently with males who share meat with them on at least one occasion, compared with males who never share meat with them, indicating that sharing meat with females improves a males mating success. Although males were more likely to share meat with females who had sexual swelling (i.e. estrous females), excluding all sharing episodes with estrous females from the analysis, did not alter the results.This indicates that short-term exchanges alone (i.e. within the estrous phase of the female) cannot account for the relationship between sharing meat and mating success.

CRISTINA GOMES/MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY

Utan, an adult male chimpanzee, holding a piece of meat of a red colobus, with Kinshasa, an adult female chimpanzee with her infant Kirikou on her back, begging from Utan.

URBAN CRITTER | The silver-haired bat

WHAT ITS CALLED: The silverhaired bat,or in Latin,Lasionycteris noctivagans. WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE:Not a bit like Dracula not even a distinguished silver-haired one.For one thing its body is covered in fur and rarely grows to more than 10 centimetres in length,the size of a cigar.(Its wingspan can be three times that.) And contrary to what its name implies,its fur is mainly black or sooty brown.Its only along the bats back that its tipped with white or silvery strands as if it had been streaked in a salon.It also has a spot of orange fur behind each small round ear. WHERE TO FIND IT: All the way from Alaska to northern Mexico. Its happiest in an old-growth forest where it builds roosts in the cavities of large trees,but it can survive in forests of buildings too.As long as the buildings have views.The silver-haired bat prefers open sheds,garages and other outbuildings to anything with a closed door.And unlike other,hardier bats,the silverhaired species finds winter here too cold to be endured,so it migrates south in autumn and north in spring.But once its found digs it likes,it sticks to them.The silver-haired has been known to travel 172 kilometres to a favourite roost. WHAT IT EATS: Insects especially moths,caddis flies,houseflies,midges,mosquitoes,beetles,crickets and ants.In fact,a bat will eat millions of insects (as well as the odd spider) during its potentially long life. WHAT EATS IT: Few non-human predators will attack bats,though raccoons,skunks,weasels, martens,domestic cats,snakes, owls and hawks have been known to kill them.By contrast, humans will destroy their homes through habitat destruction; starve or poison them by killing their primary food source with insecticides;and interrupt their hibernation patterns by waking them up.These interruptions sap a bats energy and may make it impossible for it to survive the winter. HOW IT REPRODUCES: Unlike other species which thrive in colonies,the silver-haired bat is a loner.It wont tolerate groups of more than three or four individuals.Males and females will get together long enough to breed.But almost nothing is known about their breeding beyond the fact that two young are produced in late June or early July,and that males and females may segregate when the females are ready to give birth.
Nicholas Read