IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Brief sleep boosts memory

Falling asleep on the job for a few minutes can improve your memory and mental performance, according to a team of German researchers.

Dr Olaf Lahl at the University of Dusseldorf, Germany, has shown that simply falling asleep does more than refreshing the brain - it can improve recall and mental efficiency.

In fact, a six-minute nap can have the same effect as nighttime sleep on memory.

Dr Lahl's team asked students to memorize a list of vocabulary and tested their ability to recall the list after an hour of playing solitaire.

Volunteers were asked to remember a list of 30 words. They were then given an hour's break before the memory test. During the break, some volunteers were allowed to nap for six minutes, while others had to stay awake.

The researchers found that those who had been allowed to nap displayed "superior recall" in the memory test compared to those who stayed awake.

The researchers say this was the first time that a very brief sleep has been shown to improve memory.

Pre-teen diabetes link

Impaired cognitive function at age 11 appears to be associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, a study indicates. "Type 2 diabetes is associated with decreased cognitive function in adults, particularly among elderly people," Dr Gunilla Olsson, of Uppsala University, Sweden, and colleagues write in the medical journal Diabetes Care. "Less is known about cognitive function in children who will subsequently receive a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in adulthood."

Dementia and depression

It's often difficult to differentiate between early stages of dementia and depression, but a precise psychiatric examination can help, says the German society for psychiatry, psychotherapy and neurology in Berlin.

"An Alzheimer dementia usually begins with creeping disturbances in memory, difficulty finding words, changes in behavior and a decrease in activity," says Professor Wolfgang Maier, a member of the society's board of directors.

Depression is similar. The difference is patients with depression can often give detailed descriptions of their memory problems, while people with dementia tend to play them down.

It is important for people with early signs of dementia to maintain their mental abilities as long as possible. The patient should be put into a position in which they must do day-to-day tasks such as dressing and eating by themselves as long as possible, says Maier, director of a clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy in Bonn.

Teach kids to be safe with pets

Children must learn special rules in the presence of house pets, according to a German doctor specializing in microbiology and infectious epidemiology.

The rules include remembering to wash their hands before eating, and they must never kiss an animal on its nose, says the doctor, Andreas Schwarzkopf of Bad Bocklet, Germany.

Also, animals generally do not belong in the bedroom.

It's also important to teach children that cases, animal beds and cat litter boxes must be cleaned regularly. As a scratch wound can occur while playing with the animal, all family members should be immunized against tetanus.

The animals themselves also must be immunized against all animal illnesses and deworming four times a year is recommended, says Schwarzkopf.

In addition, the animal should be protected from lice and ticks, and dogs and cats with long hair should be regularly combed and brushed.

Antibiotics safe for moms-to-be

Pregnant women should not refuse to take antibiotics for fear they could damage their child, a German medical journal says.

The danger for the unborn child is clearly greater if the mother suffers an infection and fails to fight it with antibiotics, says the recent edition of the magazine, published in Stuttgart. About half of all premature births are triggered by infections.

If a pregnant woman suffers a bacterial infection, it is often a urinary tract infection. If the amount of bacteria in the body increases, it could cause the mother's water to break too early.

However, not all antibiotics are harmless to unborn children. These include antibiotics that belong to the chinolone group. Also, tetracyclines should not be taken by pregnant women, but after consultation with a doctor, another antibiotic can be found.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/02/2008 page19)