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WEDNESDAY, July 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- What's the best way to help your young child handle the stress of getting shots? New research claims that perfectly timed encouragement makes all the difference with vaccinations. "What we found is that in the first minute after the needle, the more parents said coping-promoting statements, such as, 'You can do this' and 'It will be over soon' or tried to distract them with talking about something else, the higher distressed the children were. This really surprised us," said study senior author Rebecca Pillai Riddell, a professor in York University's Department of Psychology, in Toronto. "We found however, during the second minute after the vaccine, when the child was calmer, these same coping promoting statements resulted in them calming...

TUESDAY, July 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Can childhood lead exposure affect personality into adulthood?Yes, a big multi-decade study suggests.The finding stems from an analysis of data on atmospheric lead levels across the United States and 37 European nations since 1960. Lead levels were stacked up against responses to a personality survey of roughly 1.5 million men and women.The result: Americans raised in areas with high levels of airborne lead grew up to be less conscientious, less agreeable, and, among the 20s and 30s set, more neurotic."Atmospheric lead, like all sources of lead exposure, is quite dangerous," said lead author Ted Schwaba, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. "Even low levels of lead exposure have been linked to poor health, mental...

TUESDAY, July 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Whole grains can help older adults maintain a thinner waist, lower blood pressure and lower blood sugar, new research suggests.Just three servings a day may do the trick, the authors said. One serving is a slice of whole-grain bread, a half-cup of rolled oat cereal, or a half-cup of brown rice.Researchers noted that their study -- partially funded by the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition -- doesn't prove that whole grains are protective, only that there appears to be a link between them and waist size, blood pressure and blood sugar."These are all risk factors that can contribute to the development of heart disease if not maintained at healthy levels," said study co-author Nicola McKeown of the Nutritional Epidemiology Team...

TUESDAY, July 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 vaccine makers such as Pfizer should focus on getting shots to poor countries instead of trying to persuade wealthy nations to give their citizens booster shots, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said at a press briefing held Monday.Despite a lack of evidence that third doses of vaccines are necessary, drug companies are lobbying the United States and other Western countries to buy and distribute third doses as boosters, the Associated Press reported.On Monday, representatives from Pfizer lobbied officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the need for booster shots of its two-dose vaccine, even though many experts are skeptical most people will ever need one.In the meantime, only 1% of people in poor countries have...