Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer worldwide. It often develops from a condition called Barrett’s esophagus. Existing monitoring and treatment methods are very intrusive, and many patients have to undergo burdensome procedures to ensure that no cancer is missed.

When historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his famous thesis on the US frontier in 1893, he described the “coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness” it had forged in the American character.

• There is now a solid amount of evidence showing a link between e-cigarettes and poor oral health
• A recent study shows that close to 50% of people using e-cigarettes had gum disease and oral infections
• Vapers are risking from inflammation and tooth cavities to periodontitis and oral cancer

The warnings about vaping – inhaling the vapour of electronic cigarettes – tend to focus on the potential dangers to the heart and lungs.

But an increasing amount of research shows the chemicals in e-cigarettes start to inflict damage right where they enter the body: your mouth.

Because e-cigarettes are a recent phenomenon, said Dr Crystal Stinson, assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas, “Studies on their impact are really new. But now we have a solid amount of evidence that shows the link between e-cigarettes and poor oral health.”

Nicotine, whether smoked or vaped, restricts blood flow to the gums, which can contribute to periodontal disease. The fluid in e-cigarettes, which can include propylene glycol, benzene, formaldehyde and other chemicals, only increases the risks.

Irreversible issues

A study published earlier this year in the journal iScience showed that 43% of people using e-cigarettes had gum disease and oral infections. That figure was higher among smokers – 73% – but only 28% among people who neither smoked nor vaped.

“The oral cavity is really resilient tissue that heals faster than other parts of the body,” Stinson said. “But we also know that when you repeatedly traumatise it, that’s when you end up having issues that are irreversible.”

Those issues, she added, range from inflammation and tooth cavities to loss of bone that anchors teeth to the jaw, called periodontitis, and oral cancer.

Another study published in May in Science Advances concluded the oral microbiome – the vast collection of friendly bacteria, viruses and other microbes that live in the mouth – of e-cigarette users without gum disease looked a lot like the microbiome of people with periodontitis.

“It’s absolutely scary stuff,” said Dr Purnima Kumar, professor at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry and the study’s senior author. “E-cigarettes stress the bacterial communities that live in your mouth, and they encase themselves in slime. So they’re no longer good bacteria and the inflammatory response is through the roof. People are walking around thinking they’re healthy, but they are just primed for disease.”

‘We’ve just scratched the surface’

Oral health is a critical element of whole-body health. Two preliminary studies presented in February at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference linked gum disease with a higher rate of strokes caused by hardening of large arteries in the brain and also with severe artery blockages. A 2018 study in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension found that gum disease appears to worsen high blood pressure and interferes with medications to treat hypertension.

Last December, the American Dental Association issued a statement urging a ban on e-cigarettes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration to help people quit smoking, as well as more research on the effects of vaping on oral health.

“We’ve just scratched the surface,” Kumar said. “We know it’s detrimental. We need to start looking at which chemical components of vape really cause this, why does it cause this, how long does it take to start, and how long does the body need to recover once you quit.”

Not enough time has passed since vaping became popular to assess the long-term dangers, Stinson said. “Unfortunately, everybody’s an experiment right now.”

But Stinson doesn’t need to wait for more studies to be convinced of the dangers of vaping. One look inside a vaper’s mouth usually tells the story.

More cavities

“Periodontal disease is normally an adult disease, and we’re seeing it in younger people,” she said. “Younger people normally have more saliva than they need, so when they present with dry mouth, periodontal disease or increased complaints of mouth ulcers, our next question is, ‘Do you vape?’ These symptoms are all tied to components in e-cigarettes.”

She also notices more cavities in her younger patients who vape, which she believes may be due to the acidity of the components in vape liquid and an increase in cavity-causing bacteria.

Stinson attributes the high rate of nicotine dependence to the sweet flavourings that helped attract adolescents to e-cigarettes. In February, the FDA banned many flavoured e-cigarettes in hopes of reducing the rise in vaping among young people, but health experts fear many are already hooked on nicotine.

“Phasing out the flavours is going to help, but we still have a population that is struggling to let go of the habit,” she said.

Both Stinson and Kumar are involved in education and cessation programmes aimed at convincing young people not to start vaping and helping those who do to stop.

‘It’s not a vapour’

The first lesson: Don’t be fooled into thinking that what looks like steam is a safe alternative to cigarette smoke.

“You hear ‘vapour’ and you think steam facials or a tea kettle,” Kumar said. “It’s not a vapour. It’s an aerosol, like hairspray or what you use to kill ants and cockroaches. When I teach young kids, I take little cans of hairspray and say, ‘I want you to spray this in your mouth.’

“They say, ‘Ew, no.’ So, I say, ‘Then why would you vape?'”

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• Flat-faced dogs face more health risks than dogs with longer muzzles
• Some veterinarians think these dogs should no longer be bred
• Flat-faced dogs are, however, very loving and extremely popular

In spite of serious health problems, flat-faced pooches such as bulldogs, French bulldogs and pugs win the hearts of their owners, a new study finds.

Respiratory disease, breathing issues, eye disease, spinal disease, heat stroke and pneumonia are among the severe disorders that afflict these dogs. And they live an average of four fewer years than dogs with longer muzzles.

Some veterinarians consider the health of flat-faced (brachycephalic) dogs too compromised to continue their breeding, the British researchers noted in the study, published in August in PLOS ONE.

And owners of pets with chronic illnesses report greater mental distress and a lower quality of life.

Loving personalities

Even so, the popularity of flat-faced dogs has soared in the past decade, which suggests they’ll continue to be bred despite their significant health risks.

“Although dog breed popularity often follows a boom and bust pattern, our results are of real concern as they indicate that this ‘brachy boom’ is here to stay,” study co-author Rowena Packer, of Royal Veterinary College in London, and colleagues said.

“Owners are becoming hooked on the loving personalities of these sweet dogs, but also accepting and normalising their shocking health issues,” the researchers said in a journal news release.

To learn more about people’s loyalty to Frenchies, pugs and bulldogs, researchers surveyed nearly 2 200 owners of flat-faced dogs. They found that 93% said they’d own their current breed in the future, and two-thirds said they’d recommend their current breed to someone thinking about getting a dog for the first time.

Good companion dogs

The chances that a current owner would get another dog of the same breed or recommend the breed to someone else was higher among first-time owners and those who had a strong bond with their dog. It was lower among those whose dog had a high number of health problems or behavioural issues.

Owners recommended their breed because their behaviour makes them good companion dogs, they’re suitable for an inactive life with limited space, and they’re good for homes with children.

Some owners recommended against their breed due to a high rate of health problems, the expense, ethical and welfare concerns, bad behaviour, and impact on the owner’s lifestyle.

The findings could be used to educate people about the problems associated with “brachy” breeds in order to control their popularity in the long-term, the researchers suggested.

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• ADHD is associated with riskier behaviour on the road
• Young adults with continuing ADHD since childhood are more likely to be involved in road accidents
• However, in those whose ADHD symptoms are under control, there is no higher risk of road crashes 

Young adults who’ve had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since childhood are at increased risk for road crashes, researchers say.

But there is no increased risk for those whose ADHD symptoms have decreased, according to the study published online recently in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Other health conditions

For the study, the researchers analysed data from 441 children with ADHD and 231 children without ADHD. They were followed from age seven to 25 as part of a study that involved six centres in the United States and one in Canada.

The investigators looked at participants’ ADHD symptoms and driving records, as well as other health conditions. The other conditions included oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and substance use during childhood and into adulthood.

Young adults with and without a history of ADHD got driving licenses at similar ages and at similar rates, the findings showed.

Compared with people with no history of ADHD, the rate of car crashes was 1.45 times higher for adults who had a history of childhood ADHD, and 1.81 times higher for those with continuing symptoms.

Functioning in other domains

However, crash rates were the same among adults who never had ADHD and those whose ADHD symptoms remitted.

“Extant research shows that ADHD is associated with more traffic violations, speeding violations, licence suspensions and risky driving behaviours,” said study lead author Arunima Roy, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada.

Roy noted in a journal news release that the likelihood of risky driving increases when childhood ADHD persists into adulthood.

“Prior research from our group as well as by others also shows that, aside from driving behaviours, a persistence of ADHD into adulthood can impair functioning in other domains,” Roy said. “These domains can include occupational performance, educational attainment, emotional functioning, substance use and justice involvement.”

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• The placenta normally protects the foetus from viral infections
• However, a study found that the Zika virus can get into the placenta
• Zika can also cause a persistent infection in the placenta

New insight into how pregnant women can pass the Zika virus to their foetus could point to ways to prevent it, researchers say.

Babies infected with Zika in the womb can have abnormally small heads (microcephaly) and other birth defects.

In this study, researchers examined placenta samples collected from pregnant women during the peak of Brazil’s 2015 to 2016 Zika outbreak. Samples came from five women who weren’t infected and 10 who were, including five whose babies had microcephaly and five whose babies did not.

One function of the placenta is to protect the foetus from viral infections, and it’s typically very effective at doing so.

Strong inflammation

But this study found that Zika can get into the placenta, increasing odds that the virus will reach the foetus.

Also, Zika can create a persistent infection in the placenta. It can trigger strong inflammation that can last for months after initial infection, and cause tissue and vascular changes that can affect foetal development.

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.

Lead author Kíssila Rabelo, a researcher at Rio de Janeiro State University, said her team saw Zika spread rapidly in Brazil and the resulting situation for pregnant women across the country.

‘Countless developments’

“It was really impactful and made us question how the scientific community could know so little about this disease,” she said in a journal news release. “So as a research group that already works with arboviruses, we dedicated ourselves to understanding the pathogenesis of this disease.”

Rabelo said the findings should be “useful for scientists to establish an infection profile and further understand the immune response caused by the Zika virus”.

The research “could generate countless developments, from a basis for the detection of plasma biomarkers to the development of drugs and vaccines,” Rabelo said, adding that these are keys to controlling future outbreaks that epidemiologists predict are likely.

Eighty-six countries have reported Zika virus, a disease that is primarily caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, with large outbreaks reported in Brazil and several others.

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• Parents are concerned about the effect that Covid-19 may have on diabetic children
• If a child’s diabetes is under control, there probably isn’t much to worry about
• High blood sugar, when diabetes is poorly controlled, can, however, increase the risk of infections 

Parents worry that Covid-19 can make a diabetic child’s condition worse, but an expert has some tips for keeping kids healthy during the pandemic.

“If a child has good control of their diabetes, it does not seem as though there will be severe effects if they were to get the virus,” said Dr Michael Yafi, an associate professor of paediatric endocrinology at McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

“However, children with poorly controlled diabetes are at a high risk of becoming severely ill if they were to get the virus,” Yafi said in a university news release.

Weakened immune systems

High blood sugar levels can weaken the immune system, making it harder for people with diabetes to fend off infections like Covid-19, he explained.

“The exact cause of severe outcomes in patients with diabetes and Covid-19 is not yet known, but research suggests that people who have diabetes have weakened immune systems, which can impact their ability to quickly heal from an infection or disease,” Yafi said.

He offered these tips to parents to help reduce their child’s risk:

• Be sure kids wash their hands often.
• Tell them it’s important to avoid touching their face.
• Stay away from large gatherings and maintain physical distancing.
• Clean commonly used areas around the house often.
• Keep a record of a child’s blood sugar levels.
• Keep extra emergency diabetes supplies on hand.
• Practise healthy habits and feed children a healthy diet.
• Make sure kids get some exercise every day.

Because Covid-19 affects the body in many ways, there are concerns that it may cause patients to develop diabetes, Yafi said. “However, that is still to be determined because we do not have any global epidemiological information about the association between diabetes and previous Covid-19 infection,” he added.

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The government says it has made a deal to produce two Covid-19 vaccines, provided trials are successful.

India, which has been adding record daily totals, now has the world’s second-highest tally.