Study Looks at Factors That May Foreshadow Violent Acts
The aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., has left many authorities questioning whether a propensity to violent acts or drug use can be predicted. A new USC study--begun long before the April shooting--provides some of the first clues to such predictors. Among the important factors are being a victim of violence, identifying with certain groups on campus, such as gang members and “stoners” (drug users), and smoking marijuana.
Psychologist Steven Sussman and his colleagues studied 55 boys and girls, ages 15 to 19, who are students at Southern California continuation high schools--special schools for youths with discipline or academic problems. Unlike students in conventional high schools, fully 70% reported when they were first interviewed of having been involved in violence against property or people.
Students who identified themselves as belonging to the high-risk groups, such as gang members and stoners, reported significantly more alcohol, marijuana and other drug use in the year following the interview and a much higher number of reports of violence.
Surprisingly, according to Sussman, use of alcohol, amphetamines and heroin did not predict later violence. The only drug they found that did have such predictive value was marijuana.
The results will be published in upcoming issues of Psychology of Addictive Behavior and the American Journal of Health Behavior.
No Link Between Vaccine and Autism
British researchers have found no evidence to support the proposed link between autism and immunization with the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. Many parents have noted that their children developed autistic symptoms shortly after MMR vaccination, and some preliminary reports have suggested a link.
Dr. Brent Taylor of the Royal Free Hospital in London and his colleagues studied 498 children with autism and could find no evidence linking their disorder to the vaccinations, they reported in Saturday’s Lancet.
They found that the number of cases of autism has been increasing since 1979, but that there was no sharp increase after MMR vaccination was introduced in 1988. Second, the average age of children at diagnosis of autism was the same for those who had been vaccinated before the age of 18 months as for those who never received MMR or who were vaccinated after the age of 18 months. Third, the percentage of vaccination was the same for children with autism as for children in the population at large.
A report from the Working Party of the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines in the same issue of Lancet also concluded that there was no link between MMR vaccination and autism, Crohn’s disease and a variety of other disorders as well.
Report on Viability of Fertilized Eggs
Fertilized eggs that do not implant in the uterus within the first nine days after conception are much more likely to result in miscarriages, according to researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Implantation in the wall of the uterus is necessary for nourishment and growth of the fetus.
The same team of researchers reported in 1988 that 25% of fertilized eggs fail to survive for six weeks and are lost, often without the woman even knowing that she was pregnant. The new results, reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, may provide the first explanation for many of those losses.
The team tested daily urine samples from about 200 North Carolina women, monitoring concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that indicates pregnancy. They found that if a fertilized egg was implanted by the ninth day after conception, it had only a 13% chance of being lost. By the 10th day, the chance of loss rose to 26%. On the 11th day, the chance was 52%, and after that, the risk was 82%.
Antibody Reduces Arthritis Symptoms
The largest study using a monoclonal antibody to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis has shown a significant reduction in symptoms among the majority of patients, according to results presented last Monday at a meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism in Glasgow, Scotland. The monoclonal antibody, marketed as Remicade, blocks the action of tumor necrosis factor, a compound produced by the immune system that has been shown to have a major role in autoimmune diseases like arthritis.
The researchers studied 428 patients with advanced arthritis at 34 sites in North America and Europe. Half received Remicade and the arthritis drug methotrexate, while half received methotrexate alone.
The researchers found that 52% of those receiving Remicade plus methotrexate had at least a 20% reduction in symptoms, compared to 17% of those receiving only methotrexate. About 33% of those receiving Remicade plus methotrexate had at least a 50% reduction in symptoms, and 18% had at least a 70% reduction. The most common side effects were upper respiratory-tract infections, headache, nausea and sinusitis.
Drug Causes High Risk of Sleepiness
Parkinson’s disease patients taking the drug pramipexole (Mirapex) have an unusual risk of falling asleep suddenly, which can present a hazard while driving, according to researchers from the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.
Dr. Steven Frucht reported in the June issue of Neurology that eight of his patients taking the drug had auto accidents after falling asleep at the wheel. Four more fell asleep suddenly during business meetings and phone calls. Patients described the attacks as a sudden, irresistible and overwhelming feeling of sleepiness.
Following the attacks, six patents stopped taking the drug and two lowered their doses. None had further attacks. But one of the six took another drug, ropinirole, and experienced the same side effect while driving.
Ibuprofen Helpful for MS Patients
Ibuprofen reduces the flu-like side effects often felt by multiple sclerosis patients taking interferon beta-1b, according to researchers from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Those side effects include fever, chills, sweating, weariness and pain in one or more muscles, and affect as many as 50% of those taking interferon.
The researchers report in the June Neurology that the level of side effects among those taking ibuprofen was comparable to the levels of side effects among patients taking only placebos in previous interferon trials.
Thomas H. Maugh II can be reached at thomas.maugh@latimes.com.
