New Facebook Tool to Help Prevent Suicide and Self-harm Now Available to All Users

A Facebook tool which let people flag posts from friends who may be at risk for self-harm or suicide, and previously available only for some English-language users has been updated and is now available worldwide to all users.

According to a report onTechCrunch, other users couldreport posts through a form, but the new tools make the process quicker and less complicated.

Announcing the new tool, Facebook said its suicide prevention resources will be available in all languages supported by the platform. The company’s global head of safety Antigone Davis and researcher Jennifer Guadagno wrote that the tools were “developed in collaboration with mental healthorganizations and with input from people who have personal experience with self-injury and suicide.”

“Now, with the help of these new tools, if someone posts something on Facebook that makes you concerned about their well-being, you can reach out to them directly — and you also can also report the post to us. We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in. They prioritize the most serious reports like self-injury.”

“And, as of today, the resources we send to the person who posted something concerning will include an expanded set of options. People can now choose to reach out to a friend, contact a helpline, or see tips.”

“If you or someone you know is in crisis, it is important to call local emergency services right away. You can also visit our Help Centre for information about how to support yourself or a friend: https://www.Facebook.com/help/594991777257121/.”

The tools were first made available to some users in the United States last year with the help of Forefront,Lifeline, and Save.org. Facebook said it will continue to partner with suicide prevention and mental health organizations in different countries wrote Techcrunch. The suicide prevention tools will help save a lot of lives or bring attention to this important issue which has become a public health concern as one person commits suicide every 40 secondsaccording to the World Health Organization (WHO).

With the new tool, users everywhere will soon be able to flag a friend’s post from a drop-down menu if they are worried about self-harm or suicide. Facebook gives them several options. For example, a list of resources, including numbers for suicide prevention organizations, can be shared anonymously, or a message of support can be sent (Facebook suggests wording). The post may also be reviewed by Facebook’s global community operations team, which may then “reach out to this person with information that might be helpful to them,” according to its Help Center. If someone is at immediate risk of hurting themselves, however, Facebook warns that police should be contacted.

You can view this video, created by Save.org and Lifeline titled “From Reporting to Supporting: Using Facebook to Support Someone in Suicidal Crisis” – https://Vimeo.com/160565004.

However, there are concerns regarding privacy which Facebook has to address as there have been cases where psychological researches have been conducted on users without their consent.

Article Source:http://healthnewsng.com/new-facebook-tool-help-prevent-suicide-self-harm-now-available-users/

Breast-feeding may Reduce Asthma Symptoms for At-Risk in Infants!

A new study provides further evidence of the health benefits of breast-feeding, after finding infants with a genetic susceptibility for asthma development are less likely to experience symptoms of the condition if they are breast-fed.

Breast-feeding may reduce respiratory symptoms for children genetically susceptible to asthma development.

Asthma is estimated to affect around 8.6 percent of children and adolescents in the United States, making it one of the most common chronic childhood diseases.

Asthma symptoms are the same for children as for adults; these include wheezing, coughing, breathing problems, and chest tightness. However, because children have smaller airways, symptoms may be more severe.

As a result, asthma is the third leading cause of hospital stays and a leading cause of missed school days for children in the U.S.

While the precise causes of asthma remain unclear, studies have suggested the respiratory condition may arise as a result of environmental and genetic factors.

For example, researchers have associated gene variants in the region 17q21 - located on chromosome 17 - with increased risk of childhood asthma, and a study published earlier this year found children with such variants were more likely to experience asthma symptoms as a result of environmental triggers.

But according to the researchers of this latest study - including Dr. Olga Gorlanova of the University Children's Hospital Basel (UKBB) and the University of Basel, Switzerland - breast-feeding could protect against such symptoms in children with 17q21 gene variants.

The team's findings were recently presented at the European Respiratory Society's International Congress 2016 in the United Kingdom.

Breast-feeding reduced respiratory symptoms by 27 percent

For their study, the researchers included data from 368 infants who were part of the Basel-Bern Infant Lung Development birth cohort in Switzerland.

The researchers assessed the genetic profile of each infant, and they gathered data on occurrence and severity of respiratory symptoms, as well as breast-feeding status in the first year of life.

Among children who carried the 17q21 gene variants, the risk of respiratory symptom development was 27 percent lower on the weeks they were breast-fed. On the weeks these children were not breast-fed, respiratory symptoms were more likely to arise.

Dr. Gorlanova says this study is the first to show that breast-feeding can alter the effect of gene variants known to raise asthma risk, in order to reduce respiratory symptoms in early life.

"As research in this field progresses, we are understanding more and more about the gene-environment interaction for the development of asthma.

Our study sheds light on how this interaction can be modified by breast-feeding. This is the first time that we were able to show the effect of the 17q21 variants on respiratory symptoms during the first year of life, depending on breast-feeding status. Our results must be replicated in another cohort."

Dr. Olga Gorlanova

Article source:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312703.php

Is Tatoo Ink Safe?

Before you get that dolphin tattooed on your ankle or "Mom" on your biceps, be warned: The ink used in tattoos may be harmful -- even years later.

A new report has raised questions about the safety of tattoo inks used in Europe, most of which are imported from the United States. The inks have been found to contain hazardous chemicals, including carcinogens.

The report, from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, also identified heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and nickel, preservatives, organic compounds, bacteria, and other potentially harmful substances in the inks.

It calls for a thorough review of tattoo inks in use throughout the European Union, and it highlights the need for strict regulation of the inks, which are also used for permanent makeup.

After the report was released, the organization asked the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to look further into tattoo ink safety.

“Tattoo inks and permanent make up (PMU) may contain hazardous substances -- for example, substances that cause cancer, genetic mutations, toxic effects on reproduction, allergies or other adverse effects on health,” an ECHA statement reads.

The concerns accompany a rapid rise in the number of people getting tattoos. Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults have a tattoo, according to a Harris Poll. Four years ago, only 1 in 5 adults were inked. Two tattoo industry trade groups, the National Tattoo Association and the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, did not respond to requests for comment.

In this country, the FDA has also raised concerns about tattoo ink.

Last August, the FDA announced a voluntary recall of A Thousand Virgins inks, which were found to be contaminated with bacteria. The year before that, another company, White and Blue Lion, recalled its inks and other tattoo equipment because of contamination that could have caused sepsis, a potentially deadly complication of infections. Other recalls have happened in previous years, both here and in Europe.

Other concerns the FDA raises on its website include:

• Allergic reactions
• Itchiness and inflammation when exposed to summer sunlight
• Granulomas, or small knots or bumps that form around areas where the body senses foreign material, such as the pigments in tattoo ink
• The spread of tattoo ink to the body’s lymphatic system. It’s unknown whether this has health consequences.

But the FDA says it knows little about the tattoo inks in use today. Tattoo inks are considered cosmetics, and their color additives are subject to regulatory authority. But the agency says it hasn’t been using that authority “because of other public health priorities and a previous lack of evidence of safety concerns,” writes spokeswoman Lauren Sucher.

“The FDA cannot identify specific components of concern at this time,” Sucher writes. “The FDA is doing research to improve our knowledge of tattoo inks and the ingredients used in them.”

Sucher declined to say whether the FDA will be testing color additives in the future.

“There are no color additives approved for injection as decorative tattoos,” Sucher says. “When we become aware of a safety problem associated with a cosmetic, including a tattoo ink, we investigate and take action as appropriate.”

For some experts, that’s not good enough. “The bottom line is they’re not doing their job,” says Charles Zwerling, MD, chairman of the American Academy of Micropigmentation. “Tattoo ink has very, very minimal regulation. You don’t know if the bottle’s even sterile. In the European study, they found that 5% to 10% were infected with bacteria. That’s kind of scary.”

Zwerling, a North Carolina ophthalmologist who has studied and written about permanent makeup and tattoos for many years, says, “These newer pigments that are coming out have never been tested and, because they’re organic, have a much higher risk of complications ... organic pigments can cause horrific allergic reactions. We know this in medicine. This is nothing new.”

Arisa Ortiz, MD, director of laser and cosmetic dermatology and assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Diego, says that red inks are particularly problematic. They can cause both allergic and inflammatory reactions. “It can happen with any color, but red is the most common culprit for allergic reactions,” she says.

In one case, a patient of hers developed severe swelling and fatigue after getting a lip line tattoo, a cosmetic procedure. Her condition did not improve until the tattoo was removed with lasers.

“Inks can cause systemic reactions when patients are allergic to whatever is in the tattoo, but there’s no way to test if you are allergic to a tattoo dye because the allergic reactions can occur many years later,” she says.

For many people who do react to tattoo inks, the most common symptoms are itching, irritation, and swelling, says Katy Burris, MD, a dermatologist at Northwell Health in Manhasset, NY.

“Usually your immune system eventually learns to accept it, so I wouldn’t say it would be permanent, but it would probably take months to resolve,” Burris says.

No link between tattoo inks and cancer has been established, but concern exists because carcinogens may be among the ingredients. Ortiz says she has seen skin cancers develop shortly after tattooing: “There have been many types of coincidental skin cancers reported, such as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma,” she says. “When it happens so quickly, just a couple weeks after, it makes you wonder.”

The authors of the European report consider it coincidental when skin tumors appear at tattoo sites, but they conclude that it’s a link that should be further studied.

What You Can Do

Should you avoid tattoos? Right now, too little is known to say for certain. Ortiz and Burris suggest that you make sure you really want a tattoo before you commit, and find a reputable place that keeps things clean and sterile.

Says Ortiz: “At this point, it’s hard to say if tattooing is safe. It’s buyer beware.”

They also point out that once you’ve got a tattoo, it’s with you for life, for better or worse.

“Don’t think that if you don’t like it, you can just laser it away,” Burris warns. “It’s quite expensive and quite painful to have a tattoo removed, and there are some colors that are just not that responsive to lasers.”

The FDA also provides these tips:

• Consumers and tattoo artists should know where their materials come from and should be able to identify and contact the manufacturer in case side effects happen.
• Be especially wary of products that don’t carry a brand or the name and place of business of the manufacturer or distributor.
• If you get a tattoo, watch the area closely and talk to your doctor if you have any signs of a rash or think you might have a reaction or infection where you have a tattoo.
• Consumers should select a tattoo artist who is licensed and practices sanitary methods.

Author: Matt McMillen

Article source: http://www.m.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20160826/how-safe-tattoo-ink