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Vol. IV No. 26   ·   16 March 2001 

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The March 4 Detroit News reports on a new study that indicates that babies born to older mothers tend to have significantly higher than usual blood pressure, which may affect their hearts and arteries throughout life. Luc Djousse, a MED research associate, and others analyzed data on the birth weights of 2,555 adults. They found that for every five-year increase in a mother's age, there is a one-point increase in the newborn's blood pressure. Doctors do not yet know whether the elevated blood pressure occurs throughout pregnancy and beyond. Further, people who weighed less than five pounds at birth were more than twice as likely to develop heart disease as those who were larger. "Why the small babies are so much more likely to have heart disease is still a mystery," says Djousse. But these findings are another indication that the environment in the womb can influence the development of health -- both good and bad -- long into adulthood.

The controversial claim that the dramatic upsurge in autism over the past two decades has been caused by the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is wrong, according to a report released last week by the California Department of Health Services. New studies have found that the incidence of autism has been increasing dramatically but the number of children vaccinated has remained virtually constant. MED Associate Professor Hershel Jick says in a story in the March 7 Los Angeles Times, "We cannot rule out the possibility that in certain isolated, rare instances, the vaccine might have caused a rare case of autism. But it is certainly not the major villain." Jick and colleagues conducted a study in Great Britain, where more than 95 percent of children receive the MMR vaccine. "Each year, the same number of children are being vaccinated, but there are more new cases of autism," says Jick. "The two really are disconnected." Autism is a severe developmental disorder in which children seem isolated from the world around them. In the 1970s, when the MMR vaccine was introduced, studies showed the incidence of autism to be about one case in every 2,500 children. Today, various studies, though controversial, suggest that the incidence is one in every 250 children -- and perhaps even higher.

In light of Vice President Richard Cheney's recent angioplasty, the March 6 Washington Post ran a story on how U.S. presidents, vice presidents, and their functionaries obscure weakness in a haze of euphemistic language. The story concludes that denying pain and fear is a hallowed feature of the American political tradition. CAS History Professor Robert Dallek says, "People in politics who aspire to our highest offices will never 'fess up to serious problems. They believe it will instantly create the kind of doubt that a politician finds intolerable." The man-as-superman nature of the American presidency, according to the story, reinforces the instinct to deny frailty --either physical or psychological.

"In The News" is compiled by Mark Toth in the Office of Public Relations.

       

16 March 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations