Nearly half of HIV-positive young people don’t realize that they’ve been infected, according to U.S. health officials. In fact, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than a quarter – 22 percent – of sexually active high school students are tested for the virus, which causes AIDS. “At the end of 2006, an estimated 48 percent of adolescents and young adults infected with HIV were unaware of their infection, representing missed opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, and reduction in the number of new HIV transmissions,” the CDC said. Using data from a 2007 survey of ninth- to 11th-graders, the CDC found that people ages 12 to 24 represented 4.4 percent of the estimated 1.1 million people in the United States infected with HIV. Still, that number represented 10 percent of the estimated 232,700 people living with the virus without knowing it. The CDC recommends that doctors offer HIV screening as part of routine checkups for U.S. high school students.

 The number of murdered Black teens has shot up dramatically over the past eight years, a new report shows. Since 2000 and 2001, homicides of African-American teens have risen an alarming 39 percent, according to the study by Northeastern University. The findings are particularly troubling because the spike in Black murders occurred as the homicide rate in other U.S. communities steadily declined, The Wall Street Journal notes. The pattern is even starker among youths. “It’s hard to pin down cause and effect,” said James Alan Fox, one of the authors of the study. He said that there are several likely reasons for the surge, not least of which were severe cuts in local law-enforcement programs that successfully countered murder rates during the 1990s. Most of the killings of Black youths were perpetrated by other Blacks. In addition to a reduction in police programs, poor parental supervision (largely attributable to single-parent homes), inferior schools and widespread gang activity are all responsible for the problem, Fox said. “Cuts in support for youth have a much greater impact on Black families who don’t have alternatives,” he said.

Chinese treat more than 13,000 children for tainted milk. The number of Chinese infants sickened and hospitalized after drinking tainted milk formula doubled to nearly 13,000, Chinese officials reported. Premier Wen Jiabao threatened harsh punishment for culprits in the latest blight on the “made-in-China” brand, Reuters News reports. Four deaths have been blamed on the toxic milk powder, causing kidney stones and agonizing complications, and a string of Asian countries have banned or recalled Chinese milk products. The Health Ministry said the number of children hospitalized due to the milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine rose from a previously announced total of 6,244 – which included many who had left hospital – to 12,892, including 104 who were in a serious condition. More than 1,500 had already left hospital and nearly 40,000 with milder symptoms “received clinical treatment and advice” before going home. Melamine elevates protein readings in dairy products, allowing milk producers to thwart government inspectors. The ministry did not explain the sharp rise. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have banned the import of infant formula from China.

Sports cause the most eye injuries in youths. Sports-related eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in school-age children, but most could be prevented with the proper eye protection, HealthDay reports. To educate the public on this, Prevent Blindness America – the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization – has made September “Sports Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month.” “We already know that 72 percent of all sports-related eye injuries are to those age 25 and younger. Yet, only 15 percent of children wear eye protection,” Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America, said in a statement Friday. “We strongly support all efforts to ensure that children use appropriate safety eyewear for every sport in which they participate.” Emergency rooms in the United States treat a sports-related eye injury every 13 minutes, the organization says. Baseball causes the greatest number of sports-related eye injuries in children aged 14 and younger, according to the National Eye Institute, while basketball is the leading cause of eye injuries in those aged 15 to 24. It is believed that 90 percent of all sports-related eye injuries can be prevented with the proper eye protection. Lenses made of polycarbonate that carry the American Society of Testing Materials label are recommended.

Many doctors don’t know blood pressure rules

. Too many family docs start high blood pressure treatment for later than they should, a new study found. The men in the study were Black, but the same is probably true for men in general, said Dr. Joseph Ravenell, who reported the findings Friday at the American Heart Association’s Council for High Blood Pressure Research annual meeting in Atlanta. Traditionally, the emphasis has been on patient behavior, such as patients not properly taking their medication, said Ravenell, the New York University scientist who did the study while at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical. But there is increasing evidence that the problem of poor hypertension control is not just on patients, HealthDay reports. Doctors didn’t start treating middle-aged men with high blood pressure in time the study indicated. A related study shows that a low-salt diet could control high blood pressure. Of the doctors treating the 891 Black men studied in Dallas County, most of whom were primary-care physicians, only 36 percent said they would start treatment for a 45-year-old Black man with an office blood pressure of 145/92 and an out-of-office pressure of 154/95, both well above the recommended 120/80 level. None of the 22 doctors interviewed was familiar with the national guidelines calling for treatment of blood pressure at such levels. Ravenell said the results, though surprising, were in tune with other earlier results showing that doctors weren’t following the guidelines as well as they should. As Black men were at a high risk of death from hypertension, Ravenell felt physicians ought to be particularly careful handling them and should ensure that they are appropriately applying the guidelines to all patients. In a related study …, researchers found that by controlling salt intake, high blood pressure patients could control blood pressure that was not controlled by medication. This finding was also presented at Friday’s Heart Association meeting on high blood pressure. “A high-salt diet contributes importantly to treatment-resistant hypertension (high blood pressure),” Dr. Eduardo Pimenta from the Dante Pazzanese Institute of Cardiology, Sao Paulo, Brazil, told Reuters Health.

Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.

Many youths tried as adults suffer from mental disorders.
Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Most of the students needed more information about testing.
Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.

Many youths tried as adults suffer from mental disorders.
Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, reports HealthDay. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Most of the students needed more information about testing.
Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.