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Tanning bed operators appear to be largely abiding by parental consent laws, but the laws don’t go far enough in limiting teens’ exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays, a new study shows.

Tanning bed operators told data collectors posing as 15-year-old girls that as long as they had parental consent, they could tan as often as they wished, the researchers said.

That runs counter to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation to limit exposure during the first week to no more than three sessions — which experts say is already too much.

“Tanning is a carcinogen for everybody, but especially for teens who are very interested in looking tan and don’t often think about the consequences of any of their behaviors,” said study principal investigator Joni A. Mayer, a professor of public health at San Diego State University. “Our data and other data indicate that those under age 17 need to be banned from tanning beds.”

The findings are published in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology.

Rates of skin cancer have been rising in the United States, particularly among women aged 15 to 39, according to background information in the study. Exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning lamps has been linked to both melanoma and squamous cell cancer. For young women, using tanning beds for the first time before age 35 increases melanoma risk by as much as 75 percent, previous research has shown.

In response to skin cancer concerns, 28 states had laws as of 2005 that put some restrictions on indoor tanning, and 21 states required parental consent, mostly a parental signature, according to the study.

Several states have tighter legislation pending, including banning teens under age 18 from using tanning beds altogether; requiring parents of minors to be present in front of tanning bed operators when they sign the consent form; and requiring consent forms to specify the precise number of tans that are permitted.

In the study, data collectors posing 15-year-old girls called 3,647 tanning businesses across the United States and told them they were fair-skinned and had never tanned before.

About 87 percent of tanning salon operators told the girls they needed parental consent, including nearly 93 percent of those in states with parental consent laws and 78 percent of those in states without such laws.

Although about 11 percent of the facilities limited teens to the FDA-recommended three or fewer sessions the first week, 71 percent of facilities said teens could tan every day if they wished.

While tanning bed operators said they would require parental consent, Dr. David Fisher, director of the melanoma program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said he wondered if staff at tanning salons actually followed through on that when presented with a paying customer.

“They may be underestimating just how bad this really is,” Fisher said. “The concern I have is that in real life, a 15-year-old, fair-skinned girl is not going say ‘Hello, I’m fair-skinned. Do you require my parent’s permission? They may say, ‘Hi, can I get a tan? I’m 19.’”

In July, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer put tanning beds in its highest cancer risk category — “carcinogenic to humans.” The international panel also called for tougher warnings and restrictions on tanning bed use.

“We probably know more about the identity of the culprit in melanoma than any other cancer in the world,” Fisher said. “We should have the steepest decline of any cancer, and in fact we have the steepest increase of any cancer. It’s enormously embarrassing and frustrating.”

In another study in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology, researchers from University of Colorado found that tanning is associated with a proliferation of nevi, or moles and other skin discolorations, in non redheaded, very fair-skinned children.

Multiple benign or atypical nevi are a strong risk factor for the development of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

It is not fully known what changes occur in the body during meditation; whether they influence health; and, if so, how. Research is under way to find out more about meditation’s effects, how it works, and diseases and conditions for which it may be most helpful.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is the federal government’s lead agency for scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It is 1 of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Some recent NCCAM-supported studies have been investigating meditation for relieving stress in caregivers for elderly patients with dementia and for relieving asthma symptoms. A study published in the April 2009 issue of Preventing Chronic Disease researched use of meditation and other complementary and alternative practices in patients suffering from arthritis.

The term meditation refers to a group of techniques which may be practiced for many reasons, such as to increase calmness and physical relaxation, to improve psychological balance, to cope with illness, or to enhance overall wellness. Most types of meditation have four elements in common:

A quiet location. Meditation is usually practiced in a quiet place with as few distractions as possible. This can be particularly helpful for beginners.

A specific, comfortable posture. Depending on the type being practiced, meditation can be done while sitting, lying down, standing, walking, or in other positions.

A focus of attention. Focusing one’s attention is usually a part of meditation. For example, the meditator may focus on a mantra (a specially chosen word or set of words), an object, or the sensations of the breath.

An open attitude. Having an open attitude during meditation means letting distractions come and go naturally without judging them.

Money management difficulties may be a sign that people with mild memory problems will soon develop Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.

It included 87 older people with mild cognitive impairment, and 76 others with no memory problems. All the participants took a money management test at the start of the study and again one year later. The test included buying groceries, counting coins, understanding and using a checkbook and bank statement, preparing bills for mailing, and identifying fraud situations.

After one year, 25 of the 87 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) had developed Alzheimer’s. Those people scored lower on the initial test than participants without memory problems and those with MCI who didn’t develop dementia, and their money management skills continued to decline over the following year.

The study appears in the Sept. 22 issue of Neurology.

“Our findings show that declining money management skills are detectable in patients with MCI in the year prior to developing Alzheimer’s disease,” senior study author Daniel Marson, of the neurology department and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

“Doctors should proactively monitor people with MCI for declining financial skills and advise them and their caregivers about steps they can take to watch for signs of poor money management,” Marson said.

“Caregivers should consider overseeing a person’s checking transactions, contacting the person’s bank to find money issues, such as bills being paid twice, or become co-signers on the checking account so that both signatures are required for checks written above a certain amount. Online banking and bill payment services are also good options,” he added.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is alerting medical professionals, substance abuse treatment centers and other public health authorities about the risk that substantial levels of cocaine may be adulterated with levamisole – a veterinary anti-parasitic drug. There have been approximately 20 confirmed or probable cases of agranulocytosis (a serious, sometimes fatal blood disorder), including two deaths, associated with cocaine adulterated with levamisole. The number of reported cases is expected to increase as information about cocaine adulterated with levamisole is disseminated.

“SAMHSA and other public health authorities are working together to inform everyone of this serious potential public health risk and what measures are being taken to address it,” said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick, D.D.S., MPH.

Levamisole is used in veterinary medicine and is currently approved for use in cattle, sheep and swine as an anti-parasitic agent. Although it was once used in human medicine in the past for treating autoimmune diseases and cancer, it is no longer an approved drug for human use.

Ingesting cocaine mixed with levamisole can seriously reduce a person’s white blood cells, suppressing immune function and the body’s ability to fight off even minor infections. People who snort, smoke, or inject crack or powder cocaine contaminated by levamisole can experience overwhelming, rapidly-developing, life threatening infections. Other serious side effects can also occur.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration and State testing laboratories, the percentage of cocaine specimens containing levamisole has increased steadily since 2002, with levamisole now found in over 70 percent of the illicit cocaine analyzed in July. In addition, a recent analysis in Seattle, Washington found that almost 80 percent of the individuals who test positive for cocaine also test positive for levamisole.

According to the SAMHSA alert substance abuse treatment providers, clinicians, outreach workers, and individuals who abuse cocaine need to be aware of the following:

A dangerous substance, levamisole, is showing up with increasing frequency in illicit cocaine powder and crack cocaine. Levamisole can severely reduce the number of white blood cells, a problem called agranulocytosis. THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS ILLNESS THAT NEEDS TO BE TREATED AT A HOSPITAL. If you use cocaine, watch out for:

* high fever, chills, or weakness
* swollen glands
* painful sores (mouth, anal)
* any infection that won’t go away or gets worse very fast, including sore throat or mouth sores -skin infections, abscesses -thrush (white coating of the mouth, tongue, or throat) -pneumonia (fever, cough, shortness of breath).”

SAMHSA is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and other federal and international organizations, as well as state agencies to monitor the levamisole issue. CDC will be publishing a case report analysis in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) and will be working with state health departments to systematically collect information on cocaine-associated agranulocytosis cases. Information from this effort will be used to guide treatment and prevention initiatives to address this public health concern.

Individuals are encouraged to report suspected and confirmed cases of agranulocytosis that are associated with cocaine abuse to their respective state health departments. Cases can also be reported to local Poison Control Centers (1-800-222-1222), these centers may also provide assistance in clinical management and additional reporting.