Teen brains may be culprit for bad moods, behavior

Blame teen turmoil on the brain.

The latest Harvard Mental Health Letter reports that uneven brain development may be responsible for your teen's moods and behavior.

Recent research has shown that human brain circuitry is not completely wired until the early 20s, and that the last links connect the areas responsible for judgment and problem-solving with the brain's emotional centers.

Another bit of late brain development hooks up judgment and the midbrain reward system, which explains why many addictions begin in adolescence. Teen brains react intensely to novel experiences, making those experiences more enticing.

Pregnant women could stop smoking via phone

Pregnant Missouri women can pick up a phone instead of a cigarette to help them through a stressful day.

The Baby Beep program is part of a study by the University of Missouri-Columbia's Sinclair School of Nursing to help low-income, pregnant women quit smoking by having a nurse they can talk to by phone 24 hours a day.

Nursing Professor Linda Bullock says research shows that women who smoke while pregnant tend to be rural, Caucasian, low-income, undereducated and lead very stressful lives.

"The goal is to get them to stop smoking," Bullock says. "We also want to make better mothers so we can improve the next generation by improving these women's lives now."

Sesame's magic brings problems with allergens

From small seeds spring big allergies.

Sesame, used as oil and in food, drugs and cosmetics, is a much more common allergen than people think. Michigan State University researchers found a big jump in the number of sesame-related allergy cases since the first one was reported in the U.S. in 1950.

Sesame is on the list of major food allergens for use in food labeling in Europe and Canada, but not in the United States. A study of hypersensitivity in Australian children found that sesame was in fourth place behind eggs, milk and peanuts. The report appeared in this month's Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

For men, the eyes get it when it comes to injury

Guys, watch your eyes.

Males suffer twice as many eye injuries as females do each year - 9.5 injuries per 1,000 compared with 4.5.

And of the nearly 2 million Americans treated for eye injuries annually, white men in their 20s are the most likely victims, with a rate of more than 20 per 1,000. University of Alabama researchers report in this month's Archives of Ophthalmology that most of the injuries were either superficial, foreign bodies, contusions or open wounds.