Illness threatens families already in debt

BOSTON, Oct.-- A professor at Boston's Harvard Medical School says high medical bills can push families already managing debt into bankruptcy. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, who co-wrote a paper on medical bankruptcy for the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, told The Washington Post a family that is just gett- ing by can be pushed over the edge if illness strikes. "The way people get in trouble is they have substantial debt they're managing, they're paying mortgages and paying off credit card balances but they're managing. Then a shock oc- curs," Woolhandler said. She said the shock can take the form of higher bills and loss of work because of illness. "In bankruptcy, in about half of those cases, that shock is a medical shock," Woolhandler said. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told a recent news conference the gov- ernment has no idea "how many mortgages were foreclosed be- cause people were crowded out by medical issues."

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Puberty disorder gene is identified

AUGUSTA, Ga., -- U.S. scientists say they've identified a gene responsible for a variety of problems including mental retardation that arise during puberty. Medical College of Georgia researchers discovered that when a gene called CHD7 mutates, it can produce a set of maladies such as hearing loss, heart defects and cleft lip and palate. The research- ers also determined CHD7 accounts for about 6 percent of two puberty disorders: idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, or IHH; and Kallmann syndrome that, among other things, causes infertility. In a study of 101 people with IHH and Kallmann syndrome, Dr. Lawrence Layman and colleagues found seven mutations of CHD7 that weren't present in nearly 200 healthy individuals. "This suggests that (there) were muta- tions causing the disorder and we also showed that most of these mutations impaired the gene's function," Layman said.
The study's findings are detailed in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

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Beer, lack of exercise fuel Freshman 15

NEW YORK, -- Studies by Indiana University and Tufts Univer- sity suggests beer and a lack of exercise fuel weight gain by college freshmen. The Indiana findings were presented at a meeting of the Obesity Society this month, USA Today re- ported Wednesday. Indiana researchers, who interviewed 272 women and 149 men, found 60 percent gained weight during their freshman year -- more than seven pounds for women and nine pounds for men. Sixty-seven percent of the women and
86 percent of men said they continued gaining weight beyond their freshmen year. The report said 76 percent of women and
33 percent of men claimed to eat when under stress. The stu- dents also reported drinking more and exercising less than they did in high school. Tufts University researchers studied data from 322 students. They found students who gained weight put on an average of 6 1/2 pounds their freshman year and an average 10 pounds total between their freshman and senior years, the newspaper said.

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