Research

        Tattooing warning: People with tattoos may be infected with hepatitis C but not realize it, according to a study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

        Researchers studied 626 patients who were being treated at an orthopedic spinal clinic for reasons not related to blood-borne infections. Those who did not know whether they were infected with the blood-borne virus were interviewed for risk factors and tested.

        Of the 626 patients, 113 had tattoos. Of those, 22 percent were infected with hepatitis C. Fifty-two patients had gotten tattoos in commercial parlors, and 33 percent of them had hepatitis C. Only 3.5 percent of the tattoo-free patients had hepatitis C.

        Those with tattoo-related exposure had little experience with injection drug use, transfusions or other traditional methods of hepatitis C exposure. In all, commercial tattoos accounted for twice as much hepatitis C infection as injection drug use, the study said.

        The patients in the study were interviewed and tested in 1991 and 1992, before widespread hepatitis C testing was done. Hepatitis C causes up to 10,000 deaths a year, and about 4 million carry the infection.

        Sleep-depression link: People who enter dream sleep less than an hour after they fall asleep and come from a family with at least one person suffering from depression are more likely to become depressed themselves than those who take longer to reach the dream state.

        Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center say the link holds even in family members with no history of depression. The scientists have been studying links between depression and sleep, looking for a specific brain chemical that may be at the root of depression and may enable the prediction of depression.

        Depressed people often suffer from disturbed sleep — they sleep more than usual or have trouble falling asleep — but the rapid descent into dream sleep isn't as obvious as that.

        The researchers monitored the sleep patterns of 352 people in 70 families. They found that among depressed people 30 percent to 40 percent of outpatients and 60 percent to 70 percent of inpatients have a short window before the dream state, compared with only 20 percent of non-depressed people. The trait is not seen in all depressed people, but could still be a tool to identify those at risk in families with a history of depression.

        Ulcer risk: If you miss out on a good night's sleep — whether because you work too hard or play too hard — you are raising your risk of ulcers, British researchers say.

        The levels of a chemical needed by the stomach and small intestine to repair tissue damage are highest at night. The chemical is low after a meal. The chemical, a protein called TFF2, activates tissue repair a few minutes after injury and is found in high levels around tears in the lining of the gut.

        The volunteers, healthy nonsmokers in their 20s, ate at 1:15 p.m. and 5: 15 p.m., went to bed at 11:30 p.m. and were asleep by 1 a.m. Based on analysis of gastric samples, the TFF2 levels followed a circadian rhythm — lowest during the afternoon and early evening, rising between 7 and 11 p.m. After 1 a.m., the levels rose sharply and peaked around 5 a.m.

        During sleep, TFF2 levels were 340 times higher than during waking periods. So the less sleep you get, the researchers say, the less chance your body has to create the protein that repairs the damage done when you're awake.

Chef's Dinner Club
Glaze turns pork roast into peachy family feast
Gotta Try It
Here's How
Smart mouth
To author, chicken preparation a fine art
Body & Mind
Dieters are feeling pressure of spring
News & Notes
Optometrist sees a healing light
Coming to a computer near you
Concert review: David Gray
Get to it