Improper child safety seat use is one of the top causes for child disability and death. Although statistics indicate that seven in 10 car seats are used or installed incorrectly, most parents are unaware.

The good news is proper installation doesn't have to be cause for distress. Begin with the basics—make sure all straps are secure and fastened, however size is important, too. Here's what you need to know:

INFANTS

From birth to age 1, children should remain in rear-facing safety seats. Rear-facing seats provide greater protection against back or spinal cord injury in case of a frontal crash. A child who is at least 1 year of age may graduate to a forward-facing seat at 20 pounds, but experts recommend waiting as long as 30 or 35 pounds.

TODDLERS&PRE-SCHOOLERS

When children graduate to the forward-facing seat, usually at age 1-4 or when they weigh 20-40 pounds, the preferred model of safety seat for toddlers is the convertible or the combination seat. These seats protect taller, heavier children who have outgrown their booster seats but are too small for an adult or booster seat.

CHILDREN

The final stage of safety seat before the lone seatbelt is the booster seat. Booster seats are great for children between the ages of 4 and 8, and who weigh between 40 and 80 pounds. Booster seats help seatbelts fit appropriately—straps should cross over the chest, and the lap belt should lay over the upper thighs.

LATCH

In any case, remember to use your car’s LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) feature. This federally mandated safety feature is found in most cars manufactured after September 2002. The system makes proper installation easier with “child-size” safety seat straps and anchor attachments that can help prevent seatbelt strangulation.

When in doubt, refer to the user’s manual or consult a professional to check the safety of your car seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will locate the inspector nearest you.

Visit the NHTSA site for safety seat guidelines, and don’t forget about Child Passenger Safety Week in September.

Magnets may be a treatment option for people with depression who don't respond to antidepressants. In a small study by the Medical University of South Carolina, 14 percent of individuals who underwent magnetic therapy reported no symptoms of depression.

Dr. Mark George and colleagues from the Medical University of South Carolina recruited 190 adults to participate in the study. Participants had been depressed anywhere from 3 months to 5 years, and all had been unresponsive to treatment with antidepressants.

Half of the participants received a simulated placebo treatment, while the other half were treated using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a form of magnetic therapy in which electric pulses are used to stimulate the brain. TMS is currently being used treat depression, as well as chronic pain, migraines and Parkinson’s disease.

After three weeks, 13 of the 92 patients (14 percent) who underwent TMS treatment reported no depressive symptoms, compared to 5 percent of people in the simulation.

"This study should help settle the debate about whether rTMS works for depression," said George, who led the research team. "We can now follow up clues suggesting ways to improve its effectiveness, and hopefully further develop a potential new class of stimulation treatments for other brain disorders."

Remission more than doubled in another similar study in which all participants underwent TMS. Although these results may seem meager, this could spell relief for many of the 17.5 million Americans who suffer from depression. Further studies will provide more concrete information on the long-term effects of TMS.

“We have settled a fundamental question about (TMS) therapy, which is: ‘Does it work?’” George told Health Day. “The answer,” he said, “ is ‘yes’.”

Learn more about the results of this study from the National Institute of Health, or visit the Archives of General Psychiatry to view the study’s abstract.

Women have long been claiming chocolate as a comfort food, but research shows that chocolate is something that both men and women reach for. According to a new study, people of both genders with mild or major depression eat more chocolate. Researchers believe depression could trigger this craving.

Researchers from the University of California monitored the diets of 931 men and women, focusing on chocolate consumption. None of the participants were taking antidepressants, and they had their moods assessed routinely.

Those with depression consumed 8.4 servings of chocolate (1 ounce is one serving) per month, while those with major depression ate an average of 11.4 servings per month. Their counterparts who showed no signs of depression ate an average of 5.4 servings per month.

Chocolate sends signals to the brain to release serotonin and endorphins, two “feel happy” opioids. Endorphins are responsible for that satisfied buzz you get after exercise, while serotonin is believed to produce feelings of love and happiness.

This study is the first to examine the chocolate-mood link for both men and women, and, based off their findings, Doctors Natalie Rose (U.C., Davis) and Beatrice Golomb (U.C., San Diego) believe there may be a direct link between depression and chocolate cravings.

"The findings did not appear to be explained by a general increase in caffeine, fat, carbohydrate or energy intake, suggesting that our findings are specific to chocolate," Golomb said in a press release. “Our study confirms long-held suspicions that eating chocolate is something that people (including men) do when they are feeling down."

One speculation is that when a person is down in the dumps, he or she will reach for this “comfort food” to boost his/her mood. Another possibility, however, is that eating chocolate (which is often high in fat and sugar) causes a person’s moods to spike for a short period of time only to crash later.

"Because it was a cross sectional study, meaning a slice in time,” Golomb explained, “it did not tell us whether the chocolate decreased or intensified the depression."

The research team plans to conduct further research investigating the effects of chocolate on mood to gain more insight into this relationship. “Whether there is a causal connection, and if so in which direction, is a matter for future prospective study,” they concluded in their report.

­Read the study’s abstract at the Archives of Internal Medicine, or check out the University of California’s press release for more information.

You can test your blood sugar, you can test your blood pressure, but did you know you can test your risk of falling? You can now thanks to a screening tool developed by the University of Missouri School of Health Professions.

University of Missouri associate professor Carmen Abbott created the test to help predict an individual’s risk of falling, which they hope will help reduce the risk of injuries.

“It’s very important for adults to understand their won fall-risk factors,” Abbott said in a press release. “This test can become a primary prevention strategy that can be used in regular screenings.”

The test is made up of 16 parts, including a questionnaire and physical tests. It includes questions about fall history, what types of medication an individual takes, and whether he or she experiences dizziness. The physical tests include strengthen balance and range of motion exercises.

Testing each person allowed researchers to develop a customized risk prevention plan. “Personalizing the risk exercise prescription palatable to an individual that has not taken physical activity or the idea of decreased physical function seriously,” authors wrote.

In the University of Missouri press release, Abbott offers tips for people who wish to improve their coordination and reduce their risk of falls.

“It’s very important for adults to understand their own fall-risk factors,” she says. “What’s more important is for adults to know their risk and stay as active as possible.”

Some folks around the globe are starting the night off with a bang—literally. People with a rare sleep disorder known as “exploding head syndrome” go to sleep at night only to be awakened a few hours later by a loud crash.

Exploding head syndrome is more common in women than men, and people with the disorder are usually in their 50s or older. Once a person has had an incident, sometimes called an auditory sleep start, he or she may not experience one again for long periods of time, if at all.

What’s unusual about the disturbance is it’s only heard inside the mind. It has been compared to thunder or an explosion that lasts just moments before the person wakes up. Episode-induced anxiety sometimes causes heavy breathing, rapid heartbeat and cold sweats.

Exploding head syndrome doesn’t cause swelling or damage, but on occasion the episode may be described as a headache. In some instances, people with the disorder may also see flashes of light. This is called a visual sleep start.

According to the American Sleep Association (ASA), the disorder has been linked with stress and fatigue. Episodes often come in clusters and are relatively erratic.

The ASA does caution people who think they might have the disorder to speak with their doctors. Similar experiences may be the result of medication or other conditions. Distress over episodes also could lead to insomnia.

Although the exact cause isn’t known, the ASA says that a regular sleep routine and calming activities before bed may help prevent incidents.

There may be a link between the brain's dopamine levels and social status. In a small test, people with more dopamine receptors were more likely to have a higher social status and more social support.

Fourteen men and women were asked to describe their social roles and support levels. Each was injected with a small amount of radiotracer, used to show how different tissues function in PET scans. Researchers, meanwhile, monitored dopamine activity in the brain.

"Low levels of dopamine receptors were associated with low social status and that high levels of dopamine receptors were associated with higher social status,” study leader Dr. Diana Martinez of the New York Psychiatric Institute said in a press release. “The same type of association was seen with the volunteer's reports of social support they experience from their friends, family or significant other."

Although human testing is still in its early stages, a similar correlation between dopamine receptors and social status has been identified in primates. This link may have something to do with the perks of being higher up on the social ladder.

“In monkeys, dominant and subordinate social rank are determined by physical and social triumph and defeat,” authors explain. Dopamine is partly responsible for motivation and reward. It is also thought to be a precursor to the release of adrenaline.

“In humans, social hierarchy is a more subtle phenomenon that can be approximated by measuring social status and social support,” they write.

While high social status was correlated with a higher number of dopamine receptors, healthy participants with social phobias had fewer receptors. This information could explain why some people are more anxious or socially detached than others. It could also pave the way toward a greater understanding of conditions such as social anxiety disorder.

While this study is merely suggestive, results support the idea that social status and encouragement from peers and loved ones may be related to dopamine receptors. Further research could provide insight to the complexity of dopamine’s role in social structure.

Read more on the study in February’s issue of Biological Psychiatry.

The key to a strong memory may be rest. Resting after learning something new appears to help create a stronger, more vivid memory.

Information comes from a study by NYU assistant professor of psychology Lila Davachi and doctoral candidate Arielle Tambini. The study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between two parts of the brain related to memory—the hippocampus and neocortex—and the long-term storage of memory following rest.

Resting after gaining new information allows the mind to process that information, and store it into long-term episodic memory. While former studies have shown that this process is highly effective in sleep, this experiment tested the effects of “awake rest”--rest without sleeping.

The hippocampus is responsible for regulating emotion and memory; the neocortex for language, conscious thought and emotional response. Researchers used object-face and scene-face encoding, the brain’s process of changing information from one form to another, to determine how these two areas of the brain reacted to form memories.

Participants were shown images of people coupled with either objects or scenery (called encoding tasks), and asked how likely these images were to go together. Testing began 40–50 minutes after the first encoding task and 70–80 minutes after the second.

According to Davachi, brain regions remained active during rest, which suggests that memories were being replayed and reinforced. Participants with stronger relationships between the hippocampus and neocortex had better memory, especially of the face-object pairing.

“It will be essential for future studies to assess how connectivity during post-task offline periods (rest) relates to more extended measures of long-term memory consolidation,” authors wrote. “It will be interesting to explore the relationship between longitudinal measurements of enhanced connectivity and behavioral measures of memory consolidation.”

Take a short-term memory test or read the full study in the January issue of Neuron.

Humility is an admirable quality, but it may also be something to be proud of. According to a study by the University of Texas at Austin, people who are unrealistically self-assured have lower frontal lobe activity than their more modest counterparts.

The two-part study asked university students to rate themselves against peers on positive and negative qualities that were meant to indicate desirability. Traits such as maturity, modesty, discipline, wit, and being well-spoken were considered positive, while traits such as rigidity, aggressiveness, messiness, and being materialistic, narrow-minded or boastful were undesirable.

For the first test, 20 students evaluated themselves on these characteristics during two timed sessions that required participants to make decisions quickly. Fifty-six students participating in the second test were asked to take the same test, but they were given an unlimited amount of time for evaluation.

“The extent to which participants viewed themselves as ‘above average’ was negatively correlated with orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and, to a lesser extent, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation,” authors of the study wrote. “The majority of people judge their personality to be more desirable than their peers' personalities.”

The OFC and dACC are both involved in evaluation and planning. According to the authors, these regions of the brain are involved in deep thought and may be partly responsible for keeping the ego in check. They may also, in part, be responsible for recalling self-serving examples of specific traits. Judging broader traits, they say, would require less effort.

"In healthy people, the more you activate a portion of your frontal lobes, the more accurate your view of yourself is,” said lead author Jennifer Beer in a press release. Beer is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. “The more you view yourself as desirable or better than your peers, the less you use those lobes."

The study is the first to examine the brain’s role in self-bias in social judgment. Authors say it implies a relationship between poor insight and frontal lobe dysfunction. This information could be used to further study other relationships the frontal lobe might have with poor insight.

“For example, mood disorders and substance abuse may compromise function and/or volume in frontal lobe regions,” authors write. “Understanding these functional and structural changes in relation to self-judgment bias may be helpful for designing therapeutic interventions for various disorders.”

The study appears online in NeuroImage.

A new device may be the key to unlocking speech for individuals with damage from stroke or conditions such as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The device, an electrode implant, translates brain waves into speech.

Communicating can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone left mute by paralysis. Although there are existing devices that help paralyzed individuals speak, they are often inefficient for communication and tiresome for the user. This is the first to translate brain waves at the rate of natural speech.

"The most significant thing is that this shows it would be possible for someone who is paralyzed to speak in real-time rather than going through a painful typing process," lead researcher Frank Guenther said in an interview with MSNBC. "This communication is very important because these people are completely locked out from the rest of the world."

Guenther and his team tested the electrode on a 26 year-old male volunteer with locked-in syndrome, the result of a brain stem stroke. Individuals with this disorder are aware of their surroundings and can understand and react mentally, but are physically unable to respond.

The device, designed for permanent implantation without the risk of infection, is a neurotrophic electrode. The electrode is implanted in the speech-related motor cortex, an area of the brain responsible for speech planning and synthesis. After 3—4 months neurites attach to a portion of the device, allowing signals to be transmitted from the brain into the electrode. These signals are then transmitted to a computer that translate brain waves into recognizable, audible speech.

Because it is extremely difficult to differentiate the neural fluff from intentional cognition, determining which frequencies represent which sounds is a very timely process. As of now, only vowel sounds have been quickly and accurately produced. The device used for the trial had just three wires, however, and researchers believe additional wires may result in greater speech recognition capabilities.

“Our results support the feasibility of neural prostheses that may have the potential to provide near-conversational synthetic speech output for individuals with severely impaired speech motor control. They also provide an initial glimpse into the functional properties of neurons in speech motor cortical areas.”

Visit Healia's Stroke Community, or read the full study online at PLoS ONE.

Cancer and Alzheimer’s appear to be inversely related. That is, people who have had cancer have a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and vice versa.

The purpose of the study, which appears in Neurology, was to discover whether or not cancer was linked with Alzheimer’s and types of vascular dementia, such as Parkinson’s disease. There was no significant relationship between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, but they were able to link cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers made adjustments for factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical activity. They also adjusted for hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Researchers monitored 3,020 people, age 65 or older, for dementia and cancer, for roughly five and eight years respectively.

“Prevalent cancer was associated with reduced risk of any Alzheimer's disease and pure Alzheimer's disease among white subjects after adjustment for demographics,” authors wrote. “The opposite association was found among minorities, but the sample size was too small to provide stable estimates.”

White participants who’d had cancer before or at the beginning of the study were 43 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. In turn, those with Alzheimer’s had a 69 percent decreased risk of developing cancer.

Despite not finding a direct link between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, the study does provide implications on its relationship to cancer.

“Together with other work showing associations between cancer and Parkinson disease, these findings suggest the possibility that cancer is linked to neurodegeneration,” authors concluded.

View the study’s abstract in the online version of Neurology.