"Owners of vicious dogs who have been cited for failing to register a dog (or) failing to keep a dog confined on the premises ... are more than nine times more likely to have been convicted for a crime involving children, three times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence ... and nearly eight times more likely to be charged with drug (crimes) than owners of low-risk licensed dogs," said Jaclyn Barnes of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners.

They used agreed definitions of vicious dogs used in writing local ordinances.

"A 'vicious dog" means a dog that, without provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person, has killed another dog, or belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog," they wrote in their report.

The definition excludes dogs used in law enforcement or dogs protecting an owner or property.

Aggressive breeds identified by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and some insurance companies include pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas and chows.

The most frequent low-risk breeds seen in the study included terriers, beagles, collies and poodles.

"One can argue that choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance because a vicious dog is, by definition, a socially deviant animal," said Barbara Boat, director of The Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, who worked on the study.

The researchers said their findings could be useful for social and law enforcement workers. "We suggest, regardless of dog breed, that failure to license a dog is a potential warning sign of other deviant behavior," they wrote.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Children born preterm need follow-up eye tests

Last Updated: 2006-11-17 10:25:21 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study confirms that children born prematurely (before 35 weeks gestation) run a higher risk of developing vision problems than children born at term. This is true regardless of the degree to which blood vessels in the retina have developed abnormally because of preterm birth -- a condition known as "retinopathy of prematurity."

The new study, reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology, also suggests that eye tests performed at 2.5 years of age in preterm children can predict vision problems at age 10 -- namely, astigmatism, which is an unequal curve in of the eye's refractive surfaces, and anisometropia, a difference in refractive power between the two eyes that can lead to partial vision loss.

In a previous study, the investigators showed that refractive errors are about four times more common in preterm children compared to full-term children, at the age of 10 years.

In the current study, Dr. Eva K. Larsson of Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden and colleagues analyzed the development of astigmatism and anisometropia in the preterm group (198 children) at 6 months, 2.5 years and 10 years of age.

The prevalence and degree of astigmatism declined between 6 months and 2.5 years of age and then remained stable, the team reports. A total of 108 children had astigmatism at 6 months, 54 at 2.5 years and 41 at 10 years.

The degree of anisometropia did not change between 6 months and 2.5 years but increased between 2.5 and 10 years of age. The prevalence of anisometropia, however, remained fairly stable, affecting 15 children at 6 months, 17 at age 2.5 years, and 16 at age 10.

"The presence of astigmatism and anisometropia at 2.5 years of age were the strongest risk factors for having astigmatism and anisometropia at 10 years of age," the authors write.

"Although the children with severe cryotreated retinopathy of prematurity had the highest prevalence of refractive errors, we found that the development over time of astigmatism and anisometropia ... was similar, regardless the stage of retinopathy of prematurity," Larsson told Reuters Health.

All preterm children need follow up eye examinations, Larsson and colleagues conclude, irrespective of the degree of retinopathy of prematurity at birth.

SOURCE: Archives of Ophthalmology November 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.