Monthly News Archives



		Study Shows Fruit Juice/Drink Link To Children's Weight Gain Australian school children who drink fruit juices and fruit drinks are more likely to be overweight or obese than those who don't, Deakin researchers have found. Obesity Boosts Prostate Cancer Mortality Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer are more than twice as likely to die of the disease than their leaner peers, a new study shows. Study Says Junk Food Still Dominates Youth TV The Kaiser Family foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on health care issues, found that 50 percent of ad time on children·s shows is devoted to food. Among the ads aimed at children and teenagers, 72 percent are for candy, snacks, sugary cereals or fast food. Self-Discipline Plays A Major Role In Early Achievement Although intelligence is generally thought to play a key role in children's early academic achievement, aspects of children's self-regulation abilities--including the ability to alternately shift and focus attention and to inhibit impulsive responding--are uniquely related to early academic success and account for greater variation in early academic progress than do measures of intelligence. Physical Activity Cuts Risk of Repetitive Strain Injury Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver analyzed data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey. They found that being physically active appeared to help reduce the risk of work-related repetitive strain injuries or RSI. Women Should Keep Moving Too Prevent Arthritis Pain Women in their 70s who keep active could be dodging painful arthritis symptoms, according to research published today in Arthritis Research & Therapy. The study is the first to show that the more you exercise, the better your chances of preventing the onset of stiff and painful joints. Smokers Make Poorer Workers Smokers perform worse at work than non-smokers, finds a study of US navy female service members published in Tobacco Control . Circumcision Recommended To Fight HIV U.N. health agencies recommended Wednesday that heterosexual men undergo circumcision because of "compelling" evidence that it can reduce their chances of contracting HIV by up to 60 percent. Arthritis Pain Processed In Brain Areas Concerned With Emotions And Fear How does the brain process the experience of pain? Thanks to advances in neuroimaging, we now know the answer lies in a network of brain structures called the pain matrix. Beef 'Damages Sons' Sperm' Scientists have produced evidence to suggest that Europe was right to ban the beef industry from using growth promoters to increase yield. What Makes A Simple Biological Clock Tick? An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vanderbilt University has analyzed the simplest known biological clock and figured out what makes it tick. Low-Carb Diet Speeds Initial Weight Loss In a study of overweight and obese people, those who went on a low carbohydrate diet lost more weight -- and more fat -- than their peers who went on a low-fat, portion-controlled diet. Brain Good At Fending Off Distractions Unless We're Tired Dutch researcher Harm Veling has demonstrated that our brains fend off distractions. If we are busy with something we suppress disrupting external influences. If we are tired, we can no longer do this. Women Of All Sizes Feel Badly About Their Bodies After Seeing Models The rail-thin blonde bombshell on the cover of a magazine makes all women feel badly about their own bodies despite the size, shape, height or age of the viewers. Rice Bran May Prevent Intestinal Cancer A study by biomedical scientists at the University of Leicester has revealed for the first time that rice bran could reduce the risk of intestinal cancer. Are You Right Eyed Or Left Eyed? We have a leading hand, the right one with the majority of people, but what is your leading eye? Place More Than Race Tied To Heart Disease Risk Where you live might play a bigger role in your risk for heart disease than your ethnicity or race. Blueberries Prevent Bowel Cancer A compound in blueberries may be good for preventing bowel cancer, US scientists believe. Organic Is Healthier: Kiwis Prove That Green Is Good In one of the most comprehensive and definitive studies of its kind to date, a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis have proven that organically grown kiwifruit contain more health-promoting factors than those grown under conventional conditions. Fat Scan Shows Up 'True' Obesity Scientists say they have developed a 3D scanner that can accurately determine if a person is truly obese. Could Global Warming Influence The Size Of Our Brain? Early humans developed larger brains as they adapted to colder climates, according to University at Albany researchers. They stated that variations in global temperature as well as progressive shifts toward global cooling account for as much as 50 percent of the variation in cranial capacity. Effective Healing Of Canker Sores Developed Today, during the 85th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research, scientists are reporting that they have developed a method for the effective healing of, and relief of pain associated with, canker sores. Women Report Sexual Problems A Full Year After Giving Birth Nearly one in three women still experience painful sexual intercourse a year after their baby is born and more than half have at least one sex-related health problem, according to research in the March issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing. Moral Judgment Fails Without Feelings According to a new study in the journal Nature, subjects with damage to a part of the frontal lobe make less personal calculations. The study shows that emotion plays an important role in scenarios that pose a moral dilemma. Workout/Energy Supplement Under Study For Parkinson's Disease Whether a supplement used by athletes to boost energy levels and build muscle can slow progression of Parkinson’s disease is the focus of a North American study. Some Key Science Web Sites May Be Buried In Information Avalanche As more and more people are turning to the Internet to find information, important science websites are in danger of becoming buried in the sheer avalanche of facts now available online. Key science sites are failing to register in the top 30 Google search results. Breast Cancer Risk Increases With Greater Fat Intake Eating a high-fat diet may lead to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a study in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Global Tuberculosis Rates Level Off Health experts see a glimmer of hope in the fight against tuberculosis for the first time since the disease's spread was declared a global emergency more than a decade ago. Listen To Your Heart: There is a Physiological Indicator To Temptation We’ve all had our moments of weakness when trying to control ourselves; eating that donut on your diet, losing your temper with your kids, becoming upset when you’re doing your best not to. There is scientific evidence that explains this phenomenon of everyday life. Middle-Aged Adults Use Complementary Medicine The Most Even though older adults generally have poorer health, middle-aged adults are most likely to turn to complementary and alternative medicine, a new study shows. The study also found that adults of different races or ethnic backgrounds use these self-care methods in similar proportions. High Blood Sugar 'Boosts Cancer Risk' Women with high blood sugar levels are at an increased risk of developing cancer, a major European study finds. New Reason To Hit The Gym: Fighting Memory Loss Research has shown that people who exercise do better on memory tests. Now a new Columbia University Medical Center study explains specifically what exercise does within the brain. Sleep Apnea Causes Brain Damage Patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea who have significantly higher serum levels of inflammatory markers that serve as precursors to coronary artery disease, as well as lesions associated with silent brain infarction, have an elevated risk of stroke, according to a group of Japanese medical researchers. Secret To Slim Kids? Just A Little Running Around Just 15 minutes a day of kicking around a ball or swimming might be enough to keep children from becoming obese, British and U.S. researchers said. Is Too Much Exercise A Bad Thing? Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center had a mystery on their hands. A marathon runner who had exercised vigorously each day for 30 years had just flunked a calcium screening scan of his heart. Primary Care 'Culture' Affects High-Risk Health Behaviors Strategies designed to help primary care providers treat chronic diseases are also useful for targeting health risk behaviors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, poor diet and physical inactivity, according to a new study. 70% Of New Drugs Tapped From Nature That's according to David Newman, DPhil, and Gordon Cragg, PhD. They work in the natural products branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Making Memories That Last A Lifetime Neurobiologists have discovered a mechanism by which the constantly changing brain retains memories--from that dog bite to that first kiss. Are Journal Rankings Distorting Science? This week’s BMJ raises concerns over whether journal rankings (known as impact factors) are distorting publishing and science. Who Will Care For The Oldest People? With the number of carers for frail elderly people set to fall steeply, researchers in this week’s BMJ propose a way to help plan for the deficit. Associative Memory -- Learning At All Levels Long thought to be limited to higher levels of information processing, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies successfully traced associative learning to early stages of the visual processing pathway. Are Prayers Answered? Does God or some other type of transcendent entity answer prayer? The answer, according to a new Arizona State University study published in the March journal Research on Social Work Practice, is “yes.” Parents 'Don't Recognise Obesity' Many parents with obese children do not realise they are overweight, government advisors have claimed. Explaining Why We Smell Better When We Sniff Unlike most of our sensory systems that detect only one type of stimuli, our sense of smell works double duty, detecting both chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve how we smell, according to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience. Obesity Dramatically Increases Risk Of Dying From Prostate Cancer Obese men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than two-and-a-half times the risk of dying from the disease as compared to men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Rapid Decline In Testosterone Evident With Weight Gain and Illness Gaining too much weight can accelerate the decline in testosterone levels that accompanies aging, a new study shows. Social Stress May Kill Off New Brain Cells Research in rats shows that a single, socially stressful situation may contribute to depression by killing new nerve cells in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that processes learning, memory and emotion. Headache-Related Work Absences Have A Considerable Socio-Economic Effect Eight out of ten people who took part in a study carried out by a specialist headache centre felt they were much less effective at work and 91 per cent said they felt hampered by headaches on a daily basis, according to the March issue of Cephalalgia. Rare Mutation Causes Early Heart Disease And Metabolic Syndrome Yale School of Medicine researchers have identified a rare defect in a single gene that poses a substantial risk for metabolic syndrome and early heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Study Shows Why Exercise Boosts Brainpower Exercise boosts brainpower by building new brain cells in a brain region linked with memory and memory loss, U.S. researchers reported. US Businesses Are Not Prepared For Aging Workforce More than a quarter of U.S. businesses have failed to plan for the effects of the aging American workforce, according to the results of a new national survey by researchers at Boston College. Every "Goo-Goo-Ga-Ga" Sound You Make Really Does Help Baby's Language Skills The study was designed by Japanese researchers who examined how newborns respond to adult-directed speech (ADS) and to infant-directed speech (IDS) and found that the frontal area of the babies' brains become more active in response to "baby talk." Perceived Attractiveness Driven By Gender-specific Link Perceived attractiveness is the result of compatibility of biological sex and gendered cues--masculinity and femininity as specified within the society--according to a study by researchers at New York University and Texas A & M University. Child Medicine Additive Concern Medicines for babies and young children frequently contain additives banned from foods and drinks aimed at under-threes, research shows. Obesity Surgery Can Lead To Memory Loss And Other Problems Weight loss surgery, such as gastric bypass surgery, can lead to a vitamin deficiency that can cause memory loss and confusion, inability to coordinate movement, and other problems. Research Probes Potential Link Between Obesity and Environmental Chemicals A team of researchers at UNH is investigating whether the increasing ubiquity of chemical flame retardants found in foam furniture, carpeting, microwaves and computers might be related to the climbing rate of obesity. Mercury Contamination Of Fish Warrants Worldwide Public Awareness The health risks posed by mercury contaminated fish is sufficient to warrant issuing a worldwide general warning to the public — especially children and women of childbearing age-to be careful about how much and which fish they eat. Personal Advice Most Sought For Health Woes People searching online for health advice often reject sites giving high quality information in favour of those with a human touch, a study suggests. Mental Self Control May Also Lead To Impulse Purchases People who exercise self control in some way, such as dieting or trying not to look at or think about something, will tend to make more impulse purchases if given the opportunity, explains a study from the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Can A Shopping Lists Promote Healthy Choices? Comparing memory-based and stimulus-based decision making, researchers from Duke, UCLA, and the University of Florida found that trying to recall what options are available – such as when making a shopping list at home – uses mental resources that might otherwise be used to counter impulsive choices. Obesity Causes Breakdown of Brain Systems That Regulate Appetite New research led by scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center demonstrates how obesity causes the breakdown of a brain system that regulates appetite. Use Of Hyperactivity Drugs Soar The use of drugs to treat hyperactivity in children has soared worldwide, say US researchers. How Eating Less Might Make You Live Longer Caloric Restriction in non-obese people translates into less oxidative damage in muscle cells, which could explain how limiting calorie intake without malnutrition extends life span. Findings May Explain Why Omega-3s Seem To Improve Mood Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish like salmon, are associated with increased grey matter volume in areas of the brain commonly linked to mood and behavior according to a University of Pittsburgh study. More Adults Choosing Coffee Over Other Beverages For the first time since 1990, the percentage of adults who drink a daily cup of coffee exceeds those who drink a soft drink every day, the National Coffee Association of USA said. New Study Reports On The State Of Human Happiness Psychologists have been fond of stating in recent years that human happiness, or what psychologists call subjective well-being, is largely independent of our life circumstances. Dietary Copper May Ease Heart Disease Including more copper in your everyday diet could be good for your heart, according to scientists at the University of Louisville Medical Center and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center. Study Links Depression To Small Babies A US study appears to back previous research suggesting underweight babies are at a greater risk of depression. Scientists Discover 'Natural Barrier' to HIV Researchers have discovered that cells in the mucosal lining of human genitalia produce a protein that "eats up" invading HIV -- possibly keeping the spread of the AIDS more contained than it might otherwise be. Childhood Obesity May Contribute To Earlier Puberty For Girls Increasing rates of childhood obesity and overweight may be contributing to an earlier onset of puberty in girls, say researchers at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. Whole-grain Breakfast Cereal Associated With Reduced Heart Failure Risk Eating whole-grain breakfast cereals seven or more times per week was associated with a lower risk of heart failure, according to an analysis of the observational Physicians' Health Study. Stress May 'Damage Child Brains' High levels of stress may physically scar a child's brain, a study suggests. Sleep Apnea Increasingly Tied to Heart Risks People with obstructive sleep apnea are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, a new U.S. study suggests. Global Diabetes Epidemic Will Be Far Worse Than Feared Rates of diabetes in Canada's most populous province have already zoomed past what was predicted for 2030, which suggests the global epidemic will be far worse than feared, researchers reported. Climate Change As Great A Threat As War UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that global warming posed the same threat to humanity as war and warned of an "unconscionable legacy" being left for future generations. Hot Tubs Hurt Fertility Exposure to hot baths or hot tubs can lead to male infertility, but the effects can sometimes be reversible, according to a new study led by a University of California, San Francisco urologist. Sleep Deprivation Affects Moral Judgment, Study Finds Research has shown that bad sleep can adversely affect a person's physical health and emotional well-being. However, the amount of sleep one gets can also influence his or her decision-making. Sex Hormone Helps Burn Calories Any dieter can tell you: Body weight is a function of how much food you eat and how much energy you use. The trick to maintaining a healthy weight lies in regulating the balance. Now new research from Rockefeller University suggests that brain cell receptors linked to sex hormones may play a role in the process by which we maintain that balance. Do Early Growth Spurts Protect Against Bad Cholesterol? Children who are tall as toddlers or grow fast during their teenage years are more likely to have lower cholesterol levels as adults, British researchers report. Bogus Medicines Are Flooding Developing World Counterfeit medicines, some of them sold over the Internet, are swamping unregulated markets in developing nations with sometimes fatal results, the U.N. drug control watchdog said. Common Pain Relievers Linked With Increased Risk In Blood Pressure Men who regularly take commonly available and widely used pain relievers may have an increased risk of high blood pressure compared with those who do not use these medications, according to a report in the Feb. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Hepatitis B Passed On Via Sweat In Contact Sports Sweat may be another way to pass on hepatitis B infection during contact sports, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Availability Of Appetite Suppressant Pills Online Growing And Problematic The illicit availability of appetite suppressant pills online is fuelling a slimming obsession and putting lives at risk, experts warn.