A 12-year-old cancer-stricken Iranian boy arrived at an Israeli hospital on Friday for emergency treatment on his brain tumor.
The boy - who was identified only as Roy, to protect his privacy - was wheeled on a stretcher into the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, after treatments in Iran and Turkey failed. His face was puffy, apparently due to the drugs administered to ease his pain.
Israel granted the child a special permit to enter the country and he arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Friday. The rare arrangement was mediated by an Israeli businessman of Iranian origin. The boy was accompanied to the hospital by his father and veiled mother, who were also granted special entrance permits into Israel.
Health & Wellness
A new study shows that 5-month-old babies can distinguish an upbeat tune, such as "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, from a lineup of gloomier compositions.
By age 9 months, babies can do the opposite and pick out the sorrowful sound of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony from a pack of happy pieces.
The musical experiments offer another example of how babies make sense of the world long before they can talk, says Brigham Young University psychology professor and study author Ross Flom.
"One of the first things babies understand communicatively is emotion, so for them the melody is the message," Flom said. "Our study showed that by nine months, babies are categorizing songs as happy or sad the same way that preschoolers and adults do."
The results of the musical study will be published in the upcoming issue of the academic journal Infant Behavior and Development.
By age 9 months, babies can do the opposite and pick out the sorrowful sound of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony from a pack of happy pieces.
The musical experiments offer another example of how babies make sense of the world long before they can talk, says Brigham Young University psychology professor and study author Ross Flom.
"One of the first things babies understand communicatively is emotion, so for them the melody is the message," Flom said. "Our study showed that by nine months, babies are categorizing songs as happy or sad the same way that preschoolers and adults do."
The results of the musical study will be published in the upcoming issue of the academic journal Infant Behavior and Development.
JOHANNESBURG - A virus new to humanity, or an old acquaintance dressed up in slightly new clothes, the disease that so far appears to have achieved a 100% kill rate in Johannesburg, is now up against the full might of humanity's scientific detectives.
A new study in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics explores the effects of pollution from livestock facilities on infant health and finds that production is associated with an increase in infant mortality.
Stacy Sneeringer of Wellesley College utilized data on spatial variation in livestock operations from the past two decades to identify the relationship between industry location and infant health. As livestock production has become more concentrated in larger farms, production has become more concentrated in certain areas.
Previous studies have found that animal production can result in high concentrations of potentially harmful byproducts. Effluent from livestock farms can contaminate the groundwater and air. Certain gases associated with livestock farming have been found to be toxic and to contribute to overall air pollution levels. Livestock farming has also been associated with air-borne particulate matter.
Stacy Sneeringer of Wellesley College utilized data on spatial variation in livestock operations from the past two decades to identify the relationship between industry location and infant health. As livestock production has become more concentrated in larger farms, production has become more concentrated in certain areas.
Previous studies have found that animal production can result in high concentrations of potentially harmful byproducts. Effluent from livestock farms can contaminate the groundwater and air. Certain gases associated with livestock farming have been found to be toxic and to contribute to overall air pollution levels. Livestock farming has also been associated with air-borne particulate matter.
Research presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), found that coronary heart disease (CHD) symptoms presented in the context of a stressful life event were identified as psychogenic in origin when presented by women and organic in origin when presented by men. The study could help explain why there is often a delay in the assessment of women with heart disease.
"We know that there is a delay in diagnosing CHD in women and this is an important step forward in understanding why," said Alexandra J. Lansky, M.D., director of the Women's Health Initiative at CRF, director of Clinical Services at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and an associate professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The investigation - "Gender Bias in the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Interpretation of CHD Symptoms: Two Experimental Studies with Internists and Family Physicians," was led by Gabrielle R. Chiaramonte, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Clinical Fellow at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The study examined the effects of patients' gender and the context of how CHD symptoms are presented (with/without mention of life stressors and anxiety) on primary care physicians' patient evaluations.
"We know that there is a delay in diagnosing CHD in women and this is an important step forward in understanding why," said Alexandra J. Lansky, M.D., director of the Women's Health Initiative at CRF, director of Clinical Services at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and an associate professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The investigation - "Gender Bias in the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Interpretation of CHD Symptoms: Two Experimental Studies with Internists and Family Physicians," was led by Gabrielle R. Chiaramonte, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Clinical Fellow at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The study examined the effects of patients' gender and the context of how CHD symptoms are presented (with/without mention of life stressors and anxiety) on primary care physicians' patient evaluations.
Researchers have long known that children who grow up in an aggressive or violent household are more likely to become violent or aggressive in future relationships. What has not been so clear is the developmental link between witnessing aggressive behavior as a child and carrying it out as an adult. What changes occur in a child that affect whether he or she will choose to deal with conflict in aggressive or violent ways?
According to researchers from Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, children who grow up in aggressive households may learn to process social information differently than their peers who grow up in non-aggressive environments.
"Children with high-conflict parents are more likely to think that aggressive responses would be good ways to handle social conflicts," said John Bates, a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and a co-author of the study.
"This partly explains why they are more likely as young adults to have conflict in their own romantic relationships." Unlocking the developmental link between growing up in an aggressive or violent household and becoming the perpetrator of such behavior could prove useful for stopping the cycle of violence. According to Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and another co-author of the study, this research has implications for treatment and prevention.
© Indiana University
What kids see: Understanding the cycle of violence.
What kids see: Understanding the cycle of violence.
According to researchers from Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, children who grow up in aggressive households may learn to process social information differently than their peers who grow up in non-aggressive environments.
"Children with high-conflict parents are more likely to think that aggressive responses would be good ways to handle social conflicts," said John Bates, a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and a co-author of the study.
"This partly explains why they are more likely as young adults to have conflict in their own romantic relationships." Unlocking the developmental link between growing up in an aggressive or violent household and becoming the perpetrator of such behavior could prove useful for stopping the cycle of violence. According to Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and another co-author of the study, this research has implications for treatment and prevention.
Judith Johnson went to the Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Delaware for what she thought was a bad case of indigestion. An hour after being admitted, the hospital told Johnson's husband his wife was dead, Wilmington's News Journal reported Tuesday.
When someone at the morgue noticed Johnson's "corpse" was still breathing, Louis Johnson learned his wife was very much alive.
When someone at the morgue noticed Johnson's "corpse" was still breathing, Louis Johnson learned his wife was very much alive.
A fibre found in most fruit and vegetables may help ward off cancer, experts believe. An ongoing study by the Institute of Food Research suggested pectin, a fibre found in everything from potato to plums, helped to fight the disease.
The human brain is surely the most sophisticated data-processing machine in the world, except when it's not. In fact, in some ways our brains can be flat-out crude--like when they're dealing with matters of race.
Like all other animals, our species emerged in a world where there was critical value in distinguishing between members of your own tribe--who nurture you and protect you--and members of other tribes, who see you as a competitor for food and mates. Your very survival can turn on making this distinction quickly and reliably; as a result, the primal wiring that makes such discrimination possible is not very easy to disconnect. And in a culture like ours, in which race is an issue we grapple with nearly every day, the impulse may have heightened over time.
Like all other animals, our species emerged in a world where there was critical value in distinguishing between members of your own tribe--who nurture you and protect you--and members of other tribes, who see you as a competitor for food and mates. Your very survival can turn on making this distinction quickly and reliably; as a result, the primal wiring that makes such discrimination possible is not very easy to disconnect. And in a culture like ours, in which race is an issue we grapple with nearly every day, the impulse may have heightened over time.
Comment: This article fails to mention the 'snake charmers', those pathological individuals in positions of power who can brainwash large numbers of population in the name of this or that ideology, and instill or encourage racism. Take Sarah Palin as a recent example.
That familiar pull between the promise of victory and the dread of defeat - whether in money, love or sport - is rooted in the brain's architecture, according to a new imaging study.
Neuroscientists at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute have identified distinct brain regions with competing responses to risk.
Both regions are located in the prefrontal cortex, an area behind the forehead involved in analysis and planning.
Neuroscientists at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute have identified distinct brain regions with competing responses to risk.
Both regions are located in the prefrontal cortex, an area behind the forehead involved in analysis and planning.
Comment: As usual, the mainstream news agencies - and Israel - have to get the digs in while the digging is good. But as many SOTT readers know, the Iranian president never said that Israel should be wiped off of the map. Nor is Iran a Holocaust denier. There is a lot of deliberate misinterpretation being done in the case of Iran as in all countries who don't bow down to the West.
But the important thing here is that all of these bigotries and prejudices have been put aside for the sake of a child. Now that is wonderful.