A new review says using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before surgery to assess the extent of early breast cancer has not been shown to improve surgical planning, reduce follow-up surgery, or reduce the risk of local recurrences.
The review, appearing early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, says evidence shows that MRI increases the chances of more extensive surgery over conservative approaches, with no evidence that it improves surgical care or prognosis.
Health & Wellness
Generations of psychologists and philosophers have believed that babies and young children were basically defective adults - irrational, egocentric and unable to think logically. The philosopher John Locke saw a baby's mind as a blank slate, and the psychologist William James thought they lived in a "blooming, buzzing confusion." Even today, a cursory look at babies and young children leads many to conclude that there is not much going on.
New studies, however, demonstrate that babies and very young children know, observe, explore, imagine and learn more than we would ever have thought possible. In some ways, they are smarter than adults.
New studies, however, demonstrate that babies and very young children know, observe, explore, imagine and learn more than we would ever have thought possible. In some ways, they are smarter than adults.
Socioeconomic status seems to make no difference in mental decline among rich and poor people after the age of 70, according to a new study.
The study challenges previous claims that economic status and background have an impact on cognitive functioning among the elderly.
Rates of cognitive decline among people aged 70 and older depended on other factors and were similar across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
The study challenges previous claims that economic status and background have an impact on cognitive functioning among the elderly.
Rates of cognitive decline among people aged 70 and older depended on other factors and were similar across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
Mediterranean-style diets -- ones rich in fruits, vegetables, olive and canola oils, nuts, red wine and fish and low in red meat and saturated fats -- have been linked in population studies to many potential health benefits. Here are some examples.
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. The findings appear in the most recent issue of the journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study, conducted by Kerri Johnson at NYU's Department of Psychology and Louis Tassinary at Texas A & M's Department of Architecture, sought to address the following question: Is perceived attractiveness the result of the compatibility of biological sex and gendered cues (i.e., masculinity and femininity as specified within the society)?
The study, conducted by Kerri Johnson at NYU's Department of Psychology and Louis Tassinary at Texas A & M's Department of Architecture, sought to address the following question: Is perceived attractiveness the result of the compatibility of biological sex and gendered cues (i.e., masculinity and femininity as specified within the society)?
A University of Southern California study has found the first proof of structural brain abnormalities in people who habitually lie, cheat and manipulate others.
While previous research has shown that there is heightened activity in the prefrontal cortex - the area of the brain that enables most people to feel remorse or learn moral behavior - when normal people lie, this is the first study to provide evidence of structural differences in that area among pathological liars.
The research - led by Yaling Yang and Adrian Raine, both of the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences - is published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
While previous research has shown that there is heightened activity in the prefrontal cortex - the area of the brain that enables most people to feel remorse or learn moral behavior - when normal people lie, this is the first study to provide evidence of structural differences in that area among pathological liars.
The research - led by Yaling Yang and Adrian Raine, both of the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences - is published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
School violence expert has conducted research involving a long-term national study of the behavior and patterns in the lives of 15 school shooters involved in 13 incidences of targeted school violence from 1996 to 2005 in American schools.
The study, conducted by Ann Marie C. Lenhardt, PhD, professor of counseling and human services at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, is based on case studies of data derived from archival sources. Individual shooters included in the study perpetrated an act of targeted violence in their schools, acts that were preplanned, not impulsive.
The study, conducted by Ann Marie C. Lenhardt, PhD, professor of counseling and human services at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, is based on case studies of data derived from archival sources. Individual shooters included in the study perpetrated an act of targeted violence in their schools, acts that were preplanned, not impulsive.
Women who commit sexual offences are just as likely to have mental problems or drug addictions as other violent female criminals. This according to the largest study ever conducted of women convicted of sexual offences in Sweden.
Between 1988 and 2000, 93 women and 8,500 men were convicted of sexual offences in Sweden. Given that previous research has focused on male perpetrators, knowledge of the factors specific to female sex offenders has been scant.
A group of researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now looked into incidences of mental illness and drug abuse in these 93 convicted women, and compared them with over 20,000 randomly selected women in the normal population and with the 13,000-plus women who were convicted of non-sexual crimes over the same period.
Between 1988 and 2000, 93 women and 8,500 men were convicted of sexual offences in Sweden. Given that previous research has focused on male perpetrators, knowledge of the factors specific to female sex offenders has been scant.
A group of researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now looked into incidences of mental illness and drug abuse in these 93 convicted women, and compared them with over 20,000 randomly selected women in the normal population and with the 13,000-plus women who were convicted of non-sexual crimes over the same period.
People who commit filicide, the killing of their own child, are no more psychotically disordered than other homicide offenders. Research published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry has shown that prevention of filicide cannot remain the task of psychiatry alone, but health care and society at large must work to prevent the danger.
Hanna Putkonen from Vanha Vaasa Hospital, Finland, worked with a team of Finnish researchers to compare the psychosocial history, index offense, and psychiatric morbidity of filicide offenders with other homicide offenders. She said, "The novel results of this nationwide study reinforce the general impression that filicide offenders are a distinct group of homicide offenders. However, they did not emerge as mentally disordered as has previously been supposed".
Hanna Putkonen from Vanha Vaasa Hospital, Finland, worked with a team of Finnish researchers to compare the psychosocial history, index offense, and psychiatric morbidity of filicide offenders with other homicide offenders. She said, "The novel results of this nationwide study reinforce the general impression that filicide offenders are a distinct group of homicide offenders. However, they did not emerge as mentally disordered as has previously been supposed".
© Laura Austgen and R. Bowen
This micrograph image of brown fat showing the extraordinary number of mitochondria involved in heat generation
This micrograph image of brown fat showing the extraordinary number of mitochondria involved in heat generation
It seems odd, then, that a type of fat tissue could also be the key to weight control. Not ordinary white adipose tissue, but a special kind called brown fat.
In some mammals, brown fat turns the energy obtained from food into heat, burning up calories without the animal expending any effort. It used to be thought that adult humans had no brown fat, but a raft of new evidence indicates that this is wrong, and it is in fact present and functional in at least some individuals. Differences in the amount of brown fat each person has may help to explain why some of us are slim while others are overweight, and why many of us pile on the pounds as we age.
Researchers are experimenting with various ways to increase the amount or activity of our brown fat, either pharmaceutically or even surgically, by extracting ordinary white fat through liposuction, transforming it into brown fat and re-implanting it. A mere 50 grams of brown fat - well within the range of what some of us already have - could dissipate around 500 calories a day. "I exercise on an elliptical trainer and it's pretty hard for me to burn up 500 calories," says Ronald Kahn, head of obesity research at Harvard Medical School's Joslin Diabetes Center. "If I could do it without working and do it every day, it would be pretty great."
