Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Not Just Your Imagination: The Brain Perceives Optical Illusions as Real Motion


PhysOrg
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:10 UTC
Rotating Snakes
© A. Kitaoka 2003It's not just your imagination: The brain perceives the concentric circles of the famous Rotating Snakes optical illusion as rotating, but the image is static.
Ever get a little motion sick from an illusion graphic designed to look like it's moving? A new study suggests that these illusions do more than trick the eye; they may also convince the brain that the graphic is actually moving.

Researchers in Japan, led by Akiyoshi Kitaoka of Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University, monitored brain activity as participants viewed the Rotating Snakes illusion, where concentric circles appear to rotate continuously. The resulting article, Functional brain imaging of the Rotating Snakes illusion by fMRI, was recently published in the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology's Journal of Vision as part of a collection of papers on neuroimaging in vision science.

Prior to the study, scientists believed illusions that simulated movement involved higher-level brain activity - the imagination. But this study found the illusion sparked brain activity generated by a bottom-up process in the visual cortex.
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Bell

Bipolar Disorder Linked to Risk of Early Death from Natural Causes


PhysOrg
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:39 UTC
Bipolar disorder appears to increase the risk of early death from medical illnesses, according to a literature review study published as the lead article this week in the journal Psychiatric Services.

The researchers comprehensively reviewed 17 studies involving more than 331,000 patients. Evidence suggested that people with bipolar disorder have a higher mortality from natural causes compared to people in the general population of similar age and gender but without mental illness. The various studies indicated that the risk was from 35 percent to 200 percent higher. The risk is the same for men and women. The most common conditions leading to premature death were heart disease, respiratory diseases, stroke, and endocrine problems such as diabetes.
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Sherlock

Scientists Explore the Mysteries of Why We Sleep

Kate Rix
PhysOrg
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:27 UTC
Has it ever occurred to you, when faced with a big decision, to stay awake on it?

The faculty in Berkeley's Psychology Department who research the many functions of sleep are betting not. Plumbing the mysteries of why we spend a third of our lives asleep is a modern research area, as new as the 1950s, when it was discovered that the brain is not dormant in sleep, but in fact actively cycling through various states of unconsciousness.

Together, Matthew Walker, who directs Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, and Allison Harvey, who leads the Sleep and Psychological Disorders Laboratory, have discovered that sleep does far more than refresh the body and mind. Enough sleep, or a deficit of it, are directly linked to our immune systems, metabolic control, memory, emotional functioning and learning.
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Health

Blood And Urine Protein Predicts Chronic Kidney Disease Progression


Science Daily
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:35 UTC
Measuring a small protein in the blood and urine can predict which patients with non-advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) will progress to a more serious form of the disease, according to a new study. The findings could be used to devise a new screening method for identifying which patients should receive aggressive therapies to prevent the progression of their disease.

The blood and urine of some individuals with impaired kidney function have increased levels of a small protein called Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL). NGAL is released from injured renal tubular cells, which are cells crucial for proper functioning of the kidneys. Preliminary research has also shown that individuals with high levels of NGAL experience worsening of their kidney function within one year, compared with individuals with lower levels of NGAL. However, no definitive study has demonstrated the potential of NGAL measurements for predicting how a patient's CKD will progress.
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Attention

US: Food and Drug Administration releases tidal wave of fresh recalls

Lynne Terry
The Oregonian
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:29 UTC
Federal officials have released a tidal wave of fresh recalls in the past 24 hours as they connect the dots in the supply chain of tainted peanut-related products.

The latest recalls by 25 companies listing dozens of items include Walgreen's chocolate candy with peanuts, Best Brands peanut butter cookie dough and Hain Celestial's frozen pad Thai dinners, including one made for Trader Joe's.

On Saturday, Harry and David of Medford joined the recall, pulling Olympia Delight Trail Mix products, and Berkeley, Ca.-based Clif Bar and Co. pulled eight more of its protein bars.

The recall has reached a fever pitch since it was expanded to include all products - from roasted peanuts to peanut butter -- from Peanut Corporation of America's plant at Blakely, Ga., where Food and Drug Administration investigators found two strains of salmonella and evidence that on 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008 the company sold food even after it had tested positive for salmonella.
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People

Decision Making Suffers from Unconscious Prejudices

Siri Carpenter
Scientific American
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:54 UTC
Study reveals how much people sacrifice to satisfy their biases.

When making complex decisions, legitimate factors sometimes mask choices influenced by prejudice - so bias is hard to detect. Recent research untangled some of these complex scenarios revealing that people are willing to sacrifice quite a lot to fulfill their subconscious biases.

Psychologists asked volunteers to imagine they and a partner would compete together in a trivia quiz. Participants viewed profiles of two potential partners that described each person's education, IQ and previous trivia game experience. A photograph of either a thin or an overweight person was attached to each profile. Subjects indicated which of the two potential partners they would prefer, then judged 23 more such pairings, each with a new mix of attributes.
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Magnify

Scientists solve cancer mystery


Press TV
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:47 UTC
A team of international researchers has recently discovered the mechanism by which cells protect themselves against becoming cancerous.

According to a study published in Genes and Development, cells switch a gene known as p53 on and off to block the development of tumors.

The p53 gene plays a vital role in tackling cancerous tissue; it hinders cell division while the repair process is carried out and promotes the programmed cell death in damaged tissue.
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Syringe

In Japan, You Are What Your Blood Type Is

Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:02 UTC
In Japan, "What's your type?" is much more than small talk; it can be a paramount question in everything from matchmaking to getting a job.

By type, the Japanese mean blood type, and no amount of scientific debunking can kill a widely held notion that blood tells all.

books
© AP Photo/Koji Sasahara
In the year just ended, four of Japan's top 10 best-sellers were about how blood type determines personality, according to Japan's largest book distributor, Tohan Co. The books' publisher, Bungeisha, says the series - one each for types B, O, A, and AB - has combined sales of well over 5 million copies.

Taku Kabeya, chief editor at Bungeisha, thinks the appeal comes from having one's self-image confirmed; readers discover the definition of their blood type and "It's like 'Yes, that's me!'"
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Alarm Clock

Inflammation May Be Link Between Extreme Sleep Durations And Poor Health


Science Daily
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:53 UTC
A new study in the journal Sleep shows that sleep duration is associated with changes in the levels of specific cytokines that are important in regulating inflammation. The results suggest that inflammation may be the pathway linking extreme sleep durations to an increased risk for disease.

Each additional hour of self-reported sleep duration was associated with an eight-percent increase in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and a seven-percent increase in interleukin-6 (IL-6), which are two inflammatory mediators. In contrast, each hour of reduction in sleep measured objectively by polysomnography was associated with an eight-percent increase in tumor necrosis factor alpha, another pro-inflammatory cytokine.

"The most surprising finding was that we found different relationships based on how sleep was measured," said lead author Dr. Sanjay R. Patel, assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Family

UK: Children's Lives 'Harder Today'


BBC News
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:33 UTC
Children Playing
© BBC NewsThe report sets out ways to improve the lives of children.
Children's lives are more difficult now than they were in the past, according to the largest survey into childhood ever to be conducted in the UK.

The finding comes despite the authors saying children have better education, health and more possessions.

It states children need to be loved and sets out recommendations to parents, teachers and the government on how they can better care for children.
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