Health & WellnessS


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The Power of Suggestion: Researchers Look at Why Suggestive Therapy May Prompt False Memories

Psychologist Elke Geraerts of the University of St Andrews has carried out a study of the difference between memories recalled by patients through suggestive therapies, compared with more natural recollections.

The results lead to an important distinction between two different types of recovered memories and their underlying cognitive mechanisms.

Suggestive therapy is one of a range of methods used when treating a number of conditions such as depression or anorexia, which some therapists believe may be rooted in a childhood trauma.

Dr Geraerts explained, "Some therapists conclude that their patient¿s current symptoms must be explained by a childhood trauma. Using suggestive therapy techniques, patients are either hypnotized or instructed to imagine being abused. Often, gradually over the course of several weeks or even months, the patient may finally develop memories of abuse.

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Meningitis Bacteria Dress Up as Human Cells to Evade Our Immune System

The way in which bacteria that cause bacterial meningitis mimic human cells to evade the body's innate immune system has been revealed by researchers at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.

The study, published in Nature, could lead to the development of new vaccines that give better protection against meningitis B, the strain which accounts for the vast majority of cases of the disease in the UK.

Meningitis involves an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord as the result of an infection. The infection can be due to a virus or bacteria, but bacterial meningitis is much more serious with approximately 5% of cases resulting in death. The disease mainly affects infants and young children, but is also often found in teenagers and young adults. The disease is frightening because it can strike rapidly, with people becoming seriously ill within hours.

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Echoes Discovered in Early Visual Brain Areas Play Role in Working Memory

Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered that early visual areas, long believed to play no role in higher cognitive functions such as memory, retain information previously hidden from brain studies. The researchers made the discovery using a new technique for decoding data from functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. The findings are a significant step forward in understanding how we perceive, process and remember visual information.

The results were published Feb. 18 online by Nature.

"We discovered that early visual areas play an important role in visual working memory," Frank Tong, co-author of the research and an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt, said. "How do people maintain an active representation of what they have just seen moments ago? This has long been a conundrum in the literature.

"Before, we knew that early visual areas of the cerebral cortex that are the first to receive visual information were exquisitely tuned to process incoming visual signals from the eye, but not to store this information," Tong said. "We also knew that the higher-order brain areas responsible for memory lack the visual sensitivity of early brain areas, but somehow people are able to remember a visual pattern with remarkable precision for many seconds, actually, for as long as they keep thinking about that pattern. Our question was, where is this precise information being stored in the brain?

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Staying Mentally Active but Not Prolonged TV Viewing Linked to Lower Memory Loss

A study to be presented at a conference in the US in late spring suggests that staying mentally active as in reading magazines, or pursuing a craft or hobby like knitting, pottery, and even playing computer games, in later life may delay or prevent memory loss: however watching too much TV does not.

The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 61st Annual Meeting, which this year takes place from 25 April to 2 May in Seattle, Washington.

The researchers studied 197 people aged 70 to 89 who had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or memory loss, and compared them to 1,124 people of the same age group who had no such symptoms.

Health

New Light On Longstanding Medical Mystery That May Link Cardiovascular Disease, Osteoporosis And Perhaps Even Alzheimer's Disease

A research project at Rice University has brought scientists to the brink of comprehending a long-standing medical mystery that may link cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and perhaps even Alzheimer's disease. And for that, we can thank the rat.

The recent paper in Artery Research by Rice evolutionary biologist Michael Kohn and his team reports they have found that common rats with a genetic mutation have developed a resistance to rat poison, aka warfarin. That's good news for the rats, but it comes at a price. The mutation also leaves them susceptible to arterial calcification and, potentially, osteoporosis. The discovery is certainly good news for humans.

In the mutated gene, the researchers found what could be the link that solves the calcification paradox, the puzzling association between metabolic bone disease and vascular calcification that has eluded researchers for years. Kohn, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, collaborated with Roger Price of the Baylor College of Medicine and Hans-Joachim Pelz of the Julius Kuehn Institute in Germany.

Health

Mutation That Causes Inflammatory Bowel Disease Identified

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has linked a mouse mutation to an increased susceptibility for developing inflammatory bowel disease -- represented in humans as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which together are estimated to affect more than a million people in the United States. The findings may one day lead to new and better treatments for the disease.

Humans have a gene that is very similar to the mouse gene, called Mbtps1, and in certain rare instances, mutations of this gene may contribute to IBD in humans. The disease is associated with painful ulcers and bleeding in people's intestines and can place them at greater risk for colon cancer. Although common, the disease is still somewhat mysterious. The Scripps Research study sheds light on a major mechanism through which it may develop.

Health

Dry Beans Inhibit Development Of Mammary Cancer

Black beans, white beans and several other related dried products
© iStockphoto/Emilia StasiakBlack beans, white beans and several other related dried products. Antioxidant capacity varies widely among dry beans and are highly related to seed coat color; colored beans had approximately two to three times greater antioxidant capacity than white beans.

As the world seeks new ways to prevent and treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, more research continues to be conducted on the benefits of certain foods in reducing people's risk of contracting these ailments.

Legumes in particular are often cited as being high in antioxidants, which have the property of being able to fight off free radical cells within the body, reducing the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. A recent study further investigated these connections, as researchers focused on the benefits of one type of legume, dry beans, in reducing the risk of mammary cancer.

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Most People Believe Dreams Are Meaningful

Dreams might mean nothing, but many people take them seriously nonetheless, as Sigmund Freud did, new research finds.

People in at least three countries, including the United States, believe dreams contain important hidden truths, said researcher Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

In six different studies, Morewedge and his colleagues surveyed nearly 1,100 people about their dreams. The results are detailed in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

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Flashback Ritual child abuse cases puzzle, alarm experts

Police officers and therapists in several communities across North America say they are alarmed and puzzled by allegations of violent ritual child abuse that are strikingly similar to those heard at a Crown wardship hearing in Hamilton.

They fear that the similarities can be explained only by the existence of organized satanic cults, which involve children in sexual acts, degradation, bestiality, murder and the production of violent pornography.

But other experts are concerned that child-abuse specialists are precipitating a witch hunt as a result of their hysterical belief in children's fantasies.

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Flashback Satanic abuse no myth, say experts

A specially commissioned government report will this week conclude that satanic abuse does take place in Britain. It will say that its victims have suffered actual abuse and are not suffering from "false memory syndrome".

The report, ordered by the Department of Health, focuses on the experiences of 50 "survivors". Compiled by Dr John Hale, director of the Portman Clinic in London, and psychotherapist Valerie Sinason, it will reopen the debate which started a decade ago with testimonies from children in Nottingham, Rochdale and Orkney.

Its findings contradict the claims of a report ordered by the Conservative government in 1994, which concluded that satanic abuse was a "myth".