A man who is clinically blind was able to navigate an obstacle course successfully using "ancient visual paths," European researchers say in a study to be released Tuesday.
The Swiss patient, a doctor known as TN, was left blind after consecutive strokes. Tests showed he had no activity in the visual cortex, the main region of the brain that processes what people see. The man had selective damage to the visual cortex in both sides of the brain.
"This is absolutely the first study of this ability in humans," said Beatrice de Gelder of Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Harvard in Massachusetts.
Health & Wellness
If you work in an office, watch out -- your boss or the person sitting next to you could be a psychopath.
But not every psychopath is a budding Hannibal Lecter or Patrick Bateman, the Harvard Business School-educated Wall Street banker with a sadistic murderous streak who is the anti-hero of Brett Easton Ellis' brutal novel American Psycho.
They may not be violent, the New Scientist magazine warns, but their character traits are identifiable as psychopathic and they're helping them climb the corporate ladder.
But not every psychopath is a budding Hannibal Lecter or Patrick Bateman, the Harvard Business School-educated Wall Street banker with a sadistic murderous streak who is the anti-hero of Brett Easton Ellis' brutal novel American Psycho.
They may not be violent, the New Scientist magazine warns, but their character traits are identifiable as psychopathic and they're helping them climb the corporate ladder.
The occasional tipple can delay the onset of dementia in women, a new study has found.
The University of Glasgow research suggests low to moderate alcohol intake improves the performance of the female brain while protecting against cognitive decline.
Almost 6,000 people aged 70 to 82 took part in the study, carried out in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.
Little difference was found between male drinkers and non-drinkers, but women who consumed between one and seven units a week scored significantly better than teetotal females.
A two-week-old baby died of Legionnaires' disease in Cyprus on Saturday, while two more infants are still in critical conditions, local media reported.
Seven other babies are now in hospital to receive treatment for pneumonia, and they are in a better condition now, Cyprus News Agency reported.
A newborn died on Tuesday after being affected with the Legionnaires virus.
Seven other babies are now in hospital to receive treatment for pneumonia, and they are in a better condition now, Cyprus News Agency reported.
A newborn died on Tuesday after being affected with the Legionnaires virus.
Britain's medical system is overwhelmed by the worst flu outbreak since 2000, say doctors being swamped with emergency calls.
"The system simply does not have enough capacity to cope with the pressure it is under, and we expect this to keep getting worse over Christmas," said John Heyworth, president of the College of Emergency Medicine.
Ambulance services are in short supply with patients facing long waits in emergency rooms because of a shortage of available beds, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
"The system simply does not have enough capacity to cope with the pressure it is under, and we expect this to keep getting worse over Christmas," said John Heyworth, president of the College of Emergency Medicine.
Ambulance services are in short supply with patients facing long waits in emergency rooms because of a shortage of available beds, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
Earthquakes have aftershocks - not just the geological kind but the mental kind as well. Just like veterans of war, earthquake survivors can experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.
In 1988, a massive earthquake in Armenia killed 17,000 people and destroyed nearly half the town of Gumri. Now, in the first multigenerational study of its kind, UCLA researchers studying survivors of that catastrophe have discovered that vulnerability to PTSD, anxiety and depression runs in families.
In 1988, a massive earthquake in Armenia killed 17,000 people and destroyed nearly half the town of Gumri. Now, in the first multigenerational study of its kind, UCLA researchers studying survivors of that catastrophe have discovered that vulnerability to PTSD, anxiety and depression runs in families.
Five infants died of a mysterious disease at Dalit-inhabited Varahi village in Biharaposs Darbhanga district within a span of two days triggering panic in the area.
District Civil Surgeon L Prasad told reporters that while Banu Kumari (5), Pranayjeet Sada (3) and Satbir Sada (3) succumbed on December 31 at Musahar Tolla of the hamlet, another child Raghunandan Sada (3) died yesterday.
Rumpam Kumari, the fifth child, died this afternoon.
District Civil Surgeon L Prasad told reporters that while Banu Kumari (5), Pranayjeet Sada (3) and Satbir Sada (3) succumbed on December 31 at Musahar Tolla of the hamlet, another child Raghunandan Sada (3) died yesterday.
Rumpam Kumari, the fifth child, died this afternoon.
The city has always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 18th-century coffeehouses of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and radical politics, to the Left Bank bars of modern Paris, where Pablo Picasso held forth on modern art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare or James Joyce; even Einstein was inspired by commuter trains.
And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city might be a haven for playwrights, poets, and physicists, it's also a deeply unnatural and overwhelming place.
Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control. While it's long been recognized that city life is exhausting -- that's why Picasso left Paris -- this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.
And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city might be a haven for playwrights, poets, and physicists, it's also a deeply unnatural and overwhelming place.
Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control. While it's long been recognized that city life is exhausting -- that's why Picasso left Paris -- this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.
Researchers from Duke University Medical Center have identified a variation in a particular gene that increases susceptibility to early coronary artery disease. For years, scientists have known that the devastating, early-onset form of the disease was inherited, but they knew little about the gene(s) responsible until now.
Sexual abuse in childhood increases the risk of suicide in men by up to ten times, say researchers from the University of Bath. A recent study of Australian men has found that those who were sexually abused as children are more likely than women to contemplate taking their own lives.
Whilst gender and mental health problems are the most important risk factors for contemplating suicide, it is increasingly acknowledged that traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse may be a significant risk factor.
Whilst gender and mental health problems are the most important risk factors for contemplating suicide, it is increasingly acknowledged that traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse may be a significant risk factor.
