Health & WellnessS


Heart

Eating Less May Not Extend Life


PhysOrg
Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:13 UTC
If you are a mouse on the chubby side, then eating less may help you live longer.

For lean mice - and possibly for lean humans, the authors of a new study predict - the anti-aging strategy known as caloric restriction may be a pointless, frustrating and even dangerous exercise.

"Today there are a lot of very healthy people who look like skeletons because they bought into this," said Raj Sohal, professor at the University of Southern California's School of Pharmacy.

He and Michael Forster, of the University of North Texas Health Science Center, compared the life span and caloric intake of two genetically engineered strains of mice.
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Display

Video Games Linked To Poor Relationships With Friends, Family


PhysOrg
Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:02 UTC
A new study connects young adults' use of video games to poorer relationships with friends and family - and the student co-author expresses disappointment at his own findings.

Brigham Young University undergrad Alex Jensen and his faculty mentor, Laura Walker, publish their results Jan. 23 in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

The research is based on information collected from 813 college students around the country. As the amount of time playing video games went up, the quality of relationships with peers and parents went down.

"It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time," Walker said. "My guess is that it's some of both and becomes circular."
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Heart - Black

50% of Dementia relatives 'admit abuse'


BBC News
Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:30 UTC
More than half of those looking after a relative with dementia told researchers that they had mistreated them. The University College London research revealed that a third admitted "significant abuse".

Verbal abuse or threats were common, but just three of the 220 people questioned in the British Medical Journal study admitted physical abuse. The Alzheimer's Society described the findings as "shocking", but said that many carers were under great strain.
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Attention

US allows use of embryonic stem cells in humans


Telegraph
Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:48 UTC
A US biotech company is planning to start the world's first study of a treatment for spinal cord injuries based on human embryonic stem cells.

The company gained federal permission this week to inject eight to 10 patients with cells derived from embryonic cells, said Dr. Thomas Okarma, president and CEO of Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, California.

The patients will be paraplegics, who can use their arms but can't walk. They will receive a single injection within two weeks of their injury.

The study is aimed at testing the safety of the procedure, but doctors will also look for signs of improvement like return of sensation or movement in the legs, Mr Okarma said.
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Gear

Cunning psychopaths manipulate their way out of jail


New Scientist
Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:49 UTC
Despite the serious nature of their offenses, psychopathic criminals get let out of prison sooner than others - in Canada, at least.

Psychopaths tend to be unusually adept at manipulating others, and even the legal system, to their advantage. "In prison, they push administrators to gain better food, resources, or to work outside on road crews," says Kent Kiehl of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
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Health

US: Mystery illness plagues sausage factory


WTVD
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:45 UTC
The plant on Jones Sausage Road in Garner, North Carolina is the only place in the country that makes the popular beef jerky Slim Jim snack food.

Worker Tanica West claims that she and other employees are having eye problems. West told reporter Steve Daniels that sometimes she can't see for a couple of hours at a time and she's frustrated because the company hasn't been able to figure out what's causing it.

"[It's] a tingling under the eyelids, the bottom lids, and you start blinking a lot, and it feels like you are developing a slight, a little film, under the eyelid," West told Daniels.
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Cookie

31 Million pounds of peanut products recalled


The Associated Press
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:17 UTC
Washington - Federal health officials say the salmonella recall now involves about 31 million pounds of peanut butter and peanut paste.

That's a whole lot of peanut butter.

But consider this: The nonprofit National Peanut Board says Americans eat 700 million pounds of the gooey treat every year.
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Magnify

Genetic Interactions Are The Key To Understanding Complex Traits


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:13 UTC
Collecting Yeast
© Washington University

Washington University graduate student Kim Lorenz collects yeast samples from Pennsylvania oak trees as part of a project to analyze how genes interact to produce complex traits.
In recent years, genetic studies have uncovered hundreds of DNA variations linked to common diseases, such as cancer or diabetes, raising the prospect that scientists can gauge disease risk based on information in an individual's genome. But the variations identified to date only account for a small percentage - typically one to three percent - of the overall genetic risk of any common disease.

This disappointment has led geneticist Barak Cohen, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, to suggest that scientists need to get a better handle on the ways genes interact to influence disease risk.

"For diseases that are major health problems, many different genetic variants combine to affect an individual's risk," says Cohen. "The problem is that we as scientists are really lousy at predicting how these variations interact to determine whether an individual is likely to develop a common disease or respond to a particular drug."

This reality begs the question: Is it possible to tease apart a complex genetic trait to reveal the precise genetic variations that have combined to produce it? Yes, Cohen and his group report in the Jan. 23 issue of Science. If the research can be replicated, it suggests that scientists need better statistical models and other tools to understand genetic interactions.
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Heart

Mind Out of Balance, Body Out of Balance


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:00 UTC
Many of the 40 million American adults who suffer from anxiety disorders also have problems with balance. As increasing numbers of children are diagnosed with anxiety, Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that the link between balance and anxiety can be assessed at an early age - and that something can be done about it before it becomes a problem.

Dr. Orit Bart at Tel Aviv University's School of Health Professions, and her colleagues, have found that a simple course of physical treatment for balance problems can also resolve anxiety issues in children. Her work offers new hope for normal social and emotional development for children with both disorders.
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Family

Infants Draw on Past to Interpret Present, Understand Other People's Behavior


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:43 UTC
The old real estate maxim "location, location, location" also plays a role in how infants learn to understand the ambiguous actions and behavior of other people.

University of Washington psychologists have learned that 10-month-old infants use their prior exposure and understanding of familiar actions by a person to unravel novel actions. However, this ability is limited by the location in which the new action is performed.

"Infants' understanding of and exposure to familiar actions can boost their understanding of ambiguous action sequences. Their ability to draw on the past to interpret the present represents an important advance in their developing understanding of other people's behavior," said Jessica Sommerville, a UW assistant professor of psychology who is also affiliated with the university's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

Although the research was conducted on infants, she believes the findings apply across all ages.
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