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Friday, March 8, 2013

ScienceDaily: Living Well News

ScienceDaily: Living Well News


New clues to how flu virus spreads

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 04:06 PM PST

People may more likely be exposed to the flu through airborne virus than previously thought, according to new research. The study also found that when flu patients wear a surgical mask, the release of virus in even the smallest airborne droplets can be significantly reduced.

Is this peptide a key to happiness? Findings suggests possible new treatment for depression, other disorders

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 11:57 AM PST

For the first time in humans, scientists have measured the release of a specific peptide, that greatly increased when subjects were happy, but decreased when they were sad. The findings have implications for the treatment of depression.

Industrial chemicals found in food samples

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 09:47 AM PST

Researchers have discovered phthalates, industrial chemicals, in common foods purchased in the United States. Phthalates can be found in a variety of products and food packaging material, child-care articles and medical devices.

Do-gooder or ne'er-do-well? Behavioral science explains patterns of moral behavior

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 09:46 AM PST

Does good behavior lead to more good behavior? Or do we try to balance our good and bad deeds? The answer depends on our ethical mindset, according to new research.

Better living through mindfulness

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 09:46 AM PST

Results of a new study suggest that mindfulness -- awareness of the present moment -- may be linked to self-regulation throughout the day, and this may be an important contributor to better emotional and physical well-being.

Walk it out: Urban design plays key role in creating healthy cities

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 09:44 AM PST

Residents of new housing developments increased their exercise and their wellbeing when they had more access to shops and parks, a new study from Australia reveals.

School-based kitchen gardens are getting an A+: New study highlights benefits of for both children and parents

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 06:25 AM PST

Grow it, try it, and you just might like it is a motto many schools are embracing to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables. Through community-based kitchen garden programs, particularly those with dedicated cooking components, schools are successfully introducing students to healthier foods. In a new study, researchers found that growing and then cooking the foods that kids grew increased their willingness to try new foods.

Exercise shields children from stress, research indicates

Posted: 07 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PST

Exercise may play a key role in helping children cope with stressful situations, according to a recent study.

Short bouts of exercise boost self control

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST

Short bouts of moderately intense exercise seem to boost self control, indicates an analysis of the published evidence.

Processed meat linked to premature death, large study finds

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:09 PM PST

In a huge study of half a million men and women, researchers have demonstrated an association between processed meat and cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed: Connections point to interplay between salt and genetic factors

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST

New work expands the understanding of how Th17 cells develop, and how their growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are "wired," the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption, highlighting the interplay of genetics and environmental factors in disease susceptibility.

Use it or lose it: Molecular mechanism for why a stimulating environment protects against Alzheimer's disease

Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST

Researchers provide specific pre-clinical scientific evidence supporting the concept that prolonged and intensive stimulation by an enriched environment, especially regular exposure to new activities, may have beneficial effects in delaying one of the key negative factors in Alzheimer's disease.

Intrusive advising boosts student persistence, class performance

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 02:40 PM PST

Researcher found that getting intrusive could increase student support at universities. The researcher examined intrusive advising -- working with at-risk students to identify challenges and solutions to overcome them -- in residence halls.

Why fish is better than supplements: Omega-3s from fish vs. fish oil pills better at maintaining blood pressure in mouse model

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:45 PM PST

Researchers show how fish oils help lower blood pressure via vasodilation at ion channels. In vascular smooth muscle cells, such as those that line blood vessels, ion channels that span the outer membrane of a cell to let such ions as sodium, calcium, and potassium in and out, are critical to maintaining proper vessel pressure.

Green tea extract interferes with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 11:51 AM PST

Researchers have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.

Walking away from back pain

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:14 AM PST

A new study says a low-cost program of aerobic walking is just as effective as expensive clinical therapy in the treatment of lower back pain.

Seniors who play video games report better sense of emotional well-being

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:12 AM PST

New research finds that older adults who play video games report higher levels of emotional well-being.

Targeting diet products: Why are more independent consumers better at delaying gratification?

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:07 AM PST

Product benefits that occur later in time are more likely to appeal to more independent consumers than to those who are more group or family oriented, according to a new study.

Conservation development has some developers thinking -- and seeing -- green

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:04 AM PST

Homes in neighborhoods that incorporate protected open space command prices 20 to 29 percent higher than those without open space, according to a new study.

Kirk, Spock together: Putting emotion, logic into computational words

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 07:09 AM PST

In a large neuroimaging study, 127 volunteers played a take-it-or-leave-it game that shows cold reasoning and hot feelings may be more intimately connected than previously thought.

Health benefits of marriage may not extend to all

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 07:09 AM PST

Marriage may not always be as beneficial to health as experts have led us to believe, according to a new study.

Limiting access to alcohol reduces violence, experts say

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 07:07 AM PST

Amending existing laws or adopting additional regulations to limit the availability of alcohol would reduce community violence, experts say.

Parents, religion guard against college drinking

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 06:09 AM PST

Religious college students report less alcohol use than their classmates -- and the reason may have to do with how their parents handle stress, according to new research.

Children of divorced parents more likely to switch, pull away from religions

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 06:09 AM PST

Adults whose parents were divorced are more likely to switch religions or disassociate themselves from institutional religions altogether -- but growing up in a single-parent family does not have any effect on private religious life, including praying, according to a new study.

Ostracism cuts both ways: Hurting someone else can hurt the one who inflicts pain just as much

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:04 AM PST

If you think giving someone the cold shoulder inflicts pain only on them, beware. A new study shows that individuals who deliberately shun another person are equally distressed by the experience.

Is baby still breathing? Is mom's obsession normal?

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 12:18 PM PST

A new mother may constantly worry and check to see if her baby is breathing. Or she may obsess about germs. A new study found postpartum moms have a much higher rate of obsessive-compulsive symptoms than the general population. This is the first large-scale study of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in new moms. The symptoms could result from hormonal changes or be adaptive, but may indicate a psychological disorder if they interfere with a mother's functioning.

Why your brain tires when exercising

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 12:18 PM PST

For the first time ever, a research team is able to explain why our brains feel tired when we exercise. By mapping the mechanism behind so-called central fatigue, the researchers are hoping, among other things, to learn more about how to identify doping use.

Exercise key to good sleep

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 09:35 AM PST

Exercise can affect your sleep. The results of the National Sleep Foundation's 2013 Sleep in America® poll show a compelling association between exercise and better sleep.

Unhealthy drinking widespread around the world

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 09:35 AM PST

A new study shows that alcohol is now the third leading cause of the global burden of disease and injury, despite the fact most adults worldwide abstain from drinking.

Bankruptcy judges influenced by apologies

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 09:35 AM PST

Debtors who apologized were seen as more remorseful and were expected to manage their finances more carefully in the future compared to debtors who did not offer an apology, finds a new study.

Gene discovery reveals importance of eating your greens

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 07:56 AM PST

Eating your greens may be even more important that previously thought, with the discovery that an immune cell population essential for intestinal health could be controlled by leafy greens in your diet. The immune cells, named innate lymphoid cells, are found in the lining of the digestive system and protect the body from 'bad' bacteria in the intestine. They are also believed to play an important role in controlling food allergies, inflammatory diseases and obesity, and may even prevent the development of bowel cancers.

Grandmother's cigarette habit could be the cause of grandchild's asthma

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 07:55 AM PST

Studies finding that grandmother's smoking habit may cause her grandchild to have asthma suggest environmental factors experienced today can affect families' health for generations to come.

Facebook 'Likes' a good indicator of quality hospital care

Posted: 01 Mar 2013 09:33 AM PST

While those active on social media aren't shy about expressing opinions on their Facebook pages, how much do their "Likes" really reflect the quality of an organization? A new study shows that Facebook "Likes" were indeed an indicator of hospital quality and patient satisfaction.

Pregnancy permanently changes foot size

Posted: 01 Mar 2013 09:23 AM PST

A new study of women's feet during and after pregnancy shows that arch height and arch rigidity decrease significantly from early pregnancy to five months after childbirth, causing corresponding increases in foot length that appear to be permanent.

Cancer doesn't change young girls' desire to have children, study shows

Posted: 01 Mar 2013 12:48 AM PST

Researchers have found that healthy adolescent females have predetermined expectations for becoming parents in the future, but have concerns about fertility and childbearing should they develop a life-threatening illness, such as cancer.

Problems with identifying meat? The answer is to check the barcode

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 04:46 PM PST

Want to know what you are eating? DNA barcodes can be used to identify even very closely related species, finds a new article. Results from the study show that the labelling of game meat in South Africa is very poor with different species being substituted almost 80 percent of the time.

Brain can't cope with making a left-hand turn and talking on hands-free cell phone

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:41 AM PST

Most serious traffic accidents occur when drivers are making a left-hand turn at a busy intersection. When those drivers are also talking on a hands-free cell phone, "that could be the most dangerous thing they ever do on the road," said an expert.

Action video games boost reading skills, study of children with dyslexia suggests

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:41 AM PST

Much to the chagrin of parents who think their kids should spend less time playing video games and more time studying, time spent playing action video games can actually make dyslexic children read better, new research suggests. In fact, 12 hours of video game play did more for reading skills than is normally achieved with a year of spontaneous reading development or demanding traditional reading treatments.

'Crazy-busy' Canadians under pressure on the job

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:34 AM PST

Having more control in the workplace can have negative consequences for individuals, but it depends on the form of job control. Having control over one's work schedule and job autonomy are associated with lower levels of job pressure.

Eating junk food while pregnant may make your child a junk food addict

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:34 AM PST

A healthy diet during pregnancy is critical to the future health of your children. New research suggests that pregnant mothers who consume junk food cause developmental changes of the opioid signaling pathway in the brains of their unborn children. Consequently, these children are less sensitive to opioids released upon consumption of foods high in fat and sugar, and need to eat more to achieve a "feel good" response.

Reading, writing, arithmetic, and aerobics: Evaluating the new 'R' in academic performance

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 05:05 AM PST

Although the long-term consequences of childhood obesity are well documented, some school districts have reduced physical education classes to devote more time to the three Rs in education -- reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, there is new evidence that leaving out an important fourth R -- aerobics -- could actually be counterproductive for increasing test scores. A new study studied the associations between aerobic fitness, body mass index, and passing scores on standardized math and reading tests.

Why some people get zits and others don't

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 05:01 AM PST

Researchers have discovered that acne bacteria contain "bad" strains associated with pimples and "good" strains that may protect the skin. The findings could lead to a myriad of new therapies to prevent and treat the disfiguring skin disorder.

Can your breath identify stress?

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 07:56 PM PST

The perennial stress-buster -- a deep breath -- could become stress-detector. According to a new pilot study, there are six markers in the breath that could be candidates for use as indicators of stress.

Sitting less and moving about more could be more important than vigorous exercise to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 03:35 PM PST

New research reveals that individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes would benefit from being told to sit less and move around more often -- rather than simply exercising regularly. The experts suggest that reducing sitting time by 90 minutes in total per day could lead to important health benefits.

Heading a soccer ball may affect cognitive performance

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 03:34 PM PST

Sports-related head injuries are a growing concern, and new research suggests that even less forceful actions like 'heading' a soccer ball may cause changes in performance on certain cognitive tasks, according to new research.

Higher indoor humidity inactivates flu virus particles

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 03:34 PM PST

Higher humidity levels indoors can significantly reduce the infectivity of influenza virus particles released by coughing, according to new research.

Praising children for their personal qualities may backfire

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 03:33 PM PST

Praising children, especially those with low self-esteem, for their personal qualities rather than their efforts may make them feel more ashamed when they fail, according to new research.

Research explores factors that impact adolescent mental health

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 12:12 PM PST

Research indicates that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, well before adulthood. Three new studies investigate the cognitive, genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to mental health disorders in adolescence.

Lipid researcher, 98, reports on the dietary causes of heart disease

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 12:12 PM PST

A 98-year-old researcher argues that, contrary to decades of clinical assumptions and advice to patients, dietary cholesterol is good for your heart -- unless that cholesterol is unnaturally oxidized (by frying foods in reused oil, eating lots of polyunsaturated fats, or smoking).

Name your neighborhood, define your health?

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 10:43 AM PST

Does your neighborhood really define health? Most of us make a choice between suburbs, countryside, or city and settle down. But others, particularly those living in poverty, don't always get to make that choice —- the choice that could actually determine our quality and length of life. So how does this choice affect our health?

Contaminated diet contributes to exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals: Phthalates and BPA

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 09:19 AM PST

While water bottles may tout BPA-free labels and personal care products declare phthalates not among their ingredients, these assurances may not be enough. According to a new study, we may be exposed to these chemicals in our diet, even if our diet is organic and we prepare, cook, and store foods in non-plastic containers. Children may be most vulnerable.

Trust makes you delusional and that's not all bad: Trusting partners remember transgressions in ways that benefit the relationship

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 08:31 AM PST

New research is the first to systematically examine the role of trust in biasing memories of transgressions in romantic partnerships. People who are highly trusting tended to remember transgressions in a way that benefits the relationship, remembering partner transgressions as less severe than they originally reported. People low on trust demonstrated the opposite pattern, remembering partner transgressions as being more severe than how they originally reported. 

Defining the new normal in aging

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 08:30 AM PST

Researcher says terms such as "normal," "healthy" or "successful" aging can prejudice our views of seniors.

New studies link gene to selfish behavior in kids, find other children natural givers

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 07:29 AM PST

Most parents would agree that raising a generous child is an admirable goal -- but how, exactly, is that accomplished? New results shed light on how generosity and related behaviors -- such as kindness, caring and empathy -- develop, or don't develop, in children from 2 years old through adolescence.

Married opposite-sex couples have better overall health than same-sex couples who live together

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 07:21 AM PST

Same-sex couples who live together have worse health than married opposite-sex couples and similar health as opposite-sex couples who are living together (after adjusting for socioeconomic differences), according to a new study.

Pessimism about the future may lead to longer, healthier life

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 07:19 AM PST

Older people who have low expectations for a satisfying future may be more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who see brighter days ahead, according to new research.

Do thin models and celebrities really help sell to women?

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 05:58 AM PST

Advertisers who put images of female celebrities and models next to their products spark scorn rather than shopping, according to new research.

Too much vitamin D during pregnancy can cause food allergies, research suggests

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 05:58 AM PST

Pregnant women should avoid taking vitamin D supplements, new research suggests. Substitution appears to raise the risk of children developing a food allergy after birth.

Same-sex cohabitors less healthy than those in heterosexual marriages, study suggests

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 05:57 AM PST

Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.

Increased risk of sleep disorder narcolepsy in children who received swine flu vaccine

Posted: 26 Feb 2013 04:40 PM PST

A study finds an increased risk of narcolepsy in children and adolescents who received the A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine (Pandemrix) during the pandemic in England.

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