Health News

Increase in human lifespan adversely affects endangered species

Date: Oct-13-2013
As human life expectancy increases, so does the percentage of invasive and endangered birds and mammals, according to a new study by the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the September issue of Ecology and Society, examined a combination of 15 social and ecological variables -- from tourism and per capita gross domestic product to water stress and political stability. Then researchers analyzed their correlations with invasive and endangered birds and mammals, which are two indicators of what conservationist Aldo Leopold termed "land sickness," the study said...

As baby boomers age, cataract surgeries rise

Date: Oct-13-2013
As baby boomers enter their retirement years, health care costs for complex and debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's disease are expected to soar. Not drawing as much attention is the likelihood of similarly rising expenses for common age-related medical procedures. A Mayo Clinic study looked at one of those - cataract surgery - and found that more people are getting the vision-improving procedure, seeking it at younger ages and having both eyes repaired within a few months, rather than only treating one eye...

Music to the ears of cochlear implant users

Date: Oct-13-2013
For many, music is a universal language that unites people when words cannot. But for those who use cochlear implants - technology that allows deaf and hard of hearing people to comprehend speech - hearing music remains extremely challenging. University of Washington scientists hope to change this. They have developed a new way of processing the signals in cochlear implants to help users hear music better...

Children do not thrive in chaotic households

Date: Oct-12-2013
Kindergarten-age children have poorer health if their home life is marked by disorder, noise and a lack of routine and they have a mother who has a chaotic work life, new research suggests. The results show the importance of order and routine in helping preschoolers stay healthy and develop to the best of their potential, said Claire Kamp Dush, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University. "Children need to have order in their lives," Kamp Dush said. "When their life is chaotic and not predictable, it can lead to poorer health...

Transcendental Meditation practice reduces trait anxiety

Date: Oct-12-2013
A new meta-analysis published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2013;19(10):1-12)1 found the Transcendental Meditation® technique (TM) has a large effect on reducing trait anxiety for people with high anxiety. Trait anxiety is a measure of how anxious a person usually is, as opposed to state anxiety, which refers to how anxious we are at the moment. A meta-analysis is an objective means to draw conclusions from all the research in a field...

Promotion of donor registration increases donor sign-ups

Date: Oct-12-2013
More than 90 percent of the public supports organ donation, yet less than half the population registers as donors, surveys show. What if registration was better promoted to those who had previously turned it down? And at the place almost everyone makes that decision, the DMV? Research at 40 Department of Motor Vehicles facilities in Illinois shows such efforts can make a difference. An article about the work was published in the September/October issue of the journal Clinical Transplantation...

New report warns that osteoporosis is a major threat to women and their future independence

Date: Oct-12-2013
According to a new report published by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), women may expect to live longer but their quality of life will be seriously jeopardized if action to protect their bone health is not taken. Postmenopausal women are the most vulnerable to osteoporosis and fractures. Worldwide, an estimated 200 million women are affected by osteoporosis and around one in three women aged over 50 will suffer from a fracture due to the disease...

Evaluation of women's stress sweat and its impact on perception of confidence, trustworthiness and competence

Date: Oct-12-2013
A new study from P&G Beauty, the makers of SecretTM deodorants, and lead investigator Pamela Dalton, PhD. MPH, member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, confirms for the first time that the smell of stress sweat does, in fact, significantly alter how women are perceived by both males and females. Results of the study, published on in PLOS ONE, indicate that the odor from stress-related sweat specifically impacts social judgments of one's confidence, trustworthiness and competence...

Friendships are based on homophily in personality

Date: Oct-12-2013
Like humans, many animals have close and stable friendships. However, until now, it has been unclear what makes particular individuals bond. Cognitive Biologists of the University of Vienna, Austria, and the University of Zurich, Switzerland, explored that chimpanzees choose their friends as to be similar in personality. The results of this study appear in the scientific journal Evolution and Human Behaviour...

Children who stutter have less grey matter in brain's speech areas

Date: Oct-12-2013
A new study from Canada finds that compared with fluent children, those who stutter have less grey matter in regions of the brain that are important for producing speech. The findings will greatly help understanding of the structure of the brain in relation to speech production and what happens to make people stutter. They may also show the importance of getting treatment as early as possible. The researchers, from the University of Alberta (U of A), report their work in a recent issue of the journal Cortex...