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news archive: Jan-Feb 2006
Health & longevity news archive: January-February 2006
Cocoa linked to lower risk of disease
(Feb 28, 2006)
The Dutch have a long history with chocolate. Although native Mexicans
and their Spanish conquerors first used the bitter bean – and
reported on its tonic powers – a Dutchman was the first to extract
modern cocoa and neutralize its bitterness with alkali. The modern
chocolate bar was born. Now results from a study of aging Dutch men
has found that cocoa consumers were.half as likely to die from disease
than those who did not eat the sweet treat.
Read
more. Source: Scientific American |
Scientists 'can predict memories'
(Feb 27, 2006)
Scientists say it may be possible to predict how well we will remember
something before the event has even taken place. By analysing scans,
they discovered the brain must get into the 'right frame of mind'
to store new information. For top performance, the brain must mobilise
its resources, not only at the moment we get new information, but
also in the seconds before.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
'Sleeping on it' best for complex decisions
(Feb 17, 2006)
Complex decisions are best left to your unconscious mind to work out,
according to a new study, and over-thinking a problem could lead to
expensive mistakes. The research suggests the conscious mind should
be trusted only with simple decisions, such as selecting a brand of
oven glove. Sleeping on a big decision, such as buying a car or house,
is more likely to produce a result people remain happy with than consciously
weighing up the pros and cons of the problem, the researchers say.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
How babies do maths at 7 months
(Feb 15, 2006)
Babies have a rudimentary grasp of maths long before they can walk
or talk, according to new research. By the age of seven months infants
have an abstract sense of numbers and are able to match the number
of voices they hear with the number of faces they see. The research
could be useful in devising methods for teaching basic maths skills
to the very young, say researchers in the US.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Broccoli chemical's cancer check
(Feb 9, 2006)
A chemical in vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage
can boost DNA repair in cells and may stop them becoming cancerous,
a study says. Another chemical in soy also performs the same role,
the Georgetown University team said. Although a link has already been
found between eating these foods and a reduced cancer risk, this research
shows how that might happen.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Face op woman braves media glare
(Feb 6, 2006)
The French woman who received the world's first partial face transplant
has appeared before the cameras of the world's media for the first
time. Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old mother of two, received the
transplant on 27 November after being mauled by her dog.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Real-life Groundhog Days studied
(Feb 6, 2006)
Most people have the sensation they have done certain things before,
but for some the feeling is constant. Trapped in their own 'Groundhog
Day', they believe they have experienced unique events before. A team
at Leeds University was moved to investigate the phenomenon after
seeing a patient convinced he had already been to his friend's funeral.
The researchers suggest the extreme deja vu is caused by a faulty
memory process.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Common cold may save us from bird flu
(Feb 3, 2006)
Adenovirus, one cause of the common cold, may help protect against
pandemic flu. Two separate groups of US scientists have successfully
vaccinated mice and chickens with an adenovirus-based DNA vaccine
against different strains of H5N1 bird flu. And they now want to test
it in humans. The teams used a crippled adenovirus, which cannot replicate,
as a carrier for the gene for the main surface protein of H5N1, haemagglutinin
(HA), to stimulate a powerful immune response in the animals.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Scientific brain linked to autism
(Jan 31, 2006)
Highly analytical couples, such as scientists, may be more likely
to produce children with autism, an expert has argued. Professor Simon
Baron-Cohen, of the University of Cambridge, said the phenomenon may
help explain the recent rise in diagnoses. He believes the genes which
make some analytical may also impair their social and communication
skills. A weakness in these areas is the key characteristic of autism.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Aspirin protects men's hearts and women's brains
(Jan 26, 2006)
Aspirin prevents cardiovascular events in both women and men –
but in different ways, a new meta-study suggests. In women, aspirin
reduces strokes, and in men it cuts down on heart attacks. But there
are no statistically significant benefits the other way round, according
to the analysis. “It appears that women respond differently to a given
dose of aspirin than men,” says David Brown, a cardiologist at the
Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York, US, and one of the authors.
“Everything about the study is telling us that there’s a gender difference
and we don’t understand it.”
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Laughter paves the way for romance
(Jan 24, 2006)
If love is blind, then maybe humor is the attention-grabber. That's
the conclusion of two recent studies that confirm a long-standing
stereotype of flirting: that women like joky men, while men like women
who laugh at their jokes. The idea that funny people are attractive
may seem obvious. But there have been very few scientific studies
to examine whether or not this is true.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Exercise 'cuts Alzheimer's risk'
(Jan 17, 2006)
Regular exercise reduces the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
by up to 40%, US research suggests. The University of Washington study
claims to be the most definitive investigation into the effect of
exercise on dementia. The Annals of Internal Medicine study found
the more frail a person was, the more exercise was likely to help
them. A regular gentle work-out was enough to produce a positive effect
– even for people aged over 65.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mental health link to diet change
(Jan 16, 2006)
Changes to diets over the last 50 years may be playing a key role
in the rise of mental illness, a study says. Food campaigners Sustain
and the Mental Health Foundation said the way food was now produced
had altered the balance of key nutrients people consume. The period
has also seen the UK population eating less fresh food and more saturated
fats and sugars. They said this is leading to depression and memory
problems, but food experts said the research was not conclusive.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mental skills 'worse after sleep'
(Jan 12, 2006)
A person's thinking ability may be better after being awake for 24
hours or being drunk than it is following a good night's sleep, a
study suggests. A University of Colorado team found understanding
and short-term memory were worse in the minutes after waking. Their
finding has implications for workers such as doctors on night-duty,
who are awoken and immediately asked to perform important tasks.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Stem cell promise lures patients
(Jan 12, 2006)
From a huge stainless steel cannister a laboratory technician lifts
out a container of frozen human cells, clouds of nitrogen cascade
to the ground. These are human stem cells. They have been harvested
in this Moscow clinic from a piece of fat cut from a patient's stomach.
Next door a middle aged woman is strapped to an operating table. The
defrosted cells are injected into her face.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Magnet therapies 'have no effect'
(Jan 6, 2006)
Magnet therapies which are claimed to cure conditions ranging from
back pain to cancer have no proven benefits, according to a team of
US researchers. Sales of the so-called therapeutic devices, which
are worn in bracelets, insoles, and wrist and knee bands, top $1 billion
worldwide, they said. But a major review showed no benefits, a British
Medical Journal report said.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
How brands get wired into the brain
(Jan 6, 2006)
A person’s liking for a particular brand name is wired into a specific
part of the brain, a new study reveals. The research may provide an
insight into the brain mechanisms that underlie the behavioural preferences
that advertisers attempt to hijack. It has long been known that humans
and animals can learn to associate an irrelevant stimulus with a positive
experience, for example the ringing of a bell with food. And neuroimaging
studies have recently implicated two regions buried deep in the brain
– the ventral striatum and the ventral midbrain – as having
an important role in this learning. But now work led by John O’Doherty,
currently at Caltech, shows that the actual level of preference is
encoded in these brain regions, and that people access this information
to guide their decisions.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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