EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Living around people with opposing political viewpoints affects your ability to form close relationships and accept other perspectives - and may even change your personality, finds a national study led by a Michigan State University scholar.
The findings also could help explain why so many Americans are moving to areas that suit them politically, further segregating the nation into "red" and "blue" states, said William Chopik, MSU assistant professor of psychology.
JUPITER, FL - July 8, 2016 - While bipolar disorder is one of the most-studied neurological disorders--the Greeks noticed symptoms of the disease as early as the first century--it's possible that scientists have overlooked an important part of the brain for its source.
Noninvasive electrical brain stimulation offers hope as a potential new tool to ease the symptoms of certain diseases and mental illnesses, but neuroscientists in the July 7 issue of Annals of Neurology are warning against self-administered brain stimulation by so-called "do-it-yourself" (DIY) users.
A new study from The University of Manchester, prompted by current government policy for a 'seven-day NHS', has found that suicide deaths by mental health patients are actually lower at the weekends.
A current government policy priority is to extend health services to a full 'seven-day NHS', partly due to claims that patients admitted at the weekend are more likely to die because of lack of specialist staffing and services.
Rats, men and cockroaches appear to have a similar GPS in their heads that allows them to navigate new surroundings, researchers at Case Western Reserve University report.
The finding, published in journal Current Biology, is likely an example of convergent evolution--that is, distinct animals developed similar systems to manage the same problems.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Since the 1970s, U.S. doctors have prescribed lithium to treat patients with bipolar disorder. While the drug has a good success rate, scientists are still unsure exactly how it achieves its beneficial effects.
MIT biologists have now discovered a possible explanation for how lithium works. In a study of worms, the researchers identified a key protein that is inhibited by lithium, making the worms less active.
CHICAGO - New research finds white matter changes in the brains of athletes six months after a concussion. The study will be presented at the Sports Concussion Conference in Chicago, July 8-10, hosted by the American Academy of Neurology, the world's leading authority on the diagnosis and management of sports-related concussion. The conference brings together leading experts in the field to present and discuss the latest scientific advances in diagnosing and treating sports-related concussion.
Boredom may be contributing to a widening of political views among voters, according to a new study by researchers from King's College London and the University of Limerick.
Published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, the findings are based on one experiment and two scientific surveys carried out in the Republic of Ireland.
The aim of their collaboration is to achieve machine-based translation between the languages of the European Union so that comprehensible texts are achieved for as many language combinations as possible. Two of the EU-funded research projects are being led by the Saarbrücken computer linguist Josef van Genabith.
Social networking sites such as Facebook provide the ideal environment for some types of narcissists to promote themselves and seek the admiration of others on a grand scale, according to a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
BOSTON - Investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a developmental cause of adult-onset cardiac hypertrophy, a dangerous thickening of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure and death. Reported online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the new findings could lead to targeted therapies for this condition.
PHILADELPHIA -The growing trend of "do-it-yourself" transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) poses hidden risks to healthy members of the public who seek to use the technique for cognitive enhancement. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, along with several members of the (cognitive) neuroscience research community warn about such risks involved in home use of tDCS, the application of electrical current to the brain.
LA JOLLA--The brains of some people with autism spectrum disorder grow faster than usual early on in life, often before diagnosis. A new study co-led by Salk Institute scientists has employed a cutting-edge stem cell technique to unravel the mechanisms driving the mysterious phenomenon of excess brain growth, which affects as many as 30 percent of people with autism.
Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2016 - A new meta-analysis in Biological Psychiatry reports that sleep disturbances and long sleep duration are associated with increases in markers of inflammation.
"It is important to highlight that both too much and too little sleep appears to be associated with inflammation, a process that contributes to depression as well as many medical illnesses," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.