Culture
Nagging negative thoughts - and striving for perfection - keep teenagers awake at night, raising their chance of becoming depressed and anxious, a new study shows.
An online study of almost 400 adolescents aged 14 to 20 years confirmed the link, leading sleep researchers at Flinders University to recommend alternative treatments for repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism in dealing with delayed sleep and mental health problems among teenagers.
Using the amphibian Xenopus laevis as a model, Drs. Noriyuki Kinoshita and Naoto Ueno from the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB), Japan and Dr. Ileana Cristea from Princeton University, USA have demonstrated that physical forces, such as centrifugal force, enhance cell-to-cell attachment and increase the stiffness of embryonic tissues as a result of force induced cell shape change. In addition, they have also elucidated a part of the signaling pathway underlying the phenomenon.
Our DNA determines a large part of our risk for Alzheimer's disease, but it remained unclear how many genetic risk factors contribute to disease. A team led by Prof. Bart De Strooper (VIB-KU Leuven) and Dr. Mark Fiers now show that many of risk factors affect brain maintenance cells called microglia, and more particularly their response to amyloid-beta, one of the proteins aggregating in the brains of Alzheimer patients. The individual effects of small genetic variations are likely small, but the combination of hundreds of such subtle alterations might tip the balance and cause disease.
In the sunlit surface layer of the ocean, photosynthetic microalgae such as diatoms convert more carbon dioxide into biomass than Earth's tropical forests. Like land plants, diatoms sequester carbon dioxide into polymeric carbohydrates - in other words: into long-chained sugars. However, it has proven difficult to quantify how much carbon dioxide can be stored in the global oceans throughout this process.
Maggots on a dead body or wound can help pinpoint when a person or animal died, or when maltreatment began in elder, child care or animal neglect cases. However, the current process for making this determination is time consuming and resource intensive. It also relies on species assessment by trained entomologists. Now, researchers report in ACS' Analytical Chemistry the development of a molecular maggot analysis method that's quick, easy and less subjective.
Like a snapshot, amber preserves bygone worlds. An international team of paleontologists from the University of Bonn has now described four new beetle species in fossilized tree resin from Myanmar, which belong to the Kateretidae family. They still exist today, with only a few species. As well as the about 99 million years old insects, the amber also includes pollen. It seems that the beetles helped the flowering plants to victory, because they contributed to their propagation. In turn, the beetles benefited from the new food source.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- As flowers bloom and fruits ripen, they emit a colorless, sweet-smelling gas called ethylene. MIT chemists have now created a tiny sensor that can detect this gas in concentrations as low as 15 parts per billion, which they believe could be useful in preventing food spoilage.
The sensor, which is made from semiconducting cylinders called carbon nanotubes, could be used to monitor fruit and vegetables as they are shipped and stored, helping to reduce food waste, says Timothy Swager, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry at MIT.
In the neotropical forest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, an unusual bee hatched: half male and half female. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute students and scientists working on nocturnal, socially flexible Megalopta bees at BCI recognized it as a gynandromorph: a rare condition that results in the expression of both male and female characteristics.
A new study adds to mounting evidence that the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), or vaping, has increased in recent years among U.S. adults, with nearly 1 in 20 reporting current use of e-cigarettes, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC). In addition, two studies examining blood samples suggest e-cigarette exposure is roughly equivalent to tobacco smoke in terms of promoting oxidative stress that can lead to blood vessel damage and heart disease.
Female veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were substantially more likely to have ischemic heart disease than those without PTSD in a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).
In many parts of the world, there is an imbalance in the food chain.
Without top predators such as wolves and grizzly bears, smaller meat-eating animals like coyotes and foxes or grazers such as deer and elk can balloon in population, unchecked. This can initiate more deer-vehicle collisions, scavenging by urban coyotes and other unnatural human-animal interactions.
Listening to music can be enjoyable, but is it also good for your heart? Patients who suffered episodes of chest pain soon after a heart attack, known as early post-infarction angina, had significantly lower levels of anxiety and pain if they listened to music for 30 minutes a day, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).
Plant-based diets are becoming more popular in many areas of the world, but the health benefits of this dietary pattern may depend largely on the specific foods consumed. A new study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC) suggests that people following a plant-based diet who frequently consumed less-healthful foods like sweets, refined grains and juice showed no heart health benefit compared with those who did not eat a plant-based diet.
Certain markers of a person's financial and social status, known as social determinants of health, offer valuable information about a person's potential risk of heart disease but are often overlooked, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).
While many college athletes may seem like they are in peak physical condition, they can still face significant cardiovascular risks. Nearly half of a cohort of female athletes at two U.S. universities were found to have higher than normal blood pressure levels, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).