Culture
A new 'brain training' game designed by researchers at the University of Cambridge improves users' concentration, according to new research published today. The scientists behind the venture say this could provide a welcome antidote to the daily distractions that we face in a busy world.
As a growing number of adolescents identify as transgender, a review aims to help primary care physicians care for this vulnerable group and its unique needs. The review, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), looks at emerging evidence for managing gender dysphoria, including social and medical approaches for youth who are transitioning.
Patients are open to being asked about their sexual orientation and gender identity in primary care, which can help make health care more welcoming, although the stage should be set for these questions and they should include a range of options, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
MIT researchers have developed a way to dramatically enhance the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), a technique used to study the structure and composition of many kinds of molecules, including proteins linked to Alzheimer's and other diseases.
Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- The ideal drug is one that only affects the exact cells and neurons it is designed to treat, without unwanted side effects. This concept is especially important when treating the delicate and complex human brain. Now, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have revealed a mechanism that could lead to this kind of long-sought specificity for treatments of strokes and seizures.
According to Professor Hiro Furukawa, the senior scientist who oversaw this work, "it really comes down to chemistry."
PHILADELPHIA -The marketing of direct-to-consumer "neurotechnologies" can be enticing: apps that diagnose a mental state, and brain devices that improve cognition or "read" one's emotional state. However, many of these increasingly popular products aren't fully supported by science and have little to no regulatory oversight, which poses potential health risks to the public.
Genetic variants which prevent a neurotransmitter receptor from working properly have been implicated in the development of schizophrenia, according to research by the UCL Genetics Institute.
The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a protein which normally carries signals between brain cells in response to a neurotransmitter called glutamate. Previous research has shown that symptoms of schizophrenia can be caused by drugs which block NMDAR or by antibodies which attack it.
Seattle residents who live in waterfront neighborhoods tend to have healthier diets compared to those who live along Interstate-5 and Aurora Avenue, according to new research on social disparities from the University of Washington School of Public Health. The study used local data to model food consumption patterns by city block. Weekly servings of salad and soda served as proxies for diet quality.
As the next Women's March approaches, a new study of the 2017 Women's March solidarity events led by University of Notre Dame Associate Professor of Sociology Kraig Beyerlein is likely a good predictor of what to expect. Based on a survey of sister marches across the United States, key characteristics of the events were massive turnout, majority female leadership, low rate of counterdemonstrators, substantial grassroots mobilization and strong support from faith-based groups.
LOGAN, UTAH, USA - Declines in native bee populations are widely reported, but can existing data really analyze these trends? In the Jan. 17, 2019, online edition of PLOS One, Utah State University and USDA researchers report findings about pollinator biodiversity in California's Pinnacles National Park derived from data collected from three separate surveys spanning 17 years. Their results documented 450 species of wild, native bees at Pinnacles, including 48 new to the area since 2002, and 95 detected at the site in the 1990s, but now missing.
Boston, MA -- Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and African Americans are disproportionately affected. Prior studies have investigated how limited access to material resources due to financial hardship may influence health, but the association between that stress caused by financial hardship and coronary heart disease in African Americans has not previously been examined.
A genetic study uncovers that birds maintain a dynamic coevolutionary relationship with their feather mites. The study has involved the participation of the Estación Biológica de Doñana from the CSIC, and its results have just been published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
Sudden bursts of heat that can damage the inner walls of tokamak fusion experiments are a hurdle that operators of the facilities must overcome. Such bursts, called "edge localized modes (ELMs)," occur in doughnut-shaped tokamak devices that house the hot, charged plasma that is used to replicate on Earth the power that drives the sun and other stars. Now researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have directly observed a possible and previously unknown process that can trigger damaging ELMs.
In April 2015, Nepal - and especially the region around the capital city, Kathmandu - was struck by a powerful tremor. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 destroyed entire villages, traffic routes and cultural monuments, with a death toll of some 9,000.
However, the country may still face the threat of much stronger earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 or more. This is the conclusion reached by a group of earth scientists from ETH Zurich based on a new model of the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian Plates in the vicinity of the Himalayas.
A team of scientists has, for the first time, used a single, cohesive computer model to simulate the entire life cycle of a solar flare: from the buildup of energy thousands of kilometers below the solar surface, to the emergence of tangled magnetic field lines, to the explosive release of energy in a brilliant flash.