Body

A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine study finds that weight loss programs that provide healthy fats, such as olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet have similar impacts on pound-shedding. More specifically, the researchers report that a meal plan rich in walnuts, which are high in polyunsaturated fats, has a significant impact on lipid levels for women, especially those who are insulin-resistant.

A ground-breaking study has confirmed the long held assumption that camouflage protects animals from the clutches of predators, and offers insights into the most important aspects of camouflage.

The research, by scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Cambridge, investigated the camouflage of ground-nesting birds in Zambia, using sophisticated digital imaging to demonstrate how they would appear from the perspective of a predator.

Detecting molecular alterations in early breast cancer development is key in the development of more effective cancer prevention and early detection strategies. New research funded by The Eve Appeal and the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, published today in science journal Nature Communications shows clear evidence that DNA changes are already present in the healthy tissue from women with breast cancer.

PASADENA, CA, Jan. 28, 2016 -- Women who are diagnosed with hypertensive disorders while pregnant are more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure in the first year after delivery as women who did not have any pregnancy-related hypertension, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the Journal of Hypertension.

Cherry flavoured e-cigarettes may expose vapers to significantly higher levels of the respiratory irritant benzaldehyde than other flavours, suggests a laboratory study published online in Thorax.

The doses inhaled with 30 puffs were often higher than those breathed in from a conventional cigarette, the findings show.

Many e-cigarettes contain flavourings, most of which are recognised as safe when used in food products, but concerns have been raised about their potential harm when inhaled, particularly over the long term.

Just 1 in 5 children in high-income countries are breastfed to 12 months, whilst only 1 in 3 children in low and middle-income countries are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months. As a result, millions of children are failing to receive the full benefits provided by breastfeeding. The findings come from the largest and most detailed analysis to quantify levels, trends, and benefits of breastfeeding around the world, published in The Lancet.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When countries, rich or poor, support breastfeeding through meaningful investments and programs, it has an impact on their bottom line and the health of women and children. The Lancet Breastfeeding Series, released today, finds that globally, the costs of lower cognitive ability associated with not breastfeeding amount to more than $300 billion each year, a figure comparable to the entire global pharmaceutical market.

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that in women, sleeping problems are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with the increased risk ranging from 47% for one sleep disorder to more than 4 times the risk for four different sleeping problems combined. The study is by Dr Yanping Li, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA, and colleagues.

WORCESTER, MA - A study published in the journal Science found that activation in pregnant mice of a particular immune response, similar to what may occur with certain viral infections during pregnancy, alters the brain structure of the mouse offspring and causes behavioral changes, reminiscent of those observed in humans with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

TORONTO, Jan. 28, 2016 - Refugee women who come to Canada have greater risk of giving birth prematurely than non-refugee immigrants, a study by a St. Michael's Hospital researcher has found.Those risks are fueled by the fact that the preterm birth rate was 7.1 per cent among secondary refugees - those who spent more than six months in a transit country before arriving in Canada -compared to five per cent among secondary, non-refugee immigrants. These so-called "secondary refugees" also had a greater absolute risk of preterm birth than Canadian-born women (6.4 per cent).

An interdisciplinary research team at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles has found that body mass index (BMI) is an inadequate method for estimating changes in body fat and obesity in children with leukemia. Investigators determined that the discrepancy between BMI and body composition was due to increases in body fat with simultaneous loss of lean muscle mass during treatment. The study will be published online first in the journal Leukemia & Lymphoma.

What if polycystic kidney disease (PKD) could be combatted with a strategy as simple as dieting? Such a finding would surely be welcome news to the 12 million people worldwide with the genetic disease.

New research from UC Santa Barbara suggests that reducing food intake may slow the growth of the cysts that are symptomatic of PKD, an inherited disorder in which clusters of cysts develop in the kidneys.

A UCLA research team has found a combination of proteins that could significantly improve clinical bone restoration. The findings may be a big step toward developing effective therapeutic treatments for bone skeletal defects, bone loss and osteoporosis.

Evolutionary geneticists date events using the number of mutations that have accumulated since they occurred. For instance, they date the spilt time between humans and chimps by dividing the number of genetic differences between them by the rate at which new mutations arise. Recently those dates have been mired in uncertainty, with new estimates of the mutation rate suggesting that the human splits from chimps and gorillas are more than two times older than previously thought. Importantly, the new split time estimates appear to be at odds with the fossil record.

Adolescents are known risk takers, especially when they're surrounded by same-aged peers. But new research suggests that being in a group that includes just one slightly older adult might decrease teens' propensity to engage in risky behavior.

The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.