Futurity.org » McGill University

For babies, how much vitamin D is enough?

Katherine Gombay-McGill — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:18:50 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — Vitamin D is especially important for babies in the first 12 months of life when bones are growing rapidly, but new research shows more is not necessarily better.

Health care providers frequently recommend that parents give their babies a daily vitamin D supplement, but how much vitamin D babies should be given has been a matter of debate.

‘Sports car’ galaxy burns gas into stars

Chris Chipello-McGill — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:45:52 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — A newly discovered galaxy turns gas into stars with almost 100 percent efficiency—a rare phase of evolution that is the most extreme ever observed.

“Galaxies burn gas like a car engine burns fuel. Most galaxies have fairly inefficient engines, meaning they form stars from their stellar fuel tanks far below the maximum theoretical rate,” says Jim Geach of McGill University. “This galaxy is like a highly tuned sports car, converting gas to stars at the most efficient rate thought to be possible.”

‘Lazy eye’ improves with Tetris

Julie Robert-McGill — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:44:57 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — The popular puzzle video game Tetris appears to be a winner when it comes to treating adults with amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye.”

By distributing information between the two eyes in a complementary fashion, the video game trains both eyes to work together, which is counter to previous treatments for the disorder, which included patching.

Stressed moms make baby squirrels grow faster

Layne Cameron-Michigan State — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:32:17 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — When the woods get crowded, pregnant squirrels improve their offspring’s odds of survival by ramping up hormones that help their babies grow.

A study showed for the first time how females use social cues to correctly prepare their offspring for life outside the nest. The results, published in Science, confirm that red squirrel mothers boost stress hormone production during pregnancy, which increases the size and the chances of survival of their pups.

“Natural selection favors faster-growing offspring, and female red squirrels react accordingly to increase their pups’ chances of survival,” says Ben Dantzer, formerly with Michigan State University’s zoology department and now at the University of Cambridge.

To heal heart, treat depression, too

Wilson Valentin-Columbia — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:25:14 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) —Treating people for depression after a heart attack could reduce the risk of death or another attack, new research shows.

Researchers completed a randomized controlled trial with 150 patients with elevated depressive symptoms two to six months after hospitalization for heart disease.

15 minutes of fame may last a lifetime

James Montalto-Stony Brook — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:53:53 +0000

STONY BROOK (US) — Celebrity status may seem like an unending revolving door, but a new study finds fame isn’t so fleeting after all.

Researchers studied the names mentioned in approximately 2,200 US daily newspapers, weeklies, and more infrequent periodicals over a period of several decades using Lydia, a research project in natural language processing (NLP) that reduces text streams to time-series data on the news volume associated with each news entity and their juxtapositions in sentences, articles, and newspapers with other news entities.

Music amps immunity and cuts stress

Katherine Gombay-McGill — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:54:20 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — Before surgery, listening to music is more effective at reducing anxiety than prescription drugs, report researchers.

In a large-scale review of 400 research papers about the neurochemistry of music, researchers have shown that playing and listening to music has clear benefits for both mental and physical health.

Family dinners boost teens’ mental health

Cynthia Lee-McGill — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:22:18 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — Regular family dinners are good for teens, even those who say they can’t talk to their parents easily, a new study finds.

“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life satisfaction,” says Frank Elgar, an associate professor in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry.

The study, conducted by Elgar and colleagues at Queen’s University, examined the relation between frequency of family dinners and positive and negative aspects of mental health.

Enzyme may benefit rare soft-bone disease

Cynthia Lee-McGill — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:06:05 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — People with a heritable form of rickets lack an enzyme that allows bones and teeth to harden properly, researchers find.

Diagnosed in toddlers, X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is the most common form of heritable rickets, in which soft bones bend and deform, and tooth abscesses develop because infections penetrate soft teeth that are not properly calcified.

Eyes reveal reading trouble in schizophrenia

Chris Chipello-McGill — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:39:09 +0000

MCGILL (CAN) — By examining eye movements, researchers have found that people with schizophrenia read differently and with more difficulty.

The findings could lead to earlier detection and intervention for people with the illness.