Futurity.org » health

Weekend delivery safe for high-risk babies

Emily Boynton-Rochester — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:39 +0000

U. ROCHESTER (US) — Weekday delivery is no safer for babies born with a birth defect than weekend or evening deliveries, new research shows.

Presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual conference, the study finds that infants with birth defects that were delivered at night or over the weekend fared just as well as those delivered on a weekday.

Practice, practice, practice makes muscles efficient

Jim Scott CU-Boulder — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:20:47 +0000

U. COLORADO-BOULDER (US) — Practice makes perfect, but continued practice could make you more efficient.

A new study looked at how test subjects learned particular arm-reaching movements using a robotic arm.

100-year-old brains may help treat mentally ill

Steve Chaplin-Indiana — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:39:33 +0000

INDIANA U. (US) — Using a simple blood test, DNA from brains preserved more than a century ago may help improve diagnosis and treatment for people with psychological illnesses.

The brain samples under investigation come from turn-of-the-century patients who suffered from mental disorders at Central State Hospital, an asylum established in the mid-1800s for the state of Indiana’s mentally ill that now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum.

No consensus on mastectomy follow-up

Jason Cody-Michigan State — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:35:00 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — A new study reveals substantial differences—by surgeon and institution—in the rates of follow-up surgeries for women who have undergone a partial mastectomy to treat breast cancer.

Those differences, which cannot be explained by a patient’s medical or treatment history, could affect both cancer recurrence and overall survival rates, according to the research, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Girls ‘rewire’ brain to beat depression

Brooke Donald-Stanford — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:52:22 +0000

STANFORD (US) — Using brain imaging and a video game, teen girls at risk of depression are being taught how to train their brains away from negative situations.

An ongoing study’s early findings using a small sample suggest such rewiring is not only possible, it is surprisingly easy.

Older flies with sexy smell turn on males

Mary Masson-Michigan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:01:47 +0000

U. MICHIGAN (US) — Changes in pheromone production that occur with age can reduce sexual attractiveness, according to a recent study with fruit flies.

Pheromones are chemicals produced by an organism to communicate or attract another. The new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, examined how pheromones play a role in the sexual attractiveness and aging process of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, says Scott D. Pletcher, senior author of the study, associate professor in the department of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan.

Spoon-fed babies may become fatter kids

Emma Rayner-Nottingham — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:18:59 +0000

U. NOTTINGHAM (UK) — Babies fed solid finger food may be less likely to become overweight as children than those who are spoon-fed pureed food.

The babies who ate solid food were also more likely to develop healthier food preferences, according to the University of Nottingham study.

Uncertain choices light up ‘explorer’ brains

David Orenstein-Brown — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:52:51 +0000

BROWN (US) — People who consistently select for uncertainty may harness the computational power of a specific brain region.

Some people—”explorers”—choose to grapple with uncertainty head on. It’s a strategy of maximizing rewards by discovering whether as yet unexplored options might yield better returns. While some might stick with the usual, “explorers” might order the special in a restaurant because they aren’t sure they’ll like it.

Prenatal thyroid drugs don’t boost kids’ IQ

Chris Jones-Cardiff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:03:39 +0000

CARDIFF (UK) — Children of mothers screened and treated for reduced thyroid function during pregnancy show no signs of improved IQ, new research shows.

Scientists took blood samples from more than 20,000 women at about 13-weeks of pregnancy to test for thyroid function who were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

Fast-food diners say, ‘Downsize me’

Keith Brannon-Tulane — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:55:27 +0000

TULANE (US) — Asking consumers if they would like a smaller portion may be a better approach to curb overeating than posting calorie counts.

The study from Tulane University found that when servers asked customers whether they’d like to “downsize” starchy side dishes at a Chinese fast-food restaurant as many as a third gladly cut back—saving an average 200 calories each meal.

“Our goal was to test whether the invitation to downsize a meal component would be embraced by consumers and, importantly, whether the approach would be more effective than a purely information-based approach—in this case calorie labeling,” says lead study author Janet Schwartz, assistant professor of marketing at Tulane University.