Public Health

A meditation technique promoted by the controversial Maharishi organization of Iowa claims significant decreases the severity of congestive heart failure in a small pilot study published in Ethnicity&Disease (Winter 2007). The authors from the University of Pennsylvania evaluated 23 African American men and women, average age 64, who were recently hospitalized with New York Heart Association class II or III congestive heart failure. Participants were randomized to either the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique or health education—in addition to usual medical care. They measured…

Scientists at North Carolina State University have discovered that the fungus-like pathogen that caused the 1840s Irish potato famine originally came from the Andes of South America. By comparing the sequences of both the nuclear and the cellular powerhouse, mitochondria, of nearly 100 pathogen samples from South America, Central America, North America and Europe, Dr. Jean Beagle Ristaino, professor of plant pathology at NC State, and a small team of researchers created "gene genealogies" that point the finger at an Andean point of origin for the pathogen, which is known as Phytophthora…

In case you have been hiding under a rock, there was the scientific equivalent of an earth-shattering thunderclap that emanated from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meetins held February 15th-19th in San Francisco - to be honest, they pretend everything they say is big news, you can see 20 articles from it just on this site - but I mean this was legitimately big news. Was it that they had to take an internal vote to decide if there is global warming? No, they've been run exclusively by Democrats for decades and after "An Inconvenient Truth" they needed to help…

The Scripps Research team, led by neuroscientists Manuel Sanchez-Alavez and Tamas Bartfai, discovered that mice genetically altered to lack a molecule known as the EP3 receptor tend to be more active during their normal sleep cycle and to eat more. In the study, this led to weight increases of up to 30 percent relative to mice with the receptors. The EP3 receptor is one of four types of receptors for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), the most important inflammatory mediator that controls a variety of physiological functions including fever, fertility, and blood pressure. The most common anti-…

Researchers have identified new genetic variations that may be associated with the risk of developing nonfatal venous thrombosis in postmenopausal women, according to a study in the February 7 issue of JAMA. Deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the thigh or leg) and pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the arteries leading to the lungs) cause significant illness and death in adult women, according to the background information in the article. The authors note that despite improved preventive treatments in high-risk patients, the incidence of venous thrombosis (VT) has not decreased. In this…

Just a few whiffs of a chemical found in male sweat is enough to raise levels of the stress hormone cortisol in heterosexual women, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists. The study, reported this week in The Journal of Neuroscience, provides the first direct evidence that humans, like rats, moths and butterflies, secrete a scent that affects the physiology of the opposite sex. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat," as opposed to applying a…

Most parents cannot recognize that their child is overweight, a Deakin University study has revealed, with a majority believing their overweight child is of normal weight. Researchers with Deakin's Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research surveyed more than 1200 families to find out if parents had concerns about their children's weight and if they took any preventative action to avoid obesity in their children. The study of more than 1100 families found that 89 per cent of parents of overweight 5--6 year-olds and 63 per cent of parents of overweight 10--12 year-olds were unaware…

Portable inspection devices that detect food safety and quality problems are being developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. Recent food safety outbreaks highlight the need for "space-age" ways to prevent such problems at every step in the food production process -- from farm field to grocery store or restaurant. Scientists led by Yud-Ren Chen at the ARS Instrumentation and Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., are designing such portable inspection devices by adapting optical technology used for remote sensing of Earth. Prototypes include binoculars with lenses that detect…

Women who become pregnant in spring are more vulnerable to preterm birth than those who conceive in other seasons, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Results of a large study of such seasonal variation in preterm birth, or birth prior to 37 weeks gestation, are being presented at the 27th annual meeting of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, being held today through Saturday at the Hilton San Francisco and Towers in California. "Preterm birth is a complex condition, and risk factors can change with the seasons," said Lisa Bodnar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., assistant…

Also, read Scientific Blogging columnist Seth Robert's interview with Brian Wansink here. People feeling sad tend to eat more of less-healthy comfort foods than when they feel happy, finds a new study co-authored by a Cornell food marketing expert. However, when nutritional information is available, those same sad people curb their hedonistic consumption. But happier people don't. In the January issue of the Journal of Marketing, Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing, Applied Economics and Management at Cornell, and two colleagues describe several studies they devised to…