A better life for people with general anxiety and panic disorders may only be a phone call away, according to a University of Pittsburgh study published in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The researchers report that telephone-based care for people with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder significantly improves both their symptoms of anxiety and depression and their mental health-related quality of life. The Pitt researchers also found the inte
Completing a daily crossword and enjoying a range of activities and interests has long been accepted as a recipe for maintaining a healthy brain in older age, but the reasons for this have never been clear. Now, scientists at the University of Edinburgh are seeking to identify brain’s ’survival’ genes which lie dormant in unused brain cells, but are re-awakened in active brain cells. These awakened genes make the brain cells live longer and resist traumas such as disease, stroke and
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London have identified a molecule that could be targeted to treat the cognitive impairment in people with Down syndrome. The study, published in Archives of General Psychiatry found that people with Down syndrome have higher levels of myo-inositol in their brains than people without the condition, and that increased levels of this molecule are associated with reduced intellectual ability.
The researchers also suspect
Statistics isn’t what normally comes to mind what people think of cancer research, but a new statistical tool developed at the Stanford University School of Medicine could smooth out some of the fits and starts that have plagued the effort to understand and treat the disease.
The tool is at the heart of a new study that divides similar-looking kidney tumors into subtypes depending on which of thousands of genes are turned on or off. The idea behind this and related studies
All through the ages, humans have dreamily gazed at those shape-shifting cotton-balls floating gently across the sky-the clouds.
Atmospheric scientists-Earth’s professional cloud-gazers–have learned a great deal about clouds over the decades, particularly with the advent of satellites during the 1960s and 70s. But despite years of research and the emergence of increasingly sophisticated tools, scientists are still at odds over one of the most basic issues of all: how t
As global populations swell, farmers are cultivating more and more land in a desperate bid to keep pace with the ever-intensifying needs of humans.
As a result, agricultural activity now dominates more than a third of the Earth’s landscape and has emerged as one of the central forces of global environmental change, say scientists at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Navin Ramankutty, an assistant
Some forms of colorblindness may actually afford enhanced perception of some colors, according to findings reported this week in Current Biology by John Mollon and colleagues at the University of Cambridge.
The most common form of colorblindness is an X-chromosome-linked variant form of color vision technically known as deuteranomaly. Colors are detected by humans through the combined action of three different types of so-called cone photoreceptors, each of which is optimally acti
What would the Earth be like if one fine day all the snow melted away?
Obviously, it would be a much warmer place. But what’s interesting is how much warmer, says Stephen Vavrus, an associate scientist at the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Working with computer-generated simulations, Vavrus found that in the absence of snow cover, global temperatures would likely spike by about eight-tenths of a degree Celsius. That increase represent
Texas–Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have identified a key biochemical connection between the hepatitis C virus and liver cancer.
The molecular mechanism is similar to the one that links the human papilloma virus (HPV), the cause of genital warts, and cervical cancer, according to Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, the senior author of a paper on the discovery that will be published this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National A
Many congestive HF-associated physiological changes were also suppressed, but the mechanisms aren’t known; level of exercise is critical but results come despite antecedent hypertension
A classic clinical dilemma faces doctors treating patients with congestive heart failure (CHF): while exercise generally protects the normal heart from cardiovascular disease, will exercise potentially “improve the prognosis of patents with CHF, or (will it place) a further excessive demand on an a
As long as children have carried their books and belongings in backpacks they have complained of shoulder and back pain. A University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine-led team found that how loads are distributed under backpack straps may help identify the source of shoulder and back pain in children.
The study, published in the December 5, 2005 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, concludes that the average backpack load that children a
A person is in trouble in a crowded place, but no-one steps over to help. The situation is called the bystander effect, and it appears that the more people watching, the less likely it is that anyone will respond.
But new research shows that even when accompanied by another person, individuals are much more likely to intervene if the situation is dangerous or violent, and when they feel empathy for the victim. The findings are published in the latest edition of the European J
Cholera remains a public health problem in countries without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Researchers are trying to come up with theoretical models for cholera that allow them to understand how an outbreak happens, how it can best be contained, and how it might be prevented. Until now, the existing cholera models have not been able to describe and explain actual outbreaks very well. Taking new experimental data into account, David Hartley and colleagues (of the Universit
’We are beginning to understand how an animal without an adaptive immune system can still protect itself,’ Smith said, adding: ’The sea urchin may use genes that are different from antibodies and possibly even different mechanisms from humans.’
Inside that seemingly docile sea urchin there’s a surprisingly active innate immune system, probably utilizing previously unrecognized immune mechanisms, that may also actively function in vertebrates, including huma
The stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies’ ability to heal from wounds by at least one day, a new study has shown.
Moreover, if the couple’s relationship is routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be even doubled. The results of this study have major financial implications for medical centers and health care insurers.
The new study, reported in the curre
Research in monkeys suggests that the perimenopause – the five to 10 years before a woman’s menopause – is a critical time for preventing heart disease and osteoporosis.
“Research in animals suggests that the five years before menopause are when bone is lost and when heart vessel disease begins to accelerate,” according to Jay Kaplan, Ph.D., from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, who spoke today at the annual meeting of the American College of Veterinary Patholog
Feedback
