Exercise is a lot like spinach … everybody knows it’s good for you; yet many people still avoid it, forgoing its potential health benefits.

But researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who study the effects of exercise on aging point to new findings that may inspire people to get up, get out and get moving on a regular basis. The research team, led by kinesiology professor Edward McAuley, found that previously sedentary seniors who incorporated exercise into t

When someone in our social group makes friends with someone from another background, the chances are that our own prejudices will break down, according to new ESRC-funded research.

A study led by Dr. Adam Rutland, of the University of Kent, backs claims that the more we learn about others, the better we are likely to get on with them.

It found that what is termed the ‘extended contact’ approach, could effectively change children’s attitudes and intended behaviour towards r

Having the right kind of neighbors can help prevent teens from having sex at an early age, according to new research.

A study in Chicago found that some teens were more likely to delay having sex if they lived in neighborhoods where the adults kept a close eye on area children.

The teens who benefited from living in these close-knit neighborhoods were those who had the least parental supervision, such as might occur when both parents work outside the home.

T

Torture impacts mental health of Tibetan refugees

The incidence of mental illness and torture amongst Tibetan refugees is much higher than previously expected, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC International Health and Human Rights. Researchers say that NGOs and foreign governments should be aware that the human rights abuses levied on this vulnerable population may have lasting health effects and are unacceptable under international law.

Ma

Difference in treatment causes women more ongoing heart problems

Women with one of a group of heart problems known as acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are almost one-third less likely to receive invasive treatments when compared with men with the same conditions, according to data from an international study of more than 12,000 people. Consequently, women are about one-sixth more likely than men to suffer additional chest pain or other recurrent heart problems, reports the new pap

Modern Europeans may largely be descended from ’old stone age’ hunter-gatherers

The farmers who brought agriculture to central Europe about 7,500 years ago did not contribute heavily to the genetic makeup of modern Europeans, according to the first detailed analysis of ancient DNA extracted from skeletons of early European farmers.

The passionate debate over the origins of modern Europeans has a long history, and this work strengthens the argument that peopl

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered that pheromones essential for mating behavior in mice are recognized by the nose and not by the vomeronasal system, as researchers had long suspected.

The new studies demonstrate that the main olfactory epithelium, which was presumed to be mostly involved with the sense of smell, plays a critical role in pheromone detection.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Catherine Dulac and colleagues Hayan Yoon,

A study by a leading UK fertility centre has found that the numbers of men – especially students – coming forward as potential sperm donors fell sharply after 2000, almost certainly due to growing awareness that changes in the law would be removing the right to anonymity.

The fall in applications, leading to a significant decline in the numbers recruited, has prompted researchers from the Newcastle Fertility Centre at LIFE to call for urgent action to attract more volunteers – part

Nine percent of children allergic to almonds, pecans, cashews and other tree nuts outgrow their allergy over time, including those who’ve had a severe reaction such as anaphylaxis shock, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Their study, reported in the November issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, also found that clinicians can use blood levels of tree nut antibody (TN-IgE) as an accurate guideline in estimating the lik

Findings support theory that ibs is caused by bacterial overgrowth in the gut

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that a nonabsorbable antibiotic – one that stays in the gut – may be an effective long-term treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disease affecting more than an estimated 20 percent of Americans. The findings, which showed that participants benefited from the antibiotic use even after the course of treatment ended, support previously publishe

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown for the first time that a sample of children who either have or are at high risk for bipolar disorder score higher on a creativity index than healthy children. The findings add to existing evidence that a link exists between mood disorders and creativity.

The small study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research, compared creativity test scores of children of healthy parents with

An observational study of more than 1,000 patients at the Yale Center for Sleep Medicine found that obstructive sleep apnea significantly increases the risk of stroke or death from any cause, and that the risk is linked to sleep apnea severity. The researchers found the increased risk to be independent of other factors, including hypertension. Participants were over age 50 without a history of heart attack or stroke at the start of the study. They were followed for an average of just under 3.5 year

North Carolina parents strongly favor making tobacco use prevention a higher priority across the state, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows.

More than 90 percent of parents surveyed thought it very important for policymakers to take more steps to prevent and reduce tobacco use among N.C. children and adolescents, the study found.

“Over 85 percent of parents asked strongly supported making schools 100 percent tobacco free,” said Dr. Adam O. Gold

The Access Project reveals another financial consequence of medical debt

In a new analysis of the financial consequences that can strike those in the U.S. with health care bills they cannot pay, the Boston-based Access Project released a report today showing that medical debt is threatening homeownership or housing stability for many American working families, including those with health insurance.

“Like other research done in this area, we found a high prevalence of m

Researchers from Bradford and London have been awarded a grant to examine emerging new forms of the traditional family unit and how people value a commitment to them.

Professor Simon Duncan, from the University of Bradford’s department of Social Sciences and Humanities, has been given a research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to work with Miranda Phillips from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) in London.

Their research, entitled

The first study to use a cannabis-based medicine (CBM) for treating rheumatoid arthritis has found that it has a significant effect on easing pain and on suppressing the disease.

Writing in the medical journal Rheumatology [1], the researchers say that although the differences were small and variable in the group of 58 patients they studied, the results are statistically significant and a larger trial is needed to investigate in more detail the effects of CBM on the disease whi