University of Central Florida researcher worries images of unattainable bodies may encourage steroid use

TV images of muscular, bare-chested men lifting weights and endorsing cologne leave men feeling depressed and unhappy with their muscularity, which may lead to steroid abuse and unhealthy, extreme exercising, University of Central Florida researchers have concluded.

While many studies have shown how images of thin, beautiful models affect women’s self-esteem, UCF psy

New research from the University of Warwick reveals that Queens and prostitutes bared their breasts in the media of the 1600s to titillate the public, and that the exposure of a single breast in portraits and prints was common in portrayals of court ladies. While Janet Jackson’s action of baring her right breast at the Super Bowl earlier this year was considered outrageous, such exposure in 17th century media wouldn’t have raised so much as an eyebrow.

In expensive portraits and c

If asked to imagine a criminal suspect, certain mental pictures come to mind for most people. According to a recent Penn State study concerning people’s memory of news photographs, images that accentuate African-American facial features would be common, and particularly if the crime is violent rather than non-violent.

“Our data suggest that when reading news about violent crime, people seem to unconsciously recall images associated with African-Americans, reflecting the influence of ste

Teens who suffered iron deficiency as infants are likely to score lower on cognitive and motor tests, even if that iron deficiency was identified and treated in infancy, a new University of Michigan study shows.

Betsy Lozoff, who has studied iron deficiency for nearly three decades, followed Costa Rican children who were diagnosed with severe, chronic iron deficiency when they were 12-23 months old and were treated with iron supplements.

She and her collaborators examined 191 child

A team at the University of Rochester has found that the human brain makes much more extensive use of highly complex statistics when learning a language than scientists ever realized. The research, appearing in a recent issue of Cognitive Psychology, shows that the human brain is wired to quickly grasp certain relationships between spoken sounds even though those relationships may be so complicated they’re beyond our ability to consciously comprehend.

“We’re starting to learn just

Learning more about job applicant testing

“My approach to pre-employment personality tests has been zero tolerance vis-à-vis the obvious “crimes”–drug use and theft–but to leave a little wriggle room elsewhere, just so it doesn’t look like I’m faking out the test. My approach was wrong. When presenting yourself as a potential employee, you can never be too much of a suck-up.”
Nickel & Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, page 124.

Learning if job applicants are faking and fin

A study designed to assess the usefulness of a single session of motivational interviewing in drug abuse treatment showed that the single session of the psychotherapy technique had no effect on drug use outcomes. However, results of a subsequent analysis suggest that the therapist may have pressed for change before the individual was ready.

Motivational interviewing is designed to strengthen a person’s commitment to changing their behavior by focusing on such factors as desire, self-ef

Depression is common among opiate users and may serve as a trigger for high-risk drug injection practices, continued drug use, and relapse. Research has shown that individuals with co-occurring depression and substance use are less likely to complete treatment and have poorer prognoses after traditional treatment. However, scientists at the Brown University School of Medicine demonstrated that multisession, combination antidepressant therapy successfully reduced depression in active injection drug us

’Chemical thumbprint’ can help determine if tumor is returning or dying

Brain tumor survivors live with the constant worry that their cancer might come back. And even if they have a brain scan every few months to check, doctors often can’t tell the difference between new cancer growth and tissue changes related to their treatment with radiation or chemotherapy.

That leaves patients with a tricky choice. Do they wait and watch? Let doctors take a brain biopsy? Or, in some cas

For those with type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent kind, a person’s eating habits — their basic eating practices, selections while dining out, meal planning and carbohydrate and vegetable strategies — matter as much or more as medicine for maintaining blood sugar control, says a Penn State researcher.

Dr. Carla Miller, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, says, “Our recent study identified 15 common underlying food habits related to blood sugar control that people with diabete

Improvements in sexual desire, mood, lean body mass and bone density sustained in 3-1/2 year study

Long-term use of AndroGel® (testosterone gel 1% CIII) is safe and effective for men with hypogonadism, a condition sometimes referred to as low testosterone, according to a new study published today in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The study, the first to examine safety and efficacy of testosterone gel up to 42 months, was conducted at multiple rese

Pregnant women living under stressful conditions and those who use tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs have compromised immune system responses that threaten the health of both mother and baby, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University Medical Center.

The results suggest that elevated levels of inflammatory biomarkers called cytokines – small protein molecules that transmit signals within the immune system – are an early risk factor for prem

UMHS study suggests some babies more in tune to mom’s behavior at meals

Mealtime is a nightmare, the baby won’t eat what’s on his highchair, and instead he seems to grab for whatever mom and dad have on their plates. For many parents it’s a familiar and frustrating story.

But while parents may describe their baby as a difficult eater or an overeater, it could be just a sign that the child is more tuned in to the eating habits of those around him.

A n

Some parents-to-be talk to their unborn child, read stories out loud and play classical music to bond and give the baby a head start on life. This uniquely American pregnancy practice, “belly talk,” is the subject of study by a University of Michigan anthropologist.

“It’s one of the ways expectant parents here start to think of their unborn children as persons who are part of their family,” said Sallie Han, a researcher with the Alfred P. Sloan Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Li

The accuracy and intrinsic safety of MRI in diagnosing abdominal and pelvic disease in pregnant women with acute abdominal or pelvic disease make it an excellent choice for the evaluation of these patients, a new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, and the University of San Diego Hospitals in California says.

In the study, MRI was used to image pregnant patients with acute abdominal or pelvic pain. Afterwards, each patient’s clinical course was

For several years, scientists have attempted to identify gene expression changes, using microarrays or ’DNA chips’, in order to understand and predict breast cancer onset, progression, and clinical outcome. Although important insights into breast cancer have been drawn from determining the expression ’profiles’ of thousands of genes in tumors, the interpretation of experimental results has been complicated by the absence of knowledge about the gene expression in ’normal’