Men and women use different brain areas to achieve similar IQ results, UCI study finds
While there are essentially no disparities in general intelligence between the sexes, a UC Irvine study has found significant differences in brain areas where males and females manifest their intelligence.
The study shows women having more white matter and men more gray matter related to intellectual skill, revealing that no single neuroanatomical structure determines general intelligen
Northwestern Memorial cardiologist authors editorial in January 20 edition of New England Journal of Medicine
Alan Kadish, M.D., associate chief of Cardiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and associate director of the Northwestern Cardiovascular Institute, authors an editorial entitled “Prophylactic Defibrillator Implantation – Toward Evidence-Based Approach,” which accompanies the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT) reported in the January 20 edition of the New Eng
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in which the brain is stimulated using a magnetic coil held outside the skull, has shown some promise in both studying the brain and in treating mental disorders such as depression, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease. Such magnetic fields induce tiny electrical currents inside the skull that alter the activity of neural pathways.
While TMS offers the advantages of relative safety and noninvasiveness, the results of its use in both rese
The first study to examine the probability of HIV infection per act of heterosexual sex among a population with multiple sexual partners has found that uncircumcised men have more than twice the risk of acquiring HIV than do circumcised men.
In the study, published in the Feb. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, Jared Baeten and colleagues from the United States and Kenya collected detailed sexual data from a group of male Kenyan truckers and, us
If you’re a middle-aged guy who’s packed on the pounds and now is battling to take them off, it’s a 50-50 shot that your jeans are fitting tighter because of your genes, according to a Saint Louis University School of Public Health study.
“About 50 percent of adult onset weight change remains genetic,” says James C. Romeis, Ph.D., professor of health services research at Saint Louis University School of Public Health and the principal investigator of the study, wh
New technology has allowed researchers from the University of Chicago to measure, for the first time, how closely well-trained hospital staff comply with established guidelines for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The results reveal room for improvement.
In the 19 January 2005 issue of JAMA, the researchers show that, even in the hospital setting, chest compressions during CPR are often too slow, too shallow and too frequently interrupted, and ventilation rates are usually
According to conventional wisdom, old dogs and new tricks aren’t a good match. But a new study of beagles finds that regular physical activity, mental stimulation, and a diet rich in antioxidants can help keep aging canine–and perhaps human–brains in tip-top shape. The research, supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is among the first to examine the combined effects of these interventions and suggests that diet and mental e
Infertility prevents roughly 6.1 million people in the United States from having children. As a result, infertile individuals and couples commonly seek to become parents through assisted reproductive technology (ART). Since 1981, approximately 177,000 babies have been born via ART: and, in one year alone (2000), some 100,000 cycles of ART were attempted, resulting in 60,253 live births. Beyond the factors of infertility and a candidate’s ability to afford treatment, little is known about the qual
Researchers led by a Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School team found that wheezing — a key physiological component of asthma — requires the interaction of genes in several locations. The work, involving multiple independent verification, demonstrates the complexity of the genetic predisposition to asthma.
The study, “Interacting genetic loci cause airway hyperresponsiveness,” appears online in Physiological Genomics, published by the American Physiological
Researchers have found that a single mutation in a recently discovered Parkinson’s disease gene is responsible for 5 percent of inherited Parkinson’s disease cases. The finding opens the door to the possibility of genetic screening for the LRRK2 gene mutation, which is believed to be the most common genetic cause of inherited Parkinson’s disease identified to date.
The study, conducted by William C. Nichols, PhD, a geneticist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital M
Combination of behavioral enrichment and antioxidant supplementation in diet reveal clear-cut benefits
A new study of beagles led by researchers at the University of Toronto at Scarborough underscores the importance of using a combination of diet and behaviour therapies to curb the progressive decline in the ability to learn that occurs with advanced aging. “We were really surprised just how clear-cut the benefit is of using a combined therapy,” says lead investigator and psycho
Scientists have found a protein in the eye which plays a critical role in how an allergic response develops over a 24-hour period. The University College London (UCL) team hope their discovery will pave the way for new treatments for allergic diseases such as asthma, eczema and hay fever.
In a study published today in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Professor Santa Jeremy Ono and colleagues from UCL’s Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields
Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) are less likely to be discharged from the hospital with a prescription for an ACE inhibitor and other recommended medications if they are treated by a non-cardiologist, according to a study written by pharmacists at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and published January 15 in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. Beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, and aldosterone antagonists have been shown to significantly decrease morbidity and mortality and are
Smoking marijuana is associated with increased risk of many of the same symptoms as smoking cigarettes–chronic bronchitis, coughing on most days, phlegm production, shortness of breath, and wheezing, according to a Yale study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
In addition, marijuana smoking may increase risk of respiratory exposure by infectious organisms, such as fungi and molds, since cannabis plants are contaminated with a range of fungal spores, said Brent M
Blood pressure levels drop in response to vegetarian diet, says lead article in Nutrition Reviews January 2005
A new scientific review shows that high blood pressure can be reduced with diet changes, especially a vegetarian diet. The new report analyzes the results of published studies and concludes that vegetarian populations have lower rates of hypertension, “the silent killer.” This report, authored by nutritionist Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is the
’Nanoshells’ enhance sensitivity to chemical detection by factor of 10 billion
New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that tailored nanoparticles known as nanoshells can enhance chemical sensing by as much as 10 billion times. That makes them about 10,000 times more effective at Raman scattering than traditional methods.
When molecules and materials scatter light, a small fraction of the light interacts in such a w
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