Authors of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET caution that the provision of zinc supplementation to pregnant women in developing countries could impair the early mental development of their children. Zinc deficiency is common in developing countries due to a diet that is low in animal protein and high in fibre. Supplements given to Bangladeshi pregnant women have previously been shown to improve infant growth and to reduce susceptibility to infectious diseases. In a follow-up study, Sally Gra
Studies might improve understanding of leading cause of mental retardation in girls By studying gene mutations in patients with the complex set of behavioral and neurological symptoms that accompany Rett syndrome, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Huda Zoghbi and her colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine have designed a mouse model that faithfully recapitulates the disease down to its distinctive hand-wringing behavior. The development of the mouse, reported in the July
Studies of cirrus clouds by some 450 scientists may lead to improved forecasts of future climate change. During July in southern Florida, scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. will join others to investigate high tropical cirrus clouds composed of tiny ice crystals.The researchers hope to determine how the clouds form, how they limit the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth and how they trap heat rising from the surface and lower atmos
Popeye was right — eat your spinach. In fact, add some fresh-cut apples to that spinach salad.
Two new animal studies by researchers at the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair and James A. Haley Veterans Hospital bolster a growing body of evidence that certain fruits and vegetables may protect the brain against the ravages of age. The complementary research papers appear in today’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
“If these pre-clinical fin
One or two drinks a day can raise the risk of developing hypertension in some men, according to two Japanese studies. The studies, published in the July issue of Alcohol: Clinical Experience and Research, found that men who had as few as one or two glasses of alcohol on a regular basis had a much higher incidence of hypertension than those who did not drink at all. Several U.S. studies have found that moderate drinking habits can actually decrease the risk of heart disease. A
Field Museum scientists describe “loop and pull” in Nature Snakes are known to swallow their prey whole, which limits the size of what they can eat. But now scientists have discovered that a species of snake can tear apart its prey. This snake loops its body around a crab to hold one end while using its mouth to pull off legs or rip the crab’s body into pieces. This “loop and pull” method allows a snake to eat crabs that are relatively huge – far too large to swallow whol
Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent placebo arthroscopic surgery were just as likely to report pain relief as those who received the real procedure, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Baylor College of Medicine study published in the July 11 New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers say their results challenge the usefulness of one of the most common surgical procedures performed for osteoarthritis of the knee. “The fact that the effecti
Almonds are a prime example, providing more alpha-tocopherol vitamin E than any other nut, and lowering LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels
Three studies released this week give the term “health nut” new meaning, as they tie the consumption of nuts with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and sudden heart attacks.
Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that the antioxidant vitamin E and other antioxidants in nuts, leafy green vegetabl
By the age of three, Catholic children are already twice as likely to say they don`t like the police compared to Protestant children. By the age of six, a third of children are identifying with one of the two main communities and just under one in six (15%) are making sectarian statements according to a major University of Ulster research report published today.
The report, called ‘Too Young to Notice? The Cultural and Political Awareness of 3-6 Year Olds in Northern Ireland,’ is the first
It is well known that tobacco consumption causes a respiratory disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), characterized by formation of emphysema and progressive destruction of the lung. When pulmonary vessels are altered in this disease, life expectancy of the patients worsens. It has not been possible to establish the cause, but it has been attributed to low oxygen concentration in the blood. However, changes in the pulmonary vessels have also been found in COPD
A new public opinion poll from MORI shows that over 60% of British adults expect the impossible from science.
The MORI poll, commissioned to mark the opening of the new Science Media Centre, shows that 71% of the public look to scientists to give an ‘agreed view’ about science issues and 61% expect science to provide 100% guarantees about the safety of medicines. Yet most scientists insist that science cannot and should not deliver either.
Dr Mark Peplow, Science Information Officer
pparently credible websites may not necessarily provide higher levels of accurate health information, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Researchers examined the relation between credibility features and accuracy of contents of 121 websites that provided information on five common health topic: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ankle sprain, emergency contraception, menorrhagia, and female sterilisation.
The entire contents of the selected websites were assessed for three credib
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