For as long as I can remember, my skin has been different. As a kid, I thought it was just super sensitive. I blushed easily and would get bright red, raised welts any time I was touched with enough pressure, brushed against something, or even lightly scratched an itch. Whenever…
The practice of meditation leaves marks in the brain
A new study conducted at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, shows that the subjective feeling of well-being experienced by many people with the practice of meditation is correlated with specific changes in the brain. The research, which appeared in Brain and Cognition, examined the effects of the technique known…
Ethnobotanical medicine is effective against the bacterium causing Lyme disease
Lyme disease, also called borreliosis, is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern hemisphere. It is caused by the spirochete (corkscrew-shaped) bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and close relatives and mainly spread through the bite of infected ticks. Currently, more than 300,000 new cases are reported in the USA each year,…
New virus cases fall; WHO says China bought the world time
China reported 143 virus deaths and a dip in new cases Saturday while the head of the World Health Organization praised the country’s efforts to contain the new disease, saying they have “bought the world time” and that other nations must make the most of it. France, meanwhile, reported Europe’s…
The Real Reasons Women of Color Lack Access to Health Care
Just as many health issues affect women more or more severely than men — breast cancer, death from heart attacks and osteoarthritis to name a few — there are conditions and illnesses that plague women of color more regularly and harshly. These include diabetes, infertility and sickle cell disease. When…
Early life experiences biologically and functionally mature the brain, research shows
Experiences early in life have an impact on the brain’s biological and functional development, shows a new study by a team of neuroscientists. Its findings, which centered on changes in mice and rats, reveal how learning and memory abilities may vary, depending on the nature of individual experiences in early…
Study shows that hepatitis C drug EPCLUSA has the potential to inhibit coronaviruses
Columbia Engineering researchers have been developing strategies to cope with the new strain of coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, that has caused a global public health emergency. In their latest study, “Nucleotide analogues as inhibitors of viral polymerases,” posted now in bioRxiv, the researchers recognized that the hepatitis C virus and coronaviruses use…
Study links daylight saving time to 28 fatal car accidents per year in the US
Several U.S. states have considered doing away with the practice of changing the clocks forward or back in favor of permanent Daylight Saving Time (DST), while experts around the world suggest permanent Standard Time is a better alternative for health and wellbeing. A study appearing January 30 in the journal…
New insights into how the human brain solves complex decision-making problems
A new study on meta reinforcement learning algorithms helps us understand how the human brain learns to adapt to complexity and uncertainty when learning and making decisions. A research team, led by Professor Sang Wan Lee at KAIST jointly with John O’Doherty at Caltech, succeeded in discovering both a computational…
Gaining or losing weight can raise the risk of brast cancer returning
Women who lose or gain weight around their middle in the year after breast cancer surgery may double the risk of tumours returning A total of 1,317 women with breast cancer were analysed for weight changes Those with oestrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer saw their risk go up Tumours…
The Best Monthly Wellness Subscriptions to Keep You Feeling Great
For gym rats who want to stay cute: Sweat & Sparkle Box Finding a fitness-geared box that doesn’t make you want to roll your eyes and cancel your gym membership is a challenge. But this Sweat & Sparkle Box is designed to help you with your fitness and nutrition goals…