7 tips to keep the holidays happy

Take seven steps for happy holidays as mentioned by Dennis Orthner to prevent tension at family gatherings. – Today’s busy families have moved toward a pattern of individual activities (listening to an iPod, surfing the internet), rather than joint activities, according to Dennis Orthner, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work.

Late developmental growth may risk depression

Children with low weight during infancy or slight developmental delays may be at greater risk for developing depression.
– Psychiatrists remain divided as to how to define and classify the mood and anxiety disorders, the most common mental disorders. Committees across the globe are currently pondering how best to carve nature at its anxious joints for the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), the “gold standard” reference book for psychiatrists.

Kids eat more fruits, vegetables

One of the major contributing factors to the high rate of overweight children in the United States is that they do not consume the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.
– A new UCLA study has found that elementary schools can significantly increase the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income students by providing a lunch salad bar.

Living embryonic heart cells prevent cardiac arrhythmias

Researchers implant embryonic cells into damaged hearts and prevent life-threatening heart arrhythmias.
– When researchers at Cornell, the University of Bonn and the University of Pittsburgh transplanted living embryonic heart cells into cardiac tissue of mice that had suffered heart attacks, the mice became resistant to cardiac arrhythmias, thereby avoiding one of the most dangerous and fatal consequences of heart attacks.

Aging brain failures to communicate

Cognitive decline in aging may be linked to disruption of communication between different regions of the brain.
– A team of Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers has shown that normal aging disrupts communication between different regions of the brain. The new research, which used advanced medical imaging techniques to look at the brain function of 93 healthy individuals from 18 to 93 years old, shows that this decline happens even in the absence of serious pathologies like Alzheimer’s disease.

Gene identified that influences alcohol consumption

Researchers applied a variety of genetic and analytic techniques to identify a chromosomal region, and ultimately a gene, associated with alcohol preference.
– A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Army.

Stars in Sierre Leone AIDS awareness campaign

For a new AIDS awareness advertising campaign in Sierra Leone, Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra have joined forces with UNICEF
– Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra have joined forces with UNICEF to front a new AIDS awareness advertising campaign in Sierra Leone.

Distorted self image the result of visual brain glitch, UCLA study

Body dysmorphic disorder tends to run in families and is especially common in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Thirty percent of people with BDD suffer from eating disorders, which are also linked to a distorted self-image.
– Although they look normal, people suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, perceive themselves as ugly and disfigured. New imaging research reveals that the brains of these people look normal but function abnormally when processing visual details.

Predicting hip fracture risk in postmenopausal women

A team of UC Davis researchers has developed a method that assesses nearly a dozen factors to predict the five-year risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women.
– To help doctors predict the five-year risk of hip fractures in their postmenopausal patients, a team of UC Davis researchers has developed a method that assesses nearly a dozen factors, including age, ethnicity and level of physical activity.

Obesity may be bad for bone health

Obesity and being over-weight may be bad for bone health, and childhood obesity could have a significant, long lasting negative impact on the skeleton. – Obesity may be bad for bone health, revealed by researchers at the University of Georgia. Being overweight is a known risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and a host of other health conditions. Now, obesity and over-weight may also be bad for bone health.

Health Newstrack