Blind man walking: With no visual awareness, man navigates obstacle course flawlessly – Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that people can successfully navigate an obstacle course even after brain damage has left them with no awareness of the ability to see and no activity in the visual cortex, a region of the brain’s cortex that is primarily responsible for processing visual inputs.
21st century could be the “age of paranoia”, according to a leading psychiatrist. Dr Daniel Freeman. – Paranoia is on the increase and could go unchecked unless we take urgent action, claims a leading scientist. Dr Daniel Freeman, a Wellcome Trust fellow, warns that changes in how we live and work could mean that we are entering an “age of paranoia.”
Volunteering more than 15 hours a week causes a sharp decrease in satisfaction with life and emotional health. – Doing volunteer work is good for your well being, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing ? with those volunteering more than 15 hours a week showing a sharp decrease in their satisfaction with life and emotional health, according to an academic from The Australian National University.
The United States Congress has passed legislation — The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. – The following is a statement from Mark Covall, Executive Director, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems on passage of The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008:
In a small study of 20 audiorecorded interactions, physicians seldom responded empathetically to concerns raised by patients with lung cancer, according to a report in the September 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. – In consultations with patients with lung cancer, physicians rarely responded empathically to the concerns of the patients about mortality, symptoms or treatment options, according to a study led by a University of Rochester Medical Center researcher.
Chemical suppressing hunger hormone yields result as good as bariatric surgery to reduce obesity. – Johns Hopkins scientists report success in significantly suppressing levels of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin in pigs using a minimally invasive means of chemically vaporizing the main vessel carrying blood to the top section, or fundus, of the stomach.
A study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers states that women exposed to negative life events are at greater risk of breast cancer. – Happiness and optimism may play a role against breast cancer while adverse life events can increase the risk of developing the disease – breast cancer, according to a study by Professor Ronit Peled, at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
Xenazine (tetrabenazine) for the treatment of chorea i.e. jerky, involuntary movements in people with Huntington?s disease. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Xenazine (tetrabenazine) for the treatment of chorea in people with Huntington’s disease. Chorea is the jerky, involuntary movement that occurs in people with this disease.
Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children?s cognitive development, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. – Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children’s cognitive development, revealed by researchers. It is already known that children and adults who were breastfed as infants have higher scores on IQ tests and other measures of cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) development than those who were fed formula.
U-M researchers look at cannabinoids, genes, medicines and brain scans to find better anxiety treatments. – Right now, about half of all people who take medicine for an anxiety disorder don’t get much help from it. And doctors have no definitive way to predict who will, and who won’t, benefit from each anti-anxiety prescription they write.
