Health Problems

American girls read and write better than boys

As early as the fourth grade, girls perform better than boys on standardized tests in reading and writing, and as they get older that achievement gap widens even more, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “The common thinking is that boys and girls in grade school start with the same cognitive ability, […]

Health Problems

You probably made a better first impression than you think

After we have conversations with new people, our conversation partners like us and enjoy our company more than we think, according to findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. In our social lives, we’re constantly engaged in what researchers call “meta-perception,” or trying to figure out how other people […]

Health Problems

Building a better brain-in-a-dish, faster and cheaper

Writing in the current online issue of the journal Stem Cells and Development, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe development of a rapid, cost-effective method to create human cortical organoids directly from primary cells. Experimental studies of developing human brain function are limited. Research involving live embryonic subjects is constrained […]

Health News

Revealed: How blue pills can work better than red ones

Why blue pills can work better than red ones  How blue-coloured pills can work better than red ones – even if they are placebos Non-drug treatments such as yoga and herbs are often dismissed as no better than placebos by sceptics. But such methods have just acquired a heavyweight champion who claims in a new […]

Personal Health

Better statistical methods to understand gene interactions leading to cancer development

Research led by Hui-Yi Lin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biostatistics at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, has developed another novel statistical method for evaluating gene-to-gene interactions associated with cancer and other complex diseases. The Additive-Additive 9 Interaction (AA9int) method is described in a paper published in Bioinformatics. “This method can identify combinations […]

Health Problems

Walking tied to better QoL in those with/at risk for CVD

(HealthDay)—Walking is associated with improved quality of life (QoL) among those at risk for or living with cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study published in PLoS One. Viviane de Menezes Caceres, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and colleagues investigated whether physical activity (PA) of different intensity and duration moderates the relationship between […]

Health Problems

A better way to predict heart attacks and strokes in space

Researchers may have developed a more reliable way to predict the risk of heart attack and stroke in astronauts – and the technique may eventually help gauge the same danger for regular folks on Earth, too. NASA astronauts currently undergo a special screening method that scans coronary arteries for a buildup of calcified plaque. This […]