Intermittent fasting, and fasting in general, has been a popular fad health gimmick, but the science isn't on its side. Instead, proponents believe mice are little people so if mice weaned on starvation diets lived longer, people would also.
In a meta-analysis of hundreds of clinical trials involving thousands of patients, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that therapeutic approaches using precision medicine, which emphasizes the use of individual genetics to refine cancer treatment, showed improved response and longer periods of disease remission, even in phase I trials.
The findings are published in the June 6, 2016 issue of JAMA Oncology.
ITHACA, NY-- When gardeners look at a petunia, they see the vibrant and versatile blooms of the most popular bedding plant in the U.S. But when plant scientists look at a petunia, they see an important model plant species--one that just became more useful with the release of its parents' genomes.
Psychological characteristics link genes with upward social mobility, according to data collected from almost 1000 individuals over four decades. The data suggest that various psychological factors play a role in linking a person's genetic profile and several important life outcomes, including professional achievement, financial security, geographic mobility, and upward social mobility.
The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The study, led by psychological scientist Daniel W. Belsky of Duke University School of Medicine, builds on previous research indicating a genetic continuum that predicts individuals' educational achievement.
Though they meet thousands of new people in their lifetime, what underlying psychological factors might couples use to stay committed to their partners? According to a recent study, people in relationships actually see tempting people outside of their partnership as less attractive. This perceptual bias could represent a non-conscious method of self-control that assists in overcoming temptations in order to facilitate long term goals of staying with a romantic partner.
Mothers who practiced responsive parenting -- including reacting promptly and appropriately to hunger and fullness cues -- were less likely to have overweight babies at their one-year checkup than those who did not, say health researchers.
Parents should expect infants to triple their birth weight by their first birthday, but some babies gain weight more quickly than others. This rapid weight gain is associated with risk for becoming obese later in life.
"Over 20 percent of 2- to 5-year-olds in the U.S. are already overweight," said Ian M. Paul, professor of pediatrics and public health sciences, Penn State College of Medicine. "This highlights the need to start interventions early in life."
Boys high in cognitive empathy attracted an average of 1.8 more girl friendships than low empathy counterparts, as revealed by a landmark study - When Empathy Matters: The Role of Sex and Empathy in Close Friendships.
The Australian Research Council-funded research, led by Professor Joseph Ciarrochi at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University, has been published in the Journal of Personality.
It is the first study to examine the extent that adolescent males and females select empathic classmates as friends. And the conclusion based on a study of 1,970 Year 10 students in Queensland and New South Wales (average age of 15.7 years) is that girls are more likely to nominate empathic boys as friends.
A team of researchers belonging to the Prehistory Area of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has published the results of its recent investigations in the San Cristóbal Rock-shelter (Sierra de Cantabria. Laguardia. Álava, Basque Country). This is the first time that empirical data have been presented and which demonstrate the use of rock-shelters as enclosures (for sheep/goats) by agropastoral communities from the early Chacolithic onwards (about 5,000 years ago) in the area of the Basque Country and throughout the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Researchers and clinicians from hospitals and universities from many countries have collaborated to better understand diseases of platelets -- the little cells that help blood to clot. They have developed a more effective, comprehensive and cheaper panel of genetic tests that are already being used to benefit both patients and the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.
Development of the test is described in the journal Blood, published in print on Thursday June 09, 2016.
How many medals will each country win in Rio at this Summer's Olympic Games? Researchers who derived predictions from two different models anticipate that the USA, China, Russia, and the UK will retain their top positions in the medals ranking, but Brazil and Japan are expected to make the biggest gains.
As described in a new Significance article, the first model primarily describes a country's medals as a function of the number of medals won at the previous Olympic Games, and the second model includes additional socio-economic variables.
The move from life on land to life in the sea has led to the evolution of a new sense for sea snakes, a University of Adelaide-led study suggests.
The international team, led by researchers in the University's School of Biological Sciences, studied tiny and poorly understood structures on the heads of snakes called 'scale sensilla'. The research has been published in the Royal Society journal Open Biology.
"Land snakes and many lizards have small raised structures on the scales on their heads -- called scale sensilla -- that they use to sense objects by direct touch," says lead author Jenna Crowe-Riddell, University of Adelaide PhD student.
A new study reports on the results of a randomized clinical trial that looked at whether the antidepressant citalopram would enhance complicated grief treatment psychotherapy, and if citalopram would be efficacious without it in an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.
Complicated grief occurs in about 7 percent of bereaved individuals and it is characterized by persistent maladaptive thoughts, dysfunctional behaviors and poorly regulated emotions that interfere with the ability to adapt to loss. Co-occurring depressive symptoms are common but complicated grief is clearly differentiated from major depression.
While American news media speculates about how much of Omar Mateen's motivation for his attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando was due to Muslim beliefs and how much was due to anti-gay sentiment, the ease with which someone can enter soft targets has renewed concern about the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France, especially after the lack of domestic intelligence made it relatively easy for November’s terrorist attacks on the Stade de France and the January 2015 shootings at Charlie Hebdo.
