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Anti-Psychotic Medication Not To Blame For Violent Crime - Analysis

Anti-Psychotic Medication Not To Blame For Violent Crime - Analysis

If you examine all of the high-profile crimes that have happened any time recently, they share one thing; psychiatric medication. It was once common to ask someone who was acting bizarrely if they were 'off their meds' but it became more common to worry they are on them.
A new paper in The Lancet took a retrospective look at population data and think the fears about medication may be misplaced. The psychiatrists, led by Dr. Seena Fazel of Oxford University, used Swedish national health registries to study the psychiatric diagnoses, and any subsequent criminal convictions, in over 80,000 patients (40,937 men and 41,710 women) who were prescribed anti-psychotic or mood stabilizing medication from 2006 to 2009.

Handshake Grip: A New Tool To Measure The Speed Of Aging?

Handshake Grip: A New Tool To Measure The Speed Of Aging?

What can a handshake tell about you? Culturally, different things. In some places, it indicates confidence, in others, aggression or weakness.
Demographers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis say it can show the rates of aging among different population groups.

Would We Be Better Equipped To Survive The Bubonic Plague Today?

Would We Be Better Equipped To Survive The Bubonic Plague Today?

The Bubonic Plague wiped put a giant swath of the affected populations, it was truly an Old Testament wrath-of-God phenomenon - but it also led to a wave of agricultural innovation and the creation of a middle class (How The Bubonic Plague Made Europe Great).
It also did what folklore says about things that don't kill you - it made us a little stronger.

Study Finds Genetic Patterns In Preeclampsia

Study Finds Genetic Patterns In Preeclampsia

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Different manifestations of preeclampsia, such as early vs. late timing or typical vs. high severity, appear to have distinct genetic underpinnings, suggesting that they may need to be studied and treated differently. That and several other insights are described in a newly published comprehensive review of genetic studies of the condition, which produces life-threatening complications such as high-blood pressure in as many as 8 percent of pregnancies in the United States.

Breast Tomosynthesis After Screening Mammography Reduces Need For Ultrasound, Biopsies

Breast Tomosynthesis After Screening Mammography Reduces Need For Ultrasound, Biopsies

Leesburg, VA, May 5, 2014—Breast tomosynthesis in the diagnostic workup for one- or two-view focal asymmetry detected at screening mammography resulted in less use of ultrasound, fewer biopsies, and higher positive predictive value for cancer than when diagnostic exams involved only 2D mammography, according to a study conducted at the University of Virginia.
"Tomosynthesis has been evaluated in screening populations and been shown to decrease recall rates," said researcher Brandi Nicholson, "but studies in the diagnostic setting are lacking."

First Living Organism That Transmits Added Letters In DNA 'Alphabet' Created

First Living Organism That Transmits Added Letters In DNA 'Alphabet' Created

A bacterium whose genetic material includes an added pair of DNA "letters," or bases, not found in nature has been created. The cells of this unique bacterium can replicate the unnatural DNA bases more or less normally, for as long as the molecular building blocks are supplied.
The team of researchers behind this have been working since the late 1990s to find pairs of molecules that could serve as new, functional DNA bases—and, in principle, could code for proteins and organisms that have never existed before.

Kelp Watch 2014 - No Radiation From Fukushima Detected On West Coast

Kelp Watch 2014 - No Radiation From Fukushima Detected On West Coast

The Kelp Watch 2014 collaboration has some good news - the West Coast shoreline shows no signs of ocean-borne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.Kelp Watch 2014 uses coastal kelp beds as detectors of radioactive seawater arriving from Fukushima via the North Pacific Current. The new results are from samples primarily collected from Feb. 24 through March 14. During the first phase of the project, samples were taken from 38 of the 44 sites originally identified, and the data being presented comes from an analysis of 28 of the 38 sample sites represented.

Gangs: Offender Today, Victim Tomorrow

Gangs: Offender Today, Victim Tomorrow

Gang culture gets you one way or the other according to a new paper. Gang members are twice as likely to become both a victim and an offender of a crime than non-gang members.
Why? Single acts of violence often lead to retribution between gangs as a whole, according to David Pyrooz, an assistant professor in criminal justice at Sam Houston State University, principal author of the study. 
"In other words, gang members are not distinctly offenders or victims; instead, gang membership is a common source of both forms of violence," said Pyrooz. "Today's criminal offender is tomorrow's victim, and today's victim is quite likely to be tomorrow's criminal offender."

Pinocchio Rex: Long-nosed Cousin Of Tyrannosaurus Rex

Pinocchio Rex: Long-nosed Cousin Of Tyrannosaurus Rex

Scientists have discovered a new species of long-snouted tyrannosaur, nicknamed Pinocchio rex, which stalked the Earth more than 66 million years ago.
The dinosaur, officially named Qianzhousaurus sinensis, was unearthed in southern China and confirms the existence of long-snouted tyrannosaurs. Researchers say the anima was a fearsome carnivore that lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous period. 
The newly found ancient predator looked very different from most other tyrannosaurs. It had an elongated skull and long, narrow teeth compared with the deeper, more powerful jaws and thick teeth of a conventional T. rex.

Mexican Magic Mushroom Component Psilocybin Inhibits Negative Emotions

Mexican Magic Mushroom Component Psilocybin Inhibits Negative Emotions

Emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and joy are how we know people to adjust to their environment and react flexibly to stress and strain.
They are the vital signs of cognitive processes, physiological reactions, and social behavior. How emotions are processed is linked to structures in the brain, i.e. to what is known as the limbic system. Within this system, researchers believe the amygdala plays a central role – above all it processes negative emotions like anxiety and fear.
If the activity of the amygdala becomes unbalanced, depression and anxiety disorders may develop.