Uncategorized Brain activity can be used to measure how well concepts are understood

Brain activity can be used to measure how well concepts are understood

“Learning about STEM topics is exciting but it can also be quite challenging. Yet, through the course of learning, students develop a rich understanding of many complex concepts. Presumably, this acquired knowledge must be reflected in new patterns of brain activity. However, we currently don’t have a detailed understanding of how the brain supports this …

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Uncategorized For patients with clogged leg arteries, pain-free exercise works too

For patients with clogged leg arteries, pain-free exercise works too

Around 200 million people worldwide have peripheral arterial disease (PAD), where arteries in the legs are clogged, restricting blood flow to the legs and raising the chances of stroke and heart attack. Smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol all increase the risk of PAD. Around 30% of patients have pain and cramping in …

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Uncategorized Statin therapy reduces the risk of stroke in cancer patients after radiation

Statin therapy reduces the risk of stroke in cancer patients after radiation

Cancer patients taking cholesterol-lowering statin medication following radiation therapy of the chest, neck or head had significantly reduced risk of suffering a stroke, and possibly other cardiovascular complications, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. This is the first large …

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Uncategorized Terminally ill who request doctors make decisions undergo more aggressive final treatments

Terminally ill who request doctors make decisions undergo more aggressive final treatments

Terminally ill patients who request that physicians make decisions on their behalf are more likely to receive aggressive treatments in the weeks before they die, according to a Rutgers study. The study, published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, is the first to examine if personal beliefs and attitudes of both patients and …

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Uncategorized A new treatment could protect people with cardiovascular disease

A new treatment could protect people with cardiovascular disease

In a new study, U of A cardiologist Gavin Oudit and his research team found a link between a peptide called apelin and a reduction of abdominal aortic aneurysms that was shown to dramatically reduce mortality in mice. Oudit’s team is hoping to replicate those results in patients suffering from, or at risk for, cardiovascular …

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Uncategorized Many choices and a paralyzing paradox

Many choices and a paralyzing paradox

People faced with more options than they can effectively consider want to make a good decision, but feel they’re unable to do so, according to the results of a novel study from the University at Buffalo that used cardiovascular measures and fictional dating profiles to reach its conclusions. Despite the apparent opportunities presented by a …

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Uncategorized The key dose of nature for health

The key dose of nature for health

Research led by the University of Exeter, published in Scientific Reports and funded by NIHR, found that people who spend at least 120 minutes in nature a week are significantly more likely to report good health and higher psychological wellbeing than those who don’t visit nature at all during an average week. However, no such …

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Uncategorized Blood pressure doesn’t drop during a sauna

Blood pressure doesn’t drop during a sauna

Contrary to the previous assumption, blood pressure does not drop during a sauna session – it rises. And this increase is even comparable to the increase caused by a short, moderate workout. This is one of the conclusions of a recent study carried out by sports scientists at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in …

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Uncategorized Human brains: tuned for musical pitch

Human brains: tuned for musical pitch

“We found that a certain region of our brains has a stronger preference for sounds with pitch than macaque monkey brains,” said Bevil Conway, Ph.D., investigator in the NIH’s Intramural Research Program and a senior author of the study published in Nature Neuroscience. “The results raise the possibility that these sounds, which are embedded in …

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Uncategorized Danger avoidance can be genetically encoded 

Danger avoidance can be genetically encoded 

An organism’s phenotype can change during its lifetime due to epigenetic mechanisms. For example, in the microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, starvation or heat stress prompts animals to adapt to these conditions by varying the expression of multiple genes. At the level of the genome, these changes can be made durable by altering how tightly the …

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