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Spirituality Correlates to Better Mental Health Regardless of Religion, Say MU Researchers

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2012Culture, Healthbelief, buddhists, cancer, catholics, christian monk, correlation, dan cohen, dong yoon, forgiveness, guy mccormack, Health, jesus christ, jews, laura schopp, mental health, muslims, Nirvana, personality trait, phenomena, positive, protestants, religion, spinal cord injury, spiritual belief, spiritual inclination, spirituality, stress, stroke, traumatic brain injury, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world’s major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person’s faith, according to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health – particularly mental health – and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual’s spiritual inclinations.

“In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait,” said Dan Cohen, assistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors of the study. “With increased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe. What was interesting was that frequency of participation in religious activities or the perceived degree of congregational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality, religion and health.” (more…)

Common Antifungal Drug Decreases Tumor Growth and Shows Promise as Cancer Therapy

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2012Healthantifungal drug, blood vessel growth, cancer therapy, fibrosarcoma tumors, tumor growth

AUSTIN, Texas — An inexpensive antifungal drug, thiabendazole, slows tumor growth and shows promise as a chemotherapy for cancer. Scientists in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin made this discovery by exploiting the evolutionary relatedness of yeast, frogs, mice and humans. (more…)

Yale Team Discovers How Stress and Depression Can Shrink the Brain

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Health, Scienceanimal model, antidepressant therapy, ashley lepack, bhavya voleti, brain, brain cell, brain mass, brain volume, chronic stress, cognitive impairment, depression, emotional, gata1, gene, gene activation, genetic switch, h j kang, mounira banasr, pattern, pawel licznerski, prefrontal cortex, ronald duman, shrink, stress, symptoms of depression, synaptic connection, transcription factor, yale

Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now a team of researchers led by Yale scientists has discovered one reason why this occurs — a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

The findings, reported in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, show that the genetic switch known as a transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells, which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass in the prefrontal cortex. (more…)

UCLA Uses New Device to Replace Aortic Valve in Patients Who Can’t Have Open-Heart Surgery

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2012Healthaortic stenosis, aortic valve, blood flow, calcium deposits, cardiopulmonary bypass, chest wall, heart, heart failure, jonathan tobis, open heart surgery, quality of life, richard j shemin, ronald reagan, tavr, tavr procedure, ucla, ucla medical center, valve replacement

UCLA has performed its first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), using a new device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to replace an aortic valve in a patient who was not a candidate for open-heart surgery. The procedure took place on Aug. 9.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is part of a growing trend of hospitals nationwide offering this new minimally invasive procedure. (more…)

Common Parasite May Trigger Suicide Attempts

By Guest PostAugust 18, 2012Health, Scienceamerica, biological change, biological mechanism, brain, brain cell, damage, depression, harmless, infection, inflammation, lena brundin, parasite, parkinsons disease, suicide attempt, symptom, t gondii, teodor postolache, toxoplasma gondii, united states

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A parasite thought to be harmless and found in many people may actually be causing subtle changes in the brain, leading to suicide attempts.

New research appearing in the August issue of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry adds to the growing work linking an infection caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite to suicide attempts. Michigan State University’s Lena Brundin was one of the lead researchers on the team.

About 10-20 percent of people in the United States have Toxoplasma gondii, or T. gondii, in their bodies, but in most it was thought to lie dormant, said Brundin, an associate professor of experimental psychiatry in MSU’s College of Human Medicine. In fact, it appears the parasite can cause inflammation over time, which produces harmful metabolites that can damage brain cells. (more…)

Recipe for Starting a Family: Add Walnuts

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2012Health, Sciencea linolenic acid, catherine carpenter, dietary habits, essential nutrient, fertility, infertility clinic, leah fitzgerald, lin xun, male factor, men, omega-3, recipe, samantha esguerra, semen quality, sperm parameter, walnuts, wendie robbins, western style diet

UCLA School of Nursing study shows walnuts improve sperm quality

Eating about two handfuls of walnuts a day may provide men the added boost they need to improve their fertility, according to a breakthrough study by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing.

Findings from the study, “Walnuts Improve Semen Quality in Men Consuming a Western-Style Diet: Randomized Control Dietary Intervention Trial,” are published Aug. 15 in the “papers in press” section of the peer-reviewed journal Biology of Reproduction.

This is the first study to look at the effects of a plant source of omega-3 on sperm, the researchers say. Statistics from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine show that one in six couples is infertile, with about 40 percent of these cases due to a male factor. (more…)

Meditation Reduces Loneliness

By Guest PostAugust 15, 2012Health, Sciencealzheimer's disease, brain, chronic inflammation, crp, david creswell, depression, expression, heart disease, helen lavretsky, immune system, infection, inflammation, inflammatory gene, loneliness, mbsr, meditation, meditative technique, michael irwin, mindfulness, natural component, nf kb, pro inflammatory gene, protein marker, risk, tai chi, yoga

UCLA study also finds that mindfulness technique benefits immune system

Many elderly people spend their last years alone. Spouses pass and children scatter. But being lonely is much more than a silent house and a lack of companionship. Over time, loneliness not only takes a toll on the psyche but can have a serious physical impact as well.

Feeling lonely has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, depression and even premature death. Developing effective treatments to reduce loneliness in older adults is essential, but previous treatment efforts have had limited success. (more…)

A Hands-on Approach to Treating Patients with Pulmonary Disease

By Guest PostAugust 15, 2012Healthaaron bohrer, biomarker, blood, breathing, chronic, copd, daniel jones, donald sefcik, drug free, hands on, hands on treatment, john wang, kerry melenovsky, lung diseases, medical care, michigan state university, obstructive pulmonary disease, osteopathic manipulative treatment, plasma, pulmonary disease, sham treatment, sherman gorbis, william pintal

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers at Michigan State University are working to show how a noninvasive, drug-free form of hands-on medical care can help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease improve their breathing.

The team from MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will apply four osteopathic manipulative treatments to a group of patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. One of the most common lung diseases, COPD typically manifests as chronic bronchitis (a long-term cough with mucus) or emphysema (destruction of the lungs over time). (more…)

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