A team of researchers, including Mary-Frances O’Connor at the UA, has found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers.
The death of a spouse can be one of life’s most distressing events, and for many years bereavement researchers have noted increased mortality risk in some widows and widowers. This has been called the “widowhood effect.”
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Hannover Medical School in Germany, the University of Ulm in Germany and the University of Arizona have found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers. (more…)
For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering approving a drug that helps prevent someone from acquiring HIV. It’s called Truvada, and has been approved for use since 2004 to treat infected people.
Now it has been shown to protect healthy people who are exposed to HIV. The UW’s International Clinical Research Center, within the Department of Global Health, played a key role in examining the drug’s effectiveness for HIV prevention.
Researchers Connie Celum and Jared Baeten led a study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, of pre-exposure prophylaxis among heterosexual couples in Kenya and Uganda. One partner had HIV (and was not yet eligible for HIV treatment) and the other partner did not have HIV. Uninfected partners were given either Truvada or Tenofovir (both antiretroviral drugs) or a placebo. (more…)
Copper alloys may make more hygienic cooking surfaces than stainless steel, according to a recent study by Sadhana Ravishankar of the UA department of veterinary science and microbiology. Her lab group discovered that copper alloys have antimicrobial effects against the foodborne pathogen Salmonella enterica.
Each year a tiny, rod-shaped species of bacteria with a fondness for proliferating on human food causes numerous cases of food poisoning around the world, sometimes leading to severe illness and even death.(more…)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study reveals a simple strategy that people can use to minimize how angry and aggressive they get when they are provoked by others.
When someone makes you angry, try to pretend you’re viewing the scene at a distance – in other words, you are an observer rather than a participant in this stressful situation. Then, from that distanced perspective, try to understand your feelings.
Researchers call this strategy “self-distancing.” (more…)
Heart attacks during pregnancy are uncommon, but the prevalence of heart disease in pregnant mothers has increased over the past decade as more women delay pregnancy until they are older. These women, who are generally less physically active than their younger peers, tend to have higher cholesterol levels and are at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes.
While research has shown that the heart typically functions better during pregnancy due to a rise in cardiac pumping capacity to meet increased demands, a new UCLA study in rats and mice demonstrates that heart attacks occurring in the last trimester or late months of pregnancy result in worse heart function and more damaged heart tissue than heart attacks among non-pregnant females.
Researchers at the UCL Institute of Neurology have found that giving the drug rotigotine as a skin patch can improve inattention in some stroke patients.
Hemi-spatial neglect, a severe and common form of inattention that can be caused by brain damage following a stroke, is one of the most debilitating symptoms, frequently preventing patients from living independently. When the right side of the brain has suffered damage, the patient may have little awareness of their left-hand side and have poor memory of objects that they have seen, leaving them inattentive and forgetful. Currently there are few treatment options. (more…)
How many times during your childhood did your mom tell you that you needed to sit or stand up straight or pull your shoulders back as she walked by, and remind you that if you didn’t start having better posture you would end up hunched over for the rest of your life? Whether or not you actually listened, mom may have been on to something when she pulled those shoulders back and forced you to stand taller. Having good posture has a variety of benefits, so the next time you find yourself slouching keep these things in mind:
1. It helps you become more confident: Slouching over or hunching your shoulders makes you look and feel less poised overall, giving off an aura of self-doubt. Simply standing up straighter gives you an air of confidence that can translate into an actual boost in confidence and self-assuredness.
2. Fosters a healthy back and spine: If you sit or stand with bad posture for long enough you’ll start to notice that your back, shoulders, and neck will begin to ache. This is because your spine and back are not meant to be curved over like that. Try standing and sitting up straight instead; you’ll immediately feel better, and your back and spine will thank you. (more…)
Health programs should focus on men’s strengths to help them thrive amid societal stressors
COLUMBIA, Mo. –Black men, especially those living in low-income, urban areas, face many societal stressors, including racial discrimination, incarceration and poverty. In addition, these men have poorer health outcomes. Now, a University of Missouri faculty member has studied these men’s efforts to negotiate social environments that are not designed to help them attain good health and success.(more…)
