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…)
For artist Geraldine Ondrizek, an art professor at Portland’s Reed College, her story begins with the tragic loss of her child to a condition caused by a genetic anomaly. It’s a story that starts with her efforts to piece together her family’s genetic history and that has brought her, in the years since, to a beautiful intersection of science and art that today defines the very essence of her work.(more…)
Discovery could help lead to prevention of radical surgery for rare childhood disease
Hemimegalencephaly is a rare but dramatic condition of infancy in which half the brain is malformed and much larger than the other half. Its cause is unknown, but the current treatment is radical: the surgical disconnection and removal of the diseased half of the brain.(more…)
Compared to normal cells, cancer cells have a prodigious appetite for glucose, the result of a shift in cell metabolism known as aerobic glycolysis or the “Warburg effect.” Researchers focusing on this effect as a possible target for cancer therapies have examined how biochemical signals present in cancer cells regulate the altered metabolic state.(more…)
UCLA biochemists have mapped the structure of a key protein–RNA complex that is required for the assembly of telomerase, an enzyme important in both cancer and aging.(more…)
Heart transplant patients are notorious for developing an aggressive form of coronary artery disease that can often result in heart failure, death or the need for repeat transplantation. The condition can also have a negative impact on future cardiac procedures, such as stenting.(more…)
