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Testosterone-fuelled Infantile Males Might be a Product of Mom’s Behaviour

By Guest PostMay 19, 2012Healthaggression, behavioural traits, breastfeeding, environmental factor, infancy, key hormone, male reproductive organs, maternal diet, maternal smoking, parent child interactions, Richard E Tremblay, saliva sample, sexual behaviour, testosterone, testosterone level, twins, university of montreal

By comparing the testosterone levels of five-month old pairs of twins, both identical and non-identical, University of Montreal researchers were able to establish that testosterone levels in infancy are not inherited genetically but rather determined by environmental factors. “Testosterone is a key hormone for the development of male reproductive organs, and it is also associated with behavioural traits, such as sexual behaviour and aggression,” said lead author Dr. Richard E. Tremblay of the university’s Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment. “Our study is the largest to be undertaken with newborns, and our results contrast with the findings gained by scientists working with adolescents and adults, indicating that testosterone levels are inherited.” The findings were presented in an article published in Psychoneuroendocrinology on May 7, 2012. (more…)

Study Shows Link Between Prepregnancy Obesity and Lower Child Test Scores

By Guest PostMay 17, 2012Healthchild test scores, cognitive function, obesity, obesity during pregnancy, prepregnancy, prepregnancy obesity

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function – as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years – than are mothers with a healthy prepregnancy weight, new research suggests. (more…)

People with Paralysis Control Robotic Arms using Brain-Computer Interface

By Guest PostMay 17, 2012Health, Technologybrain computer interface, braingate neural interface, braingate system, brainstem stroke, deka prosthetic arm, people with paralysis, people with tetraplegia

A new study in Nature reports that two people with tetraplegia were able to reach for and grasp objects in three-dimensional space using robotic arms that they controlled directly with brain activity. They used the BrainGate neural interface system, an investigational device currently being studied under an Investigational Device Exemption. One participant used the system to serve herself coffee for the first time since becoming paralyzed nearly 15 years ago.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — On April 12, 2011, nearly 15 years after she became paralyzed and unable to speak, a woman controlled a robotic arm by thinking about moving her arm and hand to lift a bottle of coffee to her mouth and take a drink. That achievement is one of the advances in brain-computer interfaces, restorative neurotechnology, and assistive robot technology described in the May 17 edition of the journal Nature by the BrainGate2 collaboration of researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). (more…)

Feeding Tubes May Worsen Pressure Ulcer Risk

By Guest PostMay 16, 2012Healthadvanced dementia, feeding tube insertion, gastric feeding tube, getting an ulcer, peg feeding tubes, pressure ulcer, propensity match cohort

In the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers report that despite the conventional wisdom that feeding tubes help dementia patients resist pressure ulcers, feeding tubes actually are associated with an increased risk of ulcers developing. The tubes also don’t promote healing.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study led by Brown University researchers reports that percutaneous endoscopic gastric (PEG) feeding tubes, long assumed to help bedridden dementia patients stave off or overcome pressure ulcers, may instead make the horrible sores more likely to develop or not improve. (more…)

This is Your Brain on Sugar: UCLA Study Shows High-Fructose Diet Sabotages Learning, Memory

By Guest PostMay 15, 2012Healthbrain dysfunction, corn syrup, fatty acids, fructose in fruits, high fructose diet, omega-3, synaptic function

Eating more omega-3 fatty acids can offset damage, researchers say

Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. (more…)

New Biomarker Test Predicts Arthritis at Much Earlier Stage, MU Researchers Say

By Guest PostMay 15, 2012Healtharthritic joints, biomarker test, early detection system, osteoarthritis, predict future arthritis

Early detection system would allow better treatment options

COLUMBIA, Mo. — More than 27 million adults currently suffer from osteoarthritis, which is the most common form of arthritis. In the past, doctors have been unable to diagnose patients with arthritis until they begin to show symptoms, which include joint pain and stiffness. (more…)

Evolution’s Gift May Also be at The Root of a Form of Autism

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Healthautism, cognitive abilities, evolutionary mechanism, fragile x syndrome, gene activity, learning disabilities, psychiatric disorders

A recently evolved pattern of gene activity in the language and decision-making centers of the human brain is missing in a disorder associated with autism and learning disabilities, a new study by Yale University researchers shows. (more…)

Insect Glands May Illuminate Human Fertilization Process

By Guest PostMay 12, 2012Health, Scienceallan spradling, bee, cellular physiology, egg, fertilization, fruit fly, gene, hr39, human, insect glands, jianjun sun, lrh 1, mammals, receptor protein, reproductive glands, secretion, secretion glands, sperm

Baltimore, MD — Insect glands are responsible for producing a host of secretions that allow bees to sting and ants to lay down trails to and from their nests. New research from Carnegie scientists focuses on secretions from glands in the reproductive tract that help sperm survive and guide the sperm on the trip to fertilize an egg. The gene that controls the development of these glands in fruit flies provides important information about gland development in all insects, as well as potential clues to similar human reproductive glands. Their work is published this month in Current Biology.

When a female fruit fly receives sperm from a male fruit fly, lubricating secretions in her reproductive tract activate the sperm, store it, and guide it to fertilization. Without the aid of these secretions, sperm would not make it to the eggs. Carnegie’s Allan Spradling and Jianjun Sun demonstrated that the gene in charge of regulating the development of fruit fly secretion glands is called Hr39. It encodes a steroid receptor protein. (more…)

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