Transcendental Meditation Helps Patients With Heart Disease Lower Cardiac Disease Risks By 50 percent
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Although the whole population can benefit from a physically active lifestyle, in part through reduced obesity risk, a new study shows that individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity can benefit even more. The research, carried out by Dr. Ruth Loos from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues, published in this week’s PLoS Medicine suggests that the genetic predisposition to obesity can be reduced by an average of 40% through increased physical activity. Check the end of the report to download the freely available open-access study.
The pharmaceutical industry is a “market for lemons,” a market in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product and can profit from selling products less effective and less safe than consumers are led to believe, according to an analysis by sociologist Donald Light that will be presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Light is a professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Nearly 1 million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest – and most immature – in their kindergarten class, according to new research by a Michigan State University economist. The study will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Health Economics.
Imagine technology that allows you to get inside the mind of a terrorist to know how, when, and where the next attack will occur. That is not nearly as far-fetched as it seems, according to a new Northwestern University study. Say, for purposes of illustration, that the chatter about an imminent terrorist attack is mounting, and specifics about the plan emerge, about weapons that will be used, the date of such a dreaded event and its location. Rosenfeld and Northwestern graduate student John B. Meixner are co-investigators of the study, outlined in a paper titled “A Mock Terrorism Application of the P300-based Concealed Information Test,” published recently in the journal Psychophysiology.
Two powerful new tests developed by psychologists at Harvard University show great promise in predicting patients’ risk of attempting suicide. The work may help clinicians overcome their reliance on self-reporting by at-risk individuals, information that often proves misleading when suicidal patients wish to hide their intentions. Both new tests are easily administered within minutes on a computer, giving quick insight into how patients are thinking about suicide, as well as their propensity to attempt suicide in the near future.
Scientists believe that your brain has a built-in “negativity bias.” In other words, as we evolved over millions of years, dodging sticks and chasing carrots, it was a lot more important to notice, react to, and remember sticks than it was for carrots. That’s because – in the tough environments in which our ancestors lived – if they missed out on a carrot, they usually had a shot at another one later on. But if they failed to avoid a stick – a predator, a natural hazard, or aggression from others of their species – WHAM, no more chances to pass on their genes.
A new study finds that those who know that an unexpected event is likely to occur are no better at noticing other unexpected events – and may be even worse – than those who are not expecting the unexpected. The study, from Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology and in the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, appears this month as the inaugural paper in the new open access journal i-Perception. Test your own skill! Several videos from the study are embedded in this report.
Have you ever seen a real brain? I remember the first time I saw one, in a neuropsych class: the instructor put on rubber gloves to protect against the formaldehyde preservative, popped the lid off of a lab bucket, and then pulled out a brain. It didn’t look like much, a nondescript waxy yellowish-white blob rather like a sculpted head of cauliflower. But the whole class went silent. We were looking at the real deal, ground zero for consciousness, headquarters for “me.”
Hypertension is one of the most common health concerns in the U.S. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 50 million or more Americans have high blood pressure, and a dramatic rise is anticipated as the baby boomer generation moves into maturity. Also by their estimate, worldwide prevalence of hypertension may exceed 1 billion. The [...]
Readers interested in pain management, hypnosis, or neurofeedback (EEG Biofeedback) may want to take the time to read the brief, well written article, “Hypnosis for Chronic Pain Management: A New Hope.” The author (Mark P. Jensen, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine) speaks to three trends in hypnosis’ role in pain [...]
Part 3 brings about the final perspective on this hopefully interesting series. Obrinski, Logan, and N-Maranid discuss how, in their opinion, medical patents skew biomedical research toward problems of the rich world. Readers are encouraged to first read Part 1 and Part 2 to gain a more complete understanding of the issues that surround medical [...]
Patients with coronary heart disease who practiced the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation® technique had nearly 50 percent lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to non-meditating controls, according to the results of a first-ever study presented during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., on Nov.16, 2009.
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