ΥΓΕΙΑ health

Maria Dalamagka Despite the widely accepted ‘What is beautiful is good’ stereotype, our findings suggest that the beautiful strive for conformity rather than independence, and for self-promotion rather than tolerance,” writes a research team led by Lihi Segal-Caspi of the Open University of Israel. In other words, the positive traits we attribute to good-looking people are simply a matter of stereotyping. But this study, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests the unusually attractive have a distinct set of values—and they’re not, well, pretty. The experiment featured 236 university students (mean age 29), all of whom completed detailed questionnaires designed to uncover their personality traits and deeply held values. Half the participants—118 women—were then videotaped for roughly one minute apiece as they walked around a table and read a weather forecast while looking into the camera. The other 118 (a mixed group, 59 percent female and 41 percent male) su...

Maria Dalamagka Among 446 older adults (mean age, 79.9 years) screened, 3 measures of low-contrast visual acuity were significantly associated with moderate bilateral hearing loss in analyses controlling for age and comorbid conditions, report Marilyn E. Schneck, PhD, and colleagues at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, California. "It is suggested that audiologists consider including a brief test of low contrast vision, such as low contrast acuity. Likewise, eye care practitioners should consider performing a screening test of hearing on their patients. Depending on the severity of the dual sensory loss, referral for rehabilitation may be called for," they write. Although most people can adapt well to moderate loss of either vision or hearing, dual sensory impairment can lead to significant decline in quality of life, said Dr. Schneck, a scientist at Smith-Kettlewell and a research scientist at the University of California at Berkeley School of Opt...

Maria Dalamagka  Does moderate, prudent drinking protect the heart and arteries? Two analyses say, actually that the answer is yes. But they raise a bigger issue: What should we do with this information? The answer to that question may come as a surprise. Let's look at the findings first. Researchers from the University of Calgary, University of Texas Health Science Center, and Harvard Medical School scoured the medical literature for long-term studies that compared drinking habits with the development of cardiovascular disease. Of the 4,235 studies they identified, 84 met the researchers' strict criteria. When combined, these studies included more than two million men and women who were followed for an average of 11 years. Using a technique called meta-analysis, the researchers pooled results from the 84 publications and analyzed the data as if they were from one gigantic study. Compared with no alcohol use, moderate alcohol use over the average study duration • reduced the...

Maria Dalamagka  Poor glycemic control , whether too high or too low, is associated with decreased survival in diabetic patients on hemodialysis, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, MD, MPH, PhD, professor of medicine, pediatrics, and epidemiology at the University of California at Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, reported here at Kidney Week 2011: American Society of Nephrology 44th Annual Meeting. Dr. Kalantar-Zadeh reported that in a 6-year study, moderate hyperglycemia raised the risk for all-cause or cardiovascular mortality of hemodialysis patients with diabetes, and levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) below 6% or blood glucose below 100 mg/dL were associated with an elevated risk for death. According to most studies, he said, if glucose is well controlled, there are improvements in mortality, microvascular complications, and cardiovascular disease. One study showed that for every 1% decrease in HbA1c, deaths related to diabetes decreased 21%, microvascular complications de...

Maria Dalamagka Women who suffer either physical or sexual abuse early in life have a significantly increased risk for subsequent cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction and stroke, a new study suggests. The study, using data from the Nurses' Health Study II, shows that women who reported they had experienced forced sexual activity during childhood or adolescence had a greater than 50% increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The relationship with physical abuse was significant but less robust, the authors note, and will have to be confirmed in other data sets. This is the third study to show that forced sex among girls is linked with at least a 50% increase in cardiovascular event risk, lead author Janet Rich-Edwards, ScD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, said at a press conference here. The relationship was only partially explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. ...

Maria Dalamagka  Autism may be an advantage in some settings and should not be viewed as a defect that needs suppressing, according to a provocative article published online November 2 in Nature. Recent data and my own personal experience suggest it's time to start thinking of autism as an advantage in some spheres, not a cross to bear," said author Laurent Mottron, MD, PhD, from the University of Montreal's Centre for Excellence in Pervasive Development Disorders. According to the article, the definition of autism itself is biased, being characterized by "a suite of negative characteristics," focusing on deficits that include problems with language and social interactions. However, in certain settings, such as scientific research, people with autism exhibit cognitive strength."We think that the kind of strengths and cognitive profile that we find in autistics are much more specific than scientists usually acknowledge," said Dr. Mottron."Unfort...

Maria Dalamagka  Deep in the jungles of  West Africa, there are places where obesity is completely unknown. The natives just don’t get fat. A professor doing population studies discovered this curious fact. After watching this group and comparing them to others, he found something unique about their diet: The locals use a paste derived from the seed of a “bush mango” to thicken their soups. This professor, an expert in nutritional biochemistry at the University in nearby Cameroon, created an extract of this seed and ran his own tests. After 10 weeks, the people taking this extract dropped an average of 28 pounds and dropped 6 inches around their waist. The results were published in a national, peer-reviewed medical journal. FOX News picked up the story from Reuters when the study hit the media last year. Along with a healthy diet and regular exercise, you can use this very same natural extract to help drop unwanted fat.