CONDITIONS
|
Neurology Stories and Local Doctors
| CURRENT STORIES |
YOUR LOCAL DOCTOR |
Five More Predictors of Long Life
It's amazing the range of common attitudes and conditions in people's lives that seem to consistently contribute to their living for a long time. Here are five more of them:
A circle of close friends. Research has shown that chronic stress has a weakening effect on the immune system and ages cells faster, reducing longevity by four to eight years. "Good interpersonal relationships act as a buffer against stress," says Micah Sadigh, an associate professor of psychology at Cedar Crest College, in Allentown, Pa. (Read more about Five More Predictors of Long Life)
Related Links:
|
Four Predictors of Long Life
Evidence is mounting that some rather surprising attributes and habits of a person's life can pretty well foretell whether that man or woman will live to a ripe old age. Here are four of them:
-- Having strong legs. Leg strength translates into good flexibility, balance and endurance, which are crucial for avoiding the falls and other accidents that shorten so many seniors' lives. It's good to do squats, lunges and stair climbing to kill two birds with one stone: losing weight and gaining strength. (Read more about Four Predictors of Long Life)
Related Links:
|
Women in Red Attract Men More
In a study that has powerful implications for dating, the fashion industry, product design and marketing, the color red was shown to distinctly boost men's attraction to the opposite sex.
"It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as color can be having an effect on our behavior without our awareness," said Andrew Elliot, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. (Read more about Women in Red Attract Men More)
Related Links:
|
Five Healthful Brain Exercises
Doctors repeatedly counsel that we should be greatly concerned about maintaining muscle mass and building aerobic (heart and lung) health as we age.
But just as important, many say, is to work on the health of our brains. As Americans live longer and longer in this, the 21st century, the threat of contracting Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia is growing. This threat can be reduced, medical observers say, by practicing the following five exercises. (Read more about Five Healthful Brain Exercises)
Related Links:
|
A Step Toward Overcoming Paralysis
U.S. scientists have created a machine that allows the brain cells of paralyzed monkeys to circumvent a simulated damaged spinal cord and move muscles well enough to play a computer game.
The University of Washington researchers, led by Chet Moritz and Eberhard Fetz, used a computer-controlled device to stimulate chemically immobilized muscles. Not only cells in the motor cortex - the brain area that controls movement - were investigated, but sensory cells, too. And they worked equally well. In fact, the scientists found that two-thirds of the neurons they tried could be utilized to move musculature. (Read more about A Step Toward Overcoming Paralysis)
Related Links:
|
Compound in Indian Curry Attenuates Strokes
Curry may also be a pharmaceutical.
Research that's being conducted at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine is showing that curcumin, the biologically active compound in curry's main spice, turmeric, can diminish the size of blood clots in the brain. These clots form when a blood vessel bursts in the brain, causing a hemorrhagic stroke. These comprise 17 percent of strokes, according to the American Stroke Association.
As a bonus, curcumin reduces one's chances of coming down with cancer and Alzheimer's disease. (Read more about Compound in Indian Curry Attenuates Strokes)
Related Links:
|
An Alternative, Ethical Source for Stem Cells
A new source of stem cells could be as good as embryonic stem cells for researching and developing treatments for a range of serious diseases, and without the ethical implications of embryonic stem cells. Scientists from Germany and the UK have discovered this new source: routine biopsies of men's testicles.
Stem cells from embryos have the potential to become any cell in the body, since a whole person grows from a single fertilized egg. But ethical issues arise because extracting stem cells requires the destruction of embryos. (Read more about An Alternative, Ethical Source for Stem Cells)
Related Links:
|
As Goes Oral Health, So Goes General Health
Many studies are showing a persistent connection between gum disease and other ailments that afflict corners of the body far afield from the teeth.
Specifically, when gingivitis (early-stage gum disease) or full-blown periodontal disease is present, it's often the case that doctors find that a patient has diabetes, kidney disorders, preterm labor, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis or even Alzheimer's disease. (Read more about As Goes Oral Health, So Goes General Health)
Related Links:
|
Virtual Reality Room to Treat Psychological Disorders
A $6 million virtual reality "immersive room" that's been constructed in a cyberpsychology lab in Canada will be used to treat patients with everything from air-travel phobias to gambling addictions to eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The innovative, high-tech psychotherapeutic tool is presided over by Stéphane Bouchard, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology and is co-founder of the cyberpsychology lab at the Université du Québec en Outaouais in Gatineau, Quebec. Bouchard's virtual reality room is the only one of the 10 in the world devoted exclusively to clinical psychology. (Read more about Virtual Reality Room to Treat Psychological Disorders)
Related Links:
|
Smoking's Link to Back Problems
Smoking causes cancer, lung disease and heart attacks, and disrupts body chemistry in such dangerous ways that a host of other ailments can result. So it's not surprising that even back problems might be caused by nicotine and smoke ingestion.
Indeed, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) says smoking diminishes the blood supply to the bones, and saps them of calcium, both of which increase the possibility of the onset of osteoporosis. Suggestive of the relationship between smoking and back issues, one's chances for success after back surgery improve dramatically if one is a nonsmoker or has ceased smoking. (Read more about Smoking's Link to Back Problems)
Related Links:
|
|
|