Fitness, Health, and Wellness

"Studies show that anxiety affects the sense of smell and balance, how we judge faces and perceptions of our personal space."
http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/10/8-fascinating-facts-about-anxiety.php#utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PsychologyBlog+%28PsyBlog%29 ;

(Medical Xpress)—One way cells promote tumor suppression is through a process called senescence, an irreversible arrest of proliferation.

"A partnership between scientists at the University of Wollongong and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne has led to a breakthrough in tissue engineering, with researchers growing cartilage from stem cells to treat cancers, osteoarthritis and traumatic injury.

In work led by Associate Professor Damian Myers of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne – a node of the UOW-headquartered Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) – scaffolds fabricated on 3D printing equipment were used to grow cartilage over a 28-day period from stem cells that were extracted from tissue under the knee cap..."
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20130708-24666.html
 

"Your brain can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes before it needs a break, Widrich reports. Why? It's the ultradian rhythm, a cycle that's present in both our sleeping and waking lives.

As Tony Schwartz has reported, this was first discovered by Nathan Kleitman, a groundbreaking sleep researcher. He called it the "basic rest-activity cycle": the 90-minute cycles during which you progress through the five stages of sleep. Kleitman found the 90-minute pattern in our days, too, as we move from higher to lower alertness--the ultradian rhythm." 

Full post on Fast Company site here: http://www.fastcompany.com/3013188/unplug/why-you-need-to-unplug-every-90-minutes

"Problems with a key group of enzymes called topoisomerases can have profound effects on the genetic machinery behind brain development and potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to research announced today in the journal Nature. Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have described a finding that represents a significant advance in the hunt for environmental factors behind autism and lends new insights into the disorder's genetic causes."
Full post at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-08-potential-autism.html ;

(Medical Xpress)—Chronic worriers are more likely to use analytical thought processes when making decisions rather than relying on 'gut instincts', according to a new University of Sussex study published this week.

"To win the war against weight gain, it turns out that every skirmish matters – as long as the physical activity puts your heart and lungs to work. In a new study published today in the American Journal of Health Promotion, University of Utah researchers found that even brief episodes of physical activity that exceed a certain level of intensity can have as positive an effect on weight as does the current recommendation of 10 or more minutes at a time." 
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-brisk-minute.html ;

A compound found in broccoli could be key to preventing or slowing the progress of the most common form of arthritis, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

 "Tissue engineers have begun to print a variety of body parts. Here’s what the operating room of the future may hold." 

"Every hourly increase in daily television watching at 29 months of age is associated with diminished vocabulary and math skills, classroom engagement (which is largely determined by attention skills), victimization by classmates, and physical prowess at kindergarten, according to Professor Linda Pagani of the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130807205042.htm?goback=%2Egde_4755415_member_264313726