Students asked to go 24 hours without laptops, cellphones, iPods or TV showed symptoms similar to those of drug addicts suffering from withdrawal.
The study, conducted by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda at the University of Maryland, asked a class of 200 university students to go an entire day and night without access to any media between Feb. 24 and March 4. The students were allowed to pick which day to complete their assignment. Afterwards they were asked to blog about their experience.
According to the study, most students were “skeptical” and “fearful” when the assignment was announced. Many of the students failed to complete the assignment because they didn’t know what to do with themselves, because they could not communicate as usual with friends and family and because there was nowhere they could go where they wouldn’t “be swimming in media.” Many showed signs of withdrawal, craving and anxiety and were unable to function as well.
Afterwards students wrote on average 550 words on their blog about their experiences — 250 more than required.
Early calcium nutrition might play a more prominent role than thought, according to a study presented yesterday at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
Scientists bottle-fed 12 piglets a calcium-rich diet while feeding another 12 a calcium-deficient diet during the first 18 days of their life. Blood samples were taken frequently and they were weighed every day. At the study’s conclusion, the researchers took samples from the animals’ bones and organs, as well as tested their hind legs for bone density and strength.
The results found that the bone density and strength of the calcium-deficient piglets was compromised. Further, the tissue samples taken from the bone marrow found the material — which will eventually become bone cells — were instead already becoming fat cells. Fewer osteoblasts or bone forming cells might means the bones would be less able to repair themselves after injury.
Genetic variations between smokers and non-smokers and even within smokers alone are associated with smoking frequency and the ability to quit, according to a study published in Nature Genetics.
Using data from 16 large genetic studies worldwide, researchers with the Tobacco and Genetics Consortium (TAG) compared the DNA marker profiles of smokers and non-smokers to see if genetic variants affect whether people smoke or not. They also compared the DNA of smokers to see if variants affected the number of cigarettes smoked each day, the age when people started smoking and if smokers could quit.
According to the paper, three genetic regions associated with the number of cigarettes smoked each day, one was associated with when someone started smoking and one variant was associated with quitting. The variants associated with heavy smoking are located on chromosome 15; the area has nicotine receptor genes and has already been associated with nicotine dependence and lung cancer.
Researchers hope further understanding of genetic mechanisms can lead to better therapies to help people quit.
Obese individuals who lose some weight experience improved immune response, especially in individuals with Type II diabetes.
Published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism, Australian researchers examined individuals who were clinically obese and had either type II diabetes or prediabetes. They were limited to a diet of between 1,000 and 1,600 calories a day for six months. Participants also had gastric banding surgery three months into the study.
The results showed an 80 per cent reduction in the number of “pro-inflammatory” T-helper cells — cells produced by body fat that can cause damage — as well as reduced activation of other immune cells.
“This is the first time it has been shown that modest weight reduction reverses some of the very adverse inflammatory changes we see in obese people with diabetes,” said Katherine Samaras, one of the study’s authors.
New information out of The George Washington University School of Medicine shows that autism could be more easily diagnosed and that its effects could be more reversible than previously thought.
Published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers put together a twin study in which one sibling had autism and the other did not. Their genes were compared and differences in genetic expression between twins were noted.
Researchers found that a protein produced by two genes was reduced in areas of the brain of the sibling diagnosed with autism. This is referred to as chemical tagging or methylation.
If the specific genes can be targeted, researchers hope they can develop drugs that can prevent the methylation process, which could reverse symptoms of autism if specific genes can be targeted.
