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Editor's Pick
Regular surfers more likely to carry antibiotic resistant E. coli
Regular surfers and bodyboarders are three times more likely to have antibiotic resistant E. coli in their guts than non-surfers. Conducted by the University...
Selfitis — a genuine 'psychological complex'
‘Selfitis’ – the obsessive taking of selfies on mobile phones – appears to be a real psychological condition according to a UK-India study.
Researchers at...
Heavy drinking and smoking linked to visible ageing
Heavy drinking and smoking are linked to four visible signs of physical ageing, and looking older than one's years, found a long-term Danish observational...
Number of young, obese South Africans doubled in 6 years
The number of young South Africans suffering from obesity doubled in six years while this took 13 years to happen in the US, reports...
Ballooning wine glasses may drive growing alcohol consumption
Rising levels of drinking may be partly due to the growing size of wine glasses, particularly over the past two decades, acccording to University...
Cancer survivors age faster and die earlier
People who have had cancer age faster than those who haven’t lived with the disease, found researchers at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic...
PMI strongly associated with death soon after surgery
Surgery that doesn't involve the heart may cause perioperative myocardial injury (PMI) in people with known or at high risk of developing heart disease...
Women have faster oxygen uptake than men
Women can process oxygen 'remarkably faster' than men when they start to exercise, according to a study from the University of Waterloo. Quick oxygen...
Marriage may stave off dementia
Marriage may lower the risk of developing dementia, concludes a synthesis of the available evidence. Lifelong singletons and widowers are at heightened risk of...
Cannabis-like drug effective in treating sleep apnoea
A synthetic cannabis-like drug in a pill was safe and effective in treating obstructive sleep apnoea in the first large multi-site study of a...
Motorcycle accidents more costly and dangerous
Compared with car accidents, motorcycle accidents cause three times the injuries, six times the medical costs and five times the deaths, Canadian research has...
BP in the elderly starts decreasing about 14 years before death
Blood pressure in the elderly gradually begins to decrease about 14 or so years before death, according to a large UK analysis.
Researchers from University...
Drinking tap water: Tooth decay versus lead contamination
US children and adolescents who do not drink tap water, which is typically fluoridated, are much more likely to have tooth decay, according to...
Scarlet fever making an unexpected and puzzling comeback
England is experiencing an unprecedented rise in scarlet fever with the highest incidence for nearly 50 years, according to a study in The Lancet. ...
ECG detects difference between depression and bipolar symptoms
A ground-breaking Loyola Medicine study suggests that a simple 15-minute electrocardiogram could help a physician determine whether a patient has major depression or bipolar...
Heavy Facebook users treat online friends as 'digital objects'
If you're materialistic, you're likely to use Facebook more frequently and intensely. A German study reveals that materialistic people see and treat their Facebook...
The cognitive origins of religious belief
Previous studies have suggested people who hold strong religious beliefs are more intuitive and less analytical, and when they think more analytically their religious...
'Broken heart syndrome' can cause long-term heart damage
A University of Aberdeen study has found that the effects of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy – or “broken heart syndrome - can be permanent, contrary to...
Financial stress increases heart attack risk substantially
Significant financial stress is associated with a 13-fold-higher odds of having a heart attack, according to research presented at the 18th Annual Congress of...
Poor academic performance a predictor of suicide risk
A Swedish study has shown that poor academic performance, measured as grade point average (GPA) at age 16, was a robust and strong predictor...
Preventing malaria infections the old-fashioned way
Seasonal malaria chemo-prevention is saving thousands of children in West Africa, according to studies presented this week at the American Society of Tropical Medicine...
Groundbreaking operation on spina bifida foetus
Doctors in the US have pioneered an anew treatment for spina bifida in which the baby is operated on before birth.
Spina bifida occurs when...
Forest and crop fires destroy DNA in lungs cells
When exposed in a laboratory to pollution levels comparable to those found in the atmosphere of the Amazon region during the forest and crop...
Marijuana use increases libido and doesn't impair performance
Marijuana use is independently associated with increased sexual desire and frequency, and does not impair performance, found a large Stanford University study.
A study by...
Aerobics and yoga combo significantly reduces coronary and diabetes risk
Heart disease patients who practice yoga in addition to aerobic exercise saw twice the reduction in blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol levels...
If the cap fits: Study into effectiveness of OR headgear
One of the first studies testing the effectiveness of different operating room (OR) head coverings in preventing airborne contamination has found that surgeon's caps...
Concern as social media promotes 'bonespiration'
‘Bonespiration’ — the celebration of skeletal images of bodies featuring protruding bones and pencil-thin limbs — is being promoted on social media, University of...
Techniques shown to increase chances of having lucid dreams
Research at the University of Adelaide has found that a specific combination of techniques will increase people's chances of having lucid dreams, in which...
Facial contrast causes women to look younger
Observers perceive women with increased facial contrast - how much the eyes, lips and eyebrows stand out in the face in terms of how...
Healthy gut is a biomarker for healthy ageing
In one of the largest microbiota studies conducted in humans, researchers at Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute and Tianyi Health Science Institute in...
Brain stimulation boosts cyclists' endurance
Brain stimulation has been demonstrated to be an effective way to improve endurance in cyclists, in a small placebo-controlled study from the University of Kent....
Men finding 'bromances' more emotionally satisfying than romances
Young men's 'bromances,' close friendships with other men, are more emotionally satisfying than their romantic relationships with women, finds a small University of Winchester...
Sounding a warning over new heat-not-burn tobacco devices
One of the newest tobacco products heats leaf tobacco to approximately 260 degrees Fahrenheit, to produce an inhalable tobacco aerosol and is poised for...
Simple oral swab test could revolutionise TB detection in children
At the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health, a diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) has been presented that is simple, potentially ground-breaking, yet...
People reluctant to use public access defibrillators
A study led by researchers at the University of Warwick suggests that people are reluctant to use public access defibrillators to treat cardiac arrests....
Genetic factors may explain most autism risk
Re-analysis of data from a previous study on the familial risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) estimates the heritability to be 83%, suggesting that...
The role of temperature and atmospheric pressure in heart failure deaths
Exposure to cold or high-pressure weather could trigger events leading to hospitalisation or death in heart failure patients, found a Canadian study. The authors...
Safety and effectiveness of 4 Alzheimer's drugs ranked
A study ranking the safety and effectiveness of four drugs taken to enhance concentration, memory, alertness and moods, found that donepezil was most likely...
Boys with psychopathic potential don't have contagious laughter urge
Boys who showed disruptive behaviour coupled with high levels of callous-unemotional traits reported less desire to join in with laughter than did normally behaved...
When surgical infection control practices work best
Infection control practices that focus on perioperative patient skin and wound hygiene, as well as transparent display of data, not operating room attire policies,...