10-minute ‘tension tamer’ can help reduce stress and improve sleep
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A simple, 10-minute stress reduction technique could help to relieve stress, improve sleep quality, and decrease fatigue. Researchers from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, attempted to determine the effect of a brief, stress reduction technique, the 10-minute Tension Tamer, on improvement of stress levels and sleep parameters in 334 patients in a heart health program. After a 30-minute introductory workshop, subjects were given instruction and guided opportunities to practice 10-minute Tension Tamers over the course of four 30-minute visits with a stress management specialist. This brief technique, encouraged at bedtime, involves deep breathing and imagery using the subject’s personal preference. Of the patients, 65% improved their perceived stress by 6.6 points; while those not improving showed worsened stress levels by 4.6 points. Improvers also reported better sleep quality, decreased sleep latency, and decreased fatigue. This study was presented during CHEST 2012, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held October 20 – 25, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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‘Elbow test’ may predict sleep apnea
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Have you ever been “elbowed” by your bed partner because you were snoring? If yes, new research says you could have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Prior to polysomnography testing, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan asked 124 patients two questions: (1) Does your bed-partner ever poke or elbow you because you are snoring; and (2) Does your bed-partner ever poke or elbow you because you have stopped breathing? Answering ‘yes’ to being awakened for snoring or apneic spells increased the likelihood of an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) >5/h (indicating at least mild OSA) compared with ‘no.’ Analysis also showed that as disease severity increased, patients were more likely to be awakened for snoring and apneic spells. Researchers conclude that asking these two simple questions could significantly improve the pretest prediction of a diagnosis of OSA. This study was presented during CHEST 2012, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held October 20 – 25, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Italy court ruling links mobile phone use to tumor
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Italy’s supreme court has upheld a ruling that said there was a link between a business executive’s brain tumor and his heavy mobile phone usage, potentially opening the door to further legal claims.
The court’s decision flies in the face of much scientific opinion, which generally says there is not enough evidence to declare a link between mobile phone use and diseases such as cancer and some experts said the Italian ruling should not be used to draw wider conclusions about the subject.
“Great caution is needed before we jump to conclusions about mobile phones and brain tumors,” said Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics and clinical engineering at Britain’s Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Discovery of gatekeeper nerve cells explains the effect of nicotine on learning and memory
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Swedish researchers at Uppsala University have, together with Brazilian collaborators, discovered a new group of nerve cells that regulate processes of learning and memory. These cells act as gatekeepers and carry a receptor for nicotine, which can explain our ability to remember and sort information.
The discovery of the gatekeeper cells, which are part of a memory network together with several other nerve cells in the hippocampus, reveal new fundamental knowledge about learning and memory. The study is published today in Nature Neuroscience.
The hippocampus is an area of the brain that is important for consolidation of information into memories and helps us to learn new things. The newly discovered gatekeeper nerve cells, also called OLM-alpha2 cells, provide an explanation to how the flow of information is controlled in the hippocampus.
“It is known that nicotine improves cognitive processes including learning and memory, but this is the first time that an identified nerve cell population is linked to the effects of nicotine”, says Professor Klas Kullander at Scilifelab and Uppsala University.
‘Disgusted’ Rats Teaching Scientists About Nausea, Work May Lead to New Cancer Treatments
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Nausea is a common and distressing side effect of many drugs and treatments. Unlike vomiting, nausea is not well understood, but new research by University of Guelph scientists may soon change that.
Guelph PhD student Katharine Tuerke, neuroscience researcher Cheryl Limebeer and Prof. Linda Parker in the Department of Psychology believe they’ve found the mechanism in the brain that is responsible for the sensation of nausea – with the help of some “disgusted” rats.
Their study was published this week in Journal of Neuroscience.
“Although everyone has experienced nausea at some point, its neurobiology is poorly understood due to a lack of animal models,” said Parker, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience.
Cedars-Sinai study sheds light on bone marrow stem cell therapy for pancreatic recovery
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Researchers at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have found that a blood vessel-building gene boosts the ability of human bone marrow stem cells to sustain pancreatic recovery in a laboratory mouse model of insulin-dependent diabetes.
The findings, published in a PLOS ONE article of the Public Library of Science, offer new insights on mechanisms involved in regeneration of insulin-producing cells and provide new evidence that a diabetic’s own bone marrow one day may be a source of treatment.
Scientists began studying bone marrow-derived stem cells for pancreatic regeneration a decade ago. Recent studies involving several pancreas-related genes and delivery methods – transplantation into the organ or injection into the blood – have shown that bone marrow stem cell therapy could reverse or improve diabetes in some laboratory mice. But little has been known about how stem cells affect beta cells – pancreas cells that produce insulin – or how scientists could promote sustained beta cell renewal and insulin production.
