The News:
Therapy plus Zoloft helps kids with anxiety
By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer
Article Last Updated: 10/30/2008 12:38:51 PM MDT
CHICAGO—A popular antidepressant plus three months of psychotherapy dramatically helped children with anxiety disorders, the most common psychiatric illnesses in kids, the biggest study of its kind found.
The research also offers comfort to parents worried about putting their child on powerful drugs—therapy alone did a lot of good, too.
Combining the drug sertraline, available as a generic and under the brand name Zoloft, with therapy worked best. But each method alone also had big benefits, said Dr. John Walkup, lead author of the government-funded research. It's estimated that anxiety disorders affect as many as 20 percent of U.S. children and teens.
In many cases, symptoms almost disappeared in children previously so anxious that they wouldn't leave home, sleep alone, or hang out with friends, said Walkup, a Johns Hopkins Hospital psychiatrist.
"What we're saying is we've got three good treatments," he said.
Sertraline is among antidepressants linked with suicidal thoughts and behavior in children with depression. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Research news: Heart ticks a bit better after time shift
The News:
Heart ticks a bit better after time shift
The cause each fall is probably the hour of sleep we gain with the end of daylight saving time.
By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 10/29/2008 11:01:23 PM MDT
Turning your clock back one hour Sunday for the end of daylight saving time could do your own ticker some good.
Researchers have found a 5 percent drop in heart-attack deaths and hospitalizations the day after clocks are reset each year to standard time, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The Swedish researchers also found that the onset of daylight saving time in the spring appears to increase the risk of heart attacks.
Physicians can now add daylight saving time to the list of everyday events that affect heart attacks, said Dr. Ralph Brindis, a vice president of the American College of Cardiology who practices in Oakland, Calif. The risk also rises on holidays and anniversaries, although no one knows why, he said.
"This study is fascinating," Brindis said.
The culprit probably is lack of sleep. Scientists have known that sleep deprivation is bad for the heart — the body responds by boosting blood pressure, heart rate and the tendency to form dangerous clots — but they didn't realize a single hour could have a measurable effect.
More than 1.5 billion people change their clocks twice a year to make the most of the available sunlight. William Willett, a British builder, proposed the idea in 1905 after watching Londoners sleep through so many perfectly good hours of morning sunshine. (He also complained that his afternoon golf games were cut short by an unnecessarily early dusk.) Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Heart ticks a bit better after time shift
The cause each fall is probably the hour of sleep we gain with the end of daylight saving time.
By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 10/29/2008 11:01:23 PM MDT
Turning your clock back one hour Sunday for the end of daylight saving time could do your own ticker some good.
Researchers have found a 5 percent drop in heart-attack deaths and hospitalizations the day after clocks are reset each year to standard time, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The Swedish researchers also found that the onset of daylight saving time in the spring appears to increase the risk of heart attacks.
Physicians can now add daylight saving time to the list of everyday events that affect heart attacks, said Dr. Ralph Brindis, a vice president of the American College of Cardiology who practices in Oakland, Calif. The risk also rises on holidays and anniversaries, although no one knows why, he said.
"This study is fascinating," Brindis said.
The culprit probably is lack of sleep. Scientists have known that sleep deprivation is bad for the heart — the body responds by boosting blood pressure, heart rate and the tendency to form dangerous clots — but they didn't realize a single hour could have a measurable effect.
More than 1.5 billion people change their clocks twice a year to make the most of the available sunlight. William Willett, a British builder, proposed the idea in 1905 after watching Londoners sleep through so many perfectly good hours of morning sunshine. (He also complained that his afternoon golf games were cut short by an unnecessarily early dusk.) Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Research news: Undecided voters may already have decided, study suggests
The News:
Undecided Voters May Already Have Decided, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2008) — Do "undecided" voters actually make their choices before they realize? That is a question University of Virginia psychology professor Brian Nosek and his colleagues are trying to answer.
"Many people, especially early in the political process, declare themselves as undecided," Nosek said. "But while they have consciously said that they are undecided, they unconsciously may have already made a choice."
And in a close election, undecided voters may determine the outcome the moment they make their decisions known on Election Day.
Nosek and colleagues Mahzarin Banaji of Harvard University and Tony Greenwald of the University of Washington developed the Implicit Association Test to assess mental associations that may be different than what people know or say about themselves.
A dozen years of research and hundreds of published studies suggest that people have implicit belief systems that may contradict their declared beliefs. These implicit beliefs can affect actions, such as how they vote at the moment it comes time to explicitly decide. Read on...
The Research:
Check out the researcher's website Project Implicit.
Undecided Voters May Already Have Decided, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2008) — Do "undecided" voters actually make their choices before they realize? That is a question University of Virginia psychology professor Brian Nosek and his colleagues are trying to answer.
"Many people, especially early in the political process, declare themselves as undecided," Nosek said. "But while they have consciously said that they are undecided, they unconsciously may have already made a choice."
And in a close election, undecided voters may determine the outcome the moment they make their decisions known on Election Day.
Nosek and colleagues Mahzarin Banaji of Harvard University and Tony Greenwald of the University of Washington developed the Implicit Association Test to assess mental associations that may be different than what people know or say about themselves.
A dozen years of research and hundreds of published studies suggest that people have implicit belief systems that may contradict their declared beliefs. These implicit beliefs can affect actions, such as how they vote at the moment it comes time to explicitly decide. Read on...
The Research:
Check out the researcher's website Project Implicit.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Research news: How social pressure increases voter turnout
The News:
How Social Pressure Increases Voter Turnout: Evidence From A Large-scale Field Experiment
ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2008) — New research by political scientists concludes that direct mail campaigns which include a social pressure aspect are more effective at increasing voter turnout and are cheaper than other forms of voter mobilization, including door-to-door or telephone canvassing.
Prior to the August 2006 primary election in Michigan, the researchers sent out one of four various mailings to 80,000 households encouraging them to vote--with gradually increasing levels of social pressure. The first mailing reminded voters that voting is a civic duty. The second mailing informed the voters that researchers would study their turnout based on public records. The third mailing listed a record of voter turnout among those in the household. The fourth mailing displayed both the neighborhood and household voter turnout. The third and fourth mailings also suggested that there would be a follow-up letter after the upcoming election, reporting on their household or neighborhood voter turnout. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the American Political Science Review.
How Social Pressure Increases Voter Turnout: Evidence From A Large-scale Field Experiment
ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2008) — New research by political scientists concludes that direct mail campaigns which include a social pressure aspect are more effective at increasing voter turnout and are cheaper than other forms of voter mobilization, including door-to-door or telephone canvassing.
Prior to the August 2006 primary election in Michigan, the researchers sent out one of four various mailings to 80,000 households encouraging them to vote--with gradually increasing levels of social pressure. The first mailing reminded voters that voting is a civic duty. The second mailing informed the voters that researchers would study their turnout based on public records. The third mailing listed a record of voter turnout among those in the household. The fourth mailing displayed both the neighborhood and household voter turnout. The third and fourth mailings also suggested that there would be a follow-up letter after the upcoming election, reporting on their household or neighborhood voter turnout. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the American Political Science Review.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Research news: Physical and interpersonal warmth linked
The News:
Physical And Interpersonal Warmth Linked
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2008) — Do people trust others more when they experience physical warmth? That's the theory of CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Lawrence E. Williams, who says simply handling a hot cup of coffee can change one's attitude toward a stranger.
In a paper published in the Oct. 24 issue of Science, Williams details a study he conducted with Yale University's John A. Bargh that shows a link between the way unsuspecting subjects rated a hypothetical person's personality and whether or not they had held a warm or cold beverage just prior to the test.
"The basic scientific implication is about exploring the link between the physical world and the psychological world," said Williams, an assistant professor of marketing at CU's Leeds School of Business. "It's at the same time subtle and very powerful -- a repeated association of physical warmth that is learned over a lifetime."
Williams asserts that people naturally speak about others being "warm" or "cold," and prefer to spend time with those they perceive as "warm." Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Physical And Interpersonal Warmth Linked
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2008) — Do people trust others more when they experience physical warmth? That's the theory of CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Lawrence E. Williams, who says simply handling a hot cup of coffee can change one's attitude toward a stranger.
In a paper published in the Oct. 24 issue of Science, Williams details a study he conducted with Yale University's John A. Bargh that shows a link between the way unsuspecting subjects rated a hypothetical person's personality and whether or not they had held a warm or cold beverage just prior to the test.
"The basic scientific implication is about exploring the link between the physical world and the psychological world," said Williams, an assistant professor of marketing at CU's Leeds School of Business. "It's at the same time subtle and very powerful -- a repeated association of physical warmth that is learned over a lifetime."
Williams asserts that people naturally speak about others being "warm" or "cold," and prefer to spend time with those they perceive as "warm." Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Research news: Sticky tape gives off x-rays
The News:
Sticky Tape Gives Off X-Rays
All Things Considered, October 25, 2008 · Scientists have known for years that peeling up a strip of sticky tape can set off some subatomic fireworks. But in the current issue of the journal Nature, UCLA researchers prove that the X-rays released are both powerful and plentiful.
"There are a lot of X-rays," says Juan Escobar, a Ph.D. candidate in physics at UCLA. "There are enough that you can actually take a picture of your finger — an X-ray picture of your finger. It's very exciting. It's actually a little bit scary." Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.
Sticky Tape Gives Off X-Rays
All Things Considered, October 25, 2008 · Scientists have known for years that peeling up a strip of sticky tape can set off some subatomic fireworks. But in the current issue of the journal Nature, UCLA researchers prove that the X-rays released are both powerful and plentiful.
"There are a lot of X-rays," says Juan Escobar, a Ph.D. candidate in physics at UCLA. "There are enough that you can actually take a picture of your finger — an X-ray picture of your finger. It's very exciting. It's actually a little bit scary." Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Research news: The Marshmallow Test--Brain scan aims to find out what's behind self-control
The News:
The marshmallow test: Brain scans aim to find out what's behind self-control
By Carey GoldbergThe Boston Globe
Article Last Updated: 10/23/2008 10:53:27 PM MDT
It is a simple test but has surprising power to predict a child's future.
A 4-year-old is left sitting at a table with a marshmallow or other treat on it and given a challenge: Wait to eat it until a grown-up comes back into the room, and you'll get two. If you can't wait that long, you'll get just one.
Some children can wait less than a minute; others last the full 20 minutes.
The longer the child can hold back, the better the outlook in later life for everything from SAT scores to social skills to academic achievement, according to classic work by Columbia University psychologist Walter Mischel, who has followed his test subjects from preschool in the late 1960s into their 40s now.
From church sermons to parenting manuals, "the marshmallow test" has entered popular culture as a potent lesson on the rewards of self-control.
It has also raised deep psychological research questions: What is involved in delaying gratification? Why does it correlate with success in life? Why do people fail at it? Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Psychological Science.
The marshmallow test: Brain scans aim to find out what's behind self-control
By Carey GoldbergThe Boston Globe
Article Last Updated: 10/23/2008 10:53:27 PM MDT
It is a simple test but has surprising power to predict a child's future.
A 4-year-old is left sitting at a table with a marshmallow or other treat on it and given a challenge: Wait to eat it until a grown-up comes back into the room, and you'll get two. If you can't wait that long, you'll get just one.
Some children can wait less than a minute; others last the full 20 minutes.
The longer the child can hold back, the better the outlook in later life for everything from SAT scores to social skills to academic achievement, according to classic work by Columbia University psychologist Walter Mischel, who has followed his test subjects from preschool in the late 1960s into their 40s now.
From church sermons to parenting manuals, "the marshmallow test" has entered popular culture as a potent lesson on the rewards of self-control.
It has also raised deep psychological research questions: What is involved in delaying gratification? Why does it correlate with success in life? Why do people fail at it? Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Psychological Science.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Research news: Been there, done that; brain mechanism predicts ability to generalize
The News:
Been There, Done That: Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize
ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2008) — A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 23rd issue of the journal Neuron, also explains why some people are good at generalizing from past experience, while others are not.
Decisions are often guided by drawing on past experiences, perhaps by generalizing across discrete events that overlap in content. However, how such experiences are integrated into a unified representation is not clear, and fundamental questions remain regarding potential underlying brain mechanisms. It is likely that such mechanisms involve the hippocampus, a brain structure closely linked with learning and memory. The midbrain may also play a role, as its projections modulate activity in the hippocampus, and activity in both regions has been shown to facilitate encoding of individual episodes. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Cell.
Been There, Done That: Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize
ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2008) — A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 23rd issue of the journal Neuron, also explains why some people are good at generalizing from past experience, while others are not.
Decisions are often guided by drawing on past experiences, perhaps by generalizing across discrete events that overlap in content. However, how such experiences are integrated into a unified representation is not clear, and fundamental questions remain regarding potential underlying brain mechanisms. It is likely that such mechanisms involve the hippocampus, a brain structure closely linked with learning and memory. The midbrain may also play a role, as its projections modulate activity in the hippocampus, and activity in both regions has been shown to facilitate encoding of individual episodes. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Cell.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Research News: Study urges more effort to build kids' math skills
The News:
Study urges more effort to build kids' math skills
By The New York Times
Article Last Updated: 10/10/2008 12:30:43 AM MDT
The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued. The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in math — the talent to become top math researchers, scientists and engineers — they are rarely identified in the United States. A major reason, according to the study, is that American culture does not highly value talent in math, and so discourages girls — and boys, for that matter — from excelling in the field.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
Study urges more effort to build kids' math skills
By The New York Times
Article Last Updated: 10/10/2008 12:30:43 AM MDT
The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued. The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in math — the talent to become top math researchers, scientists and engineers — they are rarely identified in the United States. A major reason, according to the study, is that American culture does not highly value talent in math, and so discourages girls — and boys, for that matter — from excelling in the field.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Research News: When Dow says ow, practice mindfulness
The News:
When Dow says ow, practice mindfulness
By Howard Cohen, McClatchy Newspapers
Article Last Updated: 10/06/2008 12:40:45 AM MDT
Our worries. They're crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven's "Ninth": Bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression. Enter the meditative practice of mindfulness. Born of Buddhist roots, it's increasingly recognized as a measure to calm the mind's chatter and elevate the brain's thinking and organizational processes.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
When Dow says ow, practice mindfulness
By Howard Cohen, McClatchy Newspapers
Article Last Updated: 10/06/2008 12:40:45 AM MDT
Our worries. They're crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven's "Ninth": Bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression. Enter the meditative practice of mindfulness. Born of Buddhist roots, it's increasingly recognized as a measure to calm the mind's chatter and elevate the brain's thinking and organizational processes.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
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