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1,216 news posts in Mind and body

Health

26 Sep 2016

Why do more men commit suicide than women?

by Simon Watt, Frontiers Science Writer Why do more men die when they attempt suicide than women? The answer could lie in four traits, find scientists. More than 6,000 British lives are lost to suicide each year, and nearly 75 per cent of those are male. However, research has found women are more likely to suffer from depression, and to attempt to take their own life. Scientists interested in this sex difference looked into why men’s attempts at suicide were more likely to be fatal, in a study published in open-access journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. Although men tend to choose more lethal methods than women do, the study found that even when men and women try to kill themselves using the same method, men are still more likely to die. 4 traits for suicide Prof. Gopikrishna Deshpande and his team from Auburn University in USA found there are four traits defined as “the acquired capability for suicide” which men are more likely to have than women. The traits are fearlessness of death, pain tolerance, emotional stoicism and sensation seeking. People experiencing a desire to commit suicide will not do so without first losing their fear of dying and developing the […]

Life sciences

23 Sep 2016

Call for Mentors: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution is seeking experienced researchers to join a new mentorship initiative where PhD students have the opportunity to curate an open-access article volume around a given theme. The aim of the program is to provide graduate students with crucial insights into academic publishing and the peer review process. Mentors in this program will work alongside students to consider relevant themes in ecology and evolution which can shed light on emerging research areas, or delve deeper into an already established one. Students will pair with mentors to develop a Research Topic proposal and identify key authors to contact about contributing. Mentors will also handle the review of manuscript submissions. Following closure of the topic, students will be encouraged to write an Editorial summarizing the collection and placing it in a wider context. If interested or would like to know more, send us an email at: ecologyandevolution@frontiersin.org

Life sciences

22 Sep 2016

Sex before sport doesn’t negatively impact performance

Contrary to popular belief, sex before sport doesn’t have a negative effect on the athlete and could even benefit performance.  — By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, science writer Over the course of the Rio Olympics, 450,000 condoms were distributed around the athlete’s village. This may be surprising considering the common view that abstinence from sexual activity can boost athletic performance. These long-standing views have now been challenged by a recent analysis of current scientific evidence, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Physiology. “Abstaining from sexual activity before athletic competition is a controversial topic in the world of sport;” said Laura Stefani, an Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this review;”We show no robust scientific evidence to indicate that sexual activity has a negative effect upon athletic results.” The authors sifted through hundreds of studies with the potential to provide evidence, however big or small, on the impact of sexual activity upon sport performance. After setting a number of criteria to filter out the most reliable of these studies, only nine were included in the review. One of these found that the strength of female former athletes did not differ if they had sex the night before. Another actually […]

Psychology

20 Sep 2016

Emotional Intelligence can enhance quality of life

by Srividya Sundaresan, Frontiers Science Writer Research indicates emotional intelligence correlates with a greater sense of personal well-being, a study in Frontiers in Psychology found. People feel a sense of well-being when their work and their lives are meaningful. Psychologists measure two indices of personal well-being – our need to seek pleasure and avoid pain – hedonic well-being, and our need for personal fulfillment and self realization – eudaimonic well-being. If a sense of well-being is important for an individual, what are certain factors or traits that contribute to well-being? Can these traits be enhanced to give people more resources to deal with their challenges? Emotional intelligence, or EI, could play an important role, according to a recent study reported in the online journal, Frontiers in Psychology. But, what is EI? EI is often described as the ability of a person to identify emotions in themselves and others, and manage these emotions. Two aspects of EI are trait EI and ability-based EI. Trait EI includes the perceptions of features such as self control, self awareness, and adaptability, to name a few, whereas ability-based EI refers to objective skills in coping with emotions. Evidence from other studies show EI improves with targeted training and […]

Health

20 Sep 2016

Searching for answers in Hernia surgery

by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org  Hernia surgery is one of the largest fields in general surgery – worldwide there are more than 30 million operations performed each year. Hernias are a common aliment, which if left untreated can turn into a strangulated hernia – a very painful and potentially lethal condition. However, despite large numbers of hernia cases across the world, Ferdinand Köckerling, Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Surgery, explained there is still a number of unsolved questions when it comes to treating them. Over the past six years he and a network of surgeons have collected data from over 330,000 hernia cases for their Herniamed registry. There are many different procedures including an open or minimally invasive approach. He explained: “For the hundreds of different procedures, there is still an ongoing discussion what the best approach is for the patients.” Herniamed, a non-profit organisation, is attempting to answer those questions and they have already made some discoveries. “We found there is a clear correlation between the case volume of the surgeons and the outcome – that means when you want to have optimal outcome for the patients then you need more specialized surgeons in the field of hernia surgery;” explained […]

Psychology

13 Sep 2016

Touchscreens may boost motor skills in toddlers

  by Conn Hastings, Frontiers Science Writer Younger use of touchscreens by toddlers correlates with increased fine motor control. Does your toddler use a touchscreen tablet? A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology has shown that early touchscreen use, and in particular actively scrolling the screen, correlates with increased fine motor control in toddlers. Smartphones and tablets are now commonplace at work and in the home. If you are reading this on your morning commute on public transport, it is likely to be on a touchscreen device, while surrounded by people who are completely absorbed by their own touchscreens. There has been a dramatic increase in the ownership and use of tablets and smartphones in recent years. In the UK, family ownership of touchscreen devices increased from 7% in 2011 to 71% in 2014. It is therefore not surprising that children are using touchscreens from a very early age, but is this a good thing or not? The effects of using touchscreens on young children are a concern for some parents and policymakers. Popular opinion holds that using touchscreens at an early age is likely to delay the cognitive development of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that […]

Health

12 Sep 2016

Eating your greens could enhance sport performance

By Fabienne Eckert, Frontiers Science Writer Nitrate supplementation in conjunction with Sprint Interval Training in low oxygen conditions could enhance sport performance a study has found. Researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium carried out a study with twenty-seven moderately trained participants. These were given nitrate supplements ahead of Sprint Interval Training (SIT), which took the form of short but intense cycling sessions three times a week. Nitrate is commonly found in diets rich in leafy green foods, like spinach and is important for the functioning of the human body, especially during exercising. To assess differences in performance in different conditions, the study included workouts in normal oxygen conditions and in hypoxia conditions, which are low oxygen levels such as those found in high altitudes. The observations published in Frontiers in Physiology were unexpected: after only five weeks, the muscle fiber composition changed with the enhanced nitrate intake when training in low oxygen conditions. “This is probably the first study to demonstrate that a simple nutritional supplementation strategy, i.e. oral nitrate intake, can impact on training-induced changes in muscle fiber composition;” stated Professor Peter Hespel from the Athletic Performance Center at the University of Leuven. For athletes participating in […]

Psychology

08 Sep 2016

How can we get into the zone?

by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org We’ve all heard the term getting in the zone – that moment when everything just clicks. Often the idea of the zone has been associated with elites athletes, such as Olympiads, but what about ordinary people – can we get in the zone? That is what Kath Woodward, Frontiers Specialty Chief Editor for Gender, Sex and Sexuality Studies, and her team are trying to work out by looking at different areas such as sport, computer gaming and music. Rather than see the zone as one thing, she explained it is actually a set of phenomena. The zone is when musicians, athletes, creative workers and others do certain actions with an unexpected and extremely high level of competence, often beyond the competence the individual thought they were capable of. It is linked to high-state performance. Previously, the idea of the zone has been mainly been studied in relation to psychology and has been linked to the idea of flow. However, Prof. Woodward thinks there are other factors in play such as the environment, temporality and of course confidence in your abilities, which can include factors such as gendered expectations. “You need a level of confidence in what […]

Neuroscience

07 Sep 2016

Emotionally invested parents give children a leg up in life

  By Mark Wartenberg, Frontiers Science Writer Emotionally invested parents can mean children are more likely to be successful later in life, a study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience shows. Looking at 27 children aged between four and six, the study examined the quality of the emotional bond to their parents, and their cognitive control including: resisting temptation, their ability to remember things, and whether they are shy or withdrawn. Maximizing children’s chances of success can seem daunting and an impossibly tall order. This research found a caring and emotionally attentive environment is liable to be a long-term game-changer. The study involved a combination of questionnaires, behavioral tasks and electrophysiological measurements.  The researchers looked at the quality of the emotional bond – referred to as emotional availability (EA) – between mothers and children. Second, the children’s executive functions were measured through a number of exercises.   Finally, the study measured the neural responses of children who were tasked to inhibit certain aspects of their behavior. This was achieved through EEG (Electrotroencephalography) by measuring small variations in voltage in certain key parts of the brain. Dr Schneider-Hassloff, a researcher on the study, noted: “this study investigated the association between emotional interaction […]

Neuroscience

06 Sep 2016

Relaxing your feet affects your hands

by Conn Hastings, Frontiers Science Writer By relaxing flexed muscles in your foot, you can reduce the ability of your hands to respond to stimulation known as excitability, a study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found. Although this result might sound bizarre, movement in one limb interfering with movement in another is something you have probably discovered yourself. Anyone who has ever tried to rub their head while patting their belly can confirm this – failing at that wasn’t your fault either, although it was pretty humorous. The muscles in your body contract to pull on your bones and relax to release them again, in response to neural impulses. This forms the basis of movement. However, coordinating both muscle contraction and relaxation is essential for normal physical activity. Rapidly switching between these states is particularly important in activities where complex movements are required, like sports or playing musical instruments. While the balance between muscle relaxation and contraction is important, they are distinct processes in their own right. Brain imaging studies show that specific areas of the brain activate during muscle relaxation, indicating that it is an independent and active neurological process, and not merely the end or […]

Life sciences

02 Sep 2016

One vent just isn’t enough for some volcanoes

by Simon Watt, Frontiers Science Writer One vent just isn’t enough for some volcanoes: the curious case of Mount Etna’s wandering craters. Volcanoes are geology at its most exciting.  They seem so fiery, dangerous and thrillingly explosive. That may be true, but most old and mature volcanoes are surprisingly stuck in their ways and even if when they will blow is difficult to forecast, where they will blow from is often more predictable.   The majority of volcanoes look as they do in a child’s drawing; like a steep mountain with its head cut off.  They have a summit crater and, if they erupt, it is from this rocky orifice that lava and ash spews.  But this is not the case with Mount Etna on the Island of Sicily, Italy, a study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Earth Science found. Etna has been collecting new summits as though they are Pokémon. It is as if the mountain has had an outbreak of acne, with multiple cones forming in a geologically short space of time. According to Professor Valerio Acocella, of Roma Tre University and his colleagues from Ingv Catania, this makes Etna “perfect for study”.   Valerio and […]

Psychology

02 Sep 2016

“Gambling” wolves take more risks than dogs

Wolves pursue a high-risk, all-or-nothing strategy when gambling for food, while dogs are more cautious, shows a new study. This difference is likely innate and adaptive, reflecting the hunter versus scavenger lifestyle of wolves and dogs. Would you rather get 100 euros for certain, or have a fifty-fifty chance of receiving either 200 euros or nothing? Most choose the first, as humans tend to be “risk-averse”, preferring a guaranteed pay-off over the possibility of a greater reward. It is thought that this human preference for “playing it safe” has evolved through natural selection: when you live precariously like our remote ancestors, losing all your food reserves might be catastrophic, while adding to them might makes less difference to your chances of survival. Here, in one of the first studies on risk preferences in non-primates, scientists show through a series of controlled experiments that wolves are consistently more prone to take risks when gambling for food than dogs. When faced with the choice between an insipid food pellet and a fifty-fifty chance of either tasty meat or an inedible stone, wolves nearly always prefer the risky option, whereas dogs are more cautious. “We compared the propensity to take risks in a […]

Humanities

31 Aug 2016

“Mathematics of Computation and Data Science” section now open for submissions

  Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics is proud to announce the launch of its newest section – “Mathematics of Computation and Data Science” led by Specialty Chief Editor, Prof Charles Chui, of Stanford University and Hong Kong Baptist University. We welcome manuscript submissions and Research Topics to this brand new interdisciplinary section. Message from Specialty Chief Editor, Charles Chui “Mathematics of Computation and Data Science” is an interdisciplinary section that publishes original research papers, survey articles, tutorials, and innovative numerical modeling, as well as simulation and exciting experimentations, with emphasis on computational methods and algorithms, particularly for data processing, understanding and visualization. The mission of this section is to provide a common platform for communication among mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, physicists, biomedical scientists, engineers, and other researchers for sharing their innovative approaches, effective methods, and interesting experimental results, that are instrumental to the advancement of Data Science. “Mathematics of Computation” is a popular field of research in Mathematics, with original papers published by several well established journals, including: Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, SIAM Journal of Scientific Computing, SIAM Journal of Numerical Analysis, Journal of Numerical Mathematics, IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis, Numerische Mathematik, Mathematics of Computation, Foundations of […]

Neuroscience

31 Aug 2016

An insecure childhood can make dealing with stress harder

by Srividya Sundaresan, Frontiers Science Writer Imagine two candidates at a high stakes job interview. One of them handles the pressure with ease and sails through the interview. The other candidate, however, feels very nervous and under-performs. Why do some people perform better than others under emotionally stressful conditions? The clue might lie in early childhood experiences, a recent study published in the open access online journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found. Emotional bonds with our primary caregiver or parent in early childhood are thought to be the basis of our ability to regulate our emotions as adults. “We know from other studies that our history of attachment directly influences how we act in social situations;” explained Dr. Christine Heinisch, one of the authors of the study; “but what about reaction to a neutral stimulus under emotional conditions?” A good example of this in daily life, says Dr. Heinisch, is when a car approaches a traffic light. Under neutral conditions, it is easy for the driver to follow the signal. But what happens under emotional conditions? “Usually, people tend to make more errors, like stopping too late or even driving through when the traffic light is red. Sometimes they stop although […]