1,217 news posts in Mind and body

Health

10 May 2016

‘Towards an Understanding of Tinnitus Heterogeneity’ now open for submissions

By Martina Haller, Frontiers “Tinnitus is the perception of a sound when no external sound is present. The severity of tinnitus varies but it can be debilitating for many patients. With more than 100 million people with chronic tinnitus worldwide, tinnitus is a disorder of high prevalence. The increased knowledge in the neuroscience of tinnitus has led to the emergence of promising treatment approaches, but no uniformly effective treatment for tinnitus has been identified. The large patient heterogeneity is considered to be the major obstacle for the development of effective treatment strategies against tinnitus.” To bring together the latest scientific advances in Tinnitus research, Dr Christopher R Cederroth and Dr Winfried Schlee have initiated the Frontiers Research Topic Towards an Understanding of Tinnitus Heterogeneity. We asked them about their vision and challenges they wish to address in this highly inter- and multidisciplinary Research Topic. What motivated you to organize this Research Topic? Tinnitus is a prevalent condition that can be extremely bothersome. Its complexity and variety of phenotypes is a likely cause to failures in therapeutic interventions. This is why the fundamental understanding of tinnitus, its mechanisms and its successful treatment will require the converged efforts of multiple disciplines. […]

Health

06 May 2016

New treatment for children with ARDS

By Alice Rolandini Jensen, Frontiers science writer Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) affects hundreds of thousands of people each year, many of them children. Those with this life threatening condition have severely injured and wet lungs, and are treated with mechanical ventilation. Now, a study led by Professor Kanwaljeet Anand published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, investigates the effects of a new steroid treatment on children suffering from ARDS. “Over the last 20-30 years researchers have come up with novel therapies but have not been able to move the needle substantially in terms of reducing mortality of ARDS patients,” explains Professor Anand of Stanford University, USA. “In this work, we conducted the first-ever randomized control trial and saw clinical differences in children treated with steroids.” ARDS is a catch-all term associated with the inability of lung tissue to take up oxygen, the lungs become very stiff and are incapable of transferring oxygen into the blood. ARDS can occur following direct injury of the lungs, such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis, following inhalation of toxic gas and near drowning. It can also develop in patients with severe systemic illnesses. Understanding why ARDS occurs and the differences between mechanisms is key to being able to […]

Health

06 May 2016

Does the moon affect our mood or actions?

By Fernando Bolaños, Frontiersin.org Always surrounded by an aura of mystery, the moon and its possible influence over human behavior has been object of ancestral fascination and mythical speculation for centuries. While the full moon cannot turn people into werewolves, some people do accuse it of causing a bad night’s sleep or creating physical and mental alterations. But is there any science behind these myths? To establish if lunar phases somehow do affect humans, an international group of researchers studied children to see if their sleeping patterns changed or if there were any differences in their daily activities. The results were published in Frontiers in Pediatrics. “We considered that performing this research on children would be particularly more relevant because they are more amenable to behavior changes than adults and their sleep needs are greater than adults,” said Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute. The study was completed on a total of 5,812 children from five continents. The children came from a wide range of economic and sociocultural levels, and variables such as age, sex, highest parental education, day of measurement, body mass index score, nocturnal sleep duration, level of physical activity and total sedentary time were […]

Life sciences

04 May 2016

Turn up the heat to increase altitude tolerance

By Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour, Frontiers science writer Altitude training is a popular method for athletes wanting to improve their physical performance. At high altitudes oxygen levels are lowered so our bodies compensate by increasing the number of red blood cells. This enables an enhanced performance at lower altitudes because more oxygen can be delivered to the muscles. Many companies now offer altitude training in specialist chambers (often referred to as normobaric training) as an alternative to traveling to a high altitude country (hypobaric training), which is costly in terms of both time and money. New research reported in the open-access journal Frontiers in Physiology, suggests that heat-based exercise can offer a more efficient means of improving altitude tolerance and physical performance than normobaric altitude training can provide. “We show that when the duration and frequency of training performed in heat or at altitude are the same, the heat-based training can offer a more obtainable and time-efficient method to improving tolerance to altitude,” says Dr. Ben J. Lee, who completed this study as part of his PhD research at the University of Coventry. This is the first investigation that compares the effects of heat and low-oxygen training side by side. Dr. Lee and his co-authors […]

Life sciences

29 Apr 2016

Advancing immunology and primary immunodeficiencies in the genomic era: The importance of being collaborative

We celebrate the day of Immunology with an interview with Sergio Rosenzweig, Deputy Chief of the Immunology Service at the Clinical Center, NIH and the Co-Director of the Primary Immunodeficiency Clinic, NIAID, NIH and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Immunology and for Frontiers in Pediatrics. After more than 20 years of experience as pediatrician and researcher in the field of primary immunodeficiencies, Dr Rosenzweig has no doubt: the best is yet to come. “It is a fascinating time to be practicing medicine: if you take into consideration that the first genome was sequenced in 2003 and just six years later, in 2009, the first patient that diagnosed using next-generation sequencing, with a test cost reduction of 1 million times (from approximately 1billion dollars to 1 thousand dollars, that is just amazing” he said. Through omics technologies, the field of primary immunodeficiencies field is evolving at an exponential rate “We discover, on average, more than one new gene associated with primary immunodeficiencies per month”, he explained, “and this is teaching us so much: we thought we knew about those diseases, but now we are completely rethinking the way we study them.” Can you tell us a bit more about primary […]

Life sciences

27 Apr 2016

Decoding Zika virus to fight future outbreaks

By Fernando Bolaños, Frontiers science writer The constant emergence of viral outbreaks has become a permanent threat to human health. Last year, Zika virus infected thousands of people in the Americas. It is also associated to several cases of neurological disorders and has raised worldwide public health alerts. Now due to the urgency, researchers are detailing the characteristics of the virus to find solutions. The study completed by a group of researchers from the Department of Biotechnology of the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria in Madrid, was published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Microbiology. It reveals the challenges humanity could face because of the increasingly frequent and devastating viral outbreaks. “Zika is spread by mosquitoes Aedes Ae. Aegypti, and Ae. Albopictus. They are considered the most invasive species in the world due to their adaptability to different climates. This has facilitated the rapid spread of the virus to five continents during the last 30 to 40 years. The virus was first detected in 1947 in Nigeria, but because it had a low affect on people´s health, not much was done until the recent huge outbreaks in the Americas,” explains researcher Juan Carlos Saiz. We already […]

Life sciences

27 Apr 2016

Are brain-training apps effective?

By Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour, Frontiers science writer In recent years there has been an explosion in the number of smartphone apps aimed at ‘brain training’. These games often make confident statements about improving our mental performance, but there is little scientific evidence to show that they do. A new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience has investigated why consumers decide to download these apps, how they use them and what they think their benefits may be. “While the evidence of the effectiveness of brain training remains controversial, our results suggest that the public is interested in learning more about the actual science behind the claims made by the app developers,”says Dr. John Torous, a clinical psychiatrist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, lead author of the study. Young people and those with internet access tend to have high rates of smartphone ownership, so Dr. Torous and his co-authors designed a survey targeted at this group. They asked participants about their thoughts, use and experience of brain-training apps. Over three thousand people responded, making this the largest internet survey to date asking consumers about these apps; the results were insightful. Over two thirds of those that responded […]

Life sciences

25 Apr 2016

Study shows attitude makes a champion

By K.E.D. Coan, Frontiers science writer On the path to greatness, why do some become champions while others fall short? Coaches, parents, and aspiring athletes have all sought to answer this question. In their search for the optimal path to greatness, some believe that the path should be smoothed of all obstacles, while others say that such challenges are instrumental to talent development. Now, a recent study suggests that what really distinguishes champions is how they face and overcome such obstacles. “We’ve found that there are universal psychological characteristics amongst those who are aspiring to get to the top,” says Professor Dave Collins, lead author of the study, as well as Chair and Director of the Institute of Coaching and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire. “We have a good idea of what makes people excellent and how we can help them reach peak performance.” By interviewing athletes from varied sports such as soccer, rowing, skiing, and combat sports, Collins and his collaborators sought to find distinguishing characteristics between the best of the best, the good, and those that didn’t quite make the cut. For each participant, they collected information about career trajectory, perceived challenges and the participant’s reactions […]

Life sciences

22 Apr 2016

DNA proves mammoths mated beyond species boundaries

By Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour, Frontiers science writer Several species of mammoth are thought to have roamed across the North American continent. A new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, provides DNA evidence to show that these mammoths, which should only mate within their species boundaries, were in fact likely to be interbreeding. A species can be defined as a group of similar animals that can successfully breed and produce fertile offspring. By using differences in the size and shape of their fossilized teeth, a number of North American mammoth species have been identified. But, some scientists are not confident this method of species categorization tells the whole story. “Species boundaries can be very blurry. We might find differences in features of the teeth or skeleton that closely correspond to what we think are real species boundaries. But other features may not correspond to those boundaries, suggesting that what we formerly regarded as separate species are in fact not at all,” explains Hendrik Poinar, a Professor at McMaster University in Canada, who co-led the new study with his former graduate student Jake Enk and collaborator Ross MacPhee, a Professor at the American Museum of Natural History. Professor Poinar […]

Health

13 Apr 2016

Study shows lifestyle changes might mean more than losing weight

by Jacqueline Eckert, Frontiers science writer A recent study shows that for most people switching to a healthier lifestyle can produce a body weight that is healthy for that person overtime. Contrary to popular beliefs, this does not necessarily mean that one must lose weight. “We decided to do a study on this based on our perception about traditional interventions for overweight and obese people,” said Mariana Dimitrov Ulian, lead author of the study. “These involve, most of the time, diet and physical activity, and they base their success on the immediate weight loss of the participants. While short-term results are observed, long-term results, when it comes to weight loss, are only maintained by a small number of people.” The results of their “Health and Wellness in Obesity Study” were published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Nutrition and the study focuses on implementing the Health at Every Size® (HAES®) philosophy for obese women. The HAES® philosophy approach aims to encourage healthy behavior in people of all body sizes, independent of whether weight loss is a consequence of those behavioral changes or not. The research concluded that non-prescriptive interventions in a person’s behavior improved the participant’s self-esteem and overall body […]

Life sciences

11 Apr 2016

Alternative livelihoods for fin fishers needed to save sharks

By Nina Hall, Frontiersin.org The world’s largest shark fin industry lies in the heart of the Coral Triangle, a region of the Indian and Pacific Oceans home to the world’s most diverse coral reefs and known as the Amazon of the seas. This idyllic-sounding environment sustains an industry responsible for the deaths of over 3 million sharks a year. With a reported annual catch of 100,000 tons, Indonesia’s shark fishery contributes more to the international shark fin trade than any other nation. Shark fins are tempting targets for fishermen from Indonesian island communities because they have high monetary value and shark fishing is one of the most lucrative livelihoods in these remote coastal regions. The finning industry presents the main livelihood for fishermen in this region and the enormous profits have transformed remote coastal villages to cash-based communities. But in recent years, shark populations have seen a worrying drop in numbers. The staggering increase in the supply of shark fins to a global market has led to overexploitation of these populations and it not only affects the biological ecosystem but also the highly profitable marine tourism industry. To protect both the sharks as well as the local economy, conservationists and […]

Life sciences

09 Apr 2016

What really happened on Easter Island?

By K.E.D. Coan, Frontiers science writer Hundreds of iconic moai statues stand testament to the vibrant civilization that once inhabited Easter Island, but there are far fewer clues about why this civilization mysteriously vanished. Did they shortsightedly exhaust the island’s resources? Were they decimated by European illnesses and slave trade? Or did stow-away rats devastate the native ecosystem? Such theories have spread widely, but recent evidence shows that the truth is not as simple as any one of these alone. “These different interpretations may be complementary, rather than incompatible,” said Dr. Valentí Rull. “In the last decade, there’s been a burst in new studies, including additional research sites and novel techniques, which demand that we reconsider the climatic, ecological and cultural developments that occurred.” Rull is a senior researcher of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona, Spain, and the lead author of an overview on the holistic reassessment of Easter Island history. Until recently, the evidence has been limited. Prior sedimentary samples—commonly used as historical records of environmental change—were incomplete, with gaps and inconsistencies in the timeline. Furthermore, past interpretations relied heavily on pollen alone, without incorporating more faithful indicators of climate change. Due to this uncertainty, many fundamental […]

Psychology

08 Apr 2016

Children’s interactions more complex than predicted

By Fernando Bolaños, science writer While sharing toys and fighting with each other, kindergarten children helped researchers understand the patterns and qualities of interactions in social groups. The results were much more complex than the scientists originally predicted. “We rightfully realize that social networks are important for many aspects of our lives. Yet when asked to define networks, we normally define them as ‘any interaction’, or only a specific type of interaction. We thought this does not reflect the richness of our social behaviors or the relative relationships between types of behaviors. We wanted to begin to address this,” said Jonathan Schneider, researcher from the Department of Biology at the University of Toronto. To better understand the dynamics of these social interactions, the researchers carried out an investigation using a layered social network analysis. Their research was recently published in Frontiers in Psychology. The researchers analyzed the structure of social interactions of 338 children between 4 to 6 years of age. All the children were kindergarteners attending public schools in Berkeley, California. The social exchanges took place in 29 classrooms. “We noticed previous analyses presumed the hierarchical relationships between kids and we wanted to investigate this assumption. So we developed […]

Neuroscience

08 Apr 2016

Feeling helpless when under stress?

Stress – we’re all too familiar with it. More of us than ever are feeling the relentless pressure of busy lives and it is taking its toll. In the US, stress related ailments cost the nation $300 billion every year in medical bills and lost productivity. But it seems some people are able to cope with this problem much better than others. Some individuals are resilient, while others succumb to despair. The reason, scientists have discovered, is all in the brain. Mapping the brain activity in mice when placed under stress, scientists have found that mice showing helpless behavior had vastly different brain activity from those displaying resilient behavior. Certain patterns were revealed in the stressed brain and the scientists identified a list of brain areas that might have a critical role to play in stress-induced depression. Looking at these brain activities the study, published in Frontiers in Neural Circuits, opens up possibilities for identifying new targets for the treatment of depression. They explain that with the exception of a few brain areas, “mice showing ‘helpless’ behavior had an overall brain-wide reduction in the level of neuronal activation compared with mice showing ‘resilient’ behavior.” “In addition, the helpless mice showed […]

Neuroscience

07 Apr 2016

Imitation as therapy for Alzheimer’s patients

By K.E.D. Coan, Science Writer Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Alzheimer’s Association. There is no cure and no way to slow or prevent the illness. But, patients can still benefit from both physical and cognitive rehabilitation, and researchers are learning that mimicry may be a useful tool to help them regain lost abilities. “Alzheimer’s patients are still able to voluntarily imitate the movement of an object, as well as that of a human being” said Dr. Ambra Bisio. “If this ability is still in place, a patient could relearn how to perform actions that have become difficult due to the disease.” Dr. Ambra Bisio is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Experimental Medicine at the University of Genoa. She specializes in how the brain responds to movement, particularly somebody else’s movements. In a collaboration with Professor Thierry Pozzo at INSERM-U1093, she showed that Alzheimer’s patients can still mimic a simple gesture by a human or a moving dot on a computer screen, suggesting that such exercises may complement current therapeutic strategies. Their results were published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Copying what someone else is doing is a basic […]