Feeding the lonely brain
A new UCLA Health study has found that women who perceive themselves to be lonely exhibited activity in regions of the brain associated with cravings and motivation towards eating especially when shown pictures of high calorie foods such as sugary foods. The same group of women also had unhealthy eating behaviors and poor mental health. […]
Craving snacks after a meal? It might be food-seeking neurons, not an overactive appetite
People who find themselves rummaging around in the refrigerator for a snack not long after they’ve eaten a filling meal might have overactive food-seeking neurons, not an overactive appetite. UCLA psychologists have discovered a circuit in the brain of mice that makes them crave food and seek it out, even when they are not hungry. […]
It’s worth the money to pay for a weight loss program: Those in the program enjoyed more success compared to going it alone
For people trying to improve their health and lose weight by themselves — privately tracking and journaling meals and exercise — new research from UBC Okanagan suggests it is time to call in the professionals. Dr. Lesley Lutes’ latest research paper, published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, suggests […]
Gout Flare? Watch Out for Cardiovascular Events
As if gout flares aren’t bad enough by themselves, they come with increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke over the next 2 months, researchers reported. Among British gout patients, the incidence rate ratio for these cardiovascular events was 1.89 (95% CI 1.54-2.30) during the 60 days after a gout flare, after adjustment for […]
Why Branded Viagra Is Vastly More Expensive Than Its Generics
In a weird paradox, it’s never been cheaper — and more expensive — for men to treat themselves with sildenafil (Viagra), the mainstay of erectile-dysfunction therapy. And herein lies a tale about the bizarro world of drug pricing. Generic versions of sildenafil cost as little as 44 cents per typical 50-mg dose in the U.S. […]
Words Matter to People Who Are Overweight
How a physician refers to a patient can influence how they are treated and how they feel about themselves and their doctors, which is why The Obesity Society (TOS) and four other organizations chose to kick off the annual ObesityWeek meeting with a policy statement promoting the idea that people come first, not diseases. “People-first […]
Sensor spies hideouts for ?virus replication: An antiviral, found in some people’s cells, outwits an immune escape plan used by several dangerous viruses
While some types of RNA viruses cloak themselves to hide inside a cell and create copies of themselves, a “detective enzyme” might be attuned to their whereabouts. A slight variation in their genomic code gives some people’s cells the capacity to produce this sensor. Many positive-strand RNA viruses share a strategy to avoid detection by […]
Brain circuit for spirituality?
More than 80 percent of people around the world consider themselves to be religious or spiritual. But research on the neuroscience of spirituality and religiosity has been sparse. Previous studies have used functional neuroimaging, in which an individual undergoes a brain scan while performing a task to see what areas of the brain light up. […]