MEDICINE & HEALTH

New study shows that yoga and meditation may help train the brain

Yoga and meditation boost brain power to control a computer. Yoga and meditation boost brain power to control a computer. New research by biomedical engineers at the University of Minnesota shows that people who practice yoga and meditation long term can learn to control a computer with their minds faster and better than people with little or no yoga or meditation experience.

Vitamin D significantly improves symptoms of winter-related atopic dermatitis in children

A study conducted in more than 100 Mongolian schoolchildren found that daily treatment with a vitamin D supplement significantly reduced the symptoms of winter-related atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema. Led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physician, the report in the October issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology supports the results of a preliminary study that showed similar results in a small group of children in Boston.

A family meal a day may keep obesity away

Increasing rates of adolescent obesity and the likelihood that obesity will carry forward into adulthood, have led to various preventive initiatives. It has been suggested that family meals, which tend to include fruits, vegetables, calcium, and whole grains, could be protective against obesity. In a new study scheduled for publication in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers studied whether frequent family meals during adolescence were protective for overweight and obesity in adulthood.

While Ebola Shines in Headlines, Malaria Burns On

Increasingly the Ebola epidemic that began last march in West Africa has reached a global level of concern, even more so as the lethal virus has spread to the west. But as health organizations and governments throughout all of Africa divert resources to contain and treat the hemorrhagic fever that has claimed thousands already, they’re ignoring an even deadlier pathogen sitting on the sidelines: Malaria.

Fat chats: The good, the bad and the ugly comments

Study analyzes how people chat about weight on different social media platforms Study analyzes how people chat about weight on different social media platforms Cyberbullying and hurtful 'fat jokes' are disturbingly prevalent in the social media environment, especially on Twitter, says Wen-ying Sylvia Chou of the National Institutes of Health in the US.

ZEB1, Oscar for leading role in fat storage

A team from EPFL, in collaboration with ETH Zurich, has managed to decode the process of adipogenesis by identifying the precise proteins that play the leading roles in fat absorption. Their findings have been published in the open-access scientific journal eLife.

New drug-delivery capsule may replace injections

Given a choice, most patients would prefer to take a drug orally instead of getting an injection. Unfortunately, many drugs, especially those made from large proteins, cannot be given as a pill because they get broken down in the stomach before they can be absorbed.

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