Category Biology/Biotechnology

How do you react to disagreements? It did not take the researchers long to guess which spouses would develop ailments down the road based on how they reacted to disagreements. Credit: © kmiragaya / Fotolia

Study suggests how you argue predicts health problems later in life. If you rage with frustration during a marital spat, watch your blood pressure. If you keep a stiff upper lip, watch your back. New research from the UC, Berkeley, and NW University, based on how couples behave during conflicts, suggests outbursts of anger predict cardiovascular problems. Conversely, shutting down emotionally or “stonewalling” during conflict raises the risk of musculoskeletal ailments such as a bad back or stiff muscles.

The study, published today in the journal Emotion, is based on 20 years of data...

Canine electrode locations and data segments. (A) For the canine subjects, bilateral pairs of 4-contact strips were implanted oriented along the anterior-posterior direction. Electrode wires were tunnelled through the neck and connected to an implanted telemetry device secured beneath the latissimus dorsi muscle. (B) An hour of data with a 5-min offset before each lead seizure was extracted and split into 10-min segments for analysis. (C) The expanded view illustrates a ∼35-s long seizure.

It might sound like a riddle: What do you get when you combine 1 online contest, 2 patients, 5 five dogs and 654 data scientists? The answer: Hope for patients with epilepsy that their seizures can be reliably predicted, and perhaps prevented...

Risks associated with low-sodium intake — less than three grams per day — are consistent regardless of a patient’s hypertension status. Credit: © Sebastian Studio / Fotolia

Salt reduction only important in some people with high blood pressure. A large worldwide study has found that, contrary to popular thought, low-salt diets may not be beneficial and may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death compared to average salt consumption. The only people who need to worry about reducing sodium in their diet are those with hypertension and have high salt consumption.

The study, involving more than 130,000 people from 49 countries, was led by investigators of the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences...

DNA methylations occur when methyl groups bind to the DNA. These can either activate or inactivate genes. Epigenetic factors modify histone tails by e.g. transferring methyl or acetyl groups on lysine side chains. This can complicate or facilitate the activation of a gene. The direct methylation of the DNA changes the gene expression permanently if it takes place in the control regions of genes (so-called CpG islands), that have been made accessible by the modification of the histones. Credit: Copyright: DIfE

Scientists have shown in a mouse model that the epigenetic* modification of the Igfbp2** gene observed in the young animal precedes a fatty liver in the adult animal later in life...