ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Altering the community of gut bacteria promotes health and increases lifespan
• Assessing others: Evaluating expertise of humans, computer algorithms
• Image perception in the blink of an eye
• Does taking multiple medicines increase risk of being admitted to hospital? Yes and no
• Spirituality, religion may protect against major depression by thickening brain cortex
• Drinking and driving: Unsafe at any level, study concludes
• UK law to stop further sales of booze to drunk customers routinely flouted
• UK rates of gout soaring, but treatment remains poor
• When doctor's visit is a guilt trip
• Food processors beware: Salmonella biofilms incredibly resistant to powerful disinfectants
• Using progesterone for hot flashes shown safe for women's cardiovascular health
• Living in densely populated neighborhoods can actually decrease risk of diabetes, obesity
• How corporations can regain financial value after scandal
• Study: Providing dental insurance not enough to induce americans to seek care
• Heavy drinking in middle age may speed memory loss by up to six years in men
• Theory behind popular blood-type diet debunked
• Natural selection can favor 'irrational' behavior
• Few primary care practices provide effective weight management care

Altering the community of gut bacteria promotes health and increases lifespan Posted: 16 Jan 2014 10:06 AM PST Having the right balance of gut bacteria may be the key to enjoying a long healthy life. Scientists promoted health and increased lifespan in Drosophila by altering the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and the absorptive cells lining the intestine. The work provides a model for studying diseases associated with the aging gut, and how we go from having a young, healthy gut to one that is old and decrepit.

Assessing others: Evaluating expertise of humans, computer algorithms Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:35 AM PST Researchers used fMRI technology to monitor the brain activity of volunteers as they interacted with "experts" -- some human, others computer algorithms -- to predict the behavior of a hypothetical financial asset. Volunteers responded more positively to human rather than computer "experts."

Image perception in the blink of an eye Posted: 16 Jan 2014 06:11 AM PST Imagine seeing a dozen pictures flash by in a fraction of a second. You might think it would be impossible to identify any images you see for such a short time. However, a team of neuroscientists has found that the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds -- the first evidence of such rapid processing speed.

Does taking multiple medicines increase risk of being admitted to hospital? Yes and no Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:50 AM PST Patients with a single illness who take many drugs have an increased risk of being admitted to hospital, but for patients with multiple conditions, taking many medicines is now associated with a near-normal risk of admission. Doctors call the situation where people take many drugs 'polypharmacy', a state of affairs that is becoming increasingly common in part because we have more elderly people and also a rising number of people are being diagnosed with multiple health conditions.

Spirituality, religion may protect against major depression by thickening brain cortex Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:48 AM PST A thickening of parts of the brain cortex associated with regular meditation or other spiritual or religious practice could be the reason those activities guard against depression – particularly in people who are predisposed to the disease, according to new research. Researchers studied 130 subjects and found that those who highly valued spirituality showed thicker portions of brain cortices that may protect against depression -- especially in those at high risk for the disease.

Drinking and driving: Unsafe at any level, study concludes Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:48 AM PST A study finds that even "minimally buzzed" drivers -- with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.01 percent -- are 46 percent more likely to be officially and solely blamed by accident investigators than are the sober drivers they collide with.

UK law to stop further sales of booze to drunk customers routinely flouted Posted: 15 Jan 2014 04:32 PM PST Bartenders in clubs and pubs are routinely flouting UK legislation intended to prevent further sales of alcohol to those who are already drunk, reveals a study of purchase patterns in one UK city.

UK rates of gout soaring, but treatment remains poor Posted: 15 Jan 2014 04:32 PM PST UK rates of gout have soared since the late 1990s, with one in every 40 people now affected by the condition -- the highest in Europe -- but treatment remains as poor now as it was then, reveals research published.

When doctor's visit is a guilt trip Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST Some patients react to a shaming encounter with a health provider in a way that promotes health while others turn to lying or avoidance. Why? What makes the difference?

Food processors beware: Salmonella biofilms incredibly resistant to powerful disinfectants Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST Once Salmonella bacteria get into a food processing facility and have an opportunity to form a biofilm on surfaces, it is likely to be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to kill it, according to research published.

Using progesterone for hot flashes shown safe for women's cardiovascular health Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:28 PM PST Treatment with progesterone, a naturally occurring hormone that has been shown to alleviate severe hot flashes and night sweats in post-menopausal women, poses little or no cardiovascular risk, according to a new study.

Living in densely populated neighborhoods can actually decrease risk of diabetes, obesity Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:28 PM PST Torontonians living in neighborhoods that aren't conducive to walking have a 33 percent greater risk of developing diabetes or being obese, according to new research.

How corporations can regain financial value after scandal Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:26 PM PST New research shows that corporations with tarnished reputations can regain their financial value by undertaking broad-based goodwill efforts.

Study: Providing dental insurance not enough to induce americans to seek care Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:26 PM PST Providing people with dental insurance does not necessarily mean that they will use it and seek dental care, according to a new study.

Heavy drinking in middle age may speed memory loss by up to six years in men Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:22 PM PST Middle-aged men who drink more than 36 grams of alcohol, or two and a half US drinks per day, may speed their memory loss by up to six years later on, according to a study published. On the other hand, the study found no differences in memory and executive function in men who do not drink, former drinkers and light or moderate drinkers. Executive function deals with attention and reasoning skills in achieving a goal.

Theory behind popular blood-type diet debunked Posted: 15 Jan 2014 02:22 PM PST Researchers have found that the theory behind the popular blood type diet -- which claims an individual's nutritional needs vary by blood type -- is not valid.

Natural selection can favor 'irrational' behavior Posted: 14 Jan 2014 05:29 PM PST It seems paradoxical that a preference for which of two houses to buy could depend on another, inferior, house -- but researchers at the have identified that seemingly irrelevant alternatives can, and should, influence choices. Even more remarkable is the finding that optimal choices can violate the principle of transitivity: it can be best to choose A from A or B, and choose B from B or C, but choose C from A or C.

Few primary care practices provide effective weight management care Posted: 14 Jan 2014 05:27 PM PST Only a quarter of U.S. primary care physicians surveyed are doing a thorough job of helping patients achieve and maintain a healthy weight, finds a study.

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