Latest Research News

A study which followed 20 members of a youth football team in New Jersey found that wearing padded helmets and using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly cut the chance of head injuries and concussion.

Players wore helmets equipped with a system that tracked the number and severity of impacts that each player sustained during their 20-practice, seven-game season. A tackling coach taught players and coaches safe methods for blocking, defeating blocks, and tackling that reduced head contact for both offensive and defensive players.

Type 2 diabetes greatly increases a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but a new study shows that cardiovascular risk factors such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels differ significantly between men and women with diabetes.

The study, involving 680 diabetics, found that blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels were significantly higher in women, and women were significantly less likely to have these factors under control. Some 17% of men had control of these factors, compared to 6% of women.

A large long-running study has found that eating a diet rich in animal proteins during middle age makes you four times more likely to die of cancer than a low-protein diet (a mortality risk factor comparable to smoking), 74% more likely to die of any cause within the 20-year study period, and five times more likely to die of diabetes. Even those eating a moderate amount of protein had much higher levels of mortality risk.

However, a high or moderate protein diet is helpful for those over 65, when levels of the growth hormone IGF-I drop off dramatically.

Analyses of cerebrospinal fluid from 15 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 20 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 21 control subjects, plus brain tissue from some of them, has found that those with Alzheimer’s had lower levels of a particular molecule involved in resolving inflammation. These ‘specialized pro-resolving mediators’ regulate the tidying up of the damage done by inflammation and the release of growth factors that stimulate tissue repair. Lower levels of these molecules also correlated with a lower degree of cognitive function.

Data from 6257 older adults (aged 55-90) evaluated from 2005-2012 has revealed that concerns about memory should be taken seriously, with subjective complaints associated with a doubled risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia, and subjective complaints supported by a loved one being associated with a fourfold risk. Complaints by a loved one alone were also associated with a doubled risk. Among those with MCI, subjective complaints supported by a loved one were associated with a threefold risk of converting to dementia.

An examination of the brains of three groups of deceased individuals (13 cognitively normal, aged 20-66; 16 non-demented older adults, aged 70-99; 21 individuals with Alzheimer's, aged 60-95) has found that amyloid starts to accumulate and clump inside basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in young adulthood. Other neurons didn't show the same extent of amyloid accumulation. Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons are the first to be affected, and to die, in aging and Alzheimer's.

A study involving both mice and human cells adds to evidence that stress is a risk factor for Alzheimer's.

The study found that mice who were subjected to acute stress had more amyloid-beta protein in their brains than a control group. Moreover, they had more of a specific form of the protein, one that has a particularly pernicious role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

When human neurons were treated with the stress hormone corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF), there was also a significant increase in the amyloid proteins.

Data from 876 patients (average age 78) in the 30-year Cardiovascular Health Study show that virtually any type of aerobic physical activity can improve brain volume and reduce Alzheimer's risk.

An interesting new theory for PTSD suggests that the root of the problem lies in context processing problems.

Context processing allows people and animals to recognize that a particular stimulus may require different responses depending on the context in which it is encountered. So, for example, a lion in the zoo evokes a different response than one encountered in your backyard.

Context processing involves the hippocampus, and its connections to the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Research has shown that activity in these brain areas is disrupted in those with PTSD.

There has been quite a lot of research into the relationship between students’ expectations and academic performance. It’s fairly well-established that students tend to have inflated expectations of their performance, but the effect of this has been disputed. Does over-confidence discourage students from preparing for exams, or do high expectations motivate students to study harder? A largish study has investigated this question.