http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A study that was presented in Nature last year attracted a great deal of attention when it asserted that intuition promotes cooperation. But a group of researchers in behavioral and neuroeconomics at Linköping University say that this is not true, in a new study now being published in Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-rebuts-willingness-cooperate-intuitive.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:38:05 EST news289665473 Information from the senses has an important influence on how we move. For instance, you can see and feel when a mug is filled with hot coffee, and you lift it in a different way than if the mug were empty. Neuroscientist Julian Tramper discovered that the brain uses two forms of old information in order to execute new movements well. This discovery can be useful for the field of robotics. Tramper will receive his doctorate on Thursday 24 April from Radboud University Nijmegen. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-robotics-brain-movements.html Neuroscience Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:26:13 EST news285492365 In almost 90 per cent of cases, novel drugs tested on humans by pharmaceutical companies do not work as intended and must be scrapped. Often the drugs do not work, while at worst, test subjects die. New research from the University of Southern Denmark now shows that this number can be reduced. The secret is to test the drug on cells grown as 3D structures. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-cutting-edge-cell-safer-medical-humans.html Medical research Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:41:17 EST news284823498 The shape of an individual's spinal column may predict his or her risk for nursing home admission or need of home assistance in old age, according to a new article published online in the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-posture-clue-future-disability.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:34:51 EST news284657684 In the background of evolution, gaze following is one of the oldest manifestations of leadership. Three-month-old babies, for example, already follow the eye movements of their parents. Psychologists at VU University Amsterdam have discovered that in times of danger people follow the eye movements of individuals with a masculine and dominant appearance. When people feel safe, however, they follow the eye movements of both men and women. The results were published yesterday in the scientific journal PLoS One. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-danger-people-dominant-leader-insight.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:58:39 EST news284277501 Getting enough exercise is a big challenge for a lot of people. The solution: an app that provides personal activity tips at the right times. That concludes Yuzhong Lin in her doctoral research at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). She has developed a mobile phone app that gives users tips on ways they can get more exercise, based on their location and lifestyle. Test subjects said they felt much more active after using the app. Lin defends her thesis at TU/e on Tuesday 2 April. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-smart-app-lifestyle.html Health Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:10:01 EST news283762734 (Medical Xpress)—A research team made up of representatives from several cancer research centers in the United States has found that cancers that develop in the prostate of mice may be either aggressive or sluggish depending on the origin of their stem cell type. In their paper describing their findings, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, the team describes how they found that tumors that develop in parts of the prostate that have luminal stem cells showed more aggressive tendencies than did those that developed in areas with basal type stem cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-cancer-aggression-differences-prostate-cells.html Cancer Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:00:01 EST news280997550 (Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers from several universities in Europe has found that human test subjects with a damaged portion of their brain were likely to invest more money in a risky trustee than those without the brain damage. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team says the subjects were willing to invest more despite being told that the trustee may not be trustworthy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-kind-brain-people-reckless-investments.html Neuroscience Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:43:51 EST news278062993 When you're studying for an exam, is there something you can do while you sleep to retain the information better? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-retained-stimuli.html Neuroscience Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:55:30 EST news277458908 If you're thinking that little old lady driving 35 miles per hour in the passing lane shouldn't be behind the wheel, you may be right. Studies at Rhode Island Hospital, and elsewhere, have shown that our driving abilities decline with age, and for those with cognitive issues such as dementia, it can be even worse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-ri-hospital-standardized-road-results.html Health Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:23:34 EST news273928991 A team of researchers at the University Department of Orthopaedics at the MedUni Vienna / Vienna General Hospital has for the first time investigated the durability of Zweymüller hip prostheses, which were developed at the end of the 1970s, over a period of 20 years. The result: the stem of the endoprosthesis, which was named after the Professor of Orthopaedics at the Vienna General Hospital and developed over 30 years ago, lasts for at least 20 years. "This shows that the fear over hip prostheses is unfounded. It is better to live with a prosthesis and without pain than to live without one and be in pain," says Reinhard Windhager, Head of Orthopaedics at the MedUni Vienna / Vienna General Hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-news-hip-surgeries-prosthesis-years.html Surgery Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:00:10 EST news273746046 Some people live their lives by the motto "no risk - no fun!" and avoid hardly any risks. Others are clearly more cautious and focus primarily on safety when investing and for other business activities. Scientists from the University of Bonn in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Zurich studied the attitudes towards risk in a group of 56 subjects. They found that in people who preferred safety, certain regions of the brain show a higher level of activation when they are confronted with quite unforeseeable situations. In addition, they do not distinguish as clearly as risk takers whether a situation is more or less risky than expected. The results have just been published in the renowned Journal of Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-aversity-visible-brain.html Neuroscience Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:19:58 EST news273158382 Ever wondered who is living in your gut, and what they're doing? The trillions of microbial partners in and on our bodies outnumber our own cells by as many as 10 to 1 and do all sorts of important jobs, from helping digest the food we eat this Thanksgiving to building up our immune systems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-gut-bacteria-world.html Medical research Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:17:55 EST news272740667 New evidence indicates that Parkinson's disease is preceded by a period during which healthy regions of the brain take over the functions of damaged ones. Neurologist Bart van Nuenen performed a unique study involving people who are clinically still healthy and free from disease manifestations, but who have an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease later in life due to their genetic predisposition. Van Nuenen will defend his PhD thesis based on this study on 22 November. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-compensation-brain-treatment.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:18:33 EST news272017099 The feel-good hormone dopamine improves long-term memory. This is the finding of a team lead by Emrah Düzel, neuroscientist at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the University of Magdeburg. The researchers investigated test subjects ranging in age from 65 to 75 years, who were given a precursor of dopamine. Treated subjects performed better in a memory test than a comparison group, who had taken a placebo. The study provides new insights into the formation of long lasting memories and also has implications for understanding why memories fade more rapidly following the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The results appear in the Journal of Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-feel-good-hormone-memory.html Neuroscience Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:17:20 EST news271603025 (Medical Xpress)—In many areas of our everyday lives, goals are the norm. That not all of them are effective, however, is something which anyone who has seen their New Year resolutions crumbling with each passing month can confirm. "From the literature on motivation and goals we know that goals should be specific, measurable, accepted, realistic and limited in terms of time," says economist Sebastian Goerg from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, commenting on the key to success. To clarify the relationship between work goals, monetary incentives and workers' performance, he and his colleague Sebastian Kube sent test subjects to look for books in a library. They discovered that a combination of self-chosen goals and monetary incentives had a particularly motivating impact on work performance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-field-effect.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:16:16 EST news270976566 Testosterone is considered the male hormone, standing for aggression and posturing. Researchers around Prof. Dr. Armin Falk, an economist from the University of Bonn, have now been able to demonstrate that this sex hormone surprisingly also fosters social behavior. In play situations, subjects who had received testosterone clearly lied less frequently than individuals who had only received a placebo. The results have just been published in the Public Library of Science's journal PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-testosterone-honesty-biological-background-lying.html Medical research Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:00:27 EST news269106354 Anyone who can apply his or her personal character strengths in his or her career experiences more enjoyment, flow and meaning at work. These people are also more satisfied with their job and perceive it more as a calling. This is the result of two large-scale studies conducted by a team of psychologists from the University of Zurich. The studies provide key insights for the selection of personnel and human resources development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-fun-character-bill.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:36:54 EST news268389407 Feeling generous? Think it over a little and then see how you feel. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-people-inclined.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 25 Sep 2012 05:17:45 EST news267769055 (Medical Xpress)—Research at Sandia National Laboratories has shown that it's possible to predict how well people will remember information by monitoring their brain activity while they study.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:29:55 EST news266516977 After waking up, the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva rises considerably; this is true not only for grown-ups but for babies as well. A research team from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and from Basel has reported this finding in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-method-team-stress-biology-babies.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:15:55 EST news265371227 If past experience makes you think there's going to be one more cashew at the bottom of the bowl, you're likely to search through those mixed nuts a little longer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-tumors-handguns-food.html Neuroscience Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:55:32 EST news263562911 The German makers of thalidomide were warned of birth defects years before it was withdrawn and Australian distributors used pregnant women as the world's first test subjects, court papers alleged Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-thalidomide-maker-birth-defects-years.html Medications Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:37:28 EST news262579001 A French researcher has built a device allowing disabled people to write or draw on a computer screen using only their eyes, a report said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-eyes-device-disabled.html Medical research Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:24:44 EST news262538676 Aches and pains got you down? The way you walk could be wearing out parts of your body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-movement-retraining-knee-pain-video.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:10:40 EST news258102516 Students of all ages could improve their test scores if the category of information changed abruptly midway through the test, according to a new study on memory by researchers from Syracuse University, the University of South Florida and Indiana University. The study was recently published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-subject-categories-scores.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:56:23 EST news254573726 Smoking alters the impact of a schizophrenia risk gene. Scientists from the universities of Zurich and Cologne demonstrate that healthy people who carry this risk gene and smoke process acoustic stimuli in a similarly deficient way as patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, the impact is all the stronger the more the person smokes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-smokers-prone-schizophrenia.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:00:20 EST news251982447 Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-effort.html Neuroscience Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:51:47 EST news248021492 During estimation processes we unconsciously make use of recent experiences. Scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and the Bernstein Center Munich asked test subjects to estimate distances in a virtual reality environment. The results revealed that estimates tended to approach the mean of all previously experienced distances. For the first time, scientists were able to accurately predict the experimental findings using a mathematical model. The model combines two well-known laws of psychophysics with a theorem from probability theory. The study could be of fundamental relevance to research on perception. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-errors-perception.html Neuroscience Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:19:16 EST news241690744 According to scientists, carbon monoxide (CO), a tasteless, colorless and odorless gas, is not only a danger to the environment but also highly toxic to human beings. Found in the exhaust of vehicles and generators, CO has been dubbed the "silent killer" because excessive inhalation is lethal, poisoning the nervous system and heart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-carbon-monoxide-silent-calmer.html Health Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:28:00 EST news239974073