Vitamin D fights breast cancer
Breast cancer patients with high levels of Vitamin D in their blood are twice as likely to survive the disease as women with low levels of this nutrient. Previous studies showed that low Vitamin D levels were linked to a high risk of premenopausal breast cancer. That finding prompted researchers to question the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D — a metabolite produced by the body from the ingestion of vitamin D — and breast cancer survival rates. “Vitamin D metabolites increase communication between cells by switching on a protein that blocks aggressive cell division,” said a researcher. “As long as Vitamin D receptors are present, tumor growth is prevented and kept from expanding its blood supply. Vitamin D receptors are not lost until a tumor is very advanced.”
Are you smarter than a five-year-oldIJ
Millions of high school and college algebra students are united in a shared agony over solving for x and y, and for those to whom the answers don't come easily, it gets worse: Most preschoolers and kindergarteners can do some algebra before even entering a math class. In a just-published study in the journal Developmental Science, lead author and post-doctoral fellow Melissa Kibbe and lisa Feigenson, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, find that most preschoolers and kindergarteners, or children between four and six, can do basic algebra naturally. “These very young children, some of whom are just learning to count, and few of whom have even gone to school yet, are doing basic algebra and with little effort,” Kibbe said. “They do it by using what we call their ‘Approximate Number System’: their gut-level, inborn sense of quantity and number.”
Faces form first impressions in kids
Just like adults, children as young as three tend to judge an individual's character traits, such as trustworthiness and competence, simply by looking at the person's face, new research shows. And they show remarkable consensus in the judgments they make, the findings suggest. The research, led by psychological scientist Emily Cogsdill of Harvard University, shows that the predisposition to judge others based on physical features starts early in childhood and does not require years of social experience. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Prior research has shown that adults regularly use faces to make judgments about the character traits of others, even with only a brief glance. But it's unclear whether this tendency is one that slowly builds as a result of life experiences or is instead a more fundamental impulse that emerges early in life.
Drinking buddies deny copying orders
People who copy their friend's drinking behaviour will deny that their decision has been influenced, researchers at the University of liverpool have shown. A new study, conducted in the University of liverpool's bar laboratory, a lab designed to imitate a bar, brought together pairs of friends. One of the friends was made aware of the experimental aims and was told to drink alcoholic drinks throughout the session or to stick to soft drinks. While most people were strongly influenced by peers — they mimicked their friend and drank more heavily when their friend did — the majority of participants were unaware of this influence on their behavior and were adamant that their friend's choice did not have anything to do with their decision to drink.
Drugs can reverse memory decline
It may seem normal: As we age, we misplace car keys, or can't remember a name we just learned or a meal we just ordered. But University of Florida researchers say memory trouble doesn't have to be inevitable, and they've found a drug therapy that could potentially reverse this type of memory decline. The drug can't yet be used in humans, but the researchers are pursuing compounds that could someday help the population of aging adults who don't have Alzheimer's or other dementias but still have trouble remembering day-to-day items. The kind of memory responsible for holding information in the mind for short periods of time is called “working memory”. Working memory relies on a balance of chemicals in the brain. The UF study shows this chemical balance tips in older adults, and working memory declines.