A salty fact
The latest research shows that almost everyone needs to hold the salt. It’s a critical flavour enhancer for so many foods, and in centuries past, it was necessary for preserving perishables before the advent of refrigerators.
But salt, alas, is one of the many factors plaguing health. The American Heart Association (AHA) links too much salt in the diet to a higher risk for heart disease, hypertension and stroke, and according to research presented at the AHA’s 2013 Scientific Sessions, excessive salt led to nearly 2.3 million heart-related deaths worldwide in 2010. The researchers analysed 247 surveys of adults. Overall, adults around the world ate an average of 4,000 mg of sodium a day, either from prepared foods or from table salt or salt sprinkled into meals while cooking.
All about intestine disorders
The symptoms of gastroenteritis aren’t pretty, but at least doctors know what’s behind the wave of cases in recent years. According to a new study released by the Centers for Disease Control, norovirus sent nearly one million children under age five in the US to the doctor or hospital in 2009 and 2010. And treating those youngsters cost an estimated $273 million a year. Norovirus is often called the “stomach flu” or “food poisoning” since its symptoms include severe vomiting and diarrhea. According to the CDC, the virus, which inflames the lining of the stomach and intestines, causes 21 million cases of illness, 70,000 hospitalisations and 800 deaths in the US annually. A little more than half of the cases are passed from person to person, and 20 per cent are caused by contaminated food.
Fear and stress impair learning
Evolution has shaped our brains to err on the side of caution and to trigger fear whenever it might be remotely useful. Fear makes us less intelligent because amygdala activation — which occurs as part of the fear response — interferes with prefrontal functioning. Fear also shuts down exploration, makes our thinking more rigid, and drives “neophobia,” the fear of anything new. Stressful situations trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which interferes with neural growth. Prolonged stress impairs our ability to learn. Success in school depends upon a student’s ability to decrease their stress. The inclusion of stress-management techniques into the curriculum can improve learning and emotional well-being.
mind what you say to kids
The use of guilt-inducing comments in daily parent-child interaction causes children distress, still evident on the next day, finds out a new study. The use of guilt-inducing parenting varied from one day to another. When parents used higher levels of guilt-inducing parenting on certain days, this was evident as atypically high levels of distress and anger among children still on the next day. In guilt-inducing parenting, a parent tries to impact on the child’s behaviour using psychological means rather than direct limit setting. For example, the parent may remind the child how much he or she makes effort for the child or show how ashamed she/he is because of the child’s behaviour.
Brain scan on criminals
A new study conducted by The Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, NM, shows that neuroimaging data can predict the likelihood of whether a criminal will reoffend following release from prison. The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high-brain activity in this region. “These findings have incredibly significant ramifications,” said Dr Kent A Kiehl, who was senior author on the study. “This study give us a tool to predict which criminals may reoffend. It also provides a path forward for steering offenders into more effective targetted therapies to reduce the risk of future criminal activity.”