Tag: Affect

How does COVID-19 affect the heart?

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors and researchers are beginning to understand how the disease affects patients beyond initial respiratory symptoms. Mariam Bonyadi Camacho, a student in the medical scholars program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, co-wrote a recent report on the coronavirus’ cardiac effects, both short- and long-term. In an interview with

How oral health may affect your heart, brain and risk of death

Dental cavities could significantly increase the risk of a life-threatening stroke from bleeding in the brain, according to new research. Past studies have shown a link between gum infection and stroke, but few studies have looked into what role dental cavities might play. In the new study, researchers looked specifically at cavities and intracerebral stroke,

Metabolites’ From Food Could Affect Your Stroke Risk

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2020 — Levels of some small molecules called metabolites in the body may affect your risk of stroke, a new analysis suggests. Metabolites come from the food people eat, and they cause chemical processes within the bodies and microbes. An analysis of previously published studies found that the levels of 10 of

Genetic background may affect adaptions to aging

How we adapt to aging late in life may be genetically influenced, according to a study led by a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside. The research, published in Aging Cell, has implications for how epigenetic factors relate to aging. Epigenesis is a process in which chemicals attached to DNA control its activity. Epigenetic

Swings in daily temperature may affect stroke severity

The highs and lows of the daily weather could signal something more important than which outfit to wear: A study from South Korea suggests the more temperatures fluctuate during the summer, the more severe strokes become. Connections between the weather and risk of stroke have been examined for years. To expand on that, researchers at

Many moms-to-be are stressed, and it might affect baby’s brain

(HealthDay)—Many mothers-to-be feel overwhelmed by stress, and it might have implications for their babies’ brain development in the womb, a new study suggests. The researchers found that even in a group of highly educated, healthy pregnant women, stress and anxiety were common. More than one-quarter reported higher-than-average levels of “perceived stress,” while a similar number

Hormonal contraceptives affect the efficacy of exposure therapy

Psychologists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have studied in what way hormonal contraceptives affect the efficacy of anxiety therapy. They demonstrated that women who were on the pill benefitted less from exposure therapy than women who didn’t take any oral contraceptives. Friederike Raeder, Professor Armin Zlomuzica and colleagues describe the results in the Journal of Psychiatric Research,

How do genetic differences affect the risk of bipolar disorder?

So concluded the scientists at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge who carried out the novel research. In previous work, they had already shown that a protein called candidate plasticity gene 2 (CPG2) helps to regulate the strength of synapses in brain circuits. Synapses are the

How does social media use affect our body image?

Recently, the effects of social media use on our mental health and well-being have been the topic of much debate. According to the social displacement theory, for example, the more time we spend socializing online, the less time we’re likely to spend socializing in the offline world. This could lead to a decrease in one’s

Here’s How High Blood Pressure Can Affect Your Eyes

High blood pressure can do critical damage to your heart. But it affects other parts of the body, too, including the eyes. Believe it or not, when you don’t take care of your heart, you may be causing harm elsewhere, too. Here’s how blood pressure can affect your eyes. High blood pressure can cause eye

Stressed out? Study reveals it may affect your memory

Stress in middle age can make your brain shrink and make your memory worse, Harvard study finds The brain-reducing effects of stress were found to be triggered by cortisol The Harvard Medical School study was published in the journal Neurology Scientists have said ‘it’s important for people to find ways to reduce stress’  Stress in

Childhood risk profiles affect middle-age lung function

(HealthDay)—Profiles of childhood respiratory risk factors predict middle-age lung function levels and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk, according to a study published in the September issue of the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Dinh S. Bui, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues assessed 11 childhood risk factor profiles (documented at

Does our environment affect the genes in our brains?

Is there a link between differences in IQ test performance and the activity of certain genes? Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have shown that modifications in the structure of a specific gene have a negative impact on individual test performance. This suggests that environmentally induced epigenetic changes to our genetic material have a greater

How the smell of disease can affect healthy people

Disease and infection can alter bodily odor. This mechanism is an important tool, albeit one that we are not usually aware of, in guiding social interactions self-preservation mechanisms. If we can “sense” that a stranger on the bus has a cold, we may instinctively avoid sitting down next to them. Previous research has shown that

Cardio exercise and strength training affect hormones differently

For exercise, many people cycle to and from work, or visit the gym to lift weights. Regardless of the form of training they choose, people exercise to improve their health. But researchers actually know surprisingly little about exactly how different forms of training affect health. However, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have now come

Alcohol and breast-feeding: Is it safe and how does it affect baby?

What are the recommendations for alcohol consumption while breast-feeding? Moderate alcohol consumption is safe for mothers breast-feeding their infants. Moderate alcohol consumption is defined as about one drink per day. At this level, research shows there are no known harmful effects to the infant. However, more than one drink per day is not recommended. Of