Tag: boost

Text reminders boost vaccine appointments

Coronavirus infections among vaccinated people are on the decline but for the unvaccinated, cases continue to increase. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Los Angeles found text-based nudges are an effective way to remind people to schedule their first COVID-19 vaccination appointment and show up. The results of the study are

Brain research gets a boost from mosquitoes

Can a protein found in a mosquito lead to a better understanding of the workings of our own brains? Prof. Ofer Yizhar and his team in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Neurobiology Department took a light-sensitive protein derived from mosquitoes and used it to devise an improved method for investigating the messages that are passed

More green spaces can help boost air quality, reduce heart disease deaths

Green spaces—trees, shrubs and grasses—can improve air quality and may lower heart disease deaths, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2020. “We found that both increased greenness and increased air quality were associated with fewer deaths from heart disease,” said William Aitken, M.D., a cardiology fellow with

Want to boost creativity? Try playing Minecraft

The next time you need to get the creative juices flowing, playing some types of video games may help. Video games that foster creative freedom can increase creativity under certain conditions, according to new research from Iowa State University. The experimental study compared the effect of playing Minecraft, with or without instruction, to watching a

Experiences of nature boost children’s learning

Spending time in nature boosts children’s academic achievement and healthy development, concludes a new analysis examining hundreds of studies. Ming Kuo, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and lead author on the Frontiers in Psychology study, says she expected the critical review to lead to

Social media photo overkill may boost narcissism

The findings, which appear in The Open Psychology Journal, show that participants who posted large numbers of photos and selfies on social media developed a 25 percent rise in narcissistic traits over the 4-month study period. This uptick in traits pushed some participants past the diagnostic cutoff for narcissistic personality disorder. Social media allows us

Talking to baby might boost middle school success

(HealthDay)—Time spent reading to toddlers or having “conversations” with them helps boost their intelligence and thinking skills, even a decade later, new research shows. The study found that the more “conversational turns” that occurred in a toddler’s day, the better children performed on tests that measure IQ, language skills and thinking skills in middle school.

To Boost Colon Cancer Screening, Use the Mail

TUESDAY, July 31, 2018 — Colon cancer is treatable if caught early. And sending screening tests in the mail might boost timely detection, a new study suggests. University of North Carolina (UNC) researchers found that Medicaid patients were more likely to get screened if they received stool-testing kits by mail instead of just reminders. “There

Games boost student nutrition in Nigerian schools

The worsening of dietary habits among youth appears to have no geographical bounds. And improving dietary behaviour has become a critical public health challenge around the globe. This is especially true in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where we have seen a rapid transition from wholesome traditional diets to a more Western diet consisting