SHEmazing!
follow us
more
 
HomeTagsPosts tagged with "research"

research

by

So are you the person that never remembers the office Christmas party?

Did you accidently tell Brigid in Accounting that everyone thinks shes a bit dry or perhaps you flirted shamelessly with your married boss?

Maybe those scratches on your leg are from when you crawled up on the table to do a terrible karaoke version of Total Eclipse of the Heart?

Well listen up! New research says your drunken antics might not just be the result of just having one too many G&Ts. 

A new study conducted by scientists in the University of Helsinki has identified a genetic mutation that results in some drinkers acting overly impulsive and reckless when drinking.

Defects in our 'serotonin 2B receptor' can kick in after only a small amount of alcohol, causing unruliness in some drinkers.

According to Dr Roope Tukkanen, those with the mutation are more likely to "get into verbal arguments and fights, have unplanned sex" and "are arrested more often." 

Those with the genetic mutation are generally quite impulsive even when not drinking and probably suffer from mood disorders. 

Though the study has located the mutation in the Finnish population, people with Finnish ancestry could also be susceptible. 

"Nowadays people move more, which may result in the mutation being passed on," said Dr Roope.

Even if you can't find any semblance of Finnish ancestry in your family tree, this is still a good excuse for a particularly embarrassing office Christmas party – but if we're honest, it was probably all those shots of tequila that were the problem.

Trending

by

Okay, so we are not about to try and proclaim that consuming mass amounts of alcohol on a Saturday night is good for you, because we all know it's not. But drinking certain alcohol in moderation can have it's health perks.

It is too easy to believe the rumours that drinking red wine has its merits, but the latest research literally has us giddy with excitement. Scientists have revealed that drinking three glasses of champagne a week can actually help to prevent certain illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Dementia. 

Well, in that case, pass the Moët!

Researchers at the University of Reading found that fruits used to make certain fancy champagnes can help to boost memory and battle certain illnesses. 

Professor Jeremy Spencer told the Mail on Sunday that the "the results were dramatic".

"This research is exciting because it illustrates for the first time that moderate consumption of champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning such as memory," he said.

That's good enough for us! It's time to pop open a bottle of fizz and toast to our good health. 

Trending

by

For anyone who likes to stay in bed as long as they can in the morning, then this is definitely for you. 

According to research from Oxford University, your body apparently doesn't function before 10am and it's biologically unnatural to wake up before then.

Speaking to The National Post, Dr Paul Kelley, who conducted the research, said that getting up earlier than 10am also creates illness, stress and exhaustion in employees.

"Before the age of 55, the circadian rhythms of adults are completely out of sync with normal nine-to-five working hours, posing a serious threat to performance, mood and mental health."

Dr Kelley also added that forcing staff to work before 10am is the equivalent to some forms of torture (we suppose, when our 7am alarm goes off it really does feel like torture). 

"Staff are usually sleep deprived. We've got a sleep deprived society. It is hugely damaging on the body's system because you are affecting physical, emotional and performance systems in the body."

"Your liver and your heart have different patterns and you’re asking them to shift two or three hours. Everybody is suffering and they don’t have to.”

Dr Kelley suggested if we look at the connections between the human body, Earth, and the light from the sun's natural rhythms, it isn't really possible to change it's 24-hour cycle. 

Later starting times should effect every part of society, especially hospitals and prisons. In these cases, people are usually woken up and given food they do not want because it's too early.

He also believes that work and school times need to change, which would mean having to finish later than usual. 

Trending

by

Heading straight to the fridge or take away menu after a fight with your partner?

You're certainly not alone. 

A new study published in Clinical Psychological Science found that relationship stress and bickering with your other half can in fact work up a real appetite.

Researchers at the University Of Deleware and Ohio State University studied the interactions of more than 40 couples, who have been together for longer than three years. 

They filmed them eating meals together and then also kept a camera on them when the couple tried to resolve relationship issues. 

When the 'problem discussions' took place, the scientists observed how the pair communicated, their hostility levels and even subtle details like put-downs and eye rolls.

While filming took place, researchers took blood tests so they could examine hormone levels before and after the exchanges. They also examined their heights, weights, BMIs and typical diets. 

And as it turns out, couples who had a more hostile exchange saw a surge in the appetite-triggering hormone ghrelin, post-arguement. 

Results also showed that couples with the most stress in their relationship had poorer diets overall.

The conclusion of the research showed that the uncontrolled hunger some couples experience after fighting could have negative long-term health implications, such a worsened emotional eating and obesity. 

Trending

by

Is coffee good for more than just wearing off the inevitable mid-day slump? 

A new study suggests that drinking a lot of coffee could actually reduce your risk of developing skin cancer. 

In the decade-long study, researchers analysed nearly 450,000 people who drank coffee. The participants had to fill in questionnaires that came from The National Institute Of Health about their various eating and drinking habits.

By the end of the study, close to 3,000 people developed malignant melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer that occurs in the cells that produce pigmentation.

After adjusting the research to account for various risk factors including smoking, family history and sun exposure, researchers found the very interesting association that the people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 20 percent less likely to developed malignant melanoma.

Caffeinated coffee in particular lessened the risk even more.

So how is this possible? The authors of the study think coffee contains extremely beneficial compounds (including caffeine) that appear to fend off cancer in a number of ways:

  • They suppress cells that turn cancerous in the sun
  • They fend off oxidative stress and DNA damage
  • They absorb harmful sun rays (kind of like sun screen)
  • And they detoxify carcinogens

This is all BRILLIANT news for us coffee drinkers, especially all of us whose Nespresso bills are sky high.

Trending

by

Over the past ten years alone, the Pill has helped to prevent an incredible 200,000 cases of womb cancer.

And in the 50 years since oral contraceptives were first introduced, a total of 400,000 incidents of the same cancer have been avoided.

That's according to Oxford University researchers – who also found that for every five years that a woman takes the oral contraceptive, the risk of developing endometrial cancer decreases by 25 percent.

And in females who have taken the Pill for ten years, rates of womb cancer diagnosis in under-75s also fall from 2.3 per 100 to just 1.3.

Previous research has shown that the Pill furthermore protects against ovarian cancer.

Incredibly, the Oxford study concluded that the protective effects of the Pill, which includes a dose of oestrogen, last for decades after someone stops taking the contraceptive – with women in their 20s continuing to benefit when they are in their 50s.

Professor Valerie Beral explained: "People used to worry that the Pill might cause cancer, but in the long-term, the Pill reduces the risk of getting cancer."

However, women are still being advised to weigh up the risks – especially if they have a family history of breast cancer – as some research suggests it can slightly increase the risk of this particular disease.

The Pill was first introduced in the US in May 1960, although back than it was licensed only for menstrual disorders.

In 1966, contraception became legal in the States for married women, and by the 1970s it was in wide usage. At the same time in Ireland, imports and sales of contraceptives had been expressly banned since 1935.

In 1971, the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement published a booklet called Chains Or Change, which called for equal pay, an end to the marriage bar, equal rights in law, justice for widows, deserted wives and unmarried mothers, equal educational opportunities and contraception.

They famously travelled from Dublin to Belfast and back on the ‘contraceptive train’, returning gleefully waving various birth control devices, then legal in Northern Ireland, at custom officials.

By 1978, the Irish Family Planning Act allowed the provision of contraceptives under prescription, and finally in 1985, condoms and spermicides could be sold without a doctor's approval. 

Trending

by

Are you guilty of having a messy bedroom/kitchen/desk/entire house? Well turns out that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

Hurrah!

According to scientist Adam Frank, no matter how hard some people may try to keep their s*** together, it just isn't going to happen and through no fault of our own. Yup, it's just science!

Adam states: "Think about your desk. You tidy it up. It slides into a mess. Tidy it up again, and still, two weeks later, the mess is back.

"That's because the deepest of deep cosmic principles is playing itself out right there in the midst of your pens, paper clips and paperwork."

So what you're saying is, there's no point in us tidying up at all in the first place? Ok Adam, you have our attention. 

This physicist wants us all to feel better about not being able to keep on top of all of our cleaning sometimes "You see, it's not just us. It's a law of physics.

"The hard truth is that the universe itself is dead-set against our long-term efforts to bring order to the chaos in our lives. That's because the universe loves chaos."

So if your desk has a pile that's beginning to get higher and higher, then just remember what Adam says: "Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights."

So we guess you could say you're basically doing it for the benefit of our lives and careers.

Trending

by

Put the selfie stick down…forever. A study conducted by academics at Ohio State University has shown that men who take selfies have higher than average traits psychopathic tendencies…eek! Quick, someone tell James Franco! Although we have a feeling he may already know…

The research was conducted on 800 men between the ages of 18-40 showed that those who loved to post and edit their selfies online had high narcissistic traits than those who do not do so.

Professor Jesse Fox spoke about the findings, saying: “We know that self-objectification leads to a lot of terrible things, like depression and eating disorders in women. With the growing use of social networks, everyone is more concerned with their appearance. That means self-objectification may become a bigger problem for men, as well as for women.”

No need to worry about your boy’s camera habits just yet however, as although a number of the men in the study did receive a higher than average score on narcissistic and psychopathic characteristics, these scores were still within the normal ranges of human behaviour. Phew!

Trending

by

A new study has found that crash diets may actually be one of the most effective ways to lose weight.

Researchers recently carried out a study on 200 obese adults in Australia, dividing them up into two groups. The first group were put on a rapid weight loss scheme, or ‘crash diet’, where their calorie intake was dramatically cut over the course of 12 weeks.

Their counterparts were then placed on a different diet, one which saw their calorie intake slowly reduced over a 36-week period, and which went by the national health authority’s guidelines for healthy weight loss.

The findings of the study proved quite surprising, with researchers discovering that the first group – the one that undertook the ‘crash diet’ approach – were actually more likely to hit their targets and maintain their desired weight than the other group.

To get right down to the statistics, 81 percent of the ‘crash dieters’ hit their target weight which, in comparison to only 50 percent of the gradual dieters, is a huge difference.

We know what you’re saying now, though – we bet the crash dieters put all that weight right back on again straight away.

Well, you would be wrong! When the researchers checked up on all 200 subjects three years later, they discovered that both groups had gained around 71 percent of the weight they had initially lost.

Given how we have always been advised that losing weight slowly, over a prolonged period of time is the best method, this new study definitely provides food for thought.

Trending

by

A US scientist may have just discovered a cure for diabetes.

Experts are describing new stem cell research which could signal the end of insulin injections as a major breakthrough, possibly even the biggest medical discovery since antibiotics.

According to the research report, published in health journal Cell, Harvard Professor Doug Melton has successfully cured diabetes in laboratory mice by growing insulin-producing cells from ordinary skin cells.

This means that not only could sufferers of the Type 1 strain of the condition potentially forego daily insulin injections, but the new treatment could also prevent them from developing other serious complications such as blindness, strokes and heart attacks.

Naturally it follows that this new treatment would also help Type 2 sufferers, whose condition is brought on by a lack of sufficient insulin being produced by the body.

Melton initially began his research after two of his children were diagnosed with diabetes, promising them that he would find a cure for their illness. And while the treatment has so far only been animal-tested, Cell reports that it is only one step away from being trialled on humans.

Amazing news for those living with the condition. Let’s hope this new treatment can really make a difference.

Trending

by

How many of us follow up a bad day at the office with a calorie-laden junk fest? And how many of us brush off the inevitable guilt that follows, because comfort food is the only solution to your woes?

Us too. But it looks like the only ones we’re fooling are ourselves!

According to new research, the foods that we have come to consider as “comfort foods” may actually have no impact upon our mood whatsoever.

The interesting finding was made by US researchers, who carried out an experiment on 100 students, testing out the changes in their mood when presented with comfort and non-comfort foods.

After first lowering the students’ spirits by making them watch sad movies, the researchers then presented the first half of their subjects with the foods that they considered to be comforting; they presented the other half with healthier foods that didn’t traditionally fall under the “comforting” category.

 

It was found that, after 15 minutes, all subjects were in a better mood, despite what they had been given to snack on.

The next phase of the experiment saw the researchers providing the first half of their subjects with more comfort food, but this time around, giving nothing at all to the other half. Surprisingly, they found that their results were the same as the first stage: all students felt equally cheered up.

In conclusion, the authors of the research report have found that the foods that we tend to consider as “comfort foods” may actually have no effect at all on our mood.

As interesting as this finding is, we’re not going to think twice about reaching for the Haagen-Dazs during the Valentine’s Day/ The Notebook sob-fest!

Trending

by

Forget late-night snacking, now researchers are saying that our tech devices could be causing us to gain weight.

According to new research, the short-wave blue light emitted from many of our devices is disturbing our sleep patterns and, as a result, is disrupting our bodies from burning foods efficiently.

The research report states that, in order for our bodies to release the correct levels of melatonin – responsible for converting food and drink into energy – we need pitch-black darkness; this means that the glow of our charging tech devices in the bedroom may be serving up problems for our metabolism.

The research findings have proven particularly interesting for Dr Simon Kyle, a sleep researcher at Manchester University, who has spoken of the link between alteration in sleeping patterns and the onset of obesity and diseases such as diabetes.

“There is a lot of research showing we are meant to be asleep at night when darkness falls and melatonin rises, and when the sun rises the melatonin is blocked by the sun,” he said, adding, “So if you start sleeping shorter, or receive light at the wrong time late into the night, it disrupts melatonin secretion and that could contribute to alterations in metabolism.”

Maybe it’s time to ease off all of those battery-draining Candy Crush Saga marathons, then?

Trending
© Copyright 2012-2024 - Shemazing.net. Déanta in Éirinn - Sheology.