Forget It

Do not let minor irritations, resentments and unhappiness ruin your day. Forget it. Now.

Events in the coming days, weeks and months will always seek your attention. Sooner or later you are going to forget all the petty things that annoy you. Why not do it now?

Save yourself unhappiness, forget instantaneously whatever seem to upset you. Your mind naturally does not like bad feelings and will try to get rid of it. Why not help it along?

Neurogenetics research sheds light on the causes of neurological disease

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2010) — The last two decades have seen tremendous progress in understanding the genetic basis of human brain disorders. Research developments in this area have revealed fundamental insights into the genes and molecular pathways that underlie neurological and psychiatric diseases. In a new series of review articles published by Cell Press in the October 21 issue of the journal Neuron, experts in the field discuss exciting recent advances in neurogenetics research and the potential implications for the treatment of these devastating disorders.

Genetic discoveries have transformed clinical practice in neurology and psychiatry and provided new hope for many patients and their families. Recent advances in sequencing technologies coupled with improved analytical and computational approaches have led an amazing pace of discovery of genes linked to human disease. The complexity of neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders is apparent in the fast-growing list of genetic defects linked to these diseases. These genetic findings have provided key insight into underlying causes of these disorders and inspired further research aimed at prevention and therapy.

Genetic research has great potential for revolutionizing the treatment of human disease. However, the translation of genetic findings into the development of new disease therapies can take time. In an overview of the series, researchers Huda Zoghbi from Baylor College of Medicine and Stephen Warren from Emory University School of Medicine discuss recent achievements in neurogenetics research and the promise that it holds for disease treatment. They point out that gene discovery is a critical first step in the path to development of new therapies and that follow up investigations are needed to reveal disease pathways that lend themselves to therapeutic intervention. These preclinical investigations are a key step in the translation of genetic discoveries to clinical applications. Recent data from mouse disease models indicate that some developmental and degenerative diseases are reversible. These findings provide hope that genetic discoveries could potentially lead to the reversal of serious neurological and psychiatric disorders through the development of therapeutics that suppress the pathways contributing to disease.

Zoghbi and Warren make a strong case for the need for scientific collaboration and the appropriate infrastructure to support partnerships among academic research, governments, private institutions and foundations, and pharmaceutical industries. The authors argue that combining resources and expertise will help accelerate the development of therapies based on genetic discoveries.

This series of review articles covers a wide spectrum of recent research in neurogenetics, including the genetics of Parkinson and Alzheimer disease, human developmental and neurogenetics, and the genetics of child psychiatric disorders. All articles are freely available on the Neuron website (www.neuron.org) for a limited time.

Reviews:

Neurogenetics: Advancing the ''Next-Generation'' of Brain Research H.Y. Zoghbi and S.T. WarrenTangles of Neurogenetics, Neuroethics, and Culture E. Brief and J. IllesHealing Genes in the Nervous System X.O. Breakefield and M. Sena-EstevesThe Psychiatric GWAS Consortium: Big Science Comes to Psychiatry P.F. SullivanChanging the Landscape of Autism Research: The Autism Genetic Resource Exchange C.M. Lajonchere and the AGRE ConsortiumThe Simons Simplex Collection: A Resource for Identification of Autism Genetic Risk Factors G.D. Fischbach and C. LordNature versus Nurture: Death of a Dogma, and the Road Ahead B.J. Traynor and A.B. SingletonGenetic Analysis of Pathways to Parkinson Disease J. HardyFrom Single Genes to Gene Networks: High-Throughput-High-Content Screening for Neurological Disease S. Jain and P. HeutinkNeurocognitive Phenotypes and Genetic Dissection of Disorders of Brain and Behavior E. Congdon, R.A. Poldrack, and N.B. FreimerHuman Brain Evolution: Harnessing the Genomics (R)evolution to Link Genes, Cognition, and Behavior G. Konopka and D.H. GeschwindAllelic Diversity in Human Developmental Neurogenetics: Insights into Biology and Disease C.A. Walsh and E.C. EngleThe Genetics of Child Psychiatric Disorders: Focus on Autism and Tourette Syndrome M.W. StateThe Genetics of Alzheimer Disease: Back to the Future L. Bertram, C.M. Lill, and R.E. TanziEpisodic Neurological Channelopathies D.P. Ryan and L.J. PtácekHearing Impairment: A Panoply of Genes and Functions A.A. Dror and K.B. AvrahamGenetic Advances in the Study of Speech and Language Disorders D.F. Newbury and A.P. Monaco

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Cell Press, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Study confirms: Whatever doesn't kill us can make us stronger

ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2010) — We've all heard the adage that whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger, but until now the preponderance of scientific evidence has offered little support for it.

However, a new national multi-year longitudinal study of the effects of adverse life events on mental health has found that adverse experiences do, in fact, appear to foster subsequent adaptability and resilience, with resulting advantages for mental health and well being.

The study, "Whatever Does Not Kill Us: Cumulative Lifetime Adversity, Vulnerability and Resilience," to be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is available on the website of the American Psychological Association.

It examined a national sample of people who reported their lifetime history of adverse experiences and several measures of current mental health and well being.

Authors are Mark Seery, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo; E. Alison Holman, PhD, assistant professor of nursing sciences, University of California, Irvine; and Roxane Cohen Silver, PhD, professor of psychology and social behavior and medicine at UC Irvine.

Seery, senior author of the study, says previous research indicates that exposure to adverse life events typically predicts negative effects on mental health and well-being, such that more adversity predicts worse outcomes.

But in this study of a national survey panel of 2,398 subjects assessed repeatedly from 2001 to 2004, Seery and co-researchers found those exposed to some adverse events reported better mental health and well-being outcomes than people with a high history of adversity or those with no history of adversity.

"We tested for quadratic relationships between lifetime adversity and a variety of longitudinal measures of mental health and well-being, including global distress, functional impairment, post-traumatic stress symptoms and life satisfaction," Seery says.

"Consistent with prior research on the impact of adversity, linear effects emerged in our results, such that more lifetime adversity was associated with higher global distress, functional impairment and PTS symptoms, as well as lower life satisfaction.

"However," says Seery, "our results also yielded quadratic, U-shaped patterns, demonstrating a critical qualification to the seemingly simple relationship between lifetime adversity and outcomes.

"Our findings revealed," he says, "that a history of some lifetime adversity -- relative to both no adversity or high adversity -- predicted lower global distress, lower functional impairment, lower PTS symptoms and higher life satisfaction."

The team also found that, across these same longitudinal outcome measures, people with a history of some lifetime adversity appeared less negatively affected by recent adverse events than other individuals.

Although these data cannot establish causation, Seery says the evidence is consistent with the proposition that in moderation, experiencing lifetime adversity can contribute to the development of resilience.

"Although we studied major lifetime adversity," he says, "there is reason to believe that other relatively mundane experiences should also contribute to resilience.

"This suggests that carefully designed psychotherapeutic interventions may be able to do so, as well, although there is much work that still needs to be done to fully understand resilience and where it comes from."

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University at Buffalo, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

Mark D. Seery, E. Alison Holman, Roxane Cohen Silver. Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010; DOI: 10.1037/a0021344

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

View the original article here

Unpacking Deepak’s quantum God | Bad Astronomy

I really dislike it when people abuse science to promote antiscientific agendas. One particularly popular violator of science is Deepak Chopra, who routinely spouts nonsense to millions of people. He uses scientific words in his sentences, but in such a way that their meaning is either lost or twisted beyond any real sense.

Skeptic Michael Shermer has written another article blasting Chopra, deservedly, IMO. Chopra routinely abuses quantum mechanics to bolster his claims about mysticism and God. To people unfamiliar with science his claims may sound deep, but in fact to those of us who do grok QM we can see right through the babble. Shermer does a great job showing that all Chopra is doing is rehashing age-old concepts with new terms, saying nothing really new.

Of course, the more you try to pin Deepak down, the more drivel he writes on HuffPo and other piffle purveyors. In that sense, at least, there’s some quantum mechanics at play.

Related posts:

- Royal Ontario Museum dip deep(ak)ly into nonsense
- Deepak impact
- Deepak Chopra redefining wrong
- Deepak Chopra followup

View the original article here

Future Power

You have heard of solar power and wind power, now get ready for solar wind power. Scientist at Washington State University have produce what could be the source of future energy source.

Read how it can be done, its advantages and disadvantages here.

Which Vitamins Practically Guarantee Faster Hair Growth?

It may come as a slight surprise but you can actually enhance the growth of your hair by focusing on certain vitamins. Now it can be quite easy to try out the latest and greatest hair loss product on the market. It seems like everyone wants that quick fix in order to regrow their hair as fast as possible.

It takes time to get your hair growing back. After all, more than likely your hair started falling out gradually right? This is something that many people fail to actually think about.

If you want to grow hair that's thicker and more vibrant, vitamin B is one of the best vitamins to get more of in your diet. There are four categories of this vitamin that are dedicated to healthy hair growth. They are B3, B5, B6 and B12. You may have heard of another one that's often classified with these vitamins called biotin. Biotin is known for triggering nail growth, skin cell development and the growth of hair cells.

3,000 mcg of biotin each day will do the trick. You also can't forget about foods containing B vitamins such as apricots, potatoes, cabbage and egg yolk.

Bald spots can occur in your scalp from a lack of sufficient circulation. This problem will certainly grow to become a larger one if left untreated. What can you do about this? You may want to get more vitamin C and E into your body. Vitamin C isn't just for maintaining and building a healthy immune system, it also helps strengthen blood vessels in your scalp. This will allow more blood to pass through and reach your follicle roots resulting in an increase of hair growth.

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Picture worth a thousand words: New research links visual cues to male sexual memory

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2010) — A new study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology finds that college-aged men are very likely to remember a woman's initial sexual interest (attraction or rejection), especially when the woman in question is thought to be attractive, is dressed more provocatively, and expresses positive sexual interest.

In the study the men were shown full-body photographs of college-aged women who expressed cues of sexual interest or rejection. The participating males represented mixed sexual histories, and a capacity for varying degrees of sexually aggressive behavior.

The ability to discriminate accurately between photos that the males had and had not seen previously indicated good memory for women's sexual interest. Throughout the study they were presented with previously viewed photos and new photos of the same women in which they communicated the opposite cue (e.g., rejection instead of sexual interest). The average young man showed excellent memory for whether women initially displayed sexual interest or rejection. However, males showed better memory for the woman's sexual-interest when the woman was broadly more appealing to him: she initially expressed positive sexual interest, was dressed more provocatively, and was thought to be attractive.

College-aged men at risk of displaying sexual aggression toward female acquaintances show worse memory for college-aged women's sexual-interest and rejection cues. Lead author Teresa Treat observes, "Misremembering a woman's level of sexual interest could prompt some men to make an unwanted sexual advance and become frustrated when a woman doesn't respond as anticipated. Conversely, college-aged men who report more frequent serious romantic relationships with women show better memory for college-aged women's sexual-interest and rejection cues. This suggests that tracking and remembering a partner's emotions may play a role in the initiation and maintenance of a serious romantic relationship."

The long-term significance of the findings will depend on whether the memory of sexual interest impacts the male's subsequent behaviour, experiences, and social decisions when cues of sexual interest are presented in a more lifelike manner (i.e., in videotapes or real-life interactions). However, numerous factors other than memory for a partner's emotions play a central role in developing both positive and negative sexual experiences among young adults.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Wiley - Blackwell, via AlphaGalileo.

Journal Reference:

Teresa A. Treat, Richard J. Viken, John K. Kruschke, Richard M. McFall. Men's memory for women's sexual-interest and rejection cues. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2010; DOI: 10.1002/acp.1751

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

View the original article here