All posts from The Last Seven Days
- May 22, 2013
- 02:01 PM
- 2 views
Marijuana and Diabetes: Does Pot Make You Thin?
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Teasing out the insulin effect.
On the face of it, the study seems to come out of left field: A group of researchers claimed that marijuana smokers showed 16 per cent lower fasting insulin levels than non-smokers. The study, called “The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults,” is in press for The American Journal of Medicine. The authors are a diverse group of medical researchers from Harvard, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and t........ Read more »
Penner Elizabeth A., Buettner Hannah, & Mittleman Murray A. (2013) The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults. The American Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.03.002
- May 22, 2013
- 01:01 PM
- 3 views
Decision Theory Journal Club: Our brains are perfect machines
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
A few of us have started a Decision Theory journal club where we plan on reading papers from a variety of fields that examine how decisions are made. We have people from neuroscience, economics, and cognitive science participating (so far), including people participating through Google+ hangouts!, which will hopefully make lead to some productive discussions. […]... Read more »
Brunton, B., Botvinick, M., & Brody, C. (2013) Rats and Humans Can Optimally Accumulate Evidence for Decision-Making. Science, 340(6128), 95-98. DOI: 10.1126/science.1233912
Znamenskiy, P., & Zador, A. (2013) Corticostriatal neurons in auditory cortex drive decisions during auditory discrimination. Nature, 497(7450), 482-485. DOI: 10.1038/nature12077
- May 22, 2013
- 11:58 AM
- 4 views
RNA was able to do some complex tasks in the start of Life on Ancient Earth
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Scientists have found that the complex biochemical changes through RNA may have been occurred in the start of the life on early Earth.
Published in:
Nature Chemistry
Study Further:
RNA (full form: ribonucleic acid) is a nucleic acid that has the sugar ribose, is found in all living cells, and is essential for the manufacture of proteins according to the instructions carried by genes. RNA also acts instead of DNA as the genetic material in certain viruses.
RNA is tho........ Read more »
Hsiao, C., Chou, I., Okafor, C., Bowman, J., O'Neill, E., Athavale, S., Petrov, A., Hud, N., Wartell, R., Harvey, S.... (2013) RNA with iron(II) as a cofactor catalyses electron transfer. Nature Chemistry, 5(6), 525-528. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1649
- May 22, 2013
- 09:32 AM
- 6 views
Video Tip of the Week: Canary Database for sentinels of human health
Recently we attended the Medical Library Association conference (#MLAnet13). Librarians are working so hard to wrangle information into usable forms, and to generate new connections among data types to reveal new information and leads for further studies. I ♥ librarians. In one of the sessions I attended on Medical Informatics, I heard several great talks. One [...]... Read more »
Rabinowitz, P., Scotch, M., & Conti, L. (2010) Animals as Sentinels: Using Comparative Medicine To Move Beyond the Laboratory. ILAR Journal, 51(3), 262-267. DOI: 10.1093/ilar.51.3.262
Rabinowitz, P., Gordon, Z., Holmes, R., Taylor, B., Wilcox, M., Chudnov, D., Nadkarni, P., & Dein, F. (2005) Animals as Sentinels of Human Environmental Health Hazards: An Evidence-Based Analysis. EcoHealth, 2(1), 26-37. DOI: 10.1007/s10393-004-0151-1
Rabinowitz, P., Cullen, M., & Lake, H. (1999) Wildlife as sentinels for human health hazards: a review of study designs. Journal of Environmental Medicine, 1(4), 217-223. DOI: 10.1002/jem.33
- May 22, 2013
- 08:30 AM
- 6 views
Dogs can haz brainscanz and EEG?
by CAPB in Companion Animal Psychology Blog
Canine cognition is a hot topic these days, using experiments and brain imaging as research tools. The trouble with brain imaging work is that it is invasive, to the extent that animals may have to be sedated or anaesthetized for the study. All that changed with the amazing work of Gregory Berns et al and the first-ever fMRI study on awake, unrestrained dogs last year. Now Miiamaaria Kujala et al in Finland have shown that it is also possible to do a non-invasive EEG with dogs.An EEG measur........ Read more »
Berns, G., Brooks, A., & Spivak, M. (2012) Functional MRI in Awake Unrestrained Dogs. PLoS ONE, 7(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038027
Kujala, M., Törnqvist, H., Somppi, S., Hänninen, L., Krause, C., Vainio, O., & Kujala, J. (2013) Reactivity of Dogs' Brain Oscillations to Visual Stimuli Measured with Non-Invasive Electroencephalography. PLoS ONE, 8(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061818
Ma, H., Qin, L., Dong, C., Zhong, R., & Sato, Y. (2013) Comparison of Neural Responses to Cat Meows and Human Vowels in the Anterior and Posterior Auditory Field of Awake Cats. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052942
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- dogs
- Auditory processing
- positive reinforcement
- meows
- operant conditioning
- human voice
- reward
- vowels
- caudate activation
- awake cats
- Dogs
- feline
- Canines
- cat
- Positive reinforcement
- Cognitive Psychology
- non-invasive electroencephalography
- Comparative Psychology
- visual processing
- fMRI
- EEG
- May 22, 2013
- 08:23 AM
- 11 views
Twitter versus the Grim Reaper: Extraverts but not introverts use Twitter to ward off existential anxiety
by Scott McGreal in Eye on Psych
A great deal of Twitter content has been described as "pointless babble." However, an experimental study found that Twitter usage can ward off existential anxiety, at least in extraverts. Even banal tweets might serve a deeper psychological purpose.... Read more »
Qiu L, Leung AK, Ho JH, Yeung QM, Francis KJ, & Chua PF. (2010) Understanding the psychological motives behind microblogging. Studies in health technology and informatics, 140-4. PMID: 20543286
- May 22, 2013
- 08:15 AM
- 5 views
I Know Why She Swallowed The Fly
by Mark Lasbury in As Many Exceptions As Rules
It’s no secret that carnivorous plants are just way cool. Yet despite all the attention, there is still a lot we don’t know about them. Recent studies have expanded the view we have of these plants so that we now recognize more and more of them – like tomatoes and potatoes. Yes, our vegetables are insectivores!
New research has show that pitcher plants possess anti-microbial peptides in their pitchers, that some sundews can catapult insects into their traps in just a few mil........ Read more »
Poppinga, S., Hartmeyer, S., Seidel, R., Masselter, T., Hartmeyer, I., & Speck, T. (2012) Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant. PLoS ONE, 7(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045735
Buch, F., Rott, M., Rottloff, S., Paetz, C., Hilke, I., Raessler, M., & Mithofer, A. (2012) Secreted pitfall-trap fluid of carnivorous Nepenthes plants is unsuitable for microbial growth. Annals of Botany, 111(3), 375-383. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcs287
Schulze, W., Sanggaard, K., Kreuzer, I., Knudsen, A., Bemm, F., Thogersen, I., Brautigam, A., Thomsen, L., Schliesky, S., Dyrlund, T.... (2012) The Protein Composition of the Digestive Fluid from the Venus Flytrap Sheds Light on Prey Digestion Mechanisms. Molecular , 11(11), 1306-1319. DOI: 10.1074/mcp.M112.021006
- May 22, 2013
- 08:00 AM
- 4 views
Down in the underground, scuds lose eyes but keep genes
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
When animals live caves full time, their descendents often lose their eyes. It has happened over and over and over and over again, in all different kinds of animals. But how this happens is not obvious. Stephen Jay Gould wrote that some people would use cave fish as an argument that “Lamarck must have been on to something” with his idea that acquired characteristics can be inherited. Well, no, that’s not that case, but it is a good example of how tricky thinking about losses can be.
The l........ Read more »
Carlini David B, Satish Suma, & Fong Daniel W. (2013) Parallel reduction in expression, but no loss of functional constraint, in two opsin paralogs within cave populations of Gammarus minus (Crustacea: Amphipoda). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 13(1), 89. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-89
- May 22, 2013
- 07:33 AM
- 13 views
Study Shows How Bilinguals Switch Between Languages
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate “sound systems” for each language, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.... Read more »
Anna Mikulak. (2013) Study Shows How Bilinguals Switch Between Languages. Association for Psychological Science. info:/
- May 22, 2013
- 07:33 AM
- 1 view
The [Lawyer’s] Billable Hour: How Much Does 360 Seconds Cost? Who Pays?
by Dan DeFoe in Psycholawlogy
Tick – tock. The “billable hour” determines so much in the lives of many professionals, including lawyers. Many have to “keep time”. Time keeping accounts for how many lawyers spend their time doing their work, factors into how much their clients get charged, directly impacts how most large law firms generate income, and plays [...]The post The [Lawyer’s] Billable Hour: How Much Does 360 Seconds Cost? Who Pays? appeared first on Psycholawlogy.... Read more »
DeVoe SE, & Pfeffer J. (2010) The stingy hour: how accounting for time affects volunteering. Personality , 36(4), 470-83. PMID: 20363903
- May 22, 2013
- 07:07 AM
- 12 views
Study Finds Why Penguins Lost Their Ability to Fly
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
If you’ve seen March of the Penguins, you probably understand the question. Many penguins live a shitty life, walking miles and miles without any food and spending months apart from their families. This would be over with if they just flew from one place to the other. So why did they stop doing that?... Read more »
Elliott, K., Ricklefs, R., Gaston, A., Hatch, S., Speakman, J., & Davoren, G. (2013) High flight costs, but low dive costs, in auks support the biomechanical hypothesis for flightlessness in penguins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1304838110
- May 22, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 5 views
“Ethnic-sounding first names” and getting the job
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Shuki. Soukias. Raheem. Samir. Jamal. Lakisha. Atholl. Tyronne. Magestic. Did you know that something as simple as a first name makes the difference between whether you even get the interview? Last weekend we were doing a focus group and one of the mock jurors had a very unique first name. One of a kind. She [...]
Related posts:
Is there a relationship between age and ethnic prejudice?
Attractiveness and being fired for poor performance
Everyday racism: A comparison of African American and Asia........ Read more »
Cotton, J., O'Neill, B., & Griffin, A. (2008) The “name game”: affective and hiring reactions to first names. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(1), 18-39. DOI: 10.1108/02683940810849648
- May 22, 2013
- 06:28 AM
- 7 views
Double vision
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Scientists must ensure that they take the lead in the ethical debate surrounding the therapeutic use of stem cells derived from human clones.... Read more »
Nature Editorial. (2013) Double vision. Nature, 497(7450), 409-409. DOI: 10.1038/497409a
- May 22, 2013
- 06:19 AM
- 12 views
The Mental Health of Lonely Marijuana Users
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Mr. Lonely 1Does Smoking Pot Offer Relief to the Lonely? A new paper by the original Tylenol and social pain researchers claims that it does (Deckman et al., 2013). Let's take a closer look.Comfortably Numb: Marijuana Use Reduces Social Pain, Research FindsMarijuana use buffers people from experiencing social pain, according to research published online on May 14 in Social Psychological and Personality Science."Prior work has shown that the analgesic acetaminophen, which acts indirectly throu........ Read more »
Deckman, T., DeWall, C., Way, B., Gilman, R., & Richman, S. (2013) Can Marijuana Reduce Social Pain?. Social Psychological and Personality Science. DOI: 10.1177/1948550613488949
- May 22, 2013
- 04:43 AM
- 5 views
Bacterium excluded from the Eukaryote Club
by Roli Roberts in PLOS Biologue
It’s something you learn in high school – there are two basic approaches to cellular life – prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and eukaryotes (the rest of us – aardvarks, amoebae, apricots, etc.). Prokaryotes have an open-plan office, with all biological …... Read more »
Santarella-Mellwig, R., Pruggnaller, S., Roos, N., Mattaj, I., & Devos, D. (2013) Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Bacteria with a Complex Endomembrane System. PLoS Biology, 11(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001565
- May 22, 2013
- 03:18 AM
- 9 views
Science Proves Connection Between Racism and Stupidity
by Simone Munao in United Academics
In a recent research conducted by two scientists from Brock University in Canada, the authors have proposed and tested several mediation models. With such models they have proven that lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies (social conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism) and low levels of contact with out-groups.... Read more »
Hodson, G., & Busseri, M. (2012) Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes: Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact. Psychological Science, 23(2), 187-195. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611421206
- May 22, 2013
- 12:04 AM
- 6 views
High Adherence to the FIFA 11 Decreases Injury Risk Among Youth Female Soccer Players
by Kyle Harris in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Take Home Message: High adherence to a neuromuscular injury prevention program like the FIFA 11 decreases the risk of injury.
Injury prevention programs typically are multifaceted warm-up programs that focus on neuromuscular recruitment. Although various programs aim to improve performance and decrease injury risk no investigation has shown a link between improved physical performance and the quality and adherence of neuromuscular injury prevention training. Therefore, Steffen and colleague........ Read more »
Steffen K, Emery CA, Romiti M, Kang J, Bizzini M, Dvorak J, Finch CF, & Meeuwisse WH. (2013) High adherence to a neuromuscular injury prevention programme (FIFA 11 ) improves functional balance and reduces injury risk in Canadian youth female football players: a cluster randomised trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine. PMID: 23559666
- May 21, 2013
- 09:53 PM
- 9 views
May 21, 2013
by Erin Campbell in HighMag Blog
“LET THERE BE LIGHT!” said the microscopist. Light plays a crucial role in microscopy and cell biology, and a recent paper describes the use of light to understand protein secretion.Light is used in microscopy in countless ways—to illuminate a sample, excite a fluorophore, and signal the localization or dynamics of a protein. Light can also be used to manipulate cellular events through the use of “caged” compounds that become active after illumination by certain wavelengths........ Read more »
Chen, D., Gibson, E., & Kennedy, M. (2013) A light-triggered protein secretion system. originally published in the Journal of Cell Biology, 201(4), 631-640. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201210119
- May 21, 2013
- 05:51 PM
- 10 views
A Machine to Weigh the Soul
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Newly discovered papers have shed light on a fascinating episode in the history of neuroscience: Weighing brain activity with the balance The story of the early Italian neuroscientist Dr Angelo Mosso and his ‘human circulation balance’ is an old one – I remember reading about it as a student, in the introductory bit of a [...]... Read more »
Sandrone S, Bacigaluppi M, Galloni MR, Cappa SF, Moro A, Catani M, Filippi M, Monti MM, Perani D, & Martino G. (2013) Weighing brain activity with the balance: Angelo Mosso's original manuscripts come to light. Brain : a journal of neurology. PMID: 23687118
- May 21, 2013
- 03:39 PM
- 19 views
How Pain Works, Part III – Nociception
by Tony Ingram in BBoy Science
There is actually no such thing as a "pain sensor" or "pain fiber" - but there is the fascinating system of nociception! An important concept in understanding pain.... Read more »
Basbaum AI, Bautista DM, Scherrer G, & Julius D. (2009) Cellular and molecular mechanisms of pain. Cell, 139(2), 267-84. PMID: 19837031
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