Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Money can be a powerful object — it can buy clothes, cars, a range of material items. It can even inspire employees to work harder. A new study looked at the impact of financial incentives for both therapists and their patients. In the study, the researchers focused on whether pay-for-performance could be an effective way to treat adolescents who use drugs or alcohol.

To begin, pay-for-performance incentives haven risen in popularity with various health systems. The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, allowed researchers to work with therapists who could receive bonuses based on their work. They found that these therapists were more likely to show better understanding of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach.

“Pay-for-performance – the idea that you can tie payment to the quality of healthcare – is a movement in the healthcare field, but we don’t know that much about it,” Dr. Alyna Chien, a researcher at the Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, told Reuters Health.

In total, 986 adolescent patients who used alcohol or marijuana, 29 community-based treatment organizations, and 105 therapists were involved in the study. Each organization was to be under the implementation-as-usual control condition or the pay-for-performance experimental condition. Each organization also received standardized levels of funding, training, and coaching.  For those who were in the pay for performance group, they received $50 for each month where patients showed progress due to the treatment as well as $200 for each patient who improved due to specific number of treatment procedures and sessions. These procedures included discussions on social life, progress towards specific goals, and assessments of personal happiness.

Therapists who were part of the pay-for-performance program tended to do better, with 17 percent offering full recommended amount of treatment to participants.

“Relatively small incentives led to very large improvements in performance,” researcher Bryan Garner told Reuters Health.

In the accompanying editorial, Chien described how the study is innovative in its focus on the treatment of kids, an area that researchers of pay-for-performance hadn´t examined as much in previous experiments. The study concluded that, even though therapists receive monetary rewards, the program may not be as effective for patients. The researchers discovered that teen participants didn´t have a higher chance of ending their use of alcohol and drugs due to pay-for-performance.

“However, differences in care processes did not necessarily translate into desired changes in outcomes: patients receiving care from treatment centers and therapists in the P4P arm of the study were not any more likely to remain in remission than patients who were not,” wrote Chien in an editorial that accompanied the article.

Based on the findings, 41 to 51 percent of patients improved in the study and did not use drugs or alcohol at least a month before their last meeting. According to Reuters Health, follow-up data was available for only half to two-thirds of teens and the lack of data could have influenced the results of the study. Researchers also believe that if the study was done with long-term goals, more care could have been provided to patients.

“It’s too short of a time frame,” commented Chien in the Reuters Health. “It could be that if (therapists) received the incentives and therefore those providers provided the recommended care for a longer period of time, and you could follow these kids for a longer period of time, you might see a difference.”

Moving forward, researchers believe that more discussions are needed regarding the structure of pay-for-performance programs as well as the factors that can make financial incentives effective for both patients and therapists.

“We can offer incentives, but they have to be able to be cost-effective,” explained Garner in the Reuters Health article. “The challenge is to find an amount that’s high enough to motivate individuals to change their behavior but low enough to be practical in the real world.”

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Attention! Attention! All chocolate lovers! A new study has found a way to replace the fat in chocolate with a healthier additive: fruit juice.

Scientists from University of Warwick have found a way to replace up to 50 percent of the fat with fruit juice, by removing much of the cocoa butter and milk fats that go into chocolate. The British scientists substitute those fats with tiny droplets of juice measuring under 30 microns in diameter.

They infused orange and cranberry juice into milk, dark and white chocolate using a method known as the Pickering emulsion. The Pickering emulsion prevents the small juice droplets from merging and fusing together. The team´s formulation in the molten state also showed a yield stress which meant that they could prevent the droplets from sinking to the bottom of the candy bar. The process also prevents the unsightly “sugar bloom” which can appear on chocolate which has been stored for too long.

The researchers said, most importantly, the clever innovative substitution doesn´t take away the chocolaty “mouth-feel” given by the fatty ingredients. The chemists said the chocolate will still appeal to chocaholics, as months of perfecting went into the process to ensure it kept the same texture.

Lead researcher Dr Stefan Bon, from the University´s Department of Chemistry, said: “Everyone loves chocolate — but unfortunately we all know that many chocolate bars are high in fat“¦ However it´s the fat that gives chocolate all the indulgent sensations that people crave — the silky smooth texture and the way it melts in the mouth but still has a ℠snap´ to it when you break it with your hand.”

“We´ve found a way to maintain all of those things that make chocolate ℠chocolaty´ but with fruit juice instead of fat,” he added. “Our study is just the starting point to healthier chocolate — we´ve established the chemistry behind this new technique but now we´re hoping the food industry will take our method to make tasty, lower-fat chocolate bars.”

They researchers do admit the chocolate will have a fruity taste to it, but an option to use water and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) instead of juice would keep the chocolate taste in play.

The team now plan to let the food industry use the technique to create the healthy bars.

The study, titled “Quiescent Water-in-Oil Pickering Emulsions as a Route toward Healthier Fruit Juice Infused Chocolate Confectionary,” was co-authored by Thomas Skelhon, Adam Morgan, and Nadia Grossiord at the University of Warwick. It is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

A new study looked at the effects of snoring for children between the ages of two and three years of age. The investigators sought to look at how persistent snoring affected the behavioral and cognitive development as well as to understand the predictors of snoring in children of that age.

According to the Cincinnati Children´s Hospital Medical Center researchers, loud snoring is thought to increase in children who are two to three years of age. Past research has shown that it is related to behavior problems for school-aged children. However, no studies have looked at the effect of snoring for preschool-aged children.

“A lot of kids snore every so often, and cartoons make snoring look cute or funny. But loud snoring that lasts for months is not normal, and anything that puts young kids at that much risk for behavioral problems is neither cute nor funny,” Dean Beebe, director of Cincinnati Children´s Hospital Medical Center neuropsychology program, said in a prepared statement. “That kind of snoring can be a sign of real breathing problems at night that are treatable.”

According to CNN, about one in every 10 children engages in persistent snoring. This is the first study to examine the effect of continual snoring on preschool children and the scientists determined that persistent snorers had more behavior problems such as depression, inattention, and hyperactivity. The findings are featured in a recent edition of Pediatrics.

“The strongest predictors of persistent snoring were lower socioeconomic status and the absence or shorter duration of breast-feeding,” explained Beebe. “This would suggest that doctors routinely screen for and track snoring, especially in children from poorer families, and refer loudly-snoring children for follow-up care.”

In the study, 249 mother/child pairs were included in a prospective birth cohort study. Children were categorized as nonsnorers, transient snorers, or persistent snores based on self-reporting by parents on their children who snored two times or more during a given week. Transient snorers were those who snored at two or three years of age, while persistent snores snored at both ages. Researchers called the mothers every three months until the infant turned 18 months, and then called every six months after. They also conducted in person interviews during yearly home and clinic visits. Measurements were obtained during visits that correlated with the child´s second and third birthdays.

In the published paper, the investigators discussed how a number of factors could be at play. For one, children may have poor sleep quality, which leads them to be tired and frustrated. On the other hand, based on animal research, kids may be affected by apnea, which decrease oxygen levels and impairs the brain circuitry. Furthermore, factors such as family income and exposure to cigarette smoke could impact the likelihood of snoring for children.

According to Reuters, the results of the study do not prove that breathing problems cause behavioral problems. Improvement of kids´ behavior is also not directly related to treatment of causes for snoring. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that pediatricians discuss kids’ snoring with parents. Treatment options include operations to remove enlarged tonsils or adenoids as well as continuous positive airway pressure. The study didn´t analyze the results of these various treatments.

Overall, the researchers recommend that there be routine screening and tracking of snoring, especially for those children who are from a low socioeconomic background. Follow-ups should also give to children who are seen as persistent snorers. Lastly, doctors should encourage more parents to participate in infant breastfeeding.

“Failing to screen, or taking a ‘wait and see’ approach on snoring, could make preschool behavior problems worse,” noted Beebe in the CNN article. “The findings also support the encouragement and facilitation of infant breast-feeding.”

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

There´s nothing quite like having an instant moment of self-realized clarity when you find yourself Googling the phrase “does oral sex cure morning sickness?” It really makes you take some stock.

Actually, scratch that“¦

Having a similar instant of self-realized clarity when you find yourself teasing out the different parts of a decision which begins with the thought, “I sure am pregnant and nauseated this morning. Should I take some more Tums again or should I“¦?” can really make a person suddenly very aware of where they are in life.

I assume. I´ve never been pregnant.

In what sounds like a piece of tired Frat House lore, Gordon Gallup Jr., a professor at Albany-SUNY, has described an exhaustive set of predictions about insemination, pregnancy and semen at the 2012 meeting of the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society in Plymouth, N.H.

Now, I´m not a smart man, but I´m wise enough to know I shouldn´t poke fun at those more intellectually well-off than myself, and according to his profile page at albany.edu, Prof. Gallup Jr. is a very bright man.

This mustachioed gentleman lists grip strength, kissing, yawning and semen chemistry and behavior as his expertise. (I presume not necessarily in that order“¦)

Like you, I had several questions run through my mind when I first saw this story.

“Wait, does that line really work?” was one of the first thoughts to pop into my head. Further down in my list of questions: “So, wait“¦what made you think of this?”

I´m not going to question Prof. Gallup Jr.´s intentions and simply trust that with his expertise in grip strength and semen, he knows what he´s talking about. If there´s one thing I learned from my 30 years of life, it´s to never threaten a man who can out grip you and knows more about semen than than you do.

In fact, as one reads deeply into this study, (there´s a great piece about it on slate.com) the more it just sounds like something a smooth, fast-talking salesman might say to a potential buyer, assuming the fast-talking salesman is a “frothed up” frat boy and the potential buyer is a young girl who might be just 1 drink away from “giving him business.”

According to Gallup Jr., the entire mess can be blamed on evolution. After all, our ancestors had to do a whole lotta humping in previous years to make sure we could be here today, talking about oral sex and semen on the Internet.

Gallup Jr. suggests that when a woman experiences morning sickness (whatever time of day it might be) her body is more likely revolting against this foreign DNA inside of her. In fact, Gallup Jr. suggests that, historically, this morning sickness could have been an evolutionary way for women´s bodies to “get rid of” any fetus resulting from unfamiliar DNA, such as in rape or by “dishonest mating strategies.” It´s not a pretty theory, but no one ever said they wanted to know how the sausage was made“¦

So, several hundred years later and a brief period of free love for all, many couples are using contraceptives, such as condoms, to prevent pregnancy. This is all well and good, but it´s also making all semen unfamiliar to women, even that of their chosen partners and life mates.

So, when a woman becomes pregnant and experiences morning sickness, according to Gallup Jr., her body is just reacting to unfamiliar semen, and the best way to get her over this intestinal unease is to, how do you say, “introduce her” to a little more of the baby-making stuff. In what way you introduce your DNA to her is completely up to you, but doing so orally makes for better headlines.

Of course, by following this logic, there´s really only one man´s swimmers who can cure what ails the pregnant woman.

My apologies to any potential Craigslist posters.

Though these sound like great predictions on paper, (or when cited with that special kind of earnest only achievable by a man with a hard-on and nothing to lose) these theories have yet to be, how do I say, tested.

Sorry again, Craigslist posters.

It´s not clear if Gallup Jr., will enlist several couples to perform some “in the field” research for him, or if he´s just tossing out this little nugget of gold into the public´s collective knowledge field as he helps out his brothers “in the field.”. So if you´re feeling brave, give it a shot. Just don´t tell us how it worked out.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers, studying the effects of corn syrup and sugar, recently looked at the elements that can influence an individual´s diet.

The new study discovered that sugar and high fructose syrup perform as well as a reduced calorie diet. The researchers stated that, if an individual´s overall caloric intake is decreased, then the individual should lose weight while consuming the same amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

The research project was conducted by Dr. James R. Rippe, a cardiologist who has studied nutrition and weight management. He is the founder and current director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute as well as a professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida. Rippe is also an adviser to organizations in the food and beverage industry like the Corn Refiners Association, which funded this particular study.

“Our research debunks the vilification of high fructose corn syrup in the diet,” explained Rippe, one of the study authors, in a prepared statement. “The results show that equally reduced-calorie diets caused similar weight loss regardless of the type or amount of added sugars. This lends further support to findings by our research group and others that table sugar and HFCS are metabolically equivalent.”

The scientists believe that the study´s results should be a relief to those who are interested in losing weight or for those who are concerned about eating sugars that are added to particular foods and beverages. The group looked at sweeteners that are consumed by people as well as the level at which they are consumed by people living in the U.S.

“We wanted to design a study that would generate information that is useful and applicable to the way people actually eat, not speculative results on simulated laboratory diets that focus on one component at extreme dietary levels,” noted Rippe in the statement.

A total of 247 overweight or obese participants between the ages of 25 to 60 were included in the project. Over a 12 week period, they were involved in a randomized, double blind trial where they consumed a reduced calorie diet. Based on the study´s findings, there wasn´t any evidence to show that table sugar or HFCS made it difficult for weight loss when the overall amount of calories was decreased.

“Misinformation about added sugars, particularly high fructose corn syrup, has caused many people to lose sight of the fact that there is no silver bullet when it comes to weight loss,” commented Rippe in the statement. “A reduction in calorie consumption, along with exercise and a balanced diet, is what’s most important when it comes to weight loss.”

In moving forward, the researchers believe that more studies need to be done with a larger group of subjects from more diverse population groups along with higher dosages of fructose. The findings are published in the Nutrition Journal. The publication includes manuscripts from scientists and physicians, aiming to challenge current dogmas, models, and tenets in the nutrition field.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Millions of people take statins to reduce the risk of stroke or heart attack. Yet, a debate looms whether the benefit of the widely-used drugs outweigh the risk associated with the onset of type 2 diabetes. A report in The Lancet states that the benefits are worth the risk to those who are already prone to the blood sugar disease; while other research warns that in people who are at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, taking statins can increase the chances of developing the disease by 28 percent.

Conventional medical wisdom states that statins are a good ℠cure-all´ for heart disease, but making dietary changes and being more active is more effective, say scientists. While statins are effective for treatment of heart problems, especially in those who have had a heart attack or stroke, Professor Kausik Ray, of St George’s Healthcare Trust in London, said this effectiveness only accounts for a small number of patients who are actually prescribed statins. The majority of statins are given to people who are only at risk of the disease.

And Ray said it is difficult to predict who is at risk. He said that people with no family history of heart disease and others that are deemed low risk, “other approaches should be used, like eating a good diet full of fish, lean meat, vegetables and low in saturated fat.”

And in healthy people not at risk of diabetes, statins have no effect. In the UK, doctors consider statins only for people whose chances of having a heart attack over the next decade are 20 percent or greater.

A new study, led by Professor Paul Ridker, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, analyzed data gathered during the JUPITER trial, the first controlled study to report that taking statins results in an increased risk of developing diabetes.

“When we focus only on the risk (of diabetes) we may be doing a disservice to our patients,” said Ridker. “As it turns out for this data, the hazard of being on a statin is limited almost entirely to those well on their way to getting diabetes.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forced statin makers to add warning labels to their products saying they raise blood sugar levels after several previous studies had shown that some people are at a slightly higher risk of developing diabetes when on statins (9.9 percent, compared to 6.4 percent for those not on statins).

“We’re concerned that many diabetics stopped taking statins because of those warnings,” says Ridker.

Ridker´s study analyzed results from a study of 17,000 patients in 2008. Ridker was the principal investigator for that study, which lead many physicians to prescribe statins for preventive uses in people who don’t have heart disease.

“Our results show that in participants with and without diabetes risk, the absolute benefits of statin therapy are greater than the hazards of developing diabetes,” noted Ridker. “We believe that most physicians and patients would regard heart attack, stroke and death to be more severe outcomes than the onset of diabetes, and so we hope that these results ease concern about the risks associated with statin therapy when these drugs are appropriately prescribed — in conjunction with improved diet, exercise and smoking cessation — to reduce patients’ risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Some health experts do not agree with Ridker´s findings, and think too many physicians over-prescribe statins. About one in 4 Americans over the age of 45 take statins, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Prescribing statins to people who don´t have heart disease “is still a big issue, despite what this paper says,” Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego, told USA Today´s Janice Lloyd. “Per 100 people you have two heart attacks less and one increase in diabetes. They’re trying to say it benefits more than it harms. But the benefit is so small.”

He said the patients that he sees are not aware of the risks associated with taking statins. “The patient doesn’t know this might make their protection for heart attack marginally better but it also could backfire by inducing diabetes.”

Justin Smith, director of a documentary entitled “Statin-Nation,” due out in September, said the benefits of statins are routinely exaggerated and that the pharmaceutical industry is partly to blame.

“Creating a drug is a costly and lengthy process so they are encouraging more patients to take existing drugs,” Smith told Mail Online.

Smith, an ex-personal trainer and author of the book “$29 Billion Reasons to Lie About Cholesterol,” published in 2009, said he made the crowd-funded documentary because he believes doctors are being provided with too much information that favors the drug industry.

Smith´s remarks were contested by Professor Peter Weissberg, from the British Heart Foundation, saying: “The most commonly used statins are off patent, which means the drug companies no longer have any financial incentive in expanding the market.”

“It is the medical community who is pushing for wider use of statins since they are convinced by the evidence this will reduce heart attacks and strokes in the future,” Weissberg told Mail Online.

Smith pointed out a 2008 study (Coronary Heart Disease Statistics) which found the heart disease rate did not decline between 1994 and 2006 in men aged 65 to 94 yet high cholesterol levels dropped by 40 percent.

“I hope that the film will prompt more people to ask their doctor questions like: if I take this cholesterol medication, how much longer might I live?” remarked Smith. “This question is important because most people will not receive life extension from statins.”

He added that negative side-effects of statins were not given enough prominence.

Maureen Talbot, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, also disagreed with Smith´s views.

“Statins are now a very important part of the lives of millions of people and play a vital role in both lowering cholesterol and helping prevent heart attacks,” she said. “Their importance shouldn´t be underestimated and the potential risk of side effects are outweighed by the proven benefits. The use of statins is the main reason why fewer people have high cholesterol levels now compared to 20 years ago.”

“Your body will always make cholesterol so if you stop taking a statin it´s likely your cholesterol levels will rise. So, if you´re prescribed a statin make sure you take it every day because they´re most beneficial when you take them on a long-term basis. If you develop side effects see your GP as the medicine or dose can be changed.”

“It´s worth remembering though that you may be able to head off the prospect of being prescribed statins by eating a healthy balanced diet, keeping physically active and maintaining a healthy weight and body shape,” expressed Talbot.

“The ‘take home’ for clinicians is to know what the risk factors [for diabetes] are,” Larry Deeb, former president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association, told USA Today. “But very often if you throw diabetes into the mix, it’s cardiovascular disease that will kill them.”

By no means, though, should everyone with diabetes be on statins, Deeb warned — unless they have other risk factors for heart disease.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers from Scripps Research Institute recently revealed that a two-drug combination could possibly help those battling cocaine addiction.

The combination made up of naltrexone and buprenoprine, two existing pharmaceutical drugs, is a therapy that would help reduce individuals´ want for cocaine and also lessen their feelings of withdrawal. Scientists believed that the therapy is a step forward as there are currently no medications that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to combat cocaine addiction. The two-drug combination is discussed in this week´s edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

“Combining drugs with multiple actions may be a useful approach that has not been utilized extensively,” Scripps Research Professor George Koob, chair of the Scripps Research Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders and team leader for the research, commented in a prepared statement.

In the past, individual drugs have been tested in clinical trials as possible treatments but all have been unsuccessful in treating people who have cocaine addiction.

“These findings potentially represent a huge bridge from basic research to the establishment of a new and effective medication for cocaine addiction,” noted Senior Research Associate Leandro F. Vendruscolo, a co-author on the study, in the statement.

The abuse of cocaine is thought to be one of the major drug issues in the U.S. In the mid-1990s, the Office of National Drug Control Policy published a study that stated that Americans spent more money on cocaine than all other illegal drugs combined. Another study completed in 2008 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 1.9 million Americans had used cocaine within a given month. Furthermore, the same year, approximately a quarter of emergency room visits related to drugs stemmed from cocaine use.

In terms of use, cocaine is snorted, injected, or smoked. When it´s used, it enters the bloodstream and then moves through the blood-brain barrier to reside in the brain´s motivational/pleasure circuits. Cocaine also stops the normal regulation of dopamine, which contributes to a feeling of euphoria based off a build-up of dopamine in the brain´s motivational systems.

With the history of cocaine use, physicians have changed up their treatment of the disorder. In the past, they focused on providing counseling, therapy, and other methods of social supporter for abusers of the drug. Current treatment focuses on anti-stress medications and other pharmaceuticals that can help target the long-term physiological effects of the cocaine.

However, through various studies, Koob and his fellow researchers determined that continued use of cocaine could cause the brain to change the point at which it reaches the feeling of euphoria. As time passes, the brain needs more of the drug to reach a certain high. If a user stops using cocaine, stress and aversion remains high.

The scientists used this knowledge to hone in on the effects of the drug; they discovered that two varied systems, kappa opioid system and mu receptor, could have different effects based on short versus extended use of cocaine for rats. They identified the risks and drawbacks, including negative emotions, which come back from not using the drug. In restoring the brain´s rewards as well as stress/adverse systems, the combination of pharmaceuticals can address cocaine addiction.

“This finding gave us a firm idea that, during extended access to cocaine, the positive brain reward function becomes attenuated while the negative brain stress/aversive systems get involved,” explained Professor Sunmee Wee of Scripps, a first author in the study, in the statement.

[ Watch the Video: Propecia May Harm Sex Drive ]

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Research recently showed a connection between Propecia and the loss of sexual libido, erectile dysfunction, depression and thoughts of suicide.

The effects from Propecia, previously known as finasteride, seemed to have stopped after discontinuation of the medication. However, a small percentage of males are thought to have long-lasting sexual side effects from the drug. According to NBC News, 64 percent of the men in the study stated that they had long-term sexual side effects due to the drug. They also described symptoms of depression, with 40 percent noting that they had suicidal thoughts.  The findings were published recently in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

“The potential life-threatening side-effects associated with finasteride should prompt clinicians to have serious discussions with their patients,” Dr. Michael Irwig of George Washington University told NBC News.

In the project, the investigators interviewed 61 young men. The average age of the males was 25 and all had used Propecia. All the participants had reported sexual side effects three months or more after discontinuing the medication. Before taking the medication, they had not had any sexual problems and did not show signs of mental history in the past. Another group of men, those with male-pattern baldness who had not taken the medication, were also interviewed; this group later on became the control group.

According to the Huffington Post, the researchers also gathered other information on the subjects. They collected data on the participants´ demographic information, medical and psychiatric state, and anything related to alcohol consumption, medication use, and sexual function. All the participants were asked about their symptoms of depression over a two-week period and also self-administered the Beck Depression Inventory II, which is used to estimate the level of depression in adults.

For those who had used the medication, 11 percent reported that they had mild symptoms of depression, 28 percent had moderate symptoms, and 3 percent had significant symptoms. As well, 39 percent stated that they had suicidal thoughts. For those who had not used the medication, there were not as many reports of feelings of depression; 10 percent had mild symptoms, while none had moderate or significant symptoms. Only three percent of this group discussed their suicidal thoughts.

Based on these results, there´s a possibility that Propecia caused symptoms of depression by modifying the amount of certain brain chemicals. Propecia can move across the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, it stops an enzyme that changes the levels of hormone-derived neuroactive steroids, affecting anxiety and depression.

“A plausible biological mechanism to explain the association between [Propecia] and depression lies with neuroactive steroids, neuromodulators that are synthesized in the central nervous system itself and that are also transported to the brain from the gonads and adrenal glands,” Irwig commented in an article by MedPage Today. “Although the effects of [Propecia] in the human brain are poorly understood, clinicians, as well as potential [Propecia] users, should be aware of the serious potential risks of this medication, especially as it is being used cosmetically to alter a normal age-related process.”

Researchers believe that doctors need to be aware of the possible risks of taking the drug. Furthermore, more research is needed to confirm the results. While there has been research done on older men with erectile dysfunction, there has been less research done on depression related to sexual dysfunction in young males. As such, the findings from the study are considered preliminary at this time.

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

After another failed high-profile clinical trial, pharmaceutical companies Pfiizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson have said they´ve halted research and development of bapineuzumab, a drug which could have been used in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Reuters, both drug makers have said they´ll discontinue their studies of bapineuzumab in its intravenous (IV) form. Two late stage trials and follow-up studies which had already been planned will also be scrapped as a result of this announcement.

This is the second time in recent weeks the drug has been proven ineffective in treating patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. What´s more, many had predicted bapineuzumab to have a better chance of success during the second trial, making the result and subsequent announcements particularly disappointing.

Should bapineuzumab had been successful, it would have been the first drug to ward off the effects of the brain disease which affects as many as 36 million people worldwide.

“We are obviously very disappointed in the outcomes of this trial. We are also saddened by the lost opportunity to provide a meaningful advance for patients afflicted with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers,” said Steven Romano, senior vice president at Pfizer Inc, speaking to the Associated Press.

“Yet these data, and the subgroup and biomarker analyses under way, will further inform our understanding of this complex disease and advance research in this field.”

With development of bapineuzumab halted, the medical world now looks to solanezumab, a similar drug being developed by Eli Lilly & Co. Many are dubious about solanezumab´s chances to succeed, however, and are waiting to see how the drug performs in similar, late-stage tests.

Wall Street responded to this announcement, as shares of all three pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Lilly fell in after hours trading.

In these latest failed studies, bapineuzumab was unable to improve both cognitive or functional performance in patients who did not carry a variation of the ApoE4 gene when compared to a placebo treatment, according to the results released on Monday.

Pfizer, on the other hand, announced their failure in the first of four important trials on July 23rd. According to the Reuters report, many had considered the Pfizer tests to be a “long shot” based on the poor results of earlier trials.

Though the IV portion of bapineuzumab has been halted, both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer have said they´ll continue a Phase II study of a version of the drug which can be applied subcutaneously. There are, however, no plans to test the drugs on patients who aren´t displaying any symptoms of Alzheimer’s or are in the early stages of the disease.

Scientists and researchers widely believe any treatment of the disease should begin early or even before a high-risk patient begins to notice the symptoms. As such, many of these researchers and scientists had expected the late-stage trials to fail, saying the companies were treating patients who had already suffered damage to their brains.

Despite these failures, William Thies, chief scientific officer of the Alzheimer´s Association told Reuters he was eager to see a full analysis of the results.

“These studies are terribly important for us to learn about Alzheimer´s disease, and that part of the process is just starting as the data continues to be crunched in a variety of ways.”

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A person´s eyes can often say what they are thinking, what emotions they are going through, and even if they are lying or telling the truth. Now, you may even be able to tell if a person is gay or straight, according to new research from Cornell University.

The researchers involved in the study said their findings indicate that someone´s sexual orientation can be revealed by their pupil dilation. Scientists say that when a person becomes aroused, his or her pupils will shoot open, helping those on the prowl to know whether or not the person is making eyes at them.

Researchers have long been able to track a person´s level of excitement through pupil dilation. When a person sees a familiar face the pupils open a little. The same goes for seeing a cute puppy or kitten. But this is the first time researchers have been able to read optical reflexes to determine what gender a person really has his or her eye on.

The Cornell scientists, publishing their work in the journal PLoS ONE, used a special infrared lens to measure pupillary changes in participants watching erotic scenes. They found the pupils were highly telling: they widened the most for videos of people they found attractive, revealing where they were on the sexual spectrum from hetero to homosexual.

Past studies have explored sexual orientation either by asking people about their sexuality, or by using physiological measures such as assessing genital arousal. These previous studies, however, have come with a certain level of biasness.

Cornell´s study, conducted by Dr Ritch Savin-Williams and Gerulf Rieger, monitored 165 men and 160 women, including gay, straight, and bisexual accomplices.

During the video-pupil dilation study, each person was observed as they viewed one-minute videos each of a man masturbating, a woman masturbating, and a neutral landscape scene.

For men, the results showed just what the scientists expected: straight men reacted to the images of the women, gay men to the images of the men, and bisexuals to scenes of both. However with women, the results were much more complex. Gay females had pupil dilation after seeing sexual images of other women but straight women dilated similarly in response to erotic scenes of both sexes.

Savin-Williams noted that this does not mean that all straight women are secretly bisexual; what it could mean is that their subjective arousal doesn´t necessarily match their body´s arousal. Researchers are not exactly sure why this would be, but some do theorize that the response is a survival mechanism due to risk of female rape. The body may be responding to a sexual stimulus, regardless of its appeal, for purposes of protection.

Lead author Rieger, said: “With this new technology we are able to explore sexual orientation of people who would never participate in a study on genital arousal, such as people from traditional cultures. This will give us a much better understanding how sexuality is expressed across the planet.”

This study also feeds into a long-lasting debate over male bisexuality. Previous beliefs were that most bisexual men do not base their sexual identity on physiological arousal but more on romantic or identity issues. However, the researchers found that substantial pupil dilations found in bisexual men indicate they are indeed aroused by scenes of both men and women.

“We can now finally argue that a flexible sexual desire is not simply restricted to women — some men have it too, and it is reflected in their pupils,” said Savin-Williams. “In fact, not even a division into ‘straight,’ ‘bi,’ and ‘gay’ tells the full story. Men who identify as ‘mostly straight’ really exist both in their identity and their pupil response; they are more aroused to males than straight men, but much less so than both bisexual and gay men.”

The researchers hope to further study this issue using pupil dilation and genital measurements simultaneously. However, many people find it uncomfortable having their genitals put under scrutiny, acknowledged the researchers.

They do remain confident that their new measure will aid in understanding these groups better and point to a range of sexualities that has been ignored in previous research.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Higher salaries and acceptance to elite colleges are a few of the benefits that men have over women. However, there is one title that women have long held over men—living longer. Researchers from Monash University in Australia recently discovered some of the facts that contribute to longer life expectancy for women, who, on average, live longer than men.

In the project, Dr. Damian Dowling of Monash worked with Florencia Camus, a doctoral student, and David Clancy, a researcher at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, to determine the differences in biological aging and longevity.

They studied male and female fruit flies from 13 different groups that had mitochondria with varying origins.Researchers detailed how DNA mutations of the mitochondria could lead to different life expectancies for men and women. Through the project, they determined that the genetic variation found in mitochondria could help them estimate life expectancy in males but not in females.

“Intriguingly, these same mutations have no effects on patterns of ageing in females. They only affect males,” commented Dowling, a professor of the Monash School of Biological Sciences, in a prepared statement.

The results of the study, published in a recent edition of Current Biology, described how mitochondria are necessary in life as they can change food into energy; this energy can then give the body the boost of power it needs.

“All animals possess mitochondria, and the tendency for females to outlive males is common to many different species. Our results therefore suggest that the mitochondrial mutations we have uncovered will generally cause faster male ageing across the animal kingdom,” explained Dowling in the statement.

The scientists also believe that the mutations are due to the genes that are passed from parents to children.

“While children receive copies of most of their genes from both their mothers and fathers, they only receive mitochondrial genes from their mothers. This means that evolution’s quality control process, known as natural selection, only screens the quality of mitochondrial genes in mothers,” remarked Dowling in the statement. “If a mitochondrial mutation occurs that harms fathers, but has no effect on mothers, this mutation will slip through the gaze of natural selection, unnoticed. Over thousands of generations, many such mutations have accumulated that harm only males, while leaving females unscathed.”

The researchers plan to look further into how the findings support previous studies that show a connection between male infertility and maternal inheritance of mitochondria. As well, the study helps to explain certain statistics about longevity.

According to BBC News, in regions like the United Kingdom, women outlive men; by 85 years of age, there are around six women for every four men and, by the age of 100, there are more than two females for every one male. The research allows scientists to better understand how biology plays a role in longevity issues. It also shows that male health differs from female health.

“Together, our research shows that the mitochondria are hotspots for mutations affecting male health. What we seek to do now is investigate the genetic mechanisms that males might arm themselves with to nullify the effects of these harmful mutations and remain healthy,” concluded Dowling in the statement.

Other scientists are taking note of the results from the study.

“It may be it does tell us something rather important about mitochondria and the difference between male and female fruit flies. And we know that mitochondria are important for ageing in a number of species,” Tom Kirkwood, a professor at Newcastle University who studies aging, told BBC News. “But I certainly don’t think this is a discovery that explains why women live five-to-six years longer than men. There are other things we know also count – lifestyle, social and behavioral factors. But the biggest difference in biology is that we have different hormones.”

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

The 2012 Olympics are known as the Twitter Olympics, mostly for the continuous stream of messages by athletes and fans alike. Twitter is not just shaping the landscape of sports, but it´s also shaping the knowledge of bully and victim interactions. In a recent study, researchers utilized microblogging site Twitter to better understand the various factors of bullying.

In the past, scientists have depended on self-reporting surveys to better understand victims and bullies.

“Kids are pretty savvy about keeping bullying outside of adult supervision, and bullying victims are very reluctant to tell adults about it happening to them for a host of reasons,” remarked Amy Bellmore, a University of Wisconsin—Madison educational psychology professor, in a prepared statement. “They don’t want to look like a tattletale, or they think an adult might not do anything about it.”

In the project, Bellmore worked with graduate students Junming Sui and Kwang-Sung Jun as well as computer science professor Jerry Zhu to look for posts on Twitter that mentioned bullying events.

“For a standard study we may get access to students from one grade in one school,” explained Bellmore in the statement. “And then we get a one-time shot at it. We get one data collection point in a school year from these kids. It’s very labor- and time-intensive.”

The team of investigators utilized a computer that monitored Twitter to analyze tweets that had been hand-selected by Bellmore´s research group.

“What we found, very importantly, was that quite often the victim and the bully and even bystanders talk about a real-world bullying incident on social media,” noted Zhu in the statement. “The computers are seeing the aftermath, the discussion of a real-world bullying episode.”

On a daily basis, the computer looked at approximately 250 million public posts that appeared on Twitter. The machine quickly began to identify over 15,000 tweets per day that were related to bullying. The researchers saw the traffic of posts on bullying spiked from Monday to Thursday, when students were normally in school.

“The computer gets a set about bullying and a set definitely not about bullying,” commented Zhu in the statement. “In machine learning, the algorithm reads each tweet as a short text document, and it goes about analyzing the word usage to find the important words that mark bullying events.”

Apart from its ability to look at a bulk amount of messages, the researchers saw that the computer was able to identify the bully versus victim roles taken on by Twitter users.

“We taught it ways to identify bullies, victims, accusers and defenders,” explained Bellmore in the statement.

Through the study, the researchers identified a new role of “reporter” who found out about the bullying event but wasn´t directly associated to the situation.

“The other roles were identified in the early ’90s in the bullying literature,” Bellmore says. “But the reporter role is new. It’s just like it sounds, a child who witnessed or found out about, but wasn’t participating in, a bullying encounter. That role emerged out of studying the social media roles.”

The data pooled from the social media site was particularly helpful in tracking the progression of time, which wasn´t seen before in student surveys; the researchers hope to study more about individual users and their participation in varying bullying experiences.

“Paper surveys are not as dynamic as the social media tracks,” commented Zhu in the statement. “You just get one snapshot in time. You don’t see the evolution of bullying events. You don’t see the relationships evolving.”

Based on the findings, the investigators concluded that the computer that tracked social media could be helpful in determining those who need an intervention.

“We want to add sentiment analysis, an assessment of the emotion behind a social media message, to our program,” Zhu says. “The idea is that if someone is powerfully affected by the event, if they are feeling extreme anger or sadness, that’s when they could be a danger to themselves or others. Those are the ones that would need immediate attention.”

The researchers also proposed that social media could help victims of bullying feel more comfortable in a community and work through their feelings with one another.

“A way victims often make sense of their bullying is by internalizing it. They decide that there’s something bad about themselves – not that these other people are jerks,” Bellmore says. “When they’re exposed to the idea that other people are bullied, actually it has some benefit. It doesn’t completely eliminate the depression or humiliation or embarrassment they might be feeling, but it can decrease it.”

Moving forward, the researchers plan to use the study to help government officials better understand bullying issues. They believe that the data could help develop effective prevention techniques. Apart from Twitter, they are also interested in looking at other social media sites like Facebook and China´s Weibo.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Feeling tired and lethargic. Having tense emotions. These are just a few factors that may affect a worker´s decision to take sick leave. Working with Australian and British researchers, investigators at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that anxiety and depression can heighten the risk of sick leave.

According to the researchers, mental disorders like anxiety and depression will affect one in three people at least once in their lifetime. The symptoms of mental disorders can impact the emotional, cognitive, and social state of an individual. Past studies have also discovered a connection between mental disorders and sick leave. In particular, prolonged sick leave can add to avoidance behavior, making it more difficult for employees to go back work after a break.

However, research hasn´t determined if mental disorder heightens the chance of sick leave or if sick leave causes more mental disorder. Researchers believe that the study is important in looking at the long-term relationship between sick leave and mental disorders to better understand how to develop effective interventions.

“Surprisingly, we found that anxiety alone is a stronger risk factor for prolonged and frequent sick leave than depression alone. Further, anxiety seems to be a relatively stable risk factor for sick leave, as we found an increased risk of sickness absence up to six years after the anxiety level was assessed,” explained lead author Ann Kristin Knudsen, a PhD student at the University of Bergen and the Division of Mental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, in a prepared statement.

In the project, 13,436 participants were observed for their anxiety and depression levels. The researchers utilized the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to measure common mental disorders. Six years later, the participants were given a follow-up; the scientists took down information on sick leave and any causal factors, like physical health and socioeconomic status.

The researchers believe that the findings demonstrate that common mental disorders can cause people to take prolonged sick leave, defined as more than 90 days, and also repeated sick leave. Those who have both anxiety and depression have the highest risk of having prolonged risk leave. Lastly, the study also states that anxiety has more impact than depression.

It was also the first study of its kind to complete a follow-up on how mental disorders can have long term effects on sick leave. In effect, some participants with common mental disorders had many episodes of sick leave during the follow-up period. Researchers believe that it shows that sick leave and mental health problems are associated with one another.

“Previous research has largely been based on patient data, organizational data or diagnoses of sick leave certificates, or in studies where the prevalence of mental disorder was measured during sick leave. The latter is problematic because we do not know what comes first, sick leave or mental health problems,” noted Knudsen in the statement.

In moving forward, the investigators hope to look at how health professionals can determine anxiety and other mental disorders to deter prolonged sick leave or multiple sick leave episodes.