Mother's malaria can affect memory in
offspring
Malaria infection during pregnancy may result in
learning and memory related problems in offspring, suggests new research.
This is because maternal malaria infection alters the formation of blood vessels in the brains of exposed offspring.
The exposed fetus has smaller blood vessels in its brain than the control fetus, the findings showed.
These results "highlight a novel mechanism by which malaria in pregnancy may alter the neurocognitive development of millions of children prior to birth", the researchers said.
In this study, Kevin Kain, from the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues specifically examined neurocognitive function in mice of normal birth weight that had been exposed to -- but not themselves infected with -- malaria in the uterus.
The researchers found that young mice that had been exposed to malaria in pregnancy have impaired learning and memory and show depressive-like behaviour that persists to adulthood.
These neurocognitive impairments are associated with decreased tissue levels of major neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) in specific regions of the brain.
By imaging blood vessels in the uterus, the researchers also saw changes in neurovascular development in the brain of malaria-exposed mouse fetuses.
The findings appeared in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
28.09.2015
Don't blame karma for poor health!
If you tend to blame karma for illness, chances of
you having poor physical and mental health are higher, suggests a new study.
"In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense," said Brick Johnstone, neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology at University of Missouri in the US.
"But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality -- basically, when individuals believe they are ill because they have done something wrong and God is punishing them -- their health is worse," Johnstone noted.
Johnstone and his colleagues studied nearly 200 individuals to find out how their spiritual beliefs affected their health outcomes.
Individuals in the study had a range of health conditions, such as cancer, traumatic brain injury or chronic pain, and others were healthy.
The researchers divided the individuals into two groups: a negative spirituality group that consisted of those who reported feeling abandoned or punished by a higher power, and a no negative spirituality group that consisted of people who did not feel abandoned or punished by a higher power.
Those in the negative spirituality group reported significantly worse pain as well as worse physical and mental health while those with positive spirituality reported better mental health.
Targeted interventions to counteract negative spiritual beliefs could help some individuals decrease pain and improve their overall health, the researchers said.
The study was published in the Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
28.09.2015
When people see a change in you, it promotes change
in them.....
An M.G. Quote
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