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Tag: Brain

Brain and tooth size didn’t co-evolve in humans

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Brain and tooth size didn’t co-evolve in humans Contradicting a prevalent perception, a new study says that our brain enlargement and dental reduction did not happen in lockstep. The findings suggest that evolution of brain and tooth size in humans were likely influenced by different ecological and behavioural factors. “Once something becomes conventional wisdom, in no time at all it becomes dogma,” said study co-author Bernard Wood, Professor at George Washington University, US. “The co-evolution of brains and teeth was on a fast-track to dogma status, but we caught it…

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Here’s How Pregnancy Changes Your Brain to Make You a Better Mom

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Thinking about having a baby, but worried you’re not cut out for motherhood? You may take some comfort in this news: Pregnancy causes changes in a woman’s brain that appear to make her better able to care for her child, say researchers in Spain. Their new study is the first to show that giving birth involves long-lasting changes—for at least two years afterward—in the structure of a woman’s brain. It’s long been known that pregnancy causes hormonal and chemical surges throughout the body, but until now its impact on the…

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Trick Your Brain into Craving Healthy Food

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You can teach your brain’s reward centers to crave healthier, lower-calorie foods over junk, research at Harvard and Tufts U. recently found. And it’s easier than you think. For six months, obese adults followed the scientifically designed “iDiet,” which prescribes healthy foods and helps eaters understand their “food instincts”—e.g., hunger, availability, familiarity—and learn to control them. At the end, MRIs showed that the reward center in the dieters’ brains “lit up” more intensely at photos of healthy food than at shots of the unhealthy crap that used to excite it. One of the biggest keys to retraining your…

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Heavy Drinking During Youth Can Disrupt Brain Development

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Excessive alcohol use during adolescence can disrupt the development of brain and increase risk of substance use disorder later in life, a study says. “The maturation of the brain is still ongoing in adolescence, and especially the frontal areas and the cingulate cortex develop until the twenties. Our findings strongly indicate that heavy alcohol use may disrupt this maturation process,” said first author of the study Noora Heikkinen from University of Eastern Finland. Cingulate cortex has an important role in impulse control, and volumetric changes in this area may play…

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Brain Activity May Predict Risk of Falls in Elderly

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Measuring the level of brain activity in healthy older adults while they are walking can predict their risk of falling, suggests a study led by an Indian-origin scientist. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults and all too often lead to physical decline and loss of independence. “Previous studies have shown that when older people perform cognitively demanding tasks, their brains are required to become more active to handle the challenge,” said lead author Joe Verghese, Director at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in…

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One Fifth of Brain Stroke Patients Aged 40 and Below

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Neurosciences experts from around the world on Friday warned that patients with brain stroke are continuously rising in India and nearly one-fifth of patients with first-ever stroke admitted to hospitals are aged 40 years or less. Doctors participating at a three-day international meet to discuss the epidemic of stroke cases, also said that India had witnessed a extreme rise in smoking, systolic hypertension, high fasting blood glucose level, and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the population at a younger age predisposing to a stroke sooner. The first day on Friday…

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