Researchers say it is mistaken to see sexting as “simply harmful”
By Emma Young
Is sexting a good thing, because it’s sexually liberating, or a bad thing, because it’s objectifying? Separate research groups have put forward both arguments. But according to a new study of college students in Hong Kong, it’s both.
It’s estimated that roughly half of US college students (on which most research in this area has been done) send nude or sexually provocative images by phone or the internet. In the new study, reported in the Journal of Sex Research, the proportion was lower (13.6 per cent), perhaps because Chinese culture has a lower level of sexual permissiveness, but sexting was stil...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - June 28, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Sex Technology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 25th 2018
In this study, we investigate mitochondrial energetics and mtDNA methylation in senescent cells, and evaluate the potential of humanin and MOTS-c as novel senolytics or SASP modulators that can alleviate symptoms of frailty and extend health span by targeting mitochondrial bioenergetics.
Exercise versus the Hallmarks of Aging
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2018/06/exercise-versus-the-hallmarks-of-aging/
The paper I'll point out today walks through the ways in which exercise is known to beneficially affect the Hallmarks of Aging. The Hallmarks are a list of the significant causes of aging that I di...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 24, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Failure of the Imagination when it comes to Human Longevity
Researchers recently published a study on attitudes to longevity that is reminiscent of the 2013 Pew survey. When asked, people want to live a little longer than their neighbors, at the high end of the normal life span for old individuals today. When asked how long they want to live given the guarantee of perfect health, people pick a number close to the maximum recorded human life span. This sounds like a collusion between the instinctive desires for first conformity and secondly hierarchy, deeply entwined with the human condition, present in all of our primate cousins, a self-sabotaging gift from our evolutionary heritag...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 21, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs
Nano Scale Matrix Promotes Neural Stem Cell Growth Without Risk of Cancer
Growing neural stem cells is a complicated process that has the potential to result in the unintended production of cancer cells. In large part this is due to the addition of growth factors to the culture mix, which can result in indiscriminate cellular multiplication.
Now researchers from the Hong Kong Baptist University have developed a way of growing neural stem cells without the use of growth factors, relying instead on nano-scale materials to stimulate the process.
“Traditional methods for proliferation and differentiation of NSCs require a large number of additional growth factors in a culture medium, which ar...
Source: Medgadget - June 21, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Genetics Materials Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
Metal Based Detector of Dopamine Receptors May Help Identify Early Signs of Cancer
At Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), researchers have created the first metal-based probes for spotting dopamine receptors. While dopamine is best known as a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in defining our mood, dopamine receptors seem to be related to certain cancers. To study this relationship, a technique that can work on living animals to identify dopamine receptors would go a long way.
“Early detection is crucial for improving the survival rate of hard-to-treat cancers such as lung cancer, which is associated with dopamine receptor expression,” said Dr Edmond Ma, a professor at HKBU. “Fo...
Source: Medgadget - May 17, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Materials Nanomedicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
No matter where you are, you ’re still a doctor
I grabbed a few beach pillows, put on my old worn-out blue beach button down, poured myself a glass of whiskey and walked down to the beach from our villa to watch the sunset. My four friends and I were ten days deep into a two-week vacation. We had already toured Seoul, South Korea for three days, Tokyo, Japan for four days and Hong Kong for three days. So, I welcomed the two days of rest and relaxation that accompanied the beach resort of Vinpearl in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
I remember laying down perched up on a pillow or two to support my head. The fine, white sand of Nha Trang starting to stick to my almost empty but still...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 1, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/marc-n-katz" rel="tag" > Marc N. Katz, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs
New Glasses Slow Down Myopic Progression in Children
Scientists working at Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a lenses for glasses that are able to slow down myopic progression in children. The center of the lens works as in a common pair of glasses, adjusting for myopia and astigmatism, while around this region the lens consists of dozens of spots of myopic defocus that help with vision correction. These so-called Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) Spectacle Lenses work at all viewing distances.
“We have tried to incorporate myopic defocus optics into different treatment modalities, such as contact lens. For spectacle lens, the challenge is the eye...
Source: Medgadget - April 19, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Postdoctoral position at Center for Language Science, Pennsylvania State University
The Center for Language Science (CLS) at The Pennsylvania State University (http://cls.psu.edu) invites applications for a postdoctoral position. The CLS is home to a cross-disciplinary research program that includes the NSF training program, ‘Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE): Translating cognitive and brain science in the laboratory and field to language learning environments’ that was awarded to The Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Riverside. The program provides training i n translational research on language learning and bilingualism that includes an intern...
Source: Talking Brains - April 9, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
What are the psychological effects of losing your religion?
By Christian Jarrett
For many, their religion is a core part of their identity, the meaning they find in life, and their social world. It seems likely that changing this crucial aspect of themselves will have significant psychological consequences. A devout person would probably predict these will be unwelcome – increased emotional distress, isolation and waywardness. A firm atheist, on the other hand, might see the potential positives – perhaps the “deconvert” will grow in open-mindedness and thrive thanks to their newfound free thinking and spiritual freedom.
A new study in Psychology of Religion and Spi...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - April 6, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Mental health Religion Source Type: blogs
Rendering Brain Tissue Transparent with OPTIclear to Unlock Secrets of Alzheimer ’s and Parkinson’s
Researchers from Imperial College London and The University of Hong Kong have published results in Nature Communications of a revolutionary process that renders human brain tissue transparent and allows the complex network of neurons to be mapped. This technique of clearing alters brain tissue’s optical properties without impacting the cell structure, allowing neurons to be examined more efficiently than conventional methods of slicing the tissue into microscopic sections, a process that can take weeks.
Once cleared, the brain tissue can be stained for nerve and glial cells, as well as blood vessels, and imaged to of...
Source: Medgadget - March 22, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tom Peach Tags: Genetics Neurology Pathology Source Type: blogs
Inflation Is Largely a Global Phenomenon
When economic journalists speculate about loominginflation risks in the U.S. or any other country, they implicitly assume that each country ’s inflation depends on that country’s fiscal or monetary policies, and perhaps the unemployment rate. YetTheEconomist for March 3rd–9th shows approximately 1 –2 percent inflation in the consumer prices index (CPI) for virtually all major economies. Inflation rates were surprisingly similar regardless of whether countries had budget deficits larger than ours (Japan and China) or big surpluses (Norway and Hong Kong), regardless of whether central banks experimented with“quant...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 9, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Alan Reynolds Source Type: blogs
Can Robots Replace the Human on the Earth?
Human are the best ever creatures evolved on this planet that has excelled in its cognitive skills and intelligence. The fear of Robotics under the guise of artificial intelligence to replace the entire humanity is gaining ground with the increased use of Cyborg technologies for variety of human functions. There is however no smoke without fire to believe it in the wake of the first ever robotics getting citizenship of Saudi Arabia.
In the wake of Sophia, the first ever Hominid attending the World IT Congress at Hyderabad, India on 20th of February to deliver her speech, sharing dais with dignitaries from across the world,...
Source: Sciences Blog - February 21, 2018 Category: Science Authors: srinivas_s at omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group) Tags: Advanced Information Technology Engineering & Fermentation Technology Gene Technology Nuclear Energy Science Power Generation Technology Source Type: blogs
America Is One of the Least “Generous” Countries on Immigration
During his State of the Union speech, President Trumpwill tout hisplan for draconian restrictions on legal immigrants. Supporters, like House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), justify the plan byclaiming that America is “by far the most generous nation in the world for legal immigration.” Not only is “by far” clearly false, but when you consider its wealth, America is already among theleast generous to immigrants around the world.The United States ranks in the bottom third of wealthy countries in terms of net new immigration as a share of total population from 2015 to 2017 as well as total foreign-...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 30, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
New Human Freedom Index: A Decline in Global Freedom
The newHuman Freedom Index is out today. For a third year, the annual report —published by Cato, the Fraser Institute in Canada, and the Liberales Institut in Germany—paints a broad picture of personal, civil and economic freedom in the world. It uses 79 indicators in 12 areas ranging from freedom of religion to freedom to trade.Here are some highlights. Global freedom has declined slightly compared to last year ’s report and compared to 2008, the first year for which we have complete data. Switzerland is the freest country in the world, followed by Hong Kong, which fell from first place for the first time since the ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 25, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Ian V ásquez Source Type: blogs
A Few PIRLS of Wisdom on New Reading Results
The latest international academic assessment results are out —this time focused on 4th grade reading —and the news isn’t great for the United States. But how bad is it? I offer a few thoughts—maybe not that wise, but I needed a super-clever title—that might be worth contemplating.The exam is theProgress in International Reading Literacy Study—PIRLS—which was administered to roughly representative samples of children in their fourth year of formal schooling in 58 education systems. The systems are mainly national, but also some sub-national levels such as Hong Kong and the Flemish-speaking areas of Belgium. PI...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Neal McCluskey Source Type: blogs
