Landscape artist Jane Anderson struggled with seasonal affective disorder in the winter months. She tried meditation and noticed a change within a month. “My experience was a sense of calmness, of better ability to regulate my emotions,” she says. Her experience inspired a new study which found changes in brain activity after only five weeks of meditation training, the journal Psychological Science reports. But Anderson, who did this research … full story

British scientists have found a new way of killing cancer cells, a media report said Friday. The study not only sheds light on why some people fail to respond to chemotherapy but also reveals a new way of targeting cancer cells, the Daily Express reported. Until recently, it was thought cells could only die through a process called apoptosis. Apoptosis is often blocked by cancer cells, and drugs often do not work, which allows the tumour to grow … full story

Long-term exposure to air pollution could damage the brain and cause depression, besides triggering learning and memory problems. Mice tests showed that, in the long term, dirty air could cause actual physical changes to the brain which resulted in negative effects. While other studies have looked at the impact of polluted air on heart and lungs, this is one of the first to look at the effect on the brain, said doctoral student Laura Fonken from … full story

Something as simple as sitting for long periods in one posture daily is fraught with grave risks, especially for women. Such women are two to three times more likely to develop a life-threatening blood clot in their lungs than more active women, according to a new study. This is the first study to prove that a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of developing a pulmonary embolism – a common cause of heart disease. Pulmonary embolism develops … full story

More than the apple, a strawberry a day could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire army of brain, hormone and cancer specialists. Fisetin is a natural flavonoid found very abundantly in strawberries and to some extent in other fruits, vegetables, tea and red wine. It eases diabetes complications, Salk Institute’s Cellular Neurobiology Lab (CFL) said. Flavonoids are natural compounds having similar effects as antioxidants, which help protect … full story

A breast cancer wonder drug could be turned into a universal weapon against tumours. Newcastle University researchers said a family of cancer drugs, known as PARP inhibitors, affect the way tumour cells repair themselves. These inhibitors target hereditary forms of breast cancer as well as ovarian prostate cancer and pancreatic tumours with the same rogue gene, the journal Nature Medicine reports. The drugs exploit the “Achilles heel” of hereditary … full story

Red wine and chocolate make for a deadly combination to keep your mind sharp and alert, a study suggests. Polyphenols, plant chemicals abundant in dark chocolate and wines, dilate blood vessels, speeding the supply of blood to the brain. This provides it with a rush of oxygen and sugars, making complex calculations easier and quicker. Besides polyphenols are more effective in combination than alone, the Daily Mail reports. The theory follows two … full story

Liposuction if fraught with unwanted consequences that can turn other parts of a patient’s body fatter. Even as the fat will not return to the areas of the body where it was removed from, usually the thighs, lower abdomen and buttocks, it will reappear elsewhere, typically around the shoulders, arms and upper abdomen, according to US researchers, the Daily Mail reports. Liposuction is a simple but crude surgical process which literally sucks the … full story

Patients with HIV infection without a prior history of coronary heart disease may be at a higher risk of developing heart failure. “Heavy alcohol consumption, which is more prevalent among HIV-infected people, is also an established risk factor for heart failure,” the study authors write. Adeel A. Butt from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and colleagues analyzed data from HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected veterans enrolled in the … full story

Vegetarians have a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome — a precursor to heart disease, diabetes and stroke. The symptoms are extra weight around the waist and insulin resistance, in which the body cannot use insulin effectively. Insulin is needed to help control the amount of sugar in the body. The Loma Linda University study found that while 25 percent of vegetarians had metabolic syndrome, the number significantly rose to 37 percent for semi-vegetarians … full story