Science and Mormonism

Welcome to Science & Mormonism!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:48:00 +0000

Note: This blog takes a lot of time to keep up with scientific developments. I have enough data to show several interesting parallels between science and Mormonism. I'm not going to update this blog with new scientific discoveries, unless, of course, something really spectacular happens. Persons interested in these parallels are invited to leave comments expressing their viewpoints. I will reply to the comments, as is appropriate. AWL 12/6/2013

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The Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, said truth is things as they have been, things as they are, or things as they will be. In other words, truth is reality. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred to as the LDS church or the Mormon church) believe religion has truth. Many of them also believe science has truth. Obviously, truth in religion can not contradict truth in science, and the two viewpoints of truth must, at some future time, converge. The purpose of this blog is to track new developments in science and in teachings of the LDS Church, allowing visitors to see if the two viewpoints do have parallel concepts, and if so to see if the parallels are converging.

Links to new scientific reports or to new information about the LDS religion are made via additions to existing posts, although occasionally new posts are created when appropriate posts for the new information do not exist. At the top of each page are navigational links to various categories. All of the posts in this blog are in those categories, and by clicking a category-link, you will get a page that links to the posts that pertain to that category. The Site Map page has links to all of the pages in the site.

Many of the posts to this blog have introductory information from Wikipedia. In most cases, links in the Wikipedia information have been removed to simplify reading of this blog. Links to the Wikipedia pages are given so you can reference the original pages and their links.

The posts in this blog that are open to speculation have been moved to a new blog, and this blog now mainly contains links to scientific articles that parallel Mormonism. This blog contains recent scientific articles posted to Science and Mormonism. For older articles, see Volume 9 of Science and Mormonism.

If you are interested in reading my understanding of the basic beliefs of Latter-day Saints, you are invited to visit my Mormon blog.

This blog does not represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Welcome to this blog. I hope you will find information here that will broaden your views of science and religion, and I invite you to share your views with other visitors to the blog.

Bullying

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 16:16:00 +0000

Bullying has, I think, always existed, and it will likely continue to exist. Before the Internet was invented, bigger, older, or stronger kids put pressure on other kids to intimidate or to harass them, frequently doing this on playgrounds at school or in neighborhoods. The Internet, however, has made bullying easier, and this type of bullying is known as cyber bullying. Wikipedia says this about cyber bullying.

Cyberbullying is defined in legal glossaries as

actions that use information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm another or others.

use of communication technologies for the intention of harming another person

use of internet service and mobile technologies such as web pages and discussion groups as well as instant messaging or SMS text messaging with the intention of harming another person.

Examples of what constitutes cyberbullying include communications that seek to intimidate, control, manipulate, put down, falsely discredit, or humiliate the recipient. The actions are deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior intended to harm another. Cyberbullying has been defined by The National Crime Prevention Council: “When the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person."
A cyberbully may be a person whom the target knows or an online stranger. A cyberbully may be anonymous and may solicit involvement of other people online who do not even know the target. This is known as a 'digital pile-on.'

Scientists are actively studying bullying, and here are links to some of their research.

To effectively prevent bullying schools need to understand positive school climate, use reliable measures to evaluate school climate and use effective prevention and intervention programs to improve the climate, a recent paper co-authored by a University of California, Riverside assistant professor found.

MTV and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research today released the results of a new survey exploring the pervasiveness of digital abuse among teens and young adults, how it is affecting America's youth and how they're responding to it. According to the survey, trends show that the share of young people affected by digital abuse has declined since 2011, with less than half (49 percent) of those surveyed stating that they have experienced digital abuse, compared to 56 percent in 2011. Additionally, virtually every form of digital abuse tracked in this study -- 26 out of 27 listed -- has declined. When experiencing digital abuse, 44 percent of young people state that they seek help from their parents or family, up over 25 percent from 2011, and the majority (66 percent) say that telling their parents made the situation better.

Cyberbullying has become a destructive force in many children's lives. After multiple suicides by children being cyberbullied, parents, more than ever, need to be aware of their children's online activity. A recent paper published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication found that parents underestimate how often their children engage in risky online behavior, like cyberbullying and viewing pornography.

Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 18:22:00 +0000

Poverty is a condition of persons not having particular amounts (or higher) of goods and money. According to Wikipedia, conditions of poverty cause immense problems for society.

One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes: in total 270 million people, most of them women and children, have died as a result of poverty since 1990. Those living in poverty suffer disproportionately from hunger or even starvation and disease. Those living in poverty suffer lower life expectancy. According to the World Health Organization, hunger and malnutrition are the single gravest threats to the world's public health and malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases. Almost 90% of maternal deaths during childbirth occur in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, compared to less than 1% in the developed world.
Those who live in poverty have also been shown to have a far greater likelihood of having or incurring a disability within their lifetime. Infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis can perpetuate poverty by diverting health and economic resources from investment and productivity; malaria decreases GDP growth by up to 1.3% in some developing nations and AIDS decreases African growth by 0.3–1.5% annually.

Scientists are studying poverty, and here are links to some of their research.

Between 2011 and 2012, child poverty increased slightly in the Northeast and West, but declined slightly in the Midwest. There was no significant change in the South, the region with the highest child poverty in 2012 (25.0 percent). Nearly 30 percent (29.7 percent) of children in central cities and 26.2 percent of children in rural places lived in poverty in 2012, significantly higher than the 17.2 percent in suburban areas.

Site Map of Science & Mormonism

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:30:00 +0000

This page is a site map of the Science & Mormonism web site. It gives the search engines a page that has all internal links, and it contributes to easy navigation of the site by serving as an index to the site.

Home
Welcome to Science and Mormonism!

Agency
Mormon Belief: Freedom to Choose, But Who Is Responsible?

Aging
Genetics & DNA
Reprogramming of Cells
Autism
Heart and Vascular Disease
Cancer
Unused CPU Cycles
Memory Loss
Placebo Effect
Central Nervous System
Bacteria & Viruses
Vaccines
Obesity
Immune System
Diabetes
Bullying
Suicide
Brain & Strokes
Respiratory System
Internal Bleeding
Digestive Tract
Breathing
Medications
Internal Organs
Flu
Birth Defects
Mental Health
Aspirin
Robots & Artificial Body Parts
Cell Phones
Bones
Headaches
Blood Clots
Inheritance
Adversity
Poverty
Other

Ancient America
Scientific Evidence About Ancient America

Authority
Advertising

Before Adam
Plants and Animals
Neanderthals
Hominids

Creation
Natural Events

Diety
Scientific Investigations of God

Disasters
Overviews
Global Warming
Pollution
Water Pollution
Air Pollution
Other Types of Pollution
Nanoparticles
Chemical Pesticides
Non-native Species
Drug-resistant Bacteria
Pollution from Plastic, Paper, and Containers
Hydraulic Fracking
Light Bulbs
DNA Contamination
Disease
Synthetic Food
Radiation
Natural Disasters
Lack of Pandemic Education
Contaminated Medicines
Insufficient Testing
Deteriorating Infrastructures
Crime
Scarcity of Food

Evolution
Scientific Research that Pertains to Evolution

Family

Parenting Skills
Happiness
Behavior
Divorce

Lifestyle
Overview
Sleep
Supplements
Exercise
Nutrition
Vitamin D
Omega 3
Olive Oil
Nitric Oxide
Antioxidants
Tobacco
Alcohol
Tea and Coffee
Other Beverages
Drugs
Sugar
Dairy
Salt
Diet
Fasting
Honesty
Video Games & TV Watching
Stress
Being Optimistic
Resuscitation
Malnutrition
Anger
Gambling
Social Relationships
Marry at an Appropriate Age
Moderation in All Things
Seek Learning By Study and By Faith

Migrations
Scientific Evidence of Migrations
Trade Routes

Other Worlds

Exoplanets
Artificial Worlds Around Earth
Earth's Moon
Mars
Venus
Mercury
Pluto
Large Planets
Galaxies
Asteroids and Comets
Birth of Planets & Dwarf-Planets
Individual Stars
Space Itself
Black Holes
The Big Bang
Colliders
Dark Energy
Dark Matter
Harsh Environments
Astronauts and Space Travel

Viewpoints
Science and Religion: Different Viewpoints
Why I accept Both Viewpoints
The Merging of Science and Religion
Scientific Research Into Science and Religion

Mormon,Mormonism Gambling

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 13:09:00 +0000

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that members should avoid gambling. The church's web site has the following statement.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposed to gambling, including lotteries sponsored by governments. Church leaders have encouraged Church members to join with others in opposing the legalization and government sponsorship of any form of gambling.

Scientists are studying the effects of gambling, and here are links to some of their research.

Problem gamblers are a hidden population among people with mental health or substance abuse issues who often don't get the treatment they need, a new study shows. Anywhere from 10 to 20 per cent of people with substance abuse problems also have significant gambling problem, yet few programs are targeted at them and most social service agencies don't have funds to treat them, the study's main author says.

Mormon,Mormonism Adversity

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 12:57:00 +0000

We all experience adversity or opposition in life, but some of us experience adversity that incumbers our living an enjoyable life. Scientists are researching the effects of adversity in our lives, and here are links to some of their research.

The research, led by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), in collaboration with the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health at UCL, found that men and women who had suffered adversity in childhood were more likely to die before age of 50 than those who had not.

Other Maladies

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In the Aging categories specific illnesses are listed that may affect how long persons may live. This category is for maladies that don't fit in the illnesses that are specifically listed. Scientists are investigating particular maladies that may affect a persons life, and here are links to their reports.

We know that breastfeeding has a positive impact on child development and health -- including protection against illness. Now researchers from Tel Aviv University have shown that breastfeeding may also help protect against Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioral disorder in children and adolescents.

Death and disease risk associated with excess body weight can vary among individuals with similar BMI. Ectopic fat, or fat located where it is not supposed to be, in this case being visible in the abdominal area, could be the cause of this difference in risk. It's widely known that abdominal fat can be more dangerous than fat in other areas, but this study is the first to use CT scan to study specifically located fat depots for direct associations with disease risk.

Men who experience restless legs syndrome (RLS) may have a higher risk of dying earlier, according to research that appears in the June 12, 2013, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The disorder is characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs and often causes leg sensations of burning, creeping, and tugging, which are usually worse at night.

Anger

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:07:00 +0000

A personality trait that makes people hard to live with is anger. Wikipedia says this about anger.

Anger is an emotion related to one's psychological interpretation of having been offended, wronged, or denied and a tendency to react through retaliation. Sheila Videbeck describes anger as a normal emotion that involves a strong uncomfortable and emotional response to a perceived provocation. Raymond Novaco of UC Irvine, who since 1975 has published a plethora of literature on the subject, stratified anger into three modalities: cognitive (appraisals), somatic-affective (tension and agitations), and behavioral (withdrawal and antagonism). William DeFoore, an anger-management writer, described anger as a pressure cooker: we can only apply pressure against our anger for a certain amount of time until it explodes.
Anger may have physical correlates such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Some view anger as part of the fight or flight brain response to the perceived threat of harm. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force. The English term originally comes from the term anger of Old Norse language. Anger can have many physical and mental consequences.
The external expression of anger can be found in facial expressions, body language, physiological responses, and at times in public acts of aggression. Humans and animals for example make loud sounds, attempt to look physically larger, bare their teeth, and stare. The behaviors associated with anger are designed to warn aggressors to stop their threatening behavior. Rarely does a physical altercation occur without the prior expression of anger by at least one of the participants. While most of those who experience anger explain its arousal as a result of "what has happened to them," psychologists point out that an angry person can very well be mistaken because anger causes a loss in self-monitoring capacity and objective observability.
Modern psychologists view anger as a primary, natural, and mature emotion experienced by virtually all humans at times, and as something that has functional value for survival. Anger can mobilize psychological resources for corrective action. Uncontrolled anger can, however, negatively affect personal or social well-being. While many philosophers and writers have warned against the spontaneous and uncontrolled fits of anger, there has been disagreement over the intrinsic value of anger. The issue of dealing with anger has been written about since the times of the earliest philosophers, but modern psychologists, in contrast to earlier writers, have also pointed out the possible harmful effects of suppressing anger. Displays of anger can be used as a manipulation strategy for social influence.

Scientists are studying the causes and effects of anger, and here are links to some of their research.

The act of describing a feeling such as anger may have a significant impact on the body's physiological response to the situation that elicits the emotion, according to research published June 5 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Karim Kassam from Carnegie Mellon University and Wendy Mendes from the University of California San Francisco.

Malnutrition

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:46:00 +0000

Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of the deaths of children under the age of 5. Wikipedia says this about malnutrition.

Malnutrition is the condition that results from eating a diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess (too high an intake), or in the wrong proportions. The verb form is "malnourish"; "malnourishment" is sometimes used instead of "malnutrition". A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under- or over-abundant in the diet. In most of the world, malnutrition is present in the form of under-nutrition, which is caused by a diet lacking adequate calories and protein—not enough food, and of poor quality. Extreme undernourishment is starvation, and its symptoms and effects are inanition. While malnutrition is more common in less-developed countries, it is also present in industrialized countries. In wealthier nations it is more likely to be caused by unhealthy diets with excess energy, fats, and refined carbohydrates. A growing trend of obesity is now a major public health concern in lower socio-economic levels and in developing countries as well.
The World Health Organization cites malnutrition as the greatest single threat to the world's public health. Improving nutrition is widely regarded as the most effective form of aid. Nutrition-specific interventions, which address the immediate causes of undernutrition, have been proven to deliver among the best value for money of all development interventions. Emergency measures include providing deficient micronutrients through fortified sachet powders or directly through supplements. WHO, UNICEF, and the UN World Food Programme recommend community management of severe acute malnutrition with ready-to-use therapeutic foods, which have been shown to cause weight gain in emergency settings. The famine relief model increasingly used by aid groups calls for giving cash or cash vouchers to the hungry to pay local farmers instead of buying food from donor countries, often required by law, to prevent dumping from hurting local farmers.
Long term measures include fostering nutritionally dense agriculture by increasing yields, while making sure negative consequences affecting yields in the future are minimized. Recent efforts include aid to farmers. However, World Bank strictures restrict government subsidies for farmers, while the spread of fertilizer use may adversely affect ecosystems and human health and is hampered by various civil society groups.
Malnutrition has shown to be an important concern in women, children, and the elderly. Because of pregnancies and breastfeeding, women have additional nutrient requirements. Children can be at risk for malnutrition even before birth, as their nutrition levels are directly tied to the nutrition of their mothers. Breastfeeding can reduce rates of malnutrition and mortality in children, and educational programs for mothers could have a large impact on these rates. The elderly have a large risk of malnutrition because of unique complications such as changes in appetite and energy level, and chewing and swallowing problems. Adequate elderly care is essential for preventing malnutrition, especially when the elderly cannot care for themselves.

Scientists are studying malnutrition and ways to eliminate it. Here are links to some of their papers.

A new Lancet series on maternal and childhood nutrition finds that over 3 million children die every year of malnutrition -- accounting for nearly half of all child deaths under 5. Along with state-of-the-art global estimates on the long-term burden of malnutrition, the series presents a new framework for prevention and treatment that considers underlying factors, such as food security, social conditions, resources, and governance. Professor Robert Black, Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, led the consortium of experts who produced this series -- a follow-up to the groundbreaking 2008 Lancet Nutrition Series, which revealed how pivotal the first 1,000 days -- from the start of pregnancy until the child's second birthday -- are to the well-being of both the individual and the society in which he or she lives.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:57:00 +0000

One way that life can be extended is through the giving of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation to persons who have had a heart attack. Wikipedia says this about Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure, performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations.
CPR involves chest compressions at least 5 cm (2 in) deep and at a rate of at least 100 per minute in an effort to create artificial circulation by manually pumping blood through the heart. In addition, the rescuer may provide breaths by either exhaling into the subject's mouth or nose or utilizing a device that pushes air into the subject's lungs. This process of externally providing ventilation is termed artificial respiration. Current recommendations place emphasis on high-quality chest compressions over artificial respiration; a simplified CPR method involving chest compressions only is recommended for untrained rescuers.
CPR alone is unlikely to restart the heart; its main purpose is to restore partial flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and heart. The objective is to delay tissue death and to extend the brief window of opportunity for a successful resuscitation without permanent brain damage. Administration of an electric shock to the subject's heart, termed defibrillation, is usually needed in order to restore a viable or "perfusing" heart rhythm. Defibrillation is only effective for certain heart rhythms, namely ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, rather than asystole or pulseless electrical activity. CPR may succeed in inducing a heart rhythm which may be shockable. CPR is generally continued until the patient has a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or is declared dead.

Scientists are studying CPR, and here are links to some of their research.

One of the most difficult moments faced by anaesthetists and other healthcare staff is when to carry on attempts to resuscitate a person, and when those efforts should reasonably stop. This dilemma is the subject of a session at Euroanaesthesia, the annual congress of the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA).

Inheritance Without DNA Change

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Scientists have debated for years whether we're influenced the most by traits we inherit or by the environment in which we live. Of course, we're influenced by both, but it isn't clear which has the biggest influence on us. Now, a new viewpoint has emerged that combines the two viewpoints being argued. Scientists are learning that the emotional environments of our ancestors can affect us, even though the DNA we inherit wasn't changed by those environments. That is, we have traits via the genes we inherit, but we also may have traits that are not provided by our genes. I think this is a really startling thing, and one that needs further research.

Here is a quote from an article in the May 20132 issue of Discover magazine (the article in the print version is called Trait vs Fate. The online version of the article is called Grandma's Experiences Leave a Mark on Your Genes).

Like silt deposited on the cogs of a finely tuned machine after the seawater of a tsunami recedes, our experiences, and those of our forebears, are never gone, even if they have been forgotten. They become a part of us, a molecular residue holding fast to our genetic scaffolding. The DNA remains the same, but psychological and behavioral tendencies are inherited. You might have inherited not just your grandmother’s knobby knees, but also her predisposition toward depression caused by the neglect she suffered as a newborn.

Or not. If your grandmother was adopted by nurturing parents, you might be enjoying the boost she received thanks to their love and support. The mechanisms of behavioral epigenetics underlie not only deficits and weaknesses but strengths and resiliencies, too. (pp. 48-55)

This new knowledge was discovered by scientists working in the field of Epigenetics. The scientists have learned that organic compounds called methyl groups are formed when we experience infection, environmental stress, or life experiences, and those methyl groups can attach themselves to our DNA and be inherited by our offspring, even though our DNA is not changed by the methyl groups. In addition to the effects on our genes from our DNA, we experience effects on our genes from methyl groups that have attached themselves to our DNA.

We need to look at our lives and our attitudes and try to be more positive in our personalities and outlooks, and hope that the positive factors in our lives will overrule the negative aspects as our bodies create methyl groups and attach them to our DNA. Of course, such changes to our personalities must be made early in our lives if they are to be inherited by our children, but the changes can improve our lives even if we will not have additional children.

Blood Clots

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:11:00 +0000

Blood clots or thrombi kill an American about every 5 minutes. Wikipedia says this about blood clots.

A thrombus, or blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. It is achieved via the aggregation of platelets that form a platelet plug, and the activation of the humoral coagulation system (i.e. clotting factors). A thrombus is normal in cases of injury, but pathologic in instances of thrombosis.
Mural thrombi are thrombi adherent to the vessel wall. They are not occlusive and affect large vessels, such as heart and aorta. Grossly they appear grey-red with alternating light and dark lines (lines of Zahn) which represent bands of fibrin (lighter) with entrapped white blood cells and red blood cells (darker).

Scientists are actively studying blood clots, and here are links to some of their research.

In a large, long-term study, researchers followed 30,239 adults who were 45 years or older for 4.6 years. Researchers rated participants' heart health using the seven health indicators from the American Heart Association Life's Simple 7. They include being physically active, avoiding smoking, following a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body mass index, and controlling blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol. They then compared the incidence of blood clots among those whose heart health rated as inadequate, average and optimum.

Headaches

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:55:00 +0000

Headaches are common among people and usually present no danger to health or hindrance to normal activities. However, some headaches, especially migraine headaches, can be debilitating to people. Wikipedia says this about headaches.

A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain. Nine areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are the cranium (the periosteum of the skull), muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes.

Here are links to science reports about headaches.

Migraine headaches are a major cause of ill health and a reduced quality of life. Some individuals suffer from a frequent and severe migraine problem which means that they require regular medication to try and prevent them. A new review of the medications, which may help to prevent episodic migraines, appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer. The authors, Tatyana Shamliyan from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and her colleagues, compare published research on the drugs available to find those which offer the best migraine prevention coupled with the fewest adverse side-effects.

In a study including children and adolescents 6 to 18 years of age, those who have experienced migraine headaches were more likely to have had colic as an infant, according to a study in the April 17 issue of JAMA.

Diet

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:33:00 +0000

All of the food we eat and the supplements we take can be considered our diet. In this blog, we are tracking our use of particular aspects of our diet, such as nutrition or meat. There is, however, value in looking at our diet as a single aspect of our lives.

Let's see what scientists say about our diet.

Researchers enrolled a diverse group of adults (>18 years old), adolescents (aged 11-20) and school age children (3-15 years old). They collected receipts from participants to calculate the calorie content of their meals, and they administered a short questionnaire which included a question asking participants to estimate the calorie content of their meal. Parents provided answers for the school age children. The final sample size was 1877 adults, 1178 adolescents and 330 school age children.

A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study suggests that the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes consuming foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, chicken and salad dressing, and avoiding saturated fats, meat and dairy foods, may be linked to preserving memory and thinking abilities. However, the same association was not found in people with diabetes. The research is published in the April 30, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

According to a study published in the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, a baseline adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MeDiet) is associated with a lower risk of hyperuricemia, defined as a serum uric acid (SUA) concentration higher than 7mg/dl in men and higher than 6mg/dl in women.

Data from a new study of British adults suggest that adherence to a "Western-style" diet (fried and sweet food, processed and red meat, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products) reduces a person's likelihood of achieving older ages in good health and with higher functionality. Study results appear in the May issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and is responsible for 65,000 deaths each year in the UK alone. The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people's risk of heart disease.

Bones

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:10:00 +0000

Osteoporosis and bone fractures are common ailments in adults. Wikipedia says this about the human skeleton.

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue. Bones come in a variety of shapes and have a complex internal and external structure, are lightweight yet strong and hard, and serve multiple functions. One of the types of tissue that makes up bone is the mineralized osseous tissue, also called bone tissue, that gives it rigidity and a coral-like three-dimensional internal structure. Other types of tissue found in bones include marrow, endosteum, periosteum, nerves, blood vessels and cartilage. At birth, there are over 270 bones in an infant human's body, but many of these fuse together as the child grows, leaving a total of 206 separate bones in an adult. The largest bone in the human body is the femur and the smallest bones are auditory ossicles.

Scientists are investigating the human skeleton, and here are links to some of their research.

Depression, anxiety, and smoking are associated with lower bone mineral density (BMD) in adults, but these factors have not previously been studied during adolescence, when more than 50% of bone accrual occurs. This longitudinal preliminary study is the first to demonstrate that smoking and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls have a negative impact on adolescent bone accrual and may become a red flag for a future constrained by low bone mass or osteoporosis and higher fracture rates in postmenopausal years.

Salt

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:39:00 +0000

Salt has been used for centuries in diets, but scientists are learning that too much salt in our diet is unhealthy. Wikipedia says this about salt.

Salt, also known as table salt or rock salt (halite), is a crystalline mineral that is composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of ionic salts. It is absolutely essential for animal life, but can be harmful to animals and plants in excess. Salt is one of the oldest, most ubiquitous food seasonings and salting is an important method of food preservation. The taste of salt (saltiness) is one of the basic human tastes.
Salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt. It is a crystalline solid, white, pale pink or light gray in color, normally obtained from sea water or rock deposits. Edible rock salts may be slightly grayish in color because of mineral content.
Because of its importance to survival, salt has often been considered a valuable commodity during human history. However, as salt consumption has increased during modern times, scientists have become aware of the health risks associated with high salt intake, including high blood pressure in sensitive individuals. Therefore, some health authorities have recommended limitations of dietary sodium, although others state the risk is minimal for typical western diets.

Scientists are investigating our use of salt, and here are links to some of their research.

Recent studies that examine links between sodium consumption and health outcomes support recommendations to lower sodium intake from the very high levels some Americans consume now, but evidence from these studies does not support reduction in sodium intake to below 2,300 mg per day, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

The dangerously high salt levels in processed food and fast food remain essentially unchanged, despite numerous calls from public and private health agencies for the food industry to voluntarily reduce sodium levels, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study conducted with the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown that a diet high in salt is associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Now Timothy L. Cover and colleagues of Vanderbilt University show that high dietary salt combined with infection by the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori greatly increases the risk of cancer.

Much evidence shows that reducing salt intake lowers blood pressure and thereby reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease. Less is known about the potential benefits of increasing potassium intake, but lower potassium consumption has been linked with elevated blood pressure.

Dr. Kotchen cites correlations between blood pressure and salt intake in a number of different studies; typically, the causation between lowering salt intake and decreased levels of blood pressure occur in individuals who have been diagnosed with hypertension. Although not as pronounced, there is also a link between salt intake and blood pressure in non-hypertensive individuals. Additionally, recent studies have demonstrated that a reduced salt intake is associated with decreased cardiovascular disease and decreased mortality.

Seventy-five percent of the world's population consumes nearly twice the daily recommended amount of sodium (salt), according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2013 Scientific Sessions.

Nearly 75 percent of commercial pre-packaged meals and savory snacks for toddlers are high in sodium, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions.

Eating too much salt contributed to 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases throughout the world in 2010, representing 15 percent of all deaths due to these causes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions.

The Merging of Science and Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:43:00 +0000

As a Latter-day Saint, I believe the restored gospel has truth. I also believe, though, that my understanding of the gospel is incomplete and inaccurate and has non-truth, ideas that are myths and folk-lore. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am always attempting to distinguish truth from error and to refine my religious beliefs to be closer to a true understanding of God.

I also believe in science. I believe that science is a good and proper approach to the universe, to the cosmos. Scientists do not know everything about the cosmos, and they are continually forming hypotheses and conducting tests and making observations about the cosmos, to give them evidence to accept their hypotheses as fact, or to modify or discard their hypotheses when their ideas conflict with truth.

Both religion and science are trying to obtain truth. Scientists have an advantage in that they can observe and test the cosmos to obtain truth, while religionists can only form hypotheses but can not test those hypotheses in the same way that scientists can test their hypotheses. Does this mean that only scientists can gain truth? Not necessarily.

Religion concerns data that is based on faith. Science concerns data that is based on physical elements. The relationships between religion and science can be represented by two circles that intersect, as shown in the following diagram.

Let Set A in the diagram be religion and Set B be science. As the diagram illustrates, the blue area is the domain of religion that can not be observed and tested by science. This is the domain of god and of spirit. Scientists have no instruments that can measure energy that may radiate from this domain. I believe, and this is merely my personal belief, that the domain of religion involves matter, for Joseph Smith said that all spirit is matter but matter that is more refined and pure, that can not be observed by present-day scientists. The brown area represents the domain of science, the domain of the cosmos. The red area represents the domain of religion and science, the domain that can be discussed by both religionists and scientists. This is the domain that is involved in the science vs. religion aspect of our lives. Of course, the size and positions of the two sets is continually changing, such that the red intersection between the two domains is always changing.

I think it is foolish for scientists to speculate about the blue area, the domain of religion, because those scientists can not make measurements about the blue area, and thus are limited to philosophical discussions of that domain. It is fine for scientists to become philosophers in this regard, but they must remember they are not being scientists when they talk about the domain of religion.

I think it is foolish for religionists to speculate about the brown area, the domain of science. Religion is based on faith and on inspiration from God. If God gives no information about the domain of science, then religionists have no basis for their speculations about that domain.

But, the red area is interesting, because it is the domain of both religion and science. This illustrates to me the importance of science in interpreting religious statements about the red area. Science is a "filter" that can be placed on religious statements about the cosmos, including this earth.

Let me illustrate this with comments about the Book of Mormon. I grew up with a belief that the Book of Mormon is scripture, the word of God given to ancient inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere. I was taught and believed that the Nephites and Lamanites were the ancestors of all the native Americans. I believed that the Nephites and Lamanites lived everywhere on the North and South American continents. I believed that all artifacts of ancient peoples in the Western Hemisphere were from Book of Mormon peoples. Because my beliefs about ancient peoples of the Western Hemisphere were beliefs about peoples, customs, languages, and geography of real people, these beliefs were also subject to scientific scrutiny, thus placing these beliefs in the red area of the diagram given above.

As I've grown older, I've "passed" my beliefs through the "filter" of science, and this has caused my beliefs to drastically change. From science, I've learned that there were many people living in the Western Hemisphere prior to the migrations described in the Book of Mormon. I've learned that many, if not most, of the tribes of Native Americans have DNA that goes back to Siberia not to the near-east. I've learned that the artifacts and languages of ancient Native Americans currently known by scientists appear to have come from non-Book of Mormon people. Does this mean that I now believe the Book of Mormon to be false? No, of course not. My basic belief in the Book of Mormon is based on faith, that is, my belief in the book is in the blue area. I do believe that some of my ideas about the Book of Mormon are being disproved by scientists, and this is OK, because those ideas are in the red area.

I now believe, thanks to science, that the Book of Mormon people were a relatively small group of people, compared with the set of all people who have lived in the Western Hemisphere. Because they were a small group of people, their artifacts are limited in location, and I'm not surprised to learn that scientists have not found any of the artifacts or DNA of those people.

To summarize, I believe that the intersection between religion and science is relatively small and that the science vs. religion argument only applies to a small part of both religion and science. I encourage all of us to learn more of God through our faith and repentance and through obedience to his commandments. I encourage all of us to study science, to not consider science as a threat to religion, for it is through science that we gain most of our knowledge about the cosmos. I encourage all of us to use science as a "filter" on religious ideas that pertain to the physical cosmos so we can identify and remove false ideas from our religious beliefs and thus come closer to finding truth. Truth is truth and can not contradict itself. Truth in religion must agree with truth in science. Eventually, I believe the diagram shown above will be replaced by a diagram having just one circle that is red. When that happens, religionists will know all truth, and scientists will know all truth, and those two paradigms will be the same.

Dairy Products

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:12:00 +0000

Scientists are learning that some dairy products are unhealthy. This is due to the high-fat content of many of the dairy products and possibly to other factors. Here are links to some of their research.

Patients who consume high-fat dairy products following breast cancer diagnosis increase their chances of dying from the disease years later, according to a study by Kaiser Permanente researchers.

Olive Oil

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:35:00 +0000

Olive Oil has been used as a food for thousands of years. Scientists are researching olive oil to better understand it. Some of their research is given in the following links.

Reduced-fat food products are gaining in popularity. More and more people are choosing "light" products in an attempt to lose weight, or at least in the hope that they will not gain any pounds. But whether these products are effective or not is a matter of dispute: While it is true that they contain fewer calories, people tend to overcompensate by eating more if they do not feel full. Now a study has shown how "natural" oils and fats regulate the sensation of feeling full after eating, with olive oil leading the way. So what makes this oil so effective?

Cell Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:50:00 +0000

Cell phones, due primarily to smartphones, have become widely used appliances. In addition to being used for voice communications, they are used for texting, browsing and downloading from the internet, and photography. Because of their wide use, cell phones have become the focus of scientists. Two areas of concern to scientists are the effects on our body of radiation from the phones and the use of cell phones by drivers while they are driving. Here are links to some of their reports.

Scientists from various Australian universities in collaboration with the University of Barcelona have compared the effects of mobile use while driving with the effects of alcohol using a simulation. Their experiment demonstrates that using a handsfree kit or sending text messages is as dangerous as being above the legal alcohol limit.

Robots & Artificial Body Parts

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:32:00 +0000

Manufacturing plants have used robots for many years. These robots are machines that are programmed to do one task, and they can do that task over and over again with great precision. In addition, robots are being sold for use in cleaning homes and swimming pools. Scientists are, however, experimenting with techniques that will lead to robots that can multitask, "think", and make decisions in real-time. The end result of this research is to have robots that are "human like" in appearance and performance and are, in fact, good simulations of real people. Some people believe that robots will become identical to real people and that we won't be able to distinguish between them. Robots that simulate real people have been the basis of science fiction stories for many years. Now, it seems that science fiction may become real-life.

Traditionally, scientists have attempted to remove defects that cause illnesses and to develop medicines and treatment that improve our health. However, from another viewpoint, scientists can increase the health and longevity of our bodies through the replacement of natural body-parts with artificially made body-parts. A replacement part is known as a Prosthesis. Wikipedia says this about Prostheses.

In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb (from Ancient Greek prósthesis, "addition, application, attachment") is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control lost by trauma, disease, or defect. Prostheses are generally used to replace parts lost by injury (traumatic) or missing from birth (congenital) or to supplement defective body parts. Inside the body, artificial heart valves are in common use with artificial hearts and lungs seeing less common use but under active technology development. Other medical devices and aids that can be considered prosthetics include hearing aids, artificial eyes, palatal obturator, gastric bands, and dentures.

This page gives links to some of the current scientific research into robots and into the creation and use of Prostheses.

Designers and engineers assign robots specific roles, such as servant, caregiver, assistant or playmate. Researchers found that people expressed more positive feelings toward a robot that would take care of them than toward a robot that needed care.

The secret lies in the sensor's ability to detect three kinds of data simultaneously. While current kinds of e-skin detect only touch, the Technion team's invention "can simultaneously sense touch, humidity, and temperature, as real skin can do," says research team leader Professor Hossam Haick. Additionally, the new system "is at least 10 times more sensitive in touch than the currently existing touch-based e-skin systems."

In a study published online Feb. 20 in PLOS One, Cornell biomedical engineers and Weill Cornell Medical College physicians described how 3-D printing and injectable gels made of living cells can fashion ears that are practically identical to a human ear. Over a three-month period, these flexible ears grew cartilage to replace the collagen that was used to mold them.

Electrodes have been permanently implanted in nerves and muscles of an amputee to directly control an arm prosthesis, for the first time. The result allows natural control of an advanced robotic prosthesis, similarly to the motions of a natural limb.

Humanity came one step closer in January to being able to replicate itself, thanks to the EU's approval of funding for the Human Brain Project. Danica Kragic, a robotics researcher and computer science professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, says that while the prospect of living among humanoid robots calls to mind terrifying scenarios from science fiction, the reality of how humans cope with advances in robotics will be more complex, and subtle.

Women appear to have a higher risk of implant failure than men following total hip replacement after considering patient-, surgery-, surgeon-, volume- and implant-specific risk factors, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

At the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, Micera reports the results of previous work conducting a four-week clinical trial that improved sensory feed- back in amputees by using intraneural electrodes implanted into the median and ulnar nerves. This interface holds great promise because of its ability to create an intimate and natural connection with the nerves, and because it is less invasive than other methods. It also provides fast, intuitive, bidirectional flow of informa- tion between the nervous system and the prosthetic, resulting in a more realistic experience and ultimately improved function.

The world's first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts is being developed by Chalmers researcher Max Ortiz Catalan. The first operations on patients will take place this winter.

Being Optimistic

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:16:00 +0000

There is a saying that a happy person is a wise person. One aspect of being happy is being optimistic about others and about life in general. People who are optimistic tend to be positive and thus have more satisfying relationships with others. Scientists are studying the effects of being optimistic, and this page gives links to some of their research.

Encouraging young people at high-risk of criminal offending and delinquency to see happiness rather than anger in facial expressions results in a decrease in their levels of anger and aggression, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"We tested implicit assumptions that individuals with certain personality dispositions have different metabolic and energetic profiles," Terracciano said. "For example, do those who are assertive and bold expend more energy? Do those who are depressed or emotionally vulnerable have a lower aerobic capacity and less energy? And do conscientious individuals with an active and healthy lifestyle have more energy?"

Nitric Oxide

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:57:00 +0000

Scientists are studying the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on our bodies. I've placed this page in the Lifestyle category instead of the Aging category, because certain supplements contain enzymes that produce NO.

Production of this [blood] pressure-reducing compound - called nitric oxide - [due to exposure of UV] is separate from the body's manufacture of vitamin D, which rises after exposure to sunshine. Until now it had been thought to solely explain the sun's benefit to human health, the scientists add.

Nitric oxide, the versatile gas that helps increase blood flow, transmit nerve signals, and regulate immune function, appears to perform one more biological feat -- prolonging the life of an organism and fortifying it against environmental stress, according to a new study.

Nitric oxide, a gaseous molecule produced in the brain, can damage neurons. When the brain produces too much nitric oxide, it contributes to the severity and progression of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute recently discovered that nitric oxide not only damages neurons, it also shuts down the brain's repair mechanisms.

Other Types of Pollution

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:37:00 +0000

When we think of pollution, we usually think of air pollution or water pollution. There are other types of pollution, however, that can affect our health and longevity.

Scientists are beginning to study other types of pollution, and here are links to some of their research.

Large areas of vinyl flooring in daycares and schools appear to expose children to a group of compounds called phthalates, which have been linked to reproductive and developmental problems, scientists are reporting. They published their results on the ubiquitous plastic ingredients in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Most herbal products, available to buy as alternative medicines, may be contaminated. Reporting in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine researchers demonstrate the presence of contamination and substitution of plant species in a selection of herbal products using DNA barcoding.

"This study adds evidences for rethinking the way of addressing risk assessment especially when considering that the human population is widely exposed to low levels of thousands of chemicals, and that the health impact of realistic mixtures of pollutants will have to be tested as well," said Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni, a researcher involved in the work from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). "Indeed, one pollutant could have a different effect when in mixture with other pollutants. Thus, our study may have strong implications in terms of recommendations for food security. Our data also bring new light to the understanding of the impact of environmental food contaminants in the development of metabolic diseases."

Are teeth the latest victims of bisphenol A? Yes, according to the conclusions of work carried out by the research team led by Ariane Berdal of the Université Paris-Diderot and Sylvie Babajko, Research Director at Inserm Unit 872 "Centre des Cordeliers." The researchers have shown that the teeth of rats treated with low daily doses of BPA could be damaged by this. Analysis of the damage shows numerous characteristics that are common with a recently identified pathology of tooth enamel that affects roughly 18% of children between the ages of 6 and 8.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure has possible links to increased liver cancer risk, and the relationship between TCE exposure and risks of cancers of low incidence and those with confounding by lifestyle and other factors need further study, according to a study published May 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Both fine-particle air pollution and noise pollution may increase a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to German researchers who have conducted a large population study, in which both factors were considered simultaneously.

Chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been used for decades to reduce fires in everyday products such as baby strollers, carpeting and electronics. A new study to be presented on Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting shows that prenatal exposure to the flame retardants is associated with lower intelligence and hyperactivity in early childhood.

A flame retardant removed from children's pajamas 30 years ago but now used in polyurethane foam is prevalent in office environments, especially in older buildings, where urine testing of workers turned up widespread evidence of its biomarker, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers has found.

One University of Alberta researcher has discovered that language used on billboards can provoke an emotional response that affects our driving abilities. And whether the words have a negative or positive connotation seems to determine whether the attention wanders or the foot gets heavier.

Articles Concerning Pollution

noreply@blogger.com (Allen) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:33:00 +0000

Pollution is a consequence of human intervention on nature. None of the processes that humans manage are 100% efficient, and they all leave residues that change or pollute our natural world.