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Men who feel less masculine are more likely to be violent, and video games can lead to obesity in young women studies and research tips for healthier you
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Pressure to be manly makes men violent
Men who feel less masculine according to the conventional gender norms of society are more likely to feel stressed and show violent behaviour, says a study. Such men are more likely to commit violent assaults compared with men who are more comfortable in their own skin, researchers say. The researchers examined 600 American men recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk online data collection site. The men were surveyed about self-perceptions with regard to gender roles and the consequent stress, drug abuse, and violent assaults. “But this doesn’t mean all men who feel less manly will become violent," said Dennis Reidy, the study’s senior author from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The study was published in Injury Prevention Journal. Read more here.
Using uncongested roads more often is good for lungs
A new research claims that walking on quieter streets rather than main busy roads reduces exposure to harmful air pollutants. Black carbon, a major air pollutant, comes from incomplete combustion by diesel vehicles. It is responsible for a range of respiratory diseases, such as asthma, and cardiovascular diseases as well. Researchers at the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London used hand-held monitors to measure levels of black carbon particulate matter on busy routes of London, which was later compared with the carbon levels on quieter routes. They found a significant difference in the peaks of exposure to black carbon between the two routes. The findings were presented at the European Respiratory Society’s International Congress, 2015. Read more here.
Malaria during pregnancy can hamper child’s mental growth
Malaria infection during pregnancy can hamper learning and memory growth in offspring, warns a new research. This is because maternal malaria infection alters the formation of blood vessels in the brains of exposed offspring. The researchers 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. This is the first study that shows malaria in pregnancy may alter the neurocognitive development of millions of children before birth," researchers said. The study was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.Read more here.
Video games can lead to obesity in young women but not men
Young women who play video games for an hour every day are more likely to become overweight than women who do not play them at all, claims a new study. Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden asked 2,500 young men and women to participate in a survey to determine the impact of e-mailing, chatting and playing computer games on the participant’s Body Mass Index (BMI). Over a period of five years, the researchers found that women of normal weight who played computer games for at least one hour a day were more likely to become obese compared to women who were not into gaming at all. Interestingly, playing video games had no effect on the BMI of men who participated in the survey. The study was published in the scientific journal BMC Public Health.Read more here.
Diabetes medicine can treat alcohol addiction
Research shows a medicine used for diabetes and obesity can be used for treating alchohol addiction. Swedish researchers identified that interfering with the hormone GLP-1 could be a target for treating alcohol dependence. Consumption of alcohol releases dopamine in the brain’s reward center, which leads to a sense of euphoria. GLP-1-like substance prevents the ability of alcohol to increase dopamine in reward areas, suggesting that they no longer experience a reward from alcohol, the findings showed. The researchers tested the GLP-1 like substance on rats and found it reduced the alcohol consumption by 30-40% in rats that were bred to drink a lot of alcohol. The research was published in journal Addict Biology.Read more here.
Compiled by Abhijit Ahaskar
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