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Category Archives: Wellness Live
Researchers uncover brain region’s role in hearing and learning
Have you ever noticed how you can suddenly hear your refrigerator humming in the background when you focus on it? Or how the sound of your name instantly catches your attention even in a noisy crowd?
The human brain is remarkably adept at adjusting what we hear based on contexts, like our current environment or priorities, but it’s still unknown how exactly the brain helps us detect, filter and react to sounds.
Now, biologists at the University of Maryland are a step closer to solving that mystery. Using an animal model, the researchers found that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a brain region associated with decision-making but not typically linked to hearing, plays a central role in helping the auditory cortex (a primary hearing center of the brain) adapt to changing contexts or situations. The team’s findings were published in the journal Current Biology on July 11, 2024.
“Our hearing doesn’t just depend on the sounds around us. It also relies heavily on what we’re doing and what’s important to us at that moment,” explained UMD Biology Assistant Professor Melissa Caras, the paper’s senior author. “Understanding the neural mechanisms responsible for these adjustments can also lead to a better understanding of and potential treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, dyslexia or schizophrenia — conditions where sensory regulation goes awry.”
To closely examine the brain circuitry involved in the hearing process, the researchers turned to gerbils, small mammals whose basic hearing system is similar to that of humans. The animals were exposed to sound patterns in two different contexts. In one context, the animals listened to sounds passively without needing to do anything. In the other, the animals had to perform a specific action in response to the sounds they heard. By recording and manipulating the brain activity of the animals, the team discovered that the OFC helped the animals switch between passive and active listening.
“In short, the OFC sends signals to the auditory cortex when it’s time to pay closer attention to sounds,” Caras said. “It’s not certain whether the signals are sent directly or indirectly via an intermediary brain region, but we do know that activity in the OFC is essential to how the gerbils behaved in our experiments.”
When the OFC was silenced, the animals’ auditory cortex did not switch between passive and active listening, impairing their ability to pay attention to and react to a behaviorally relevant sound.
“In terms of a more human-oriented analogy, it would be as if I told you to suddenly pay attention to your refrigerator humming in the background,” Caras explained. “If your OFC was silenced and unable to send a signal to your auditory cortex, you might have difficulty doing so because the ability to rapidly alter your sound perception would be impaired.”
While this study was conducted in animals, Caras says the findings may have notable implications for human health and well-being. The ability to quickly shift attention to important sounds is essential for many day-to-day activities including communicating with others and navigating busy or dangerous environments.
“We’re just beginning to understand how the brain fine tunes hearing sensitivity in response to sudden shifts in behavioral contexts. We plan to explore exactly how the OFC communicates with the auditory cortex and see whether it’s possible to strengthen the connection and improve hearing ability,” Caras said. “This work is paving the way for researchers and health care professionals to develop better strategies for improving hearing in both healthy individuals and those with sensory impairments.”
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Award Nos. R00DC016046 and R01DC020742).
Screen Legend Shelley Duvall Has Died, Aged 75
Hollywood star Shelley Duvall has died at the age of 75.
Shelley will be best remembered for her work with the director Robert Altman, which included Nashville, Thieves Like Us, 3 Women and Popeye, as well as her legendary performance in the horror film The Shining.
Her life partner Dan Gilroy confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the Bafta and Emmy nominee died in her sleep on Wednesday night at her home in Texas, due to complicatons from diabetes.
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Dan said in a statement: “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Shelley’s big-screen debut came in 1970 when she first collaborated with Robert Altman on the dark comedy Brewster McCloud.
The pair worked together numerous times throughout the 1970s, before she was cast as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining.
Warner Bros/Hawk Films/Kobal/Shutterstock
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In the years that followed, she made no secret of the difficulties she experienced working on the iconic horror film, reportedly being made to shoot one memorable scene more than 170 times in a row.
Her other work included Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and Jane Campion’s The Portrait Of A Lady.
Walt Disney/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Shelley continued to work on screen throughout the 1990s and 2000s, before taking an extended break from the spotlight after 2002’s Manna from Heaven.
During her hiatus, she made a heavily-criticised appearance on the US daytime talk show Dr Phil, during which she spoke candidly about her own struggles with her mental health.
Last year, she made her return to the big screen in Scott Goldberg’s The Forest Hills, which marked her final performing credit.
The Historically Inaccurate Reason That Product Placement Was Removed From The First Gladiator Film
When you picture the original Gladiator film from 2000, the first thing that likely comes to mind is Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius. However, in an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor revealed that he actually almost dropped out of the film entirely as he didn’t like the script, and there were some strange inclusions that he didn’t agree with.
“I was confident about my abilities as a leading man. What I wasn’t confident about with ‘Gladiator’ was the world that was surrounding me.
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“At the core of what we were doing was a great concept but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sorts of strange sequences.”
Gladiators were the original influencers
One of these ‘strange sequences’ was scenes in which the gladiators rode chariots that had promotions for olive oil and other products on them.
While this may have seemed like an anachronistic choice for the filmmakers, gladiators in the Roman Empire really did take on endorsement and product placement deals.
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According to the marketing experts at Banknotes: “The Colosseum was the mecca of entertainment in Ancient Rome, exposing gladiators to thousands of people at once.
“This is why historians have long suggested that Roman Gladiators were arguably the first influencers of purchasing behaviours.”
Russell did actually know this but said that it just wouldn’t resonate with audiences. He exclaimed: “That’s all true but it’s just not going to ring right to a modern audience, they’re going to go, ‘What the fuck is all this?’”
Maybe he was on to something as the film grossed $465.4 million worldwide.
Gladiator 2 is out in cinemas on15 November 2024.
Uncovering late-onset combined immune deficiency in chromosome 18q deletion syndrome
Chromosome 18q deletion (18q del) syndromeis a rare genetic condition disorder, affecting approximately 1 in 40,000 to 55,000 individuals, caused by the deletion of genetic material on the long arm of chromosome 18. This genetic anomaly disrupts normal growth and development, and critically, can impair the immune system’s functionality. Patients with 18q del syndrome often exhibit humoral immunodeficiency or a common variable immunodeficiency (CVID)-like phenotype, characterized by low levels of immunoglobulins (antibodies) in the blood, compromising the body’s ability to effectively combat infections.
Now, however, in a study published recently in the Journal of Clinical Immunology, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and Kagoshima University have identified a previously undocumented manifestation among patients with 18q del syndrome: late-onset combined immunodeficiency (LOCID), affecting both B and T cells. This novel finding underscores the critical importance of routinely assessing the functionality of both B and T cells in individuals with 18q del syndrome.
Elaborating further on this novel finding, Professor Kanegane says, “In this study, we came across two patients with chromosome 18q del syndrome presenting with LOCID, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been reported in patients with the syndrome.”
Patient 1 was a 29-year-old man diagnosed with 18q del syndrome. Despite initially having few infections, he developed Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis showed a deletion in the 18q21.32-q22.3 chromosome region.
Patient 2 was a 48-year-old woman who had not been previously diagnosed with 18q del syndrome. However, she was diagnosed with granulomatous lymphadenitis, and a biopsy of her lymph nodes revealed a loss of 18q21.33-qter.
Both patients exhibited hypogammaglobulinemia, characterized by abnormally low levels of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM, and IgE). Patient 1’s serum immunoglobulin levels were significantly below normal ranges. He reported IgG of 188 mg/dL (normal: 870-1,700 mg/dL), IgA of 105 mg/dL (normal: 110-410 mg/dL), IgM of 26 mg/dL (normal: 33-190 mg/dL), and IgE of <5 IU/mL (normal: 232 IU/mL). His CD4+ T cells had a decreased percentage of naïve T cells, accounting for only 3.58% of the total CD3+CD4+ cell population. Moreover, his T-cell receptor excision circles (TREC) levels and Ig κ-deleting recombination excision circle (KREC) levels were extremely low at 25.27 copies/105 cells (normal: > 565 copies/105 cells) and 93.36 copies/105 cells (normal: ≥ 456 copies/105 cells) respectively, indicating poor T-cell production.
Similar conditions were noted for patient 2, who reported IgG of 8 mg/dL, IgA of 9 mg/dL, IgM of 131 mg/dL, and IgE of 0.3 IU/mL. Her CD4+ T cells and naïve CD4+ T cells were depleted, with naïve T cells accounting for only 6% of the CD3+CD4+ cell population. Her TREC levels were 0 copies/105 cells, and her KREC levels were 11.4 copies/105 cells.
Importantly, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells failed to divide in response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation, indicating severe functional impairment of T cells in both the patients.
Based on their immune profiles and clinical history, both of them were diagnosed with LOCID, a condition where both humoral (antibody-mediated) and cell-mediated immune responses were impaired, making them highly susceptible to infections.
This novel finding is significant, as Dr. Tomomasa, the co-authored of this study, states, “While cases involving deletion of the same region as those of the two patients presented in this study have been reported earlier, patients with 18q del syndrome developing LOCID have never been reported. We speculate that these patients simply have not yet developed LOCID or that they might not have been adequately assessed for it.”
On the basis of these results, the researchers recommend annual testing for both cellular and humoral immunity in patients with 18q del syndrome. This proactive approach can allow for the early detection of combined immune deficiencies, facilitating timely interventions and personalized treatment strategies. Ultimately, such regular monitoring can significantly improve clinical outcomes and enhance the quality of life for individuals diagnosed with 18q del syndrome.
How risk-averse are humans when interacting with robots?
How do people like to interact with robots when navigating a crowded environment? And what algorithms should roboticists use to program robots to interact with humans?
These are the questions that a team of mechanical engineers and computer scientists at the University of California San Diego sought to answer in a study presented recently at the ICRA 2024 conference in Japan.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating robots that infer human perception of risk for intelligent decision-making in everyday settings,” said Aamodh Suresh, first author of the study, who earned his Ph.D. in the research group of Professor Sonia Martinez Diaz in the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is now a postdoctoral researcher for the U.S. Army Research Lab.
“We wanted to create a framework that would help us understand how risk-averse humans are-or not-when interacting with robots,” said Angelique Taylor, second author of the study, who earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego in the research group of Professor Laurel Riek. Taylor is now on faculty at Cornell Tech in New York.
The team turned to models from behavioral economics. But they wanted to know which ones to use. The study took place during the pandemic, so the researchers had to design an online experiment to get their answer.
Subjects-largely STEM undergraduate and graduate students-played a game, in which they acted as Instacart shoppers. They had a choice between three different paths to reach the milk aisle in a grocery store. Each path could take anywhere from five to 20 minutes. Some paths would take them near people with COVID, including one with a severe case. The paths also had different risk levels for getting coughed on by someone with COVID. The shortest path put subjects in contact with the most sick people. But the shoppers were rewarded for reaching their goal quickly.
The researchers were surprised to see that people consistently underestimated in their survey answers indicating their willingness to take risks of being in close proximity to shoppers infected with COVID-19. “If there is a reward in it, people don’t mind taking risks,” said Suresh.
As a result, to program robots to interact with humans, researchers decided to rely on prospect theory, a behavioral economics model developed by Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in 2002. The theory holds that people weigh losses and gains compared to a point of reference. In this framework, people feel losses more than they feel gains. So for example, people will choose to get $450 rather than betting on something that has a 50% chance of winning them $1100. So subjects in the study focused on getting the reward for completing the task quickly, which was certain, instead of weighing the potential risk of contracting COVID.
Researchers also asked people how they would like robots to communicate their intentions. The responses included speech, gestures, and touch screens.
Next, researchers hope to conduct an in-person study with a more diverse group of subjects.
6 Signs You’re Being Too Hard On Your Kid
Parents often feel like they’re not doing enough. There’s always another activity to enroll our kids in, another skill they could be learning. We should encourage them to study harder and help more around the house. Comparing our own families to others — or to some imaginary gold standard — can leave us feeling like we never quite measure up.
There are lots of ways to pass this fear of inadequacy along to our children: nagging, cajoling, bribing or even just expressing disappointment. And though it’s good to hold high standards, we don’t want them to mar the message that we love our children fully and unconditionally for who they are, not what they do.
In a previous interview, author Jennifer Wallace told HuffPost: “Too many kids today perceive their value and worth to be contingent on their achievements — their GPAs, the number of likes they get on a post — not for who they are as people, deep at their core.”
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She recommended that parents look carefully at the areas of their children’s lives where they devote the most attention, time and resources. Parents may not value their child’s grades above all, but if they bring up academics during every conversation, this could be the message kids receive.
“Many parents think they’re not overemphasising achievement,” Wallace said. But when they pause to examine their interactions, “they can see how their behaviour is telling their kids a different story.”
HuffPost spoke with mental health professionals about the signs that a parent is being too hard on their kid. Here’s what they said:
Your child feels bad in a way that’s unnecessary.
As their parent, you frequently have to deliver news that kids don’t want to hear. Eran Magen, a psychologist and the creator of the website divorcingdads.org, listed the following common examples: “telling them it’s time to get out of the pool, enforcing a bedtime, asking for participation in house chores or restricting privileges in order to help them focus on schoolwork.”
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But there is a spectrum of harshness when it comes to delivering these messages. Magen suggested that parents ask, “Is it necessary for my child to feel this bad right now? Is there another way I can support my child’s needs and my own in a way that would result in less discomfort for my child and help maintain a positive tone in our relationship?”
You won’t get it right every time, and there will definitely come a moment in which you lose your cool and yell. But if you’re attentive to your child’s experience and prioritise your connection with them, you can ensure that most of your interactions won’t threaten your relationship.
You are physically rough with your child.
Spanking children is no longer commonplace — and for good reason. Physical harm may solve behaviour problems in the moment, but it doesn’t help kids learn empathy. It also threatens the sense of safety that they have with you, their primary caretaker.
But physical roughness can also be more subtle. Grabbing your child by the wrist and tugging them away, for example, is a perfectly appropriate way to pull them from a danger, such as an oncoming car. But it’s probably too much if they’re simply dawdling at getting out of the pool, and it might frighten your child.
Another way this can manifest, Magen said, is “handling roughly objects that the child is holding or cares about (for example, snatching away a toy or food).” Snatching is a quick and effective way to get a candy bar or an iPad out of your child’s hands, but it’s the kind of interaction that can damage your relationship in the long run.
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Your tone is unnecessarily harsh.
Even though all of us have been in a situation where we needed to holler “Stop!” as loudly as possible when we saw our child doing something dangerous, sometimes our tone is an overreaction. We may yell about picking up toys not because the matter is urgent but because we are tired and losing patience.
When we need our child to do something, crouching down to look them in the eye and using a softer voice is usually more effective. Magen gave the example of “roaring ‘Tommy, don’t do that!’” instead of “stepping close to Tommy, looking him in the eye and saying, ‘Tommy, please don’t do that. It could break the window, which could hurt.’”
Though no one can maintain such serenity in every situation, you may find that your child responds better to calm, reasonable requests than to shouting.
If you’re not sure whether you’ve crossed a line, you can look to your child’s reaction for clues. If they express shock or freeze up, uncertain how to react, “that is a sign that the parent’s behaviour was extreme relative to the things that this parent usually does with this child,” Magen said. Over time, the cumulative effect of such interactions can lead to the child distrusting the parent or being numb to their behaviour.
You discount your child’s perspective.
Is a “candy salad” an appropriate dinner entree? No, but that doesn’t mean you need to mock your child’s desire for sweets. It’s possible to tell your child no and assert boundaries in a way that shows them respect.
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“Responding with ‘What you want doesn’t matter; I will make the decisions around here’ would be an example of speaking overly harshly, even if the tone is mild,” Magen said.
Another phrase that can cause harm with overuse is “Because I said so.” When you can (calmly) explain your reason for saying no or enforcing a boundary, kids are less likely to push back.
You could say something like, “Candy is delicious. But I need to make sure you get all the nutrients you need to grow. We can have a few pieces after dinner.”
You focus on their mistakes.
We all want our children to avoid making the same missteps again and again. But praising them when they do the right thing (“Thank you for asking nicely”) is generally more effective than reprimanding them when they don’t (“Say thank you!”).
You also don’t want to focus on mistakes “to the exclusion of other admirable qualities and attributes,” said Chinwé Williams, a licensed counsellor in Atlanta and co-author of “Seen: Healing Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teens Through the Power of Connection.”
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Although you want to hold your children to high expectations, it’s important that they understand you love them regardless. “When the child fails to meet such high standards, they may believe negative things about themselves,” Williams said.
Being hard on your kids in this way can have lasting consequences for them. They “may develop an inner dialogue that is overly critical and begin to believe that they can’t do anything right. Or they may develop a fear of not being good enough, leading to a preoccupation with their perceived flaws rather than their successes,” Williams said.
You have excessive rules.
It’s important to establish and hold boundaries for safety, for health, for maintaining relationships and for other reasons. But not just because you can.
“Structure is good. However, too many rules can be counterproductive,” Williams said. “Rules should be kept to a minimum and should focus on an overall attitude or way of being rather than individual infractions.”
If your child doesn’t like what’s for dinner, for example, it still makes sense to ask them to come to the table to be with family members. But forcing them to eat six bites of each item on their plate is probably too much and could turn into a drawn-out power struggle every evening.
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There is also the possibility of longer-term behavioural consequences. “Studies have shown that kids raised with a harsh parenting style may develop behavioural problems such as defiance, hyperactivity and aggression. Additionally, they may demonstrate emotional problems like anxiety or mood instability when things don’t go their way,” Williams said.
What to do if you feel you’ve been too harsh.
Just as your child will be unable to meet every behavioural expectation at all times, you will also at some point fall short in the way you handle disciplining your children. Perhaps you yell, snatch an iPad or deliver a conversation-closing “Because I said so.”
It’s what you do after this misstep that matters most. “When parents don’t repair, negative feelings accumulate and can turn into resentment,” Williams said. “Repair of a rupture is an important process of resolving and rebuilding trust and connection.”
Magen recommended that you start by explaining that you want to apologise, so your child isn’t anxious about the interaction. Then explain what you did (“I shouted at you when you asked for more ice cream”). Take responsibility for what you did and say how you think it might’ve made your child feel (“It wasn’t your fault, and it must’ve been scary to hear me yell”).
You can give a reason for your behaviour, but don’t frame it as an excuse. Apologise sincerely, explaining what you wish you had done instead and what you plan to do next time. (Magen gave this example: “Next time if I feel this upset, I’m going to do my best to speak calmly, and I may take a timeout for myself, but I really don’t want to shout at you like that.”)
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Williams suggested that at the end of a repair conversation, you remind your child that you love them.
I was arrested because of my baby’s birthmark
Laxmi Thapa was arrested after her six-month-old son’s birthmark’s were mistaken for bruising.
Nine whooping cough deaths in England as cases rise
Experts worry this is a peak year for whooping cough, which is particularly dangerous for babies.
Some smear test scientists investigated over screening
Referrals have been made to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) into biomedical staff.
