EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST UNTIL 00:01 GMT ON 26th August

Issue 101

August 2009

If you report a story, we ask that you credit Elsevier’s journal as the source.

Welcome to the 101st edition of Flash, our bi-weekly alert for science, health and medical journalists. Flash is a courtesy service with access to ScienceDirect, Elsevier’s online platform, providing full text access to some 2,000 scientific, technical and medical journals.

Please use your Flash login and password to access each article’s full text on ScienceDirect. For a new password, forgotten passwords or if you have any feedback, please contact Ylann Schemm at newsroom@elsevier.com or at +31 20 485 2025.

ARTICLES

1. SWEET OR SALTY? YOUR ANSWER COULD SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY

Do you prefer sweet or salty? A hearty brew or something lighter? A desert wine or dry Sauvignon Blanc? Turns out your preferences could reveal more than just your food and drink favourites – they may also indicate details about your personality.

In Elsevier’s latest Food Quality and Preference, researchers explored how the influence of personality traits impact dietary decisions. Specifically, they measured the personality traits of 45 adults and then assessed their sweet taste preferences using white wine.

Results revealed sweet taste preference was linked to a higher level of impulsiveness and a lower level of openness compared with dry taste preference in white wine. The researchers noted that individuals with a dry preference may plausibly be less likely to consume high-sugar products and their greater openness tends to result in healthier dietary practices.

In regards to other personality traits, there was not a significant difference in reported levels of venturesomeness, empathy, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.

———————————-

2. EMPLOYMENT STATUS, HEART DISEASE AND STROKE AMONG WOMEN

Women are projected to comprise just under half of the total labour force in the United States by 2015, proving just how integral they’ve become to the working world. But, as more women enter the work force, the question arises about potential health effects for this audience.

To take a deeper look at the link between women’s employment status, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, Elsevier’s latest Annals of Epidemiology investigates women, ages 45 to 64, from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Among the 7,058 women, there were 418 CHD events and 219 ischemic stroke events during the course of an average 14-year period.

Overall, the majority of women (75 percent) were employed outside the home. In general, the employed women were more likely to have advanced education levels, higher incomes and more favourable CVD profiles than the homemakers. In fact, the women employed outside of the home had a decreased risk of incident CHD and ischemic stroke compared with homemakers, and for CHD, this association was greater among women with less than a high school education.

These findings suggest additional research into the varied occupational experiences of women, socioeconomic status and health is needed.

———————————-

3. EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE ON BLOOD PRESSURE OF YOUNG ADULTS

Many epidemiological studies have reported that exposure to environmental noise – think road traffic or aircraft noises – is associated with hypertension in the middle-aged and older populations. But what about young adults? Are they affected by environmental noise in the same way?

Focusing specifically on 60 adults aged 18 to 32, Elsevier’s new Environmental Research conducted a study on the relationship between ambulatory blood pressure with this group and environmental noise during a 24-hour period. Individual noise exposure and personal blood pressure were measured simultaneously for 30 males and 30 females.

During the 24-hour period, environmental noise exposure significantly increased averages of 1.43 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 1.40 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) among all subjects. Daytime SBP and DBP were was significantly higher than the night time ones. Only females had significant increments of night time SBP and DBP associated with the current, 30- and 60-minute time-lagged nocturnal noise exposure in this current study, suggesting women might be more sensitive to noise exposure.

This paper, while the sample size is small, provides empirical evidence that exposure to environmental noise above 55dBA may be associated with elevated ambulatory blood pressure in young adults.

———————————-

4. THE BENEFITS OF PREGNANCY MASSAGE

Prenatal depression has been noted in 10 percent to 25 percent of pregnant women, posing a risk for many adverse complications like prematurity, low birth weight and bio behavioural dysregulation. So what’s a bummed out mum-to-be to do?

In Elsevier’s new Infant Behavior and Development, researchers explore the relatively easy treatment of massage therapy given by a significant other during a 12-week period. Pregnant women were recruited and assessed for depression and then randomly assigned to either a massage or standard treatment control group. For the women in the massage group, they started receiving two moderate pressure massages per week for a period of 12 weeks at 20 weeks gestation. The women received their massage by their significant others, who were taught the massage by a massage therapist. Total sample size was 88 in the massage group and 61 in the control group.

Results revealed the massage therapy to be extremely beneficial. Women in the massage group showed signs of decreased depression, less low back pain and fewer prenatal complications, including a 75 percent lower prematurity rate and an 80 percent lower incidence of low birth weight. Additionally, the decrease in depression by week 32 of gestation in the massaged women persisted through the duration of pregnancy, and the women were shown to have lower cortisol levels during their postpartum period.

The authors conclude massage therapy treatment for depressed pregnant women appears to not only work, but could be a very cost-effective manner to ward off birth and newborn complications.

———————————-

The Scirus tool bar makes it easier than ever to find scientific, technical and medical information on the Web and is quick and easy to install. After installing, the Scirus toolbar conveniently appears below your Internet Explorer address bar, meaning you have scientific searches at your fingertips, wherever you are on the Web. Link to Scirus: http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/toolbar/ If your browser does not support HTML, you may need to copy the links below and paste them into your browser to access the articles:

1. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2009.05.009
2. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.04.008
3. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2009.05.008
4. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.07.001