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Issue 102

September 2009

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

Welcome to the 102nd 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 2,500 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 Anna Hogrebe at newsroom@elsevier.com or at +31 20 485 3269.

ARTICLES

1. LIFE AT THE TOP: THE BENEFITS OF HEIGHT

Life at the top is good. And we’re not just talking about penthouse views or your corner office on the top floor … although if you’re tall, that just might come with the package too.

New research in Elsevier’s Economics and Human Biology features data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index daily poll of the U.S. population – and it reveals taller people live better lives, at least on average. The Well-Being Index polling was initiated in January 2008, and collects data by telephone survey from around 1,000 respondents each day. For this paper, information from 454,065 adults aged 18 and over was utilised. The participants were asked to report their heights, as well as provide details to an evaluation of their lives using the Cantril “self-anchoring striving scale.” Specifically, they were asked questions pertaining to their enjoyment, physical pain, happiness, worry, sadness, stress and anger.

Overall, taller individuals evaluated their lives more favourably and were more likely to report a range of positive emotions such as enjoyment and happiness. They were also less likely to report a range of negative experiences, like sadness and physical pain, though they were more likely to experience stress and anger, and if they are women, to worry.

The authors conclude these findings are almost entirely explained by the positive association between height and both income and education, both of which are positively linked to better lives.

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2. A DOSE OF LAUGHTER FOR TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

It’s great to laugh – and increasingly – research is showing it can do wonders for our health as well.

A new study in Elsevier’s Life Sciences explores the physiological effects of laughter in respect to gene expression, and specifically post-prandial glucose levels in type 2 diabetic patients. In a two-day experiment with 19 type 2 diabetics, researchers measured the fasting blood glucose levels of the individuals at the same time for both days. On the first day, after a meal, subjects attended a monotonous lecture for 40 minutes. On the second day, again after a meal, they watched a comedy for the same length of time. After both days, the glucose levels were measured. Results showed an average increase of 123 mg/dl in the first day and the corresponding value on the second day was about 77 mg/dl.

In general, additional studies highlighted in the paper revealed that laughter was shown to decrease the levels of prorenin in the blood – a substance involved in the onset of diabetic complications. Further, laughter normalised the expression of the prorenin receptor gene on peripheral blood leukocytes, which had been reduced in diabetic patients.

The summary of a number of these studies together show that positive emotions such as laughter have been observed to act on the mind-body communication loop both directly and indirectly, and regulate the expression of functional molecule-coding genes. Quite simply, laughter positively affects health. More research is recommended, but in the meantime, a little laughter certainly won’t do us any harm.

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3. DO INDOOR SMOKE-FREE LAWS PROVIDE BAR WORKERS WITH ADEQUATE PROTECTION FROM SECOND-HAND SMOKE?

While many countries have started to implement smoke-free legislation, restricting smoking to particular areas of buildings or restaurants, the question remains as to whether or not these measures are enough to protect particular worker groups.

In Elsevier’s Preventive Medicine, a new study specifically examines whether bar workers are adequately protected from second-hand smoke by an Act that prohibits indoor smoking in public workplaces, including bars and restaurants, but allows smoking on unenclosed contiguous patios. A sample of 25 bars with outdoor patios in Toronto, Canada were featured in the study with air carcinogenic particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAH) measured on the patios and inside the bars.

Overall, smoking on the patios was common and data suggests hazardous second-hand smoke exposure occurs when smoking is permitted on outdoor patios, placing bar workers at risk. With increasing numbers of lit cigarettes in the patio area, there were increases in PPAH levels. In turn, these high levels of PPAH on patios may be associated with sustained vascular injury.

The authors conclude a complete smoking ban in outdoor workspaces is needed to adequately protect hospitality workers from second-hand smoke.

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4. HYPERCOMPETITIVENESS AND BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER SYMPTOMS – ARE THEY CONNECTED?

With tabloids, flashy film stars and models looking so perfect, it’s no surprise that people question their looks and desire to be just a little slimmer, or more muscular, or have bigger breasts, or better skin. But for some individuals, the desire for a better body takes on a much more extreme mindset. For some, this obsession with perfection takes the shape of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), characterised by a preoccupation with a small or objectively nonexistent physical defect.

In Elsevier’s latest Body Image, a new study explores if there is a link between symptoms of BDD and hypercompetitiveness, a concept that describes a maladaptive, manipulating attitude toward competition. To assess if there is a link, researchers studied 345 undergraduate students and had them fill out a series of questions about their demographics, personality, body satisfaction and competitive attitudes.

Results revealed a significant positive correlation between BDD symptoms and hypercompetitiveness for both men and women. People who had more BDD symptoms also had more maladaptive hypercompetitive traits. Understanding this link could help in the development of prevention and treatment programs for body image disturbances.

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5. MORE EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THE BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA CONSUMPTION IN PROTECTING AGAINST MORTALITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Green tea has been extensively studied for its potential preventive and therapeutic roles, especially for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer.

To further explore the potential benefits of this healthy potion, Elsevier’s Annals of Epidemiology focuses specifically on a population of 14,001 elderly residents in Japan during a six-year span from December 1999 to March 2006. At the end of the trial, 12,251 individuals were analysed to estimate the hazard ratios for all-cause mortality, cancer and CVD. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that included the frequency of green tea consumption, as well as age, sex, body weight, height, smoking habits, frequency of alcohol consumption and past illness history.

For those who consumed seven or more cups of green tea per day compared to those who consumed less than one cup per day, the risk of all-cause and CVD mortality that was 55 percent and 75 percent lower respectively. In addition, green tea consumption was associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer mortality.

These findings, suggest that encouraging individuals to drink green tea could be an easy, cost-effective lifestyle recommendation to improve health for the young and old.

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6. NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS BABIES CAN LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

A baby’s mind is an amazing thing. It takes in so much during those first few years of life and it might have the potential to digest even more when it comes to their exploding language skills.

A new paper presented in Elsevier’s Infant Behavior and Development details findings from a study in which 20-month-old French babies were tested individually in an object manipulation task to explore whether they could learn words in a foreign language (English). Several of the tests were conducted in their native language and several in English. The children were tasked with placing familiar items in a cup.

In the foreign language condition, infants chose the correct object 60.42 percent of the time, above chance level, as in the native language condition. These findings suggest 20-month-old infants can easily and rapidly learn words in a foreign language. Future research should focus on whether, for example, the same mechanisms should be used to learn foreign and native words phonetically closed

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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.ehb.2009.06.001
2. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2009.05.002
3. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.06.024
4. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.05.006
5. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.06.003
6. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.06.003