Scientists have been successful in identifying a particular region in our brain that controls typical decision making process of the brain. It will now be possible to understand how a person decides of halting the midnight exploration of refrigerator and enjoying the leftover chicken legs. The mechanism governing such decisions of the brain leading to malfunction in addiction and mental illness would be immensely helpful in designing the further treatments, say the researchers.

Emmanuel Procyk and his colleague researchers have published the findings of this research in the January 24, 2008, issue of the journal” Neuron”.

Researchers conducted experiments on monkeys and required them to spend time in exploration targeting a ‘juice reward’ with a choice of tough targets on a computer screen. Immediately upon identifying their ‘juice reward’, the monkeys were given a period for touching the reward many times in order to explore the chances of getting more rewards.

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What is high blood pressure (hypertension)?

Hypertension is one of the leading medicinal problems faced by the world today. In simple terms, hypertension refers to the increased pressure of blood in the arteries. Arteries are the major blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the various parts of the body. When the pressure of blood flowing in these arteries increases, it results in a condition known as hypertension.

Blood pressure of a medically fit person should be below 120/80. The number on top is the systolic blood pressure, which is the pressure on arteries when the heart contracts and pumps the blood. The bottom number represents the diastolic pressure, which is the arterial pressure when the heart relaxes after contraction. Blood pressure till 139/89 is known as pre-hypertension and exceeding 140/90 is considered to be high.

Hypertension is generally classified as:
• Essential or primary
• Secondary

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Various diseases have long been associated with the low blood levels of ‘vitamin-D’. It is general assumption worldwide that the ‘vitamin-D’ is a good supplement and helps preventing many diseases. Scientists however, feel that this existing assumption that hundreds of genes are dependent on vitamin D now must be given a re-consideration in the light of new study.

Dr.Trevor Marshall, Professor at the ‘Murdoch University School of Biological Medicine and Biotechnology’, Australia has explained this requirement at length in his research published in the current issue of the journal “BioEssays“.Dr. Marshall explains that the evidences indicate that “increased vitamin D intake affects much more than just nutrition or bone health”. He further says that the “Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor (VDR)” acts in the repression or transcription of hundreds of genes”. Such a condition includes the genes and they get associated with diseases and disorders of various types including cancers and multiple sclerosis.

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Wounds can be healed faster and scaring can be reduced substantially if one of the genes is suppressed. This specific gene normally switches on within the wounded cells and cause scars.

This recent study finding of scientists at the ‘University of Bristol’ has several implications for millions of people who are suffering from organ tissue damage problems just because of some illness or abdominal surgery. It would also help many others who are wound victims. Findings of this research study will be published in the “Journal of Experimental Medicine” on 26 January.

Immediately upon damage occurs to the skin there is a formation of blood clot. Cells present below the wound start repairing the damage and this normally results in to scarring.

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A new study by researchers in the US and Sweden suggests that using a mobile phone could interfere with your quality of sleep.Use of mobile phones interferes with the quality of sleep. A recent research conducted in the US and Sweden confirmed this finding. Researchers at the ‘Wayne State University’ in US and the ‘Karolinska Institutet’ in Sweden published the findings of this study in a peer reviewed online journal “PIERS Online”.

A group of 71 people, 36 women and 35 men took part in this study. Out of these 22 men and 16 women reported strong symptoms attributing to the disturbances in sleep with the use of mobile phones. Researchers collected data for symptoms of headache, mood, cognitive function, and electro-encephalographic recordings.

Participants were exposed to the mobile signals on an 884 MHz GSM wireless communications band and were directed to the left hemisphere of the brain, giving an average exposure of 1.4 Watts/kg including periods of DTX and Non-DTX.

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