New focus on where heart disease and breast cancer treatment meet

(MediaSource) The American Heart Association has released the first scientific statement about heart disease and breast cancer, calling for more research and collaboration between the fields of oncology and cardiology to treat and prevent both diseases.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2rZMiV8

Early access to palliative care associated with better quality of life

(University of Leeds) Patients with advanced cancer have a significantly better quality of life in the weeks before they die if they receive early access to palliative care, according to research published today.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2BHzjXK

Fitness in childhood linked to healthy lungs in adulthood

(European Lung Foundation) Children who are fitter and whose fitness improves during childhood and adolescence have better lung function as young adults, according to a large study published in the European Respiratory Journal.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2rVg6Cj

Stand up -- it could help you lose weight

(European Society of Cardiology) You might want to read this on your feet. A new study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that standing instead of sitting for six hours a day could prevent weight gain and help people to actually lose weight.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2DT01ic

America's child poverty rate remains stubbornly high despite important progress

(Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health) While many American families have experienced economic gains, children are still most likely to live in households too poor to cover their basic needs. Children make up around a quarter of the US population, but represent more than a third of the nation's poorest residents. Some 41 percent (29.8 million) of America's children were living on the brink of poverty in 2016 -- including more than 5 million infants and toddlers under age three.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2nxBk3w

Spinal cord injury research: Bonus benefit to activity-based training

(University of Louisville) Researchers in the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC) at the University of Louisville have discovered that the training, designed to help individuals with SCI improve motor function, also leads to improved bladder and bowel function and increased sexual desire.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2nuPcMc

Brain's insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to others in distress

(Boston College) Searching for clues to complex social behaviors, experiments found that laboratory rats - much like humans - will approach distressed juveniles but avoid distressed adults -- responses known as social affective behaviors, Boston College researchers report in Nature Neuroscience. Additionally, the brain's insular cortex region is required for proper reactions to others in distress. Further, changes in insular cortex excitability, caused by the hormone oxytocin, likely account for the social affective behaviors.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2E1MzLV