Knowledge Update

​New York, July 10 (IANS) Prosocial behaviours, such as willingness to help others, may be linked to specific personalities, revealed a study.

According to the research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB), agreeableness is one of the better predictors of prosocial behaviour.

The studies focused on one aspect of prosocial behaviors that can vary widely including volunteering, co-operation within groups, and participating in community actions

The motivations behind a person's prosocial behaviour, whether helping a stranger passed out on the street or volunteering time for someone who has recently lost their parents, are extremely complex, suggested the study.

"It is common for persons to experience distress on seeing a victim in need of help. That distress can lead some people to escape and run away from the victim," said Meara Habashi from University of Iowa.

According to the research, one major path linking personality to help runs through empathy.

By experimentally manipulating empathy, the researchers showed that agreeableness is a dimension of personality, most closely associated with emotional reactions towards victims in need of help and people's willingness to help.

In the first set of experiments, the researchers applied two different vignettes for their studies. In one, college students listened to a radio story about another college student who recently lost her parents and was now taking care of her siblings.

In the second, researchers asked 233 participants, over half of whom were women, to imagine going to a friend's speech and while running late to the talk they encounter someone slumped on the ground and not moving.

To manipulate empathy, the follow-up studies focused on how people responded when they took or ignored the perspective of the victim in the case of the college student who lost her parents.

Of 233 college students, the researchers found correlations with empathy in those having high agreeableness or neuroticism.

However, only those high in agreeableness would volunteer their time for the victim, the study revealed.

Based on these results, people who are low in agreeableness are not necessarily less empathetic than others, they simply may need more reminders when it comes to generating empathic concern, suggested the study.​

​New York, July 10 (IANS) Aerobic exercises such as brisk walking, running, jogging or swimming is likely to restore the cardiac protein quality control system in heart failure, suggests a research conducted on rats.

Heart failure is a common end-point for many cardiovascular diseases. This syndrome is characterised by reduced cardiac output that leads to dyspnea, exercise intolerance and later death.

Despite heart failure seems to be a multi-factorial syndrome, a common point observed by several studies was the accumulation of "bad" (or misfolded) proteins in cardiac cells of both humans and animals with heart failure, the researchers said.

Proteins are like workers responsible for many chemical reactions required in keeping our cells healthy.

Proteins are constituted by a sequence of amino acids that determines the protein "shape" (structure), which is critical for proteins to function.

During the evolution process, our cells developed a protein quality control system that refolds or degrades misfolded proteins, allowing them to keep only the "good" proteins, said Luiz H. M. Bozi from University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The findings showed that misfolded protein accumulation in a rat model of heart failure was related to disruption of the cardiac protein quality control system.

No pharmacology therapy targeting the protein quality control system.

Further, aerobic exercise training was found to restore the cardiac protein quality control system, which was related to reduced misfolded protein accumulation.

Aerobic exercise training also improved cardiac function in heart failure animals, said the paper published in Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

More than 20 million persons worldwide are estimated to have heart failure and this situation will get worse since the prevalence of heart failure will rise as the mean age of the population increases, the researchers concluded.​

​New York, July 8 (IANS) If you find it hard to set aside time specifically for exercise, riding an electrically-powered bicycle on a regular basis can provide you with an effective workout while improving some aspects of cardiovascular health, suggests new research.

Electric-assist bicycles (pedelecs) are equipped with a built-in electric motor that provides modest assistance while the rider is actively pedalling, making it easier to cover greater distances and hilly terrain.

"Commuting with a pedelec can help individuals incorporate physical activity into their day without requiring them to set aside time specifically for exercise," said lead author of the study James Peterman at University of Colorado Boulder in the US.

Pedelecs have steadily grown more popular with consumers over the past decade, especially in Europe and Asia.

While an assist from an electric motor would get a rider disqualified from a competitive cycling competition such as the Tour de France, the researchers wanted to find out whether or not pedelecs could help physically inactive non-cyclists achieve recommended daily fitness levels.

To conduct the study, they recruited 20 non-exercising volunteers who were sedentary commuters (car commuters).

The researchers tested various aspects of their health, including blood glucose regulation and fitness.

The volunteers were then asked to substitute their sedentary commute for riding their pedelec at the speed and intensity of their choice for a minimum of 40 minutes three times per week while wearing a heart monitor and a GPS device.

After a month, the volunteers came back to the lab and had their health tested again. The researchers noticed improvements in the riders' cardiovascular health, including increased aerobic capacity and improved blood sugar control.

The findings were published online in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Pedelec bicycles are designed to provide motorised assistance up to speeds of 32 km per hour.

Above that speed, riders must provide all the pedalling power themselves. ​

London, July 5 (IANS) If you cannot resist pasta, go order another red-sauced one as contrary to popular belief, eating pasta does not add fat but actually help shed extra kilos.

According to researchers, eating pasta -- the fundamental component of Italian Mediterranean tradition -- can lead to a decrease in the body mass index (BMI) as well as decrease the likelihood of both general and abdominal obesity.

"Our data show that enjoying pasta according to individuals' needs contributes to a healthy body mass index, lower waist circumference and better waist-hip ratio," said lead author George Pounis from IRCCS Neuromed Institute in Italy.

Mediterranean diets have always been known as one of the healthiest nutritional regimes.

Hhowever, in recent years, pasta gained a bad reputation and was shunned from diets on the grounds that it leads to obesity.

"Mediterranean diet, consumed in moderation and respecting the variety of all its elements (pasta in the first place), is good to your health," added Licia Iacoviello from Neuromed Institute.

Pasta consumption is associated with better weight management in part because it often occurs as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet, said the paper published in the journal Nutrition and Diabetes.

For the study, the team examined over 23,000 people recruited in two large epidemiological studies.

"By analysing data of the participants and their eating habits, we have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight, rather the opposite," explained Pounis.​

​New York, July 6 (IANS) Replacing animal fats in your diet with a variety of liquid vegetable oils can help you live longer as researchers have confirmed that higher consumption of saturated and trans fats is linked with higher mortality.

In a large study population that included 126,233 participants who were followed for more than three decades, researchers found that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats conferred substantial health benefits.

The study suggests that replacing saturated fats like butter, lard, and fat in red meat with unsaturated fats from plant-based foods like olive oil, canola oil, and soybean oil can confer substantial health benefits.

"There has been widespread confusion in the biomedical community and the general public in the last couple of years about the health effects of specific types of fat in the diet," said Dong Wang, doctoral candidate at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and lead author of the study.

Trans fats had the most significant adverse impact on health. Every two per cent higher intake of trans fat was associated with a 16 per cent higher chance of premature death during the study period. Higher consumption of saturated fats was also linked with greater mortality risk.

Conversely, intake of high amounts of unsaturated fats, both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, was associated with between 11 per cent and 19 per cent lower overall mortality compared with the same number of calories from carbohydrates.

The study was published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The health effects of specific types of fats depended on what people were replacing them with, the researchers found.

People who replaced saturated fats with carbohydrates had only slightly lower mortality risk.

Among the polyunsaturated fats, both omega-6 -- found in most plant oils -- and omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and soy and canola oils, were associated with lower risk of premature death.

"Our study shows the importance of eliminating trans fat and replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fats, including both omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. In practice, this can be achieved by replacing animal fats with a variety of liquid vegetable oils," Frank Hu, Professor at Harvard Medical School, said.​

​New York, July 5 (IANS) Influencing kids to make the right food choice could be a lot easier for parents as researchers have found that children exposed to animated cartoon characters that take the shapes of healthy vegetables such as carrots or cucumber are more likely to eat salad on their own.

Marketing vegetables in school lunchrooms using the Super Sprowtz -- a team of fun-loving characters with super powers -- almost tripled the percentage of elementary school students choosing items from the salad bar,the findings showed.

"If we put the time and good resources into marketing healthy choices to kids, it can work," said lead researcher Andrew Hanks, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the US.

Further, such interventions were found to improve nutrition, behaviour as well as performance in school.

For the study, published in the journal Pediatrics, the team analysed the behaviour of children from 10 public elementary schools in urban New York State.

In some schools, they wrapped the bottom portion of the salad bar with a vinyl banner depicting the cartoon characters as super veggies.

In others, they played cartoon videos in the lunch room. And in others, they tried both tactics.

According to researchers, in schools with the salad bar banners, 24 per cent of kids took vegetables from the salad bars.

In those schools that had characters on the salad bar and video, the vegetable selection jumped from 10 per cent to almost 35 per cent.

"If we can encourage kids to take vegetables of their own accord, rather than have someone put it there for them, they're much more likely to eat them," Hanks noted.

No significant improvement was found in schools with videos alone.

However, the researchers said that it is unlikely such a technique would work with older students.

"It's important to be strategic. If you use these characters in a middle or high school I doubt they will have much of an impact," Hanks said adding, "our study is best generalised to an urban elementary school setting."​

​London, July 2 (IANS) Want to stop craving for mouth-watering desserts? No worries as eating a powdered food supplement -- based on a molecule produced by bacteria in the gut -- can reduce craving for high-calorie foods such as chocolates, cakes and pizzas.

Sscientists have developed an ingredient called inulin-propionate ester to investigate the role of propionate molecule produced by the gut microbiota in human health.

For the study, the team analysed 20 volunteers who consumed a milkshake that either contained inulin-propionate ester or a type of fibre called inulin.

After drinking milkshakes, the participants underwent an MRI scan where they were shown pictures of various low or high calorie foods such as salad, fish and vegetables or chocolate, cake and pizza.

The findings showed that when the volunteers drank the milkshake containing inulin-propionate ester, they had less activity in areas of their brain linked to reward -- but only when looking at the high-calorie foods.

"The study shows that this supplement can decrease activity in brain areas associated with food reward at the same time as reducing the amount of food they eat," said Gary Frost, professor at Imperial College London.

Further, the volunteers were found to rate the high-calorie foods as less appealing.

In another experiment, the volunteers were given a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and asked to eat as much as they like.

However, after drinking the inulin-propionate ester, the participants ate 10 per cent less pasta than when they drank the milkshake that contained inulin alone.

"This study shows that altering how the gut works can change not only appetite in general, but also change how the brain responds when they see high-calorie foods and how appealing they find the foods to be," noted another researcher Tony Goldstone from Imperial College London.

“Using inulin-propionate ester as a food ingredient may help prevent weight gain as it could reduce the urge to consume high calorie foods," suggested Claire Byrne from Imperial College London.

Some people's gut bacteria may naturally produce more propionate than others, which may be why some people seem more naturally predisposed to gain weight, said the paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.​

​New York, July 2 (IANS) Ever thought of a walking meeting at your office? Organise one this Monday as it will surely keep you and your colleagues (boss included), who spend most of their working hours sitting in chairs, healthy.

Converting just one seated meeting per week at work into a walking meeting increased the work-related physical activity levels of workers by 10 minutes, a study has shown.

"Interventions such as the walking meeting protocol that encourages walking and raises levels of physical activity in the workplace are needed to counter the negative health effects of sedentary behaviour," said lead investigator Alberto J Caban-Martinez, Assistant Professor at University of Miami in the US.

Nearly 30 minutes a day or 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity in adults is imperative for good health, according to recommendations by the American Heart Association.

"There are limited opportunities for physical activity at work. This study provides early evidence that white-collar workers find it feasible and acceptable to convert a traditional seated meeting into a walking meeting," Caban-Martinez added.

Previous studies have proven that engaging in moderate exercise, which includes brisk walking, for as little as 15 minutes per day can add up to three years of life expectancy.

The new research, published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, suggested that walking meetings has the potential to positively influence the health of many individuals, the researchers said.

In the study, the participants were recruited from the University of Miami and wore accelerometers to measure physical activity levels during the workday over a three-week period.

They also followed a "walking meeting protocol" that included guidance for leading meetings and taking notes while walking.

The average combined moderate/vigorous physical activity reported by participants increased from 107 minutes in the first week to 114 minutes in the second week and to 117 minutes in week three of the study.​

London, July 1 (IANS) Finding it difficult to complete a task? If so, speaking to yourself that "I can do better" can improve your performance, new research says.

The findings showed that people using self-talk, like telling oneself "I can do better next time" - performed better than the control group in every portion of the task.

The greatest improvements were seen in self-talk-outcome (telling yourself, "I can beat my best score"), self-talk-process (telling yourself, "I can react quicker this time"), imagery-outcome (imagining yourself playing the game and beating your best score) and imagery-process (imagining yourself playing and reacting quicker than last time).

The study, which examined if one motivational method would be more effective for any specific aspect of a task, tested over 44,000 people to discover which physiological skills would help people improve their scores in an online game.

The methods tested were self-talk, imagery and if-then planning. Each of these psychological skills was applied to one of four parts of a competitive task: process, outcome, arousal-control, and instruction.

If-then planning was found to be one of the least successful of this study, despite being an effective tool in weight management and other real life challenges.

Online interventions that focus on increasing motivation, increased arousal, effort invested, and pleasant emotions were the most effective, said Andrew M. Lane, Professor at University of Wolverhampton in Britain.

Further, watching a short motivational video was also found to improve performance, said the paper published in Frontiers in Psychology has found.​

​London, June 30 (IANS) Sleeping more or less than the average seven hours may increase the risk of developing diabetes in men, a new study warns.

The findings showed that men who slept the least and the most were more likely to have an impaired ability to process sugar compared to men who slept an average amount of about seven hours.

The men at either end of the spectrum had higher blood sugar levels than men who got the average amount of sleep.

Conversely, women who slept less or more than average were more responsive to the hormone insulin than women who slept the average amount.

They also had enhanced function of beta cells - the cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin.

This suggests lost sleep may not put women at increased risk of developing diabetes, the study said.

"In men, sleeping too much or too little was related to less responsiveness of the cells in the body to insulin, reducing glucose uptake and thus increasing the risk of developing diabetes in the future," said Femke Rutters from VU University in the Netherlands.

During the last 50 years, the average self-reported sleep duration for individuals has decreased by 1.5 to two hours.

The prevalence of diabetes has doubled in the same time period, the researchers noted.

"Even when you are healthy, sleeping too much or too little can have detrimental effects on your health," Rutters said adding, "this research shows how important sleep is to a key aspect of health - glucose metabolism."

The study, published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, is the first to show opposite effects of lost sleep on diabetes risk in men and women.

In the cross-sectional study, the team examined the sleep duration and diabetes risk factors in 788 healthy adults ranging in age from 30 to 60 years old.

The researchers observed sex-specific relationships between sleep duration and glucose metabolism in the participants.​