Cutting Cigarette Scenes From TV Shows May Have Helped Reduce Smoking

Scenes of cigarette use have become less common on prime-time television shows, and it may be linked to reduced smoking rates in the United States, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia looked at cigarette use depicted in more than 1,800 hours of popular U.S. prime-time dramas broadcast between 1955 and 2010. They also looked at smoking rates among adults during that period.

Scenes involving cigarette use on such shows fell from nearly five scenes per hour of programming (excluding commercials) in 1961 to about 0.3 scenes per hour in 2010, according to the study published online April 3 in the journal Tobacco Control.

Insomnia May Raise Stroke Risk, Especially for Younger Adults

By Dennis Thompson
People plagued with insomnia might have an increased risk of stroke, particularly if they are young adults, a new, large study from Taiwan suggests.

Over the course of four years, researchers found that insomnia seemed to raise the likelihood that a person will be hospitalized due to stroke by 54 percent.
That risk skyrocketed for people between the ages of 18 and 34, who were eight times more likely to suffer strokes if they had insomnia when compared to their peers who got good sleep, the study found.

Online course: DNA - From Structure to Therapy

Join this free online course on DNA-From Structure to therapy

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A course by Dr. rer. nat. habil. Susanne Illenberger and Prof. DPhil. Sebastian Springer

Jacobs University Bremen

Course description:

This course explains one of the key molecules in life: DNA, which stores the genetic information in all living cells. The sequence of its building blocks defines both individual identity and species diversity. Changes in DNA can lead to cancer and other diseases. DNA-based technology is now used to detect and treat diseases.

2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Nobel prize winners for 2013

Martin Karplus, photo © Harvard University. Michael Levitt, photo: S. Fisch. Arieh Warshel, photo: Wikimedia Commons

Dementia in Mid-life

Mid-life stress 'precedes dementia'

The study only looked at women, not men.

Mid-life stress may increase a woman's risk of developing dementia, according to researchers.

In a study of 800 Swedish women, those who had to cope with events such as divorce or bereavement were more likely to get Alzheimer's decades later.

The more stressful events there were, the higher the dementia risk became, BMJ Open reports.