Virtual Reality Room to Treat Psychological Disorders
A $6 million virtual reality "immersive room" that's been constructed in a cyberpsychology lab in Canada will be used to treat patients with everything from air-travel phobias to gambling addictions to eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The innovative, high-tech psychotherapeutic tool is presided over by Stéphane Bouchard, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology and is co-founder of the cyberpsychology lab at the Université du Québec en Outaouais in Gatineau, Quebec. Bouchard's virtual reality room is the only one of the 10 in the world devoted exclusively to clinical psychology.
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The Thyroid
The thyroid gland lies in front of the neck and has two lobes connected by an isthmus. It is an endocrine organ whose responsibility is to secrete a hormone that controls the body's growth and metabolism.
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OBESITY AND DIABETES RISK
Scientists have been warning that diabetes will be the next medical crisis in this country. Now – a new study may give us a better warning of who its next victims will be, showing that diabetes, particularly Type 2 diabetes and obesity may be linked.
For years, doctors have been weighing patients, and then determining their likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes. They did so by calculating their “body mass index”—a ratio of their weight to their height.
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Valentine's Chocolate Heart Benefits
Recently there has been considerable focus on the health benefits of chocolate, pointing out that chocolate contains substances that can help prevent various diseases. There is a small but growing body of evidence that flavanols in chocolate might be responsible for the health benefits of chocolate on the cardiovascular system.
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WHOLE GRAINS
One of the new food guide recommendations released Wednesday by the USDA says we suggests an increased intake of whole grain foods. This has those in the grain industry celebrating, and rolling out new products almost immediately.
“I don’t like the refined flours,” says Cassandra as she shops. She goes out of her way to buy whole grain breads. But even she says it’s confusing. “I can never really tell. I just make sure that it says 100% whole grain wheat.”
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WEIGHT LOSS RETAINER
Tina Quinn savors every moment playing outside with her dogs. Most days, she’s held prisoner to her car. As a salesperson she spends most of her time traveling nonstop from client to client, making it unfeasible for her to stick to any sustained weight loss program.
“It’s very hard to have a staple diet in the car, when you are traveling. Most often I just grab a McDonald’s meal,” says Tina.
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M.S. AND ALZHEIMER’S DRUG
Taking a drug used for Alzheimer’s disease may help deal with the memory loss experienced by people with multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the medical journal Neurology.
The finding could help the large percentage, nearly fifty percent of MS patients, who suffer from cognitive problems.
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LACK OF SLEEP AND HUNGER
“I really found that one effect of sleep deprivation was that my appetite grew. I was so hungry I wanted to eat my pillow,” says Matthew Tierney.
Matthew Tierney participated in a study conducted by the University of Chicago which put sleep deprivation and the effects of sleep deprivation on appetite to the test.
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SHAPING AMERICAN YOUTH
While it’s just kid stuff, playtime is one of the keys to keeping in check the problem of child obesity in America.
Today, the U.S. Surgeon General announced a new nationwide action plan to address the problem of overweight and obese children in America today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overweight children more than doubled between 1980 and 2000. One in every seven kids is obese.
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MEDITERRANIAN DIET
Can a simple diet actually cut a person’s chances of dying by more than half?
New research shows the Mediterranean diet, a diet popular in Europe, can dramatically lower mortality risk in individuals over the age of 70, and probably has the same benefit in those younger than that.
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