THE MEDICAL NEWS

In a study of 279 adults, researchers found that initially reinforcing existing food preferences reduced learning flexibility when associations between foods and outcomes changed. Participants learned positive associations more readily than negative ones, while associations involving disliked foods were more adaptable than those involving liked foods.

Researchers monitored 25 adults and 38 dogs and found no significant association between bedsharing and objectively measured human sleep duration or efficiency, although owners of multiple dogs reported poorer sleep quality in an analysis requiring cautious interpretation. Human and dog movements were positively correlated, with human activity more often preceding canine activity among pairs with…

In a non-randomized study of 40 adults with severe obesity awaiting bariatric surgery, researchers found significantly lower plasma noradrenaline levels in yoga participants than in controls after adjusting for baseline measurements. The researchers detected no significant DNA methylation changes in three inflammatory genes and found no clear psychological or metabolic benefits.

A longitudinal study of 21,797 Swedish twins found that heavy interactive screen use during adolescence was associated with more anxiety and depressive symptoms and a higher likelihood of subsequent clinical mental health outcomes. However, these associations weakened substantially when comparing twins with different screen habits, suggesting that shared genetic and environmental factors contribu…

Are people who have been blind for most of their lives better at hearing than sighted individuals? New in JNeurosci, Woon Ju Park, from Georgia Institute of Technology, and colleagues, broached this question by comparing tone detection and pitch discrimination in people with and without sight.

A new review in Genes & Diseases highlights Piezo channels as important biological links between mechanical forces and the cellular processes that shape the face, move teeth and influence oral health.

A new review in Genes & Diseases highlights FTO, an enzyme involved in RNA modification, as a potentially important biomarker and therapeutic target across gastrointestinal cancers.

A review published in Genes & Diseases highlights the prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype 4 (EP4) as an important regulator of inflammation and a promising therapeutic target for a wide range of inflammatory and inflammation-related diseases.