A single brief therapy session for adults with a lifelong debilitating spider phobia resulted in lasting changes to the brain's response to fear. The therapy was so successful, the adults were able to touch or hold a tarantula in their bare hands six months after the treatment, reports a new ...

NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for rare gastrointestinal and endocrine disorders, today reported the presentation of data at the Digestive Disease Week (DDW) meeting held May 19-22 in San Diego.

Laser technology uses light. Light can be rapidly and precisely deflected, shaped and focused. If we pulse laser light and reduce pulse duration more and more, the laser tool works even more precisely. A benefit: The material being processed heats up less and less. High-power, ultra-short pulses, then, are the ...

(Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) The shorter the pulse duration, the more precisely the laser tool operates. Ultra-short laser pulses of outstanding high average power are opening the doors to new applications in high throughput materials processing. Thanks to the short pulse duration, thermal damage of the material being processed is minimized.

The naked mole rat, a curiously strange, hairless rodent, lives many years longer than any other mouse or rat. Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio's Barshop Institute of Longevity and Aging Studies continue to explore this mystery.

Owners of certain popular “short-nosed” dog breeds, including Pugs, Bulldogs, Pekingese and French Bulldogs, are unknowingly putting their pets’ welfare at risk and not seeking essential treatment because they consider their pets’ signs of breathing difficulties to be ‘normal’ for that breed – so reveals a new study from the ...

(Penn State) Americans spend, on average, only about two hours each week participating in sports and fitness activities, according to researchers at Penn State and the University of Maryland who examined US government data from the American Time Use Study.

Around 80% to 90% of school-leavers in major East Asian cities like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea suffer from myopia or short-sightedness. This represents an enormous burden of disease that will lead to further problems in the future, as 10 to 20% of those affected suffer ...

The April issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery reports that patients who undergo chemoradiation therapy (CRT), who perform specific swallowing exercises after their CRT, experience a short-term improvement in swallowing. The study also reveals that after nine or twelve months of treatment, there was no substantial ...

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the author of the House GOP budget plan which revamps Medicare, helped Romney in Wisconsin. In other campaign news, Romney renews attack on health law to woo conservative leaders.

Alcoholism can disrupt memory functioning well before incurring the profound amnesia of Korsakoff's syndrome. For example, associative memory - used in remembering face-name associations - can be impaired in alcoholics. A study of the cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying this deficit, through testing of associative memory performance and processing in ...

CHICAGO Among patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for head and neck cancer, performing targeted swallowing exercises following CRT is associated with short-term improvement in swallowing function; however, there were no significant differences in swallowing function between the intervention group and controls at nine or 12 months following treatment, according ...