Life

In brief

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-22 08:05

Brain scans predict literacy among dyslexics

Sophisticated brain scans accurately predicted which teens with dyslexia would learn to read within three years, a finding that could lead to better ways to treat the common learning disability, researchers say.

By looking for a specific pattern of brain activity in teens with dyslexia, the researchers predicted with 90 percent accuracy which students would learn to read.

"This gives us hope that we can identify which children might get better over time," Dr Fumiko Hoeft of Stanford University School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a statement.

"More study is needed before the technique is clinically useful, but this is a huge step forward."

Dyslexia is a brain-based learning disability. People with dyslexia have difficulties with reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words.

About one-fifth of people with severe dyslexia learn to read. Hoeft and colleagues wanted to see what was occurring in the brain in these students.

Alan Guttmacher, director the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, says the finding gives insight into how certain people with dyslexia compensate for reading problems.

Nervous? Stop to eat the passionflowers

The passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) has been named Medicinal Plant of the Year 2011 by a University of Wuerzburg study group on the historical development of medicinal plants.

The Germany-based group noted its extracts helped relieve nervous restlessness, mild insomnia and gastrointestinal complaints related to nervousness, adding that trials had also shown it to be effective in easing anxiety.

Unlike many psychotropic drugs, passionflower has no muscle-relaxing effects, which makes it a good general sedative that can be taken during the day.

The group says that the most potent extracts from the plant are from its leaves. Although scientists are not sure what substances are responsible, the main effect is thought to come from chains of molecules called flavonoids that calm and lower anxiety by inhibiting certain neurotransmitters.

Passionflower is native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. More than 400 species are known, many of which have edible fruits. Only the maracuya of the Passiflora edulis has commercial significance, however, the study group says.

Sex addicts less secure about relationships

Sex addicts feel threatened by intimacy and are more insecure about romantic relationships than the rest of the population, a New Zealand study has found.

The survey of more than 600 people found those who indulged in compulsive sexual behavior felt anxious and insecure about relationships and tried to avoid becoming too emotionally attached to others.

The study was conducted by psychology honors student Karen Faislander under the supervision of a practicing clinical psychologist and an academic specialist.

Faislander says sex addiction, which made headlines this year with revelations about Tiger Woods' love life, was a complex condition that had not been researched as thoroughly as such areas as substance abuse and depression.

"It's widely misunderstood and stigmatized," Faislander says. "There's no known effective treatment. We don't know what causes it or how we treat it."

Because of the embarrassment people feel discussing the subject, Faislander's study used an anonymous online survey to quiz 621 people about their sex lives. Among the respondents, 407 identified themselves as sex addicts, while 214 did not.