NEW YORK In the heavily male-dominated firefighting profession, female firefighters are more likely to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and contemplate suicide, say researchers. “Because women are such a small number of the population in each fire station, they have been somewhat overlooked when they are included in larger studiesRead More

London Your genetic makeup can significantly influence whether you will own a dog or not, a study suggests. Scientists studied the heritability of dog ownership using information on 35,035 twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that genetic variation explains moreRead More

LONDON: Exposure to environmental pollutants can cause alterations in brain development that affect sexual development and fertility for several generations, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Liege in Belgium monitored the sexual development of three generations of rats. Pregnant rats were exposed to a mixture of commonRead More

WASHINGTON Magnetic stimulation of the brain improves working memory, according to a study that may lead to a new therapy for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The study, published in the journal PLoS One, found that healthy younger and older adults who received repetitive transcranialRead More

LONDON: A common class of antibiotics—used to treat respiratory and urinary tract infections—may increase a patient’s risk of suffering a serious and potentially permanent form of nerve damage by almost 50 per cent. Scientists from the University of Dundee in the UK looked at a database of 1.3 million adultsRead More

LONDON Dietary fats can enter the brain through the bloodstream, and cause alterations that could lead to depression, according to a study that may pave the way for new therapies to treat the disorder. The team also found that by decreasing the expression of a specific enzyme called phosphodiesterase, symptomsRead More

Sydney A food additive which is commonly used as a whitening agent in products such as chewing gum and mayonnaise could lead to inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer, warns a study. The study conducted in mice investigated health impacts of food additive E171 (titanium dioxide nanoparticles) which is commonlyRead More

WASHINGTON Scientists have developed an electronic tongue that can ‘taste’ spicy foods more accurately than humans. Spicy food wears out taste buds quickly. This can be a problem for people who make and sell spicy food. “At low concentrations, or low spiciness, it’s hard to discriminate between two samples,” saidRead More

MELBOURNE Drinking six or more cups of coffee a day can be harmful to your health, increasing the risk of heart disease by up to 22 per cent, a study claims. A morning coffee is essential for many people looking to kick-start their day. While the humble coffee may beRead More

MELBOURNE Over 1.5 crore people will need chemotherapy globally each year by 2040, a new study has said, suggesting that around one lakh cancer physicians will be required to treat the growing number of cancer patients mostly in low and middle-income countries. The study published recently in the prestigious theRead More