Discoveries

PSYCHOLOGY

Worry beads block formation of bad memories

In many cultures, people repetitively finger strands of beads to help them deal with their worries. Now British researchers may have figured out why this kind of distraction works. A report by Emily Holmes of University College London and her colleagues in the March issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General suggests that performing a "visuospatial pattern task" during a trauma may help curb flashbacks of the disturbing event. The researchers had volunteers perform various tasks as they watched a graphic film of real-life car crashes replete with screaming victims and severed body parts. In one experiment, some volunteers tapped out a repetitive pattern on a keyboard while watching the film, while others simply watched. The viewers who tapped suffered fewer intrusive memories of the film in the following week compared to the other volunteers, researchers said. Holmes said she believes the same types of memory may be used to process both the keyboard tapping and the traumatic images of the film, so performing a pattern task during a trauma may reduce the retention of that memory, leading to fewer flashbacks.
AGNIESZKA BISKUP

ASTRONOMY

Very Large Telescope finds faraway galaxy

It appears that astronomers are in a hot race to discover the most distant galaxy in the universe. Just a few weeks ago, astronomers using the Hubble and Keck telescopes announced a record-holder -- a galaxy 13 billion light-years away. Now a team of Swiss and French astronomers report in the European research journal Astronomy and Astrophysics that they have smashed that distance record. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, the researchers have discovered a galaxy they have named Abell 1835 IR1916, which is located 13.23 billion light-years away. The primeval galaxy is being seen at a time only 470 million years after the big bang, when the universe was barely 3 percent of its current age. The researchers hope the find will tell them more about how galaxies formed.
AGNIESZKA BISKUP<

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Many carry virus that helps slow pace of AIDS

A harmless virus common in the general population delays the development of AIDS, and could help researchers find new treatments for the epidemic, according to a study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The benign virus can persist in the body for years and appears to interfere with HIV, the AIDS virus that affects 40 million people worldwide and has killed another 30 million. Both HIV and the benign virus, known as GBV-C, infect the same types of cells. Jack Stapleton of the University of Iowa and his colleagues found that HIV-infected men who were no longer infected with GBV-C after five to six years died nearly three times faster than men who continued to show signs of the infection. Once the GBV-C virus was gone, the AIDS virus seemed to attack with renewed vigor.
REUTERS

STROKE

Clot-busters boost recovery rates

Clot-busting drugs help the most when given within 90 minutes of a stroke, according to a study in last week's Lancet medical journal. As few as 2 percent of eligible stroke patients in the United States get clot-dissolving treatments within three hours of a stroke, according to an analysis of 2,775 stroke patients. The odds of permanent damage rise with the minutes that pass before treatment; treatment within 90 minutes boosted a patient's chance of recovery nearly threefold within three months, compared with placebos, the study found. Strokes happen when a clot or blood-vessel rupture interrupts blood flow to the brain, according to the National Stroke Association. Stroke is the second-biggest killer worldwide, yet treatment lags the response to heart attacks. "If someone falls over because of a heart attack, you don't start CPR eight hours later," lead researcher John Marler said in an interview. Another study in the Lancet found that taking cholesterol-lowering statins cut a patient's risk of stroke by a third, even for those who didn't have high cholesterol levels.
BLOOMBERG

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Drug combination works to relieve pain

Two drugs are better than one in relieving the pain, swelling and joint destruction of rheumatoid arthritis, Swedish doctors reported late last month in the journal Lancet. Although methotrexate and etanercept (sold under the brand name Enbrel) are each effective in treating the chronic joint disease, which affects 1 percent of people worldwide, combining them produces better results. "The combination gives a good effect on joint destruction measured by X-ray. There was not only a halt of progression in the destruction in most patients but also signs of repair," Dr. Lars Klareskog of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said in an interview. The combination therapy did not produce any more side-effects in 686 arthritis patients than the single drug. Klareskog stressed the importance of beginning treatment early with a traditional drug such as methotrexate.

REUTERS

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