Eisenberg MJ, Afilalo J, Lawler PR, Abrahamowicz M, Richard H, Pilote L.

Abstract
Background Patients exposed to low-dose ionizing radiation from cardiac imaging and therapeutic procedures after acute myocardial infarction may be at increased risk of cancer.

Methods Using an administrative database, we selected a cohort of patients who had an acute myocardial infarction between April 1996 and March 2006 and no history of cancer. We documented all cardiac imaging and therapeutic procedures involving low-dose ionizing radiation. The primary outcome was risk of cancer. Statistical analyses were performed using a time-dependent Cox model adjusted for age, sex and exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation from noncardiac imaging to account for work-up of cancer.

Results Of the 82 861 patients included in the cohort, 77% underwent at least one cardiac imaging or therapeutic procedure involving low-dose ionizing radiation in the first year after acute myocardial infarction. The cumulative exposure to radiation from cardiac procedures was 5.3 milli Sieverts (mSv) per patient-year, of which 84% occurred during the first year after acute myocardial infarction. A total of 12 020 incident cancers were diagnosed during the follow-up period. There was a dose-dependent relation between exposure to radiation from cardiac procedures and subsequent risk of cancer. For every 10 mSv of low-dose ionizing radiation, there was a 3% increase in the risk of age- and sex-adjusted cancer over a mean follow-up period of five years (hazard ratio 1.003 per milliSievert, 95% confidence interval 1.002-1.004).

Interpretation Exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation from cardiac imaging and therapeutic procedures after acute myocardial infarction is associated with an increased risk of cancer.

PMID: 21324846 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]Free Article

Mancini F, Longo MR, Kammers MP, Haggard P.

1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London.

Abstract
Pain is a complex subjective experience that is shaped by numerous contextual factors. For example, simply viewing the body reduces the reported intensity of acute physical pain. In this study, we investigated whether this visually induced analgesia is modulated by the visual size of the stimulated body part. We measured contact heat-pain thresholds while participants viewed either their own hand or a neutral object in three size conditions: reduced, actual size, or enlarged. Vision of the body was analgesic, increasing heat-pain thresholds by an average of 3.2 °C. We further found that visual enlargement of the viewed hand enhanced analgesia, whereas visual reduction of the hand decreased analgesia. These results demonstrate that pain perception depends on multisensory representations of the body and that visual distortions of body size modulate sensory components of pain.

PMID: 21303990 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Whitchurch ER, Wilson TD, Gilbert DT.

1University of Virginia.

Abstract
This research qualifies a social psychological truism: that people like others who like them (the reciprocity principle). College women viewed the Facebook profiles of four male students who had previously seen their profiles. They were told that the men (a) liked them a lot, (b) liked them only an average amount, or (c) liked them either a lot or an average amount (uncertain condition). Comparison of the first two conditions yielded results consistent with the reciprocity principle. Participants were more attracted to men who liked them a lot than to men who liked them an average amount. Results for the uncertain condition, however, were consistent with research on the pleasures of uncertainty. Participants in the uncertain condition were most attracted to the men-even more attracted than were participants who were told that the men liked them a lot. Uncertain participants reported thinking about the men the most, and this increased their attraction toward the men.

PMID: 21169522 [PubMed - in process]

Ball K, Edwards JD, Ross LA, McGwin G Jr.

Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To test the effects of cognitive training on subsequent motor vehicle collision (MVC) involvement of older drivers.

DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, multisite, single-blind clinical trial.

SETTING: Community-dwelling seniors at four U.S. sites: Birmingham, Alabama; Baltimore, Maryland; Indianapolis, Indiana; and State College, Pennsylvania.

PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred eight older drivers (mean age 73.1; 18.6% African American) who were randomized to one of three cognitive interventions or a control condition.

INTERVENTIONS: Up to 10 sessions of cognitive training for memory, reasoning, or speed of processing.

MEASUREMENTS: State-recorded MVC involvement up to 6 years after study enrollment.

RESULTS: Speed-of-processing and reasoning training resulted in lower rates of at-fault collision involvement over the subsequent approximately 6-year period than controls. After adjusting for age, sex, race, education, mental status, health, vision, depressive symptoms, and testing site, participants randomized to the speed-of-processing and reasoning interventions had an approximately 50% lower rate (per person-mile) of at-fault MVCs than the control group (rate ratio (RR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.34-0.96 for speed of processing), and (RR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.27-0.92 for reasoning). There was no significant difference observed for the memory group.

CONCLUSION: Cognitive speed-of-processing and reasoning training resulted in a lower at-fault MVC rate in older drivers than in controls. Considering the importance of driving mobility, the costs of crashes, and the benefits of cognitive training, these interventions have great potential to sustain independence and quality of life of older adults. More research is needed to understand the effects of different types and quantities of training.

© 2010, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2010, The American Geriatrics Society.
PMID: 21054291 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Volkow ND, Tomasi D, Wang GJ, Vaska P, Fowler JS, Telang F, Alexoff D, Logan J, Wong C.

National Institute on Drug Abuse, 6001 Executive Blvd, Room 5274, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. nvolkow@nida.nih.gov

Abstract

CONTEXT: The dramatic increase in use of cellular telephones has generated concern about possible negative effects of radiofrequency signals delivered to the brain. However, whether acute cell phone exposure affects the human brain is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if acute cell phone exposure affects brain glucose metabolism, a marker of brain activity.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized crossover study conducted between January 1 and December 31, 2009, at a single US laboratory among 47 healthy participants recruited from the community. Cell phones were placed on the left and right ears and positron emission tomography with ((18)F)fluorodeoxyglucose injection was used to measure brain glucose metabolism twice, once with the right cell phone activated (sound muted) for 50 minutes (“on” condition) and once with both cell phones deactivated (“off” condition). Statistical parametric mapping was used to compare metabolism between on and off conditions using paired t tests, and Pearson linear correlations were used to verify the association of metabolism and estimated amplitude of radiofrequency-modulated electromagnetic waves emitted by the cell phone. Clusters with at least 1000 voxels (volume >8 cm(3)) and P < .05 (corrected for multiple comparisons) were considered significant.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Brain glucose metabolism computed as absolute metabolism (µmol/100 g per minute) and as normalized metabolism (region/whole brain).

RESULTS: Whole-brain metabolism did not differ between on and off conditions. In contrast, metabolism in the region closest to the antenna (orbitofrontal cortex and temporal pole) was significantly higher for on than off conditions (35.7 vs 33.3 µmol/100 g per minute; mean difference, 2.4 [95% confidence interval, 0.67-4.2]; P = .004). The increases were significantly correlated with the estimated electromagnetic field amplitudes both for absolute metabolism (R = 0.95, P < .001) and normalized metabolism (R = 0.89; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: In healthy participants and compared with no exposure, 50-minute cell phone exposure was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the antenna. This finding is of unknown clinical significance.

PMID: 21343580 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]