Neat News - Neat things do happen

The Nutri-Score system was introduced by France and is recommended by the European Commission and the World Health Organization to communicate in an easy way how healthy a particular food item is. A new study with more than 300,000 participants finds now that participants consuming more food with less favourable Nutri-Score have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke, demonstrating that the Nutri-Score system is meaningful.

related: #Nutri_Score #cardiovascular_disease

Using the built-in sensors of a standard smartphone (in particular the accelerometer) and the arm length as well as some movement of the arm and thumb it is possible to measure the blood pressure with an error of less than 8 mmHg. This allows people without access to traditional blood pressure devices to monitor their blood pressure, which is important in the light of millions of deaths per year due to high blood pressure.

related: #blood_pressure #smartphone

New research confirms that older people can slow down their cognitive decline and improve their memory by mental activities such as word games.

related: #cognition #mental_activity

Learning is a key activity and also important in order to stay mentally sharp. New research confirms that diversity in learning leads to better, more robust results (but takes longer). This is true for a range of tasks such practising the piano (practice hungry, tired, angry, happy, different pianos, ...) or hitting objects by a ball; and has been studied now in older adults.

related: #learning #variety

Studying medical records, new research found a statistically significant link between light pollution at night during sleep and the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, in particular for people under 65. In other words, blackout curtains can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's.

related: #Alzheimer #sleep #dark

About 100,000 people suffer from Leber congenital amaurosis due to a mutation in the so-called GUCY2D gene (LCA1). This results in a significant amount of vision loss or even blindness. Now in a small trial of 15 patients a gene therapy has been attempted, their vision was 100 times better after the treatment, two of nine who received the highest dose even had a 10,000 fold improvement.

related: #eye #sight #gene_therapy

While travel is linked to some health risks, new research points in the direction that travel has also positive effects and can even slow down ageing by stimulating the self-defence system of the body.

related: #travel #ageing

Type 2 diabetes patients who take a particular diabetes drug, a so-called SGLT-2 inhibitor, have a 35 percent lower risk to develop dementia than other diabetes patients. Further research is needed to understand the reasons.

related: #diabetes #dementia

The human brain loses plasticity in adulthood and learning becomes much harder for an adult than it is for a child. This is also true for zebra finches, which learn their songs in the first 90 days of their lives. Now researchers managed to switch off inhibitory neurons in adult zebra finches and they started to add new elements to their songs, an expansion of their repertoire, previously not observed. The research may have impacts on human learning. More research, in particular of possible side effects, is necessary.

related: #learning #age #brain #plasticity

Many people have a daily routine that does not give them enough daily sleep with potentially negative consequences for their health. Now new research finds that so-called catch-up sleep on weekends can reduce the risk of developing a heart disease by up to 20 percent.

related: #sleep #health

Paper is a material widely used and has many advantages as packaging material, for instance. Its usage is increasing. In order to save trees a lot of paper is recycled. Now also a method has been developed in which paper is made not from wood, but form leaves.

related: #paper #leaves