Washington, Oct 28 : Electrically stimulating the brain with a non-invasive technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can improve a person’s skill at handling delicate tasks.

According to the Drs. Gottfried Schlaug and Bradley Vines from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, tDCS could improve the use of a person''s non-dominant hand. 

In tDCS, electrodes are attached to the scalp and a weak direct current is passed the scalp and skull to alter the excitability of the underlying brain tissue. 

The treatment has two principal modes depending on the direction in which the current runs between the two electrodes. Brain tissue that underlies the positive electrode 

Washington. Oct 28 : A breakthrough study has found that by wearing masks and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, people can successfully avert the spread of flu symptoms by as much as 50 percent.

The study by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, is the first-of-its-kind to deal with the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions in controlling the spread of the flu virus in communities

In the study, the researchers studied more than 1,000 student subjects from seven U-M residence halls during last year''s flu season. 

Washington, October 28 : Scientists have found that a treatment with Valproic Acid (VPA) in the early stages of Alzheimer''s disease can reverse memory deficit.

Lead researcher Weihong Song, the Jack Brown and Family Professor and Chair in Alzheimer''s Disease at UBC, has found that VPA works by inhibiting the activity of an enzyme that produces a neurotoxic protein called beta Amyloid, in turn discontinuing plaque formation.

Writing about the new findings in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the research team highlighted the fact that amyloid beta-proteins are the central component of neurotoxic plaques in AD. 

Washington, Oct 28 : Planning for a romantic dinner with the man of your dreams? Well, don’t forget to wear something in red, for the colour will sure make him drool all over you, according to a new study.

In their study, Professor Andrew Elliot and Dr Daniela Niesta of the University of Rochester, New York, have said that men find women in red more sexually attractive, confirming it really is the colour of romance.

Elliot claimed that men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other colour.

The researchers also speculated that the attraction towards red could be an evolutionary trait too.

Washington, Oct 28 : Pregnant women consuming flaxseed oil are four times more likely to have premature baby births, according to a new study.

Led by University of Montreal researchers, the study has found that the risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of pregnancy.

A majority of pregnant women prefer to use natural health products during the pregnancy.

The most consumed natural health products by pregnant women are chamomile, green tea, peppered mint and flaxseed oil. 

Washington, Oct 28 (ANI): A new study has found that a diet rich in whole grains can significantly reduce heart failure risk, while egg and high-fat dairy 

consumption can increase it. 

Diet is among the prominent lifestyle factors that influence major HF risk factors: coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance and 

hypertension.

The researchers analysed the results of baseline exams of more than 14,000 White and African American adults conducted in 1987-89, with follow-up exams 

completed during 1990-92, 1993-95, and 1996-98.