Massive Genetic Study Reveals Link Between Genes, Anxiety

One of the most useful findings from the study was an association between anxiety and a gene named MAD1L1, which in previous studies has indicated vulnerability to several other psychiatric conditions, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. "It keeps coming up over and over again," said Daniel Levey, a co-author on the anxiety research. In other public health news: suicides, snake bites, pelvic exams, body temperature, and more.

CNN: A Genetic Study Of 200,000 Veterans With Anxiety Points Toward Potential New Avenues For Treatment

A massive genetic study in nearly 200,000 veterans with anxiety is providing new insights into how and why people may be pre-disposed to anxiety issues. The genome-wide association study was the "largest ever study" looking into genes that could be associated with anxiety, according to Daniel Levey, a postdoctorate associate at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study. (Prior, 1/9)

The Washington Post: Workplace Suicides Have Risen To Record High, With More People Killing Themselves At Work Than Ever Before

America’s climbing suicide rate has become a problem for businesses, too. Buried in a report last month by the Bureau of Labor of Statistics on occupational fatalities was this tragic fact: More people are killing themselves in the workplace than ever before. The number of such suicides for 2018 was 304 — an 11 percent increase from the year before and the highest number since the bureau began tracking the data 26 years ago. (Wan, 1/9)

The New York Times: When The Cobra Bites, You’ll Be Glad Someone Sequenced Its Genome

Scientists have sequenced the genome of one of the deadliest snakes in the world, the Indian cobra, and have taken a big step toward developing new and better treatments for their bites. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that thousands of people are bitten by snakes in the United States every year, few die from snake venom. But worldwide, snakebites lead to more than 400,000 amputations and 100,000 deaths a year. (Bakalar, 1/9)

NPR: Too Many Teen Girls Are Given Pap Tests And Pelvic Exams, Research Finds

An estimated 1.4 million adolescent girls and young women in the U.S. might have received an unnecessary pelvic exam between 2011 and 2017, according to a new study. And an estimated 1.6 million might have received an unnecessary Pap test. The authors of the study, which was published this week in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, say the overuse of these procedures — which can cause false-positives and anxiety — led to an estimated $123 million annually in needless expenses in 2014 alone. (Vaughn, 1/9)

The New York Times: Body Temperature 2.0: Do We Need To Rethink What’s Normal?

We seem to be getting cooler. Since 1851, when the standard was set at 37 degrees centigrade, or 98.6 Fahrenheit, the average human body temperature has steadily declined. Researchers studied three databases: 23,710 readings obtained between 1862 and 1930 in veterans of the Civil War; 15,301 records in a national health survey from 1971 to 1975; and 150,280 entries in a Stanford University database from 2007 to 2017. The analysis is in eLife. (Bakalar, 1/9)

Reuters: Feces-Smeared Fakes: Scientists Use Rubber Hands In OCD Therapy

A new type of therapy using feces and fake rubber hands may be able to help patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) overcome their fears of touching contaminated surfaces, according to new research. "OCD can be an extremely debilitating condition for many people, but the treatments are not always straightforward," said Baland Jalal, a Cambridge University neuroscientist who was part of a team assessing if rubber hands could be a potential new type of exposure therapy. (1/9)

CNN: Lose Fat In Your Tongue To Improve Sleep Apnea, Study Says

Have you ever asked yourself: Do I have a fat tongue? It's not a idle query. If you are one of the one billion people globally who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, having a fat tongue could be a key reason you snore, choke, gasp or stop breathing periodically during the night, ruining your sleep and potentially your health. (LaMotte, 1/10)

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