Category: Health

{Research detects arterial stiffness, or hardening of the arteries, that may put youth on the path to cardiovascular disease}

Findings of a new study being presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco suggest adolescents who consume too much salt have measurable changes in their blood vessels associated with early signs of cardiovascular disease in adults.

Arterial stiffness, sometimes called hardening of the arteries, is a known risk factor for heart attack and stroke in adults. Monitors placed on the skin near major arteries in the arm, neck and groin can detect this condition, which indicates increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Recent studies have found increased arterial stiffness in youth with risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Researchers presenting the abstract, “Effect of Dietary Sodium Consumption on Arterial Stiffness in Youth,” on Monday, May 8, in the Moscone West Convention Center examined whether too much salt in the diet of teens and adolescents similarly affects their artery walls.

The National Institutes of Health-funded study involved 775 participants recruited from an Ohio children’s hospital who were measured for the elasticity or distensibility of their brachial artery (BrachD), located in the upper arm. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was also measured for differences in the speed that blood traveled between their carotid artery in the neck and femoral artery in the groin. The amount of sodium they consumed was measured with self-reported, 3-day diet records.

Elaine M. Urbina, MD, MS, Director of Preventive Cardiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and lead author of the study, said the results showed that higher average daily sodium intake was associated with lower BrachD and higher PWV after adjusting for age, race, sex, body-mass index and other blood electrolyte levels that could affect readings.

“Together, these two readings indicated higher levels of stiffness in both peripheral arteries in the extremities, as well as in central arteries, tied to higher sodium consumption,” Urbina said.

“It’s clear that adolescents and young adults have higher-than-recommended amounts of salt in their diet. Our study suggests this may translate into changes in the body that put them at higher risk for future heart attack and stroke.”

Source:Science Daily

{Research highlights importance of discussing concerns with patients to avoid treatment delays}

New research being presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting suggests online health information can influence whether parents trust a diagnosis made by their child’s doctor, potentially leading to delayed treatment.

The study abstract, “Paging Dr. Google: The Effects of Online Health Information on Parental Trust in Pediatrician’ Medical Diagnoses,” will be presented at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

Using the Mechanical Turk online research platform, researchers recruited 1,374 parent participants who were presented with a vignette of a child who “has had a rash and worsening fever for 3 days.” The participants, who averaged 34 years of age and had at least one child under age 18, were then divided into groups.

In the first group, participants received screen shots of internet information describing some symptoms of scarlet fever, an infectious disease linked to Strep throat that causes rash and fever. Unless treated with antibiotics, scarlet fever can develop into rheumatic fever and, in some cases, lead to heart damage.

The second group of participants received screen shots listing select symptoms of Kawasaki disease, a condition in which blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. It also is accompanied by fever and rash. Prompt treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs is needed to help prevent life-threatening complications such as aneurisms.

A third set of parents, the control group, received no internet screen shots. All participants then read that the doctor had diagnosed the child with scarlet fever. Compared to the control group, in which 81.0 percent of parents reported trusting the physician, 90.5 percent of parents who had received scarlet fever symptom screen shots reported trusting the physician. Furthermore, fewer parents in the scarlet fever cohort answered that they were likely to seek a second opinion (21.4 percent), compared to the control group (42.0 percent).

Conversely, only 61.3 percent of participants who had viewed the screen shots listing rash and fever as symptoms of Kawasaki disease reported trusting the doctors’ diagnosis, and 64.2 percent reported that they were likely to seek a second opinion.

Lead author Ruth Milanaik, DO, FAAP, an associate professor at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, said that although there are many advantages of having easily accessible medical information available on the internet, the study’s findings show that “internet-driven interpretation of symptoms” can compromise trust between a doctor and patient.

“The internet is a powerful information tool, but it is limited by its inability to reason and think,” Dr. Milanaik said. “Simply entering a collection of symptoms in a search engine may not reflect the actual medical situation at hand. These computer-generated diagnoses may mislead patients or parents and cause them to question their doctors’ medical abilities and seek a second opinion, thereby delaying treatment.”

Pediatricians should encourage parents to share all concerns they have, Dr. Milanaik said, so they lead them through the differential diagnosis process, and why others diagnoses were ruled out.

“Parents who still have doubts should absolutely seek a second opinion,” she said. “But they shouldn’t be afraid to discuss the result of internet information with the physician.”

Source:Science Daily

{Genes that are mostly active in one sex or the other may play a crucial role in our evolution, health}

Men and women differ in obvious and less obvious ways — for example, in the prevalence of certain diseases or reactions to drugs. How are these connected to one’s sex? Weizmann Institute of Science researchers recently uncovered thousands of human genes that are expressed — copied out to make proteins — differently in the two sexes. Their findings showed that harmful mutations in these particular genes tend to accumulate in the population in relatively high frequencies, and the study explains why. The detailed map of these genes, reported in BMC Biology, provides evidence that males and females undergo a sort of separate, but interconnected evolution.

Several years ago, Prof. Shmuel Pietrokovski and Dr. Moran Gershoni of the Weizmann Institute’s Molecular Genetics Department asked why the prevalence of certain human diseases is common. Specifically, about 15% of couples trying to conceive are defined as infertile, which suggested that mutations that impair fertility are relatively widespread. This seems paradoxical: Common sense says that these mutations, which directly affect the survival of the species by reducing the number of offspring, should have been quickly weeded out by natural selection. Pietrokovski and Gershoni showed that mutations in genes specific to sperm formation persist precisely because the genes are expressed only in men. A mutation that is problematic for only half the population, no matter how detrimental, is freely passed on to the next generation by the other half.

In the present study, the researchers expanded their analyses to include genes that, though not necessary for fertility, are still expressed differently in the two sexes. To identify these genes, the scientists turned to the GTEx project — a very large study of human gene expression recorded for numerous organs and tissues in the bodies of close to 550 adult donors. That project enabled, for the first time, the comprehensive mapping of the human sex-differential genetic architecture.

Pietrokovski and Gershoni looked closely at around 20,000 protein-coding genes, sorting them by sex and searching for differences in expression in each tissue. They eventually identified around 6,500 genes with activity that was biased toward one sex or the other in at least one tissue. For example, they found genes that were highly expressed in the skin of men relative to that in women’s skin, and they realized that these were related to the growth of body hair. Gene expression for muscle building was higher in men; that for fat storage was higher in women.

{{Yet another difference}}

The two then looked at tendencies to accumulate mutations, to see if natural selection puts more or less pressure on genes that are specific to men or women. That is, to what extent are harmful mutations weeded out or tolerated in the population? Indeed, the researchers found that the efficiency of selection is weaker in many such genes. “The more a gene was specific to one sex, the less selection we saw on the gene. And one more difference: This selection was even weaker with men,” says Gershoni. Although they do not have a complete explanation for this additional difference, the researchers point to a theory of sexual evolution first proposed in the 1930s: “In many species, females can produce only a limited number of offspring while males can, theoretically, father many more; so the species’ survival will depend on more viable females in the population than males,” explains Pietrokovski. “Thus natural selection can be more ‘lax’ with the genes that are only harmful to males.”

Aside from the sexual organs, the researchers discovered quite a few sex-linked genes in the mammary glands — not so surprising, except that about half of these genes were expressed in men. Because men have fully fitted but basically nonfunctional mammary equipment, the scientists made an educated guess that some of these genes might suppress lactation.

Less obvious locations included genes that were found to be expressed only in the left ventricle of the heart in women. One of these genes, which is also related to calcium uptake, showed very high expression levels in younger women that sharply decreased with age; the scientists think that they are active in women up to menopause, protecting their hearts, but leading to heart disease and osteoporosis in later years when the gene expression is shut down. Yet another gene that was mainly expressed in women was active in the brain, and though its exact function is unknown, the scientists think it may protect the neurons from Parkinson’s — a disease that has a higher prevalence and earlier onset in men. The researchers also identified gene expression in the liver in women that regulates drug metabolism, providing molecular evidence for the known difference in drug processing between women and men.

“The basic genome is nearly the same in all of us, but it is utilized differently across the body and among individuals,” says Gershoni. “Thus, when it comes to the differences between the sexes, we see that evolution often works on the level of gene expression.” Pietrokovski adds: “Paradoxically, sex-linked genes are those in which harmful mutations are more likely to be passed down, including those that impair fertility. From this vantage point, men and women undergo different selection pressures and, at least to some extent, human evolution should be viewed as co-evolution. But the study also emphasizes the need for a better understanding of the differences between men and women in the genes that cause disease or respond to treatments.”

Prof. Shmuel Pietrokovski’s research is supported by the Leo and Julia Forchheimer Center for Molecular Genetics; and the estate of Georges Lustgarten. Prof. Shmuel Pietrovski is the incumbent of the Herman and Lilly Schilling Foundation Professorial Chair.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world’s top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.

Source:Science Daily

{Biologists have discovered how this organ adapts to the cycles of feeding and fasting, and the alternation of day and night}

In mammals, the liver plays a pivotal role in metabolism and the elimination of toxins, and reaches its maximum efficiency when they are active and feed. Biologists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered how this organ adapts to the cycles of feeding and fasting, and the alternation of day and night within 24 hours. The researchers showed in mice that the size of the liver increases by almost half before returning to its initial dimensions, according to the phases of activity and rest. Published in the journal Cell, their study describes the cellular mechanisms of this fluctuation, which disappears when the normal biological rhythm is reversed. The disruption of our circadian clock due to professional constraints or private habits therefore probably has important repercussions on our liver functions.

Mammals have adapted to diurnal and nocturnal rhythms using a central clock located in the brain. The latter, which is resettled every day by the light, synchronizes the subordinate clocks present in most of our cells. In the liver, more than 350 genes involved in metabolism and detoxification are expressed in a circadian fashion, with a biological rhythm of 24 hours. “Many of them are also influenced by the rhythm of food intake and physical activity, and we wanted to understand how the liver adapts to these fluctuations,” says Ueli Schibler, professor emeritus at the Department of Molecular Biology of the UNIGE Faculty of Science.

{{The liver oscillates, but not the other organs}}

The mice forage and feed at night, while the day is spent resting. “In rodents following a usual circadian rhythm, we observed that the liver gradually increases during the active phase to reach a peak of more than 40% at the end of the night, and that it returns to its initial size during the day,” notes Flore Sinturel, researcher of the Geneva group and first author of the study.

The cellular mechanisms of this adaptation were discovered in collaboration with scientists from the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in Switzerland. Researchers have shown that the size of liver cells and their protein content oscillate in a daily manner.

The number of ribosomes, the organelles responsible for producing the proteins required for the various functions of the liver, fluctuates together with the size of the cell. “The latter adapts the production and assembly of new ribosomes to ensure a peak of protein production during the night. The components of ribosomes produced in excess are then identified, labeled, and degraded during the resting phase,” explains Flore Sinturel.

{{Asynchronous clock genes}}

The amplitude of the variations observed by the biologists depends on the cycles of feeding and fasting, as well as diurnal and nocturnal phases. Indeed, the fluctuations disappear when the phases of feeding no longer correspond to the biological clock, which evolved in the course of hundreds of millions of years: “the size of the liver and the hepatocytes, as well as their contents in ribosomes and proteins, remain nearly stable when mice are fed during the day. Yet, these animals ingest similar amounts of food, irrespective of whether they are fed during the night or during the day,” points out Frédéric Gachon of the NIHS, who co-directed the study.

Many human subjects no longer live according to the rhythm of their circadian clock, due to night work hours, alternating schedules or frequent international travels. A previous study (Leung et al., Journal of Hepatology, 1986) determining the volume of the human liver during six hours using methods based on ultrasound, suggests that this organ also oscillates within us. If mechanisms similar to those found in mice exist in humans, which is likely to be the case, the deregulation of our biological rhythms would have a considerable influence on hepatic functions.

Source:Science Daily

{A research team based at The Rockefeller University has identified a potent new weapon against the Zika virus in the blood of people who have been infected by it. This discovery could lead to new ways of fighting the disease, including a vaccine.}

In blood samples taken from subjects in Mexico and Brazil, the scientists found antibodies — proteins produced by the immune system — that block the virus from initiating an infection. These antibodies appeared to have been initially generated in response to an earlier infection by a related virus that causes dengue. One such antibody, which they call Z004, was particularly effective at neutralizing Zika.

“These antibodies could be very useful in the near future. One could envision, for example, administering Z004 to safely prevent Zika among pregnant women or others at risk of contracting the disease,” says Davide F. Robbiani, a research associate professor in Michel Nussenzweig’s lab. He and Leonia Bozzacco, a research affiliate in Charles M. Rice’s lab, led the study, which appears in Cell on May 4.

The team’s detailed examination of the interaction between this antibody and the virus also revealed a new potential strategy for developing a vaccine.

{{A precise target}}

A mosquito-borne virus, Zika usually causes mild symptoms in those who contract it. However, dramatic effects can appear in the next generation. Babies born to women infected during pregnancy are at risk of devastating neurodevelopmental abnormalities. The only way to prevent Zika is to avoid mosquito bites; there are currently no vaccines or other medical measures to do so.

An infection begins when the virus, traveling in a spherical particle studded with the viral envelope protein, latches onto a host cell and forces its way in. Faced with a viral threat, the human immune system generates antibodies that recognize the virus and stop it from invading cells. The team set out to find antibodies tuned to a particular target: a part of Zika’s envelope protein, which the virus needs to launch an attack.

{{Five out of six}}

Through collaborators working in Pau da Lima, Brazil, and Santa Maria Mixtequilla, Mexico, they obtained blood samples from more than 400 people, collected shortly after Zika was circulating.

Individual responses to the same pathogen can vary greatly. Yet a deeper analysis of samples from six of the volunteers with the most promising antibodies revealed a surprise: Five of them contained the same species of nearly identical antibodies. This similarity suggested these molecules were particularly good at fighting the virus.

When the team examined these closely related antibodies’ performance against Zika, one stood out: Z004, an antibody from a Mexican volunteer’s blood. When given to mice rendered vulnerable to Zika, the antibody protected them from developing serious infections.

{{A shared ridge}}

To get a closer look at the interaction between the antibody and a fragment of the virus’ envelope protein, scientists in Pamela J. Bjorkman’s lab at Caltech determined the molecular structure formed as the two units interacted. Their detailed maps revealed how the antibody pinches a ridge on the virus when it binds to it.

While some efforts to develop a vaccine use all or most of the virus to stimulate the immune system, the researchers believe it could be safer to employ only a tiny fragment containing this ridge.

Zika isn’t the only virus to sport the ridge, as it is also present in envelopes of other viruses in the same family. The dengue 1 virus, a close relative of Zika and one of four types of dengue, has a ridge that is remarkably similar to Zika’s. When pitted against dengue 1, Z004 neutralized it as well.

A look back at samples from the Brazilians, collected six months before Zika arrived by a team led by Albert Ko of Yale University, revealed evidence of prior dengue 1 infections in some — and a potential explanation as to why certain people’s immune systems fared better against Zika.

“Even before Zika, their blood samples likely had antibodies that could interact with this same spot on the envelope protein,” says Margaret R. MacDonald, a research associate professor in Rice’s lab. “It appears that, much like a vaccine, dengue 1 can prime the immune system to respond to Zika.”

Source:Science Daily

{According to a research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, those who drink a moderate amount of red wine have higher sex drives than those who opt for beer or a vodka.
}

The researchers found that people who drink two glasses of red wine a day had higher testosterone levels leading to increased sex drive compared to those who don’t drink red wine.

So why do people who drink red wine have higher sex drives than those who drink beer?

The researchers found that quercetin in red wine blocks the UGT2B17 enzyme which flushes testosterone out of the body. So with increased levels of testosterone flowing through the blood stream, there’s an increased sex drive.

That’s not all. Red wine was also found to increase the sex drive of women by increasing blood flow to her erogenous zones, thereby increasing arousal and sensitivity.

So don’t forget to get a bottle of red wine tonight for you and your partner.

Source:Elcrema

{Diabetes raises risk for many cancers, but not most common malignant brain tumor}

New research further illuminates the surprising relationship between blood sugar and brain tumors and could begin to shed light on how certain cancers develop.

While many cancers are more common among those with diabetes, cancerous brain tumors called gliomas are less common among those with elevated blood sugar and diabetes, a study from The Ohio State University has found.

The discovery builds on previous Ohio State research showing that high blood sugar appears to reduce a person’s risk of a noncancerous brain tumor called meningioma. Both studies were led by Judith Schwartzbaum, an associate professor of epidemiology and a researcher in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. The new glioma study appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Diabetes and elevated blood sugar increase the risk of cancer at several sites including the colon, breast and bladder. But in this case, these rare malignant brain tumors are more common among people who have normal levels of blood glucose than those with high blood sugar or diabetes,” Schwartzbaum said.

“Our research raises questions that, when answered, will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in glioma development,” she said.

Glioma is one of the most common types of cancerous tumors originating in the brain. It begins in the cells that surround nerve cells and help them function. The disease is typically diagnosed in middle age. At present, there is no treatment that ensures long-term survival, but several potential options are being studied.

The Scientific Reports paper included data from two large long-term studies. One, called AMORIS, included 528,580 Swedes. The second, Me-Can, consisted of 269,365 Austrians and Swedes. In all, 812 participants developed gliomas.

Schwartzbaum and her collaborators evaluated blood sugar and diabetes data and its relationship to subsequent development of brain cancer and found that those with elevated blood sugar and diabetes had a lower risk of developing glioma.

“This really prompts the question, ‘Why is the association between blood glucose levels and brain cancer the opposite of that for several other cancerous tumors?” she said.

The researchers found that this relationship was strongest within a year of cancer diagnosis.

“This may suggest that the tumor itself affects blood glucose levels or that elevated blood sugar or diabetes may paradoxically be associated with a protective factor that reduces brain tumor risk,” Schwartzbaum said.

“For example, insulin-like growth factor is associated with glioma recurrence and is found in lower levels in people with diabetes than those who don’t have the disease.”

The brain accounts for only about 2 percent of body weight, but consumes about 20 percent of the body’s available glucose, Schwartzbaum said.

The body of research on restrictive diets and their effect on brain cancer development has shown mixed results and more work is needed to determine if there’s something about the sugar/tumor relationship that can be modified in a way that’s beneficial to brain cancer patients, she said.

Source:Science Daily

{Researchers have now found out how wine compounds are protective against neuronal death: they should pass through your stomach first}

Let it be no misunderstanding: heavy alcohol intake has severe harmful effects. But already for several years, researchers have been finding that moderate wine intake can be beneficial in delaying the onset of cognitive impairments in aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Esteban-Fernández from the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid and her colleagues have been investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective actions of wine, recently published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

Instead of investigating wine directly, they studied the compounds that are left after the wine has passed through the gut: the so-called wine-derived human gut metabolites. They selected some of these metabolites based on their presence in the urine and feces of people consuming wine on a regular and moderate basis. To explore the neuronal effect of these compounds, they added them to human cells under stress conditions that normally lead to neuronal cell dysfunction and death. These conditions are related to the initial stages of some neurodegenerative disorders.

They found that the metabolites are protecting the cells from dying due to the stress conditions. The most striking result, however, was that the metabolites are active at different points in the cell signaling cascade that is leading to this cell death. The exact composition of the wine metabolites is therefore important in the protective neuronal effect. And this composition depends on your gut microbiota composition, as the intestinal flora breaks down the wine into the different metabolites.

“In other words, differences in our gut microbiota are leading to the different metabolites. Which underpins the idea that humans benefit from food in different ways,” Dr. Esteban-Fernández explains. “This individual difference is a factor not to be neglected to understand the health effects of certain foods. We are now in need to advance our understanding of the effect of diet in the promotion of normal brain function.”

“It is very important to understand that certain food compounds are responsible for this health benefit in protecting against the onset of neurodegenerative diseases; no medication was involved. I am not advocating to replace medicines by diet, but I want to raise more awareness how your diet is helping to prevent diseases or reduces the risk of getting sick. It is more than feasible to go to the supermarket and buy vegetables and fruit: it depends only on the individuals to maintain a balanced diet.”

As she works on the role of diet in health maintenance and disease prevention, Dr. Esteban-Fernández takes her own nutrition very serious. “I am really aware about the importance of a healthy diet enriched in vegetables, fruits, and reduced industrial saturated fats. Although I try to maintain my dietary habits as good as possible, I think it is also important to not get too obsessed. Society is nowadays full of false myths about diet, and it is the role of both science and media to avoid the spread of these rumors, as well as make people aware of the importance of diet for your health.”

Source:Science Daily

Every man ought to treat his pen*s like a luxury car and you can do this by watching what you eat. The pen*s needs sufficient blood flow to perform efficiently and some foods can get the blood vessels in the pen*s clogged with fat and cholesterol thereby restricting blood flow to the penis.

Eating the right food is important and here are foods that will help improve a man’s performance in bed.

{{1. Coffee }}

According to researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston, men who consume coffee are less likely to have erectile dysfunction. This is because caffeine in triggers a series of effects in the body which help the arteries in the pen*s relax and increase blood flow to the pen*s.

{{2. Almonds }}

Almonds are a great source of healthy fats which are good for the heart and therefore the penis.

{{3. Pistachios }}

According to researchers from Turkey, men who consume pistachios have a significant improvement in erectile function, and s*x drive after just three weeks.

{{4. Walnuts }}

Just like almonds, walnuts are a great source of healthy fats which are good for the heart and therefore the pen*s.

{{5. Salmon }}

Salmon is rich in vitamin D and according to researchers in Austria, vitamin D boost a man’s testosterone levels. The researchers also claim that low levels of vitamin D may increase a man’s risk of erectile dysfunction.

{{6. Spinach }}

Spinach is a rich source of vitamin C and according to a research from the University of Texas Medical Branch, vitamin C helps improve a man’s sperm quality.

{{7. Olive oil }}

According to researchers, olive oil is good for the heart thereby benefitting the pen*s. Heart disease is one of the common causes of erectile dysfunction.

{{8. Oranges }}

Eating oranges can work wonders for the pen*s. According to a Harvard University study, men who ate foods packed with certain flavanoids like anthocyanins, flavanones, and flavones are less likely to have erectile dysfunction than men who didn’t eat much of these type of foods.

Oranges are rich in flavonoid and according to the researchers, flavonoids help improve the health of the blood vessels by relaxing the arteries.

{{9. Egg yolk }}

Egg yolk is a rich source of vitamin D and insufficient levels of vitamin D in a man decreases nitric oxide in the body, a compound that helps the blood vessels function.

{{10. Yellow pepper }}

Yellow pepper is rich in vitamin C and according to researchers, vitamin C protects the sperm’s DNA from cell-damaging free radicals.

Source:Elcrema

{Language has such a powerful effect, it can influence the way in which we experience time, according to a new study.}

Professor Panos Athanasopoulos, a linguist from Lancaster University and Professor Emanuel Bylund, a linguist from Stellenbosch University and Stockholm University, have discovered that people who speak two languages fluently think about time differently depending on the language context in which they are estimating the duration of events.

The finding, reported in the ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: General’, published by the American Psychological Association, reports the first evidence of cognitive flexibility in people who speak two languages.

Bilinguals go back and forth between their languages rapidly and, often, unconsciously — a phenomenon called code-switching.

But different languages also embody different worldviews, different ways of organizing the world around us. And time is a case in point. For example, Swedish and English speakers prefer to mark the duration of events by referring to physical distances, e.g. a short break, a long wedding, etc. The passage of time is perceived as distance travelled.

But Greek and Spanish speakers tend to mark time by referring to physical quantities, e.g. a small break, a big wedding. The passage of time is perceived as growing volume.

The study found that bilinguals seemed to flexibly utilize both ways of marking duration, depending on the language context. This alters how they experience the passage of time.

In the study, Professor Bylund and Professor Athanasopoulos asked Spanish-Swedish bilinguals to estimate how much time had passed while watching either a line growing across a screen or a container being filled.

At the same time, participants were prompted with either the word ‘duración’ (the Spanish word for duration) or ‘tid’ (the Swedish word for duration).

The results were clear-cut

When watching containers filling up and prompted by the Spanish prompt word, bilinguals based their time estimates of how full the containers were, perceiving time as volume. They were unaffected by the lines growing on screens.

Conversely, when given the Swedish prompt word, bilinguals suddenly switched their behaviour, with their time estimates becoming influenced by the distance the lines had travelled, but not by how much the containers had filled.

“By learning a new language, you suddenly become attuned to perceptual dimensions that you weren’t aware of before,” says Professor Athanasopoulos. “The fact that bilinguals go between these different ways of estimating time effortlessly and unconsciously fits in with a growing body of evidence demonstrating the ease with which language can creep into our most basic senses, including our emotions, our visual perception, and now it turns out, our sense of time.

“But it also shows that bilinguals are more flexible thinkers, and there is evidence to suggest that mentally going back and forth between different languages on a daily basis confers advantages on the ability to learn and multi-task, and even long term benefits for mental well-being.”

Source:Science Daily