After Fixing Diversity Problem, Researchers Found Normal Brain Looks Different Than They Thought
The study originally had a disproportionately high number of kids with parents who have an advanced degree. Weighting the data to make it more representative offered insights of what the brain actually looks like. In other public health news: HPV, fertility and sleep.
NPR:
What Does A Normal Brain Look Like?
Brain imaging studies have a diversity problem. That's what researchers concluded after they re-analyzed data from a large study that used MRI to measure brain development in children from 3 to 18. Like most brain imaging studies of children, this one included a disproportionate number of kids who have highly educated parents with relatively high household incomes, the team reported Thursday in the journal Nature Communications. (Hamilton, 10/16)
The New York Times:
7 Million American Men Carry Cancer-Causing HPV Virus
The incidence of mouth and throat cancers caused by the human papilloma virus in men has now surpassed the incidence of HPV-related cervical cancers in women, researchers report. The study, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 11 million men and 3.2 million women in the United States had oral HPV infections. Among them, 7 million men and 1.4 million women had strains that can cause cancers of the throat, tongue and other areas of the head and neck. (Bakalar, 10/16)
The New York Times:
Raising Concerns About A Widely Used Test To Measure Fertility
Michele K. Bourquin, an account executive from Atlanta, was 36 and divorced when she first looked into freezing her eggs. “I knew I wasn’t getting any younger, and my eggs were aging,” Ms. Bourquin said. So she visited a doctor who gave her a blood test that’s often used to check a woman’s egg supply. It works by looking for anti-Müllerian hormone, or AMH, which is secreted by growing follicles, the sacs that house each egg. (Caron, 10/16)
NPR:
How To Fall Asleep And Why We Need More
The National Sleep Foundation recommends an average of eight hours of sleep per night for adults, but sleep scientist Matthew Walker says that too many people are falling short of the mark. "Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain," Walker says. "Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it." (Gross, 10/16)
