Author: Tom Patriot

Blister fluid could help diagnose burn severity

Tom Patriot

Severe burns can leave physical and psychological scars, especially in children. When a burn patient enters the clinic, doctors use factors such as the depth and size of the burn, as well as the time required for skin healing — or re-epithelialization — to determine the best course of treatment. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Proteome Research have found another, possibly more accurate way to classify burn severity: analyzing proteins in blister fluid. Diagnosing burn depth, which can continue to increase even hours after the injury initially occurs, takes up…

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Oral contraceptives could impair women’s recognition of complex emotions

Tom Patriot

The pill could be blurring your social judgement — but perhaps not enough so you’d notice. By challenging women to identify complex emotional expressions like pride or contempt, rather than basic ones like happiness or fear, scientists have revealed subtle changes in emotion recognition associated with oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use. Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, their study found that OCP users were nearly 10% worse on average than non-users in deciphering the most enigmatic emotional expressions, raising questions over the possible impact of OCPs on social interactions in intimate relationships.…

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Olivia Wilde Credits This Habit With Getting Her Through Parenthood and Work

Tom Patriot

You’ve seen her in hits like Life Itself, House, and my personal favorite, The O.C. But in addition to acting, Olivia Wilde is a mother of two, an activist, and all-around inspiring woman. Recently, she partnered with Dunkin’ Donuts for an event in New York City where a tiny home was fueled entirely by recycled coffee grounds (80,000 pounds, to be exact). The partnership made sense for Wilde, who is passionate about both coffee and sustainability. At the event, we had the opportunity to speak to the actress and got the scoop on a few other things…

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Looking to choose a healthy post-workout snack? Decide early, study says

Tom Patriot

You’ve just exercised for an hour, tracking the burned calories with a sense of satisfaction. Then comes a choice: munch on an apple or indulge in the chocolatey goodness of a brownie? A post-exercise snack can threaten to undo the gains (or losses) of a workout. But the decision itself may depend on when you make it, according to a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The takeaway? Avoiding delay can keep temptation at bay. Nebraska’s Karsten Koehler, Christopher Gustafson and their colleagues conducted an experiment that asked two…

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