US CDC panel broadly recommends flu shots free from thimerosal
The panel voted five-to-one in favor of the recommendation, while one member abstained from voting, following a presentation by an anti-vaccine advocate that made the case that thimerosal is a neurotoxin.
The panel recommended that pregnant women and children aged 6 months or younger also receive thimerosal-free shots.
The CDC has previously said there is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal used in vaccines, except for minor reactions such as redness and swelling at the injection site.
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The 3 nicknames that mean your relationship is doomed to fail - so, are YOU guilty of using them?
Whether its 'snookums', 'cutie patootie' or 'babycakes', many couples have pet names they call each other behind closed doors. But three nicknames could mean your relationship is doomed to fail, an expert has warned. While some monikers convey warmth, reassurance and affection, others can act as 'emotional wallpaper'. Dr Mark Travers, an American psychologist with degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder, has revealed the names that should be ringing alarm bells. BABY/BABE 'Being called "baby" or "babe" early on in a relationship can feel comforting, but that sense of warmth can be misleading,' he wrote on Psychology Today. He warned pet names like this can simulate intimacy before it's truly earned. 'Affectionate language triggers oxytocin, the brain's bonding hormone, which makes us feel emotionally close even in the absence of trust or consistency. You may start to feel attached to someone who's never actually shown you their emotional world,' he said. SWEETHEART The nickname 'sweetheart' could also be used as a way to dismiss your worries rather than dealing with them, he explained. 'Instead of engaging with your concerns, a partner might respond with: "You overthink everything, sweetheart. Don't worry that pretty head of yours,"' he said. 'These responses may sound affectionate, but they can make you feel like you're overreacting for even bringing something up. 'Essentially, they minimize your emotions and shift the focus away from the issue at hand.' This is a form of 'emotional infantilisation', he added – treating you as if you're too irrational or too fragile to be taken seriously. Previous studies have found that this kind of infantilisation – especially in conjunction with affectionate language – was the strongest predictor of negative mental health outcomes. He suggested asking yourself if nicknames show up most when you express discomfort or your needs – or if affection is being used to avoid real emotional work. ANGEL Pet names can sometimes be used to deflect the real issue rather than resolve it, Dr Travers said. 'After a conflict, instead of addressing the issue, there might be a flood of endearments,' he said. For example, 'Angel, don't be mad'. 'These words may sound sweet, but they often act as emotional distractions, soothing the partner's discomfort rather than engaging with real underlying problems,' he explained. 'This is also called emotional appeasement—using affection to avoid emotional responsibility.' He warned that while pet names may provide temporary emotional relief, they can 'sidestep the deeper work required to build genuine intimacy'. However, he added: 'Not all pet names are manipulative. 'In fact, in emotionally healthy relationships, they often reflect genuine affection and tenderness and can even help de-escalate tension. 'The key difference lies in intention and timing.' WHEN YOU SHOULD BREAK UP WITH YOUR PARTNER Kale Monk, assistant professor of human development and family science at University of Missouri says on-off relationships are associated with higher rates of abuse, poorer communication and lower levels of commitment. People in these kinds of relationships should make informed decisions about either staying together once and for all or terminating their relationship. Here are his top five tips to work out whether it's the right time to end your relationship – 1. When considering rekindling a relationship that ended or avoiding future breakups, partners should think about the reasons they broke up to determine if there are consistent or persistent issues impacting the relationship. 2. Having explicit conversations about issues that have led to break ups can be helpful, especially if the issues will likely reoccur. If there was ever violence in the relationship, however, or if having a conversation about relationship issues can lead to safety concerns, consider seeking support-services when it is safe to do so. 3. Similar to thinking about the reasons the relationship ended, spend time thinking about the reasons why reconciliation might be an option. Is the reason rooted in commitment and positive feelings, or more about obligations and convenience? The latter reasons are more likely to lead down a path of continual distress. 4. Remember that it is okay to end a toxic relationship. For example, if your relationship is beyond repair, do not feel guilty leaving for your mental or physical well-being. 5. Couples therapy or relationship counselling is not just for partners on the brink of divorce. Even happy dating and married couples can benefit from 'relationship check-ups' in order to strengthen the connection between partners and have additional support in approaching relationship transitions.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Forgetfulness or early dementia? How to decipher your memory loss
Illustrations by James Yates At some point, we've all strode into a room with purpose and proceeded to completely forget what we were about to do. 'It's a very common complaint,' confirms Prof Scott Small, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre at Columbia University, who has studied memory for more than three decades. It used to be thought that a forgetful blip like this served no purpose and was simply a malfunction in our memory machinery, but now we know otherwise. Our memory machinery comprises several stages: our short-term and long-term memory, as well as our ability to save and recall memories. Prof Small uses the analogy of a computer to explain how we remember and forget: 'If you type something into a document and don't save it, it's gone forever – that's your short-term memory,' he says. 'If you click save, that transfers information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. 'The other function is to be able to come back to your computer, or brain, and recall what was talked about the day before. For this, you need to have the 'open' function to be able to sift through all your memories and choose the right one.' Rather than a glitch in this hardwiring, forgetting is a healthy and necessary part of our brain's normal functioning and is vital for our creativity and mental health, as Prof Small explains in his book Forgetting, The New Science of Memory. Not only does forgetting clear cognitive bandwidth and ensure our brains are not overwhelmed with irrelevant information, but 'emotional forgetting' is also necessary to move past traumatic experiences. Though, there is a catch. As well as normal forgetting, there is also what Prof Small refers to as 'pathological forgetting' – the type that we are right to worry about. Typically caused by neurodegenerative disorders, it indicates a worsening of memory that impacts our ability to live our life fully. 'If you notice worsening of your memory over time from your own baseline, that's probably pathological forgetting, such as Alzheimer's.' Here, Prof Small shares his expertise on common examples of forgetting to distinguish which fall into the normal category and which could be an early sign of Alzheimer's. 'However, the ultimate diagnosis is when you see a doctor,' he notes. I've gone upstairs and forgotten why 'That's a super common complaint,' Prof Small says. 'This symptom alone tells me that it's probably the hippocampus, as that's the structure of the brain that's critical for memory.' The hippocampus is the 'save' button on your computer, transferring information from temporary to long-term. 'If that's always happened to you, it's normal forgetting.' Like height and weight, normal forgetting is a trait that varies between us and it's nothing to worry about if it remains consistent. However, if you're increasingly catching yourself uncertain about what you're doing mid-task, it could be an early indicator of pathological forgetting, which can be a result of cognitive ageing (forgetting that occurs as part of the normal ageing process) or Alzheimer's, Prof Small says. 'This symptom alone is not enough for me to say whether it's the earliest stages of Alzheimer's or if it's just cognitive ageing,' he notes. 'A rule of thumb in medicine is, if you experience something that really disturbs your life, it might be worth seeing a doctor. But, on its own, forgetting why you've gone upstairs doesn't declare itself as a disorder that's worth seeing a doctor for.' I'm getting names mixed up If you've forgotten or mixed up the name of someone you met a couple of times many years ago, it's nothing to worry about, Prof Small says. If you've forgotten the name of a loved one as a one-off, it's also not a cause for concern. 'It may be a bad night's sleep or stress,' he notes. 'But if someone's frequently forgetting the names of loved ones, people in their inner circle, it's time to see a doctor,' he says. It indicates a memory problem and could be a sign of Alzheimer's, he says. Similarly, if you forget the name of your prime minister or president, that's more concerning than if you forget the name of your local MP, Prof Small says. I can't remember how to make my favourite recipe 'If someone forgets a recipe that they've been making over and over again, I'm starting to worry about a disease,' Prof Small says. 'It sounds like Alzheimer's.' The memory decline that occurs with age doesn't affect our memory 'hard drive', where we store key pieces of information that we use regularly, like a favourite recipe. However, Alzheimer's does. 'It spreads to areas of the memory store, memory retrieval and recall, while ageing does not,' Prof Small says. 'The example of the recipe sounds like Alzheimer's because it's not the 'save' function of our brain,' which is used for new memories, he notes. Instead, it signals a problem with the memory hard drive. I got lost on a route I've done a million times Whilst forgetting why you walked into a room or the name of someone you only vaguely know is likely innocuous, Prof Small says that getting lost is a sign of something more serious. 'If someone tells me that they've forgotten where they've parked their car or if they've gotten lost while driving to work, that's a red flag,' he says. 'I start thinking, maybe this is Alzheimer's.' One way to think about the hippocampus is as a circuit made up of different regions that are all interconnected, Prof Small explains. The area responsible for spatial memory is the region where Alzheimer's takes hold. 'So when I hear people complain about getting lost, I start thinking more about Alzheimer's disease,' he says. I asked my husband a question but can't remember the answer five minutes later Forgetting information that we've just been told happens to all of us, Prof Small says. It could be poor attention or, if it's always in relation to your husband, there could be psychological reasons why you're not focusing on what he's saying, he notes. As a result, this falls into normal forgetting but, if it's becoming more frequent, this could be a worrying symptom. What can we do to protect our memory? There are many risk factors that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, including obesity, poor heart health, high blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes, Prof Small says. 'That doesn't mean these factors alone will cause Alzheimer's but, if you're going to get it, these may accelerate it,' he explains. In addition, there are certain genes that are associated with Alzheimer's, most famously Apolipoprotein E (APOE), and a family history also raises the risk. While these can't be changed, living a healthy lifestyle has been shown to benefit brain health and reduce the risk of dementia. 'Exercise seems to be a very strong influencer of maintaining our memory health into late life,' Prof Small notes. Meanwhile, his own research has found that eating a diet rich in flavanols, compounds found in apples, berries and tea, amongst other fruits and vegetables, also protects brain health. Scientists are also racing to find medicines to ward off memory-robbing diseases. 'Where we are in the field is trying to develop statins for the brain,' Prof Small says. To do that, researchers need to understand the mechanisms that are causing Alzheimer's, with the brain's immune network and system for moving proteins around our cells (known as the trafficking pathway) under investigation. So far, development has focused on drugs that work by clearing proteins called amyloid from the brain, which have been shown to disrupt neuron function. However, these have so far been blocked for use on the NHS due to their cost (estimated to be £30,000 per patient per course of treatment) and worries over side effects. 'The next generation of drugs are trying to target either the immune response or the trafficking pathway,' he explains. 'Once the biomedical enterprise has a target, where the field at large is so sophisticated, we should be optimistic that we will have a way to intervene,' Prof Small says. 'It could mean that in a year we'll have effective new drugs that target the pathways that I and others believe will be more beneficial than anti-amyloid drugs. It could take a few years but I don't think it's going to take decades. 'I think we're on the cusp of really translating all the remarkable discoveries that happened in the first 20 years of this century into meaningful therapeutics.'
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Text therapy: study finds couples who use emojis in text messages feel closer
The secret to a good relationship may be staring smartphone users in the face. A new study published in the journal Plos One found that using emojis in text messages makes people feel closer and more satisfied in their personal lives. Researchers at the University of Texas spoke to 260 people aged between 23 and 67 and asked them to read 15 text message exchanges that varied only in the presence or absence of emojis. Participants were instructed to imagine themselves as the sender of each message while focusing on the recipient's replies to evaluate responsiveness, likability, closeness and relationship satisfaction. The study revealed that people who send emojis combined with text are seen to be more responsive in their relationships than people who send text alone. It also found emojis serve as nonverbal cues that signal attentiveness and emotional engagement. Luke McGregor, 42, and Amy Thunig-McGregor, 37, say being able to use emojis helps their family communicate better. Luke said he wasn't a regular emoji sender at the start of their relationship and had to learn to start incorporating them into text messages to Amy. 'I traditionally didn't use emojis that much but when I first got [together] with Amy, I noticed them using them a lot, so there was a vulnerability or a hurdle I had to get over to start using them myself,' McGregor said. 'I wanted Amy to know that they were loved, and so to become a regular sender of emojis to Amy in order to communicate affection was at least initially a big deal for me.' Amy said emojis were a good tool to enhance their communication. 'We're both autistic as well for context … it helps us really be clear with tone and intention in a way that isn't possible with just written text,' they said. Senior lecturer in psychology at Central Queensland University Dr Raquel Peel, who was not involved in the study, said sending emojis can be a creative alternative when people are unable to see their partner face to face. 'I don't think we can replace face-to-face interactions because we are talking about intimate partnerships and relationships, but we have to be realistic that this isn't always possible,' Peel said. 'So if you can't meet face to face with your partner for whatever reason staying connected is important. 'Using emojis is then an effective alternative.' Her advice was to not underestimate the value of communication in a relationship and to always try and stay connected to your partner in whatever way you communicate. 'One thing that people also forget when I'm talking to them about relationships is the value of humour and having a bit of fun,' Peel said. 'So if emojis can serve a purpose that way, which we know they can, it adds to the element of fun and connection through humour and that is really important.'
