When a skull slams into a hard surface, damage control typically happens in a rush.听Traumatic brain injuries聽(TBIs) often require immediate surgery, and even during the slow recovery process an urgent question lingers: How much time do I have before permanent brain damage sets in?

Previously, doctors believed that the maximum window for recovery was about a year after the injury occurred.听But new research suggests the TBI-recovery timeline is longer than previously thought, giving injured athletes more opportunity to restore cognitive functions. Scientists have found that specific types of brain training can .听

People younger than 20聽tend to recover skills and knowledge even after severe brain injuries, says Dr. Lori Cook, study author and director of the ‘s pediatric brain injury programs. But learning new things may not come as easily.

鈥淔or particularly young children, the long-term effects may not even be evident until later developmental stages when higher-level skills are being called upon,鈥� Cook says.

Researchers studied 20 participants between the ages of 12 and 20 who had experienced a TBI at least six months prior to the study. All participants had trouble extracting meaning from information鈥攐r聽gist-reasoning deficits. Test participants were split into two groups, one of which focused on memory training. The other went through gist-reasoning training, which involves comprehending and conveying abstract ideas.

The researchers developed a new training program for this kind of thinking, which teaches students to take in information anywhere from textbooks to song lyrics and gain higher-level meaning from it. Each participant went through eight sessions of training in a month, completing assessments before and after training.

Ultimately, the participants who went through gist-reasoning training fared much better. They showed marked gains in their ability to extract meaning and remember facts, and also showed improvements in areas like memory and the ability to filter out irrelevant information.

Cook notes that the sample size in the study is small. Her team is currently looking into setting up a larger trial, maybe by conducting this type of training via Skype. However, she鈥檚 pleased with the results and hopes

鈥淗aving a clear process for handling traumatic brain injuries increases the likelihood of recovery and improvement,鈥� Cook says. And in the future, gist-reasoning training might be a key part of the process.

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It鈥檚 important for the human body to in the gut; after all, low diversity is linked to many diseases. But mixing up your diet might not lead to a wider spectrum of microbes living in your midsection.听

According to researchers led by, the more diverse a fish鈥檚 diet, the less diverse the microbes in its gut.听鈥淲e’re still scratching our heads as to why,鈥� Bolnick says. 鈥淲e also don’t really know yet whether this reduced microbial diversity is good or bad, though some diseases (colitis, for instance, and obesity) are associated with low microbial diversity.鈥�

Studies have shown that diet and environment can affect the bacteria in the gut, but most studies have only looked at a single factor at a time, for instance the amount of fat in a person鈥檚 diet. Bolnick and his team wanted to go further to test how combinations of foods could affect bacteria in the gut.听

鈥淭reating diet as a set of discrete and different options isn’t realistic though,鈥� he says. So they turned to two species of fish, the and the , and monitored their diets. The researchers thought the fish who ate a variety of foods would have more diverse gut bacteria than the fish who stuck to one type. It turned out the opposite was true.听

Fish and humans are very different, but they do share many of the same immune cells and genes in the gut lining. At the same time, our intestines are structured differently, and our diets are different.听

鈥淚t remains an open question whether the patterns identified in our study will also apply to humans,鈥� Bolnick says. 聽He鈥檚 game to look into it, though. Bolnick plans to conduct diet experiments in humans to see if diverse diets lead to the same effect in humans.听

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Drinkable sunscreen might sound convenient, but the science behind it is dubious.

A company called claims that a three-milliliter dose of its UV Neutralizer Harmonized Water can protect your skin from 97 percent of UVA and UVB rays for a three-hour period, and also help you tan. According to the company, the product is 鈥渋mprinted with unique, vibrational waves which isolate out the precise frequencies needed to protect you from UV rays.鈥�

Dr. Ben Johnson, the product鈥檚 creator, claims users have found it to be effective. 鈥淭his has been for sale for two years and the right candidates (those not on sun-sensitizing meds or illnesses) prefer it over sunscreens in almost every case,鈥� he says. Though Johnson says he has tested it on about 50 people, the FDA has not reviewed the product and its literature, nor has it gone through an independent clinical trial. Johnson says that will happen next month. 鈥淭his is a new science. What I am describing sounds too good to be true for many.鈥�

Meanwhile dermatologists outside of the company are skeptical that the product will be an effective replacement for sunscreen.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that has a slot of scientific evidence behind it, and certainly nothing that鈥檚 been presented at any of the major scientific meetings,鈥� says Dr. Thomas Rohrer, a dermatologic surgeon in Boston and a member of the . 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 any scientific literature supporting it. If someone is using that as their sole means of sunscreen, I think it would leave them very vulnerable to UV rays.鈥�

Dr. Brian B. Adams, a professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, is also skeptical. 鈥淚 would love to see the data on this,鈥� he says.

Sticking with proven sun protection is a safer bet. Rohrer recommends sticking with standard sunscreen, using an SPF of at least 30鈥攖hough he tends to use the highest SPF鈥攁nd reapplying often. If you鈥檙e going to be outside a lot, he suggests you try to avoid being exposed to sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and wear a hat.

鈥淚 always tell patients, even skin cancer patients, you don鈥檛 have to live under a rock,鈥� Rohrer says. 鈥淛ust be responsible.鈥�

And remember, skin cancer isn鈥檛 the only danger. 鈥淟ong term sun damage doesn’t only cause skin cancer, it causes wrinkles and premature aging of one’s skin,鈥� Adams says.

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Red wine and chocolate might not be as good for us as we were hoping.

Though people often use the purported health benefits of antioxidants in grapes, chocolate, and red wine as an excuse to indulge, has found that the antioxidant resveratrol has no association with cancer and inflammation, the incidence of cardiovascular disease, or longevity.听

鈥淪tudies using mice and cell cultures suggested that resveratrol might be protective for health and extend lifespan,鈥� says Dr. Richard Semba of Johns Hopkins University, the lead researcher on the study. 鈥淭he idea that higher resveratrol levels are protective against heart disease and cancer, and might make people live longer had never seriously been examined in humans until we did our study.鈥�

For years, the so-called 鈥溾�濃�攁 diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat, yet a low incidence of coronary heart disease鈥攈as been chalked up to regular glasses of red wine, and resveratrol specifically. To test out the theory, Semba and his team conducted the study from 1998 to 2009. They studied 783 men and women 65 years and older from two Italian villages to determine what effects resveratrol might have on inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and death.

Over the course of the nine-year study, 286 participants鈥攎ore than one third鈥攄ied. More than 27 percent of those who started the study without cardiovascular disease developed it, and four percent of those who started the study without cancer had it by the study鈥檚 end. Resveratrol had no correlation with cancer rates, inflammation, cardiovascular disease or death. It鈥檚 possible that instead, the French Paradox may be attributed to higher levels of exercise, Semba says.听

In the meantime, the news doesn鈥檛 mean you have to avoid red wine. Studies have found that a glass or two of red wine 鈥渃an provide some protection against heart disease,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople should not be discouraged from having a glass of wine with a meal, as it can make the meal more enjoyable. Wine is a very complex beverage. Resveratrol is only one of the few dozen polyphenols in wine.鈥�

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Endurance training isn鈥檛 just for the under 40 crowd. In fact, a European , endurance exercise is beneficial to the heart regardless of when they first began training.

鈥淭he heart is a muscle,鈥� says David Matelot, who . “If you train it, it becomes bigger and stronger, so the pump can be more efficient.鈥� It鈥檚 likely that the right ventricles were bigger as well, but they are harder to measure.

Though starting training after 40 has positive effects, much earlier鈥攊n childhood, if possible. 鈥淭here are others benefits of endurance training than cardiac parameters,鈥� he says. 鈥淚ndeed, endurance training is also beneficial for bone density, for muscle mass, for oxidative stress鈥� And these benefits of endurance training are known to be better if training have been started early in life.鈥�

It鈥檚 also key to keep training once you鈥檝e started. The benefits from exercise can dwindle quickly in the inactive. But, he says, it鈥檚 鈥渘ever too late to change your way of life and to get more physically active.鈥�

The Study Methods

Researchers studied 40 men between the ages of 55 and 70 who had no cardiovascular risk factors, assessing when they first began training and the level of exercise鈥攕pecifically cycling and running鈥攖hey performed.

Of the 40, ten had never exercised more than two hours a week; the remaining 30 had exercised for at least seven hours, beginning either before age 30, or after age 40. The group that started younger had been training for an average of 39 years; the older group 18.

Participants went through maximal exercise testing, echocardiography at rest and during sub-maximal exercise, and heart rate analysis.

Researchers found that resting heart rate was similar for the exercisers, but much more rapid in the non-exercisers. The more active group also had bigger left ventricles and atria, and the same results in their cardiac echocardiography tests.

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No matter how smart you think you are, getting some exercise might just make you a bit sharper. Researchers at Michigan State University have found that .

Most research into aerobic exercise and memory has focused on children and the elderly, but Kimberly Fenn, assistant professor of psychology, and , wanted to investigate how it affects healthy young adults. To test college-age long-term memory retention鈥攍ong term is defined as anything longer than 30 seconds鈥攖hey rounded up 75 students and had them memorize sets of two-word pairs, like 鈥減ants-zipper,鈥� and 鈥渙xygen-air.鈥�

They also evaluated each student鈥檚 fitness level based on factors including oxygen consumption during a treadmill test, participants’ weight, percent body fat, age and sex. 鈥淎bout half of the students fell below what would be considered average for their age and sex,鈥� Pontifax says.

The next day when the students returned, they were tested on the word pairs. Pontifex and Fenn found that students who were less fit had a harder time remembering the pairs they鈥檇 memorized the day before. 鈥淭his suggests that avoiding sedentary behaviors is important even for high-functioning adults,鈥� Fenn says.

Though test only spanned a 24-hour interval, it鈥檚 likely that the results would be the same if they brought the same subjects in six-months later. 鈥淎lthough we cannot speak to intervals longer than this, performance after one day is highly correlated with performance at longer intervals.鈥�

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If you find yourself buying the latest fad exercise machine to work your abs, you may be wasting your money, according to a recent study commissioned by the (ACE).

Experts at the , used electrodes to measure the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of participants鈥� ab muscles as they performed crunches and used equipment including the , , , , , , , and . They also measured the effectiveness of exercises like the yoga boat pose, stability ball crunch, decline bench curl-up, captain鈥檚 chair crunch, bicycle crunch, side plank, and front plank. Ultimately, they found that none of the devices or exercises were more effective than the standard crunch.

鈥淚f you compare all the various gadgets to the traditional crunch, the crunch outperforms the majority of the exercise in terms of muscle activation,鈥� says Dr. Cedric Bryant, chief science officer at the ACE.

But that doesn鈥檛 mean you should stop using your Ab Roller if you like it. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 imply that the devices have no value; all of the devices in the study still engage ab muscles in a reasonable fashion.鈥�

However, Bryant says, it鈥檚 important to note that this study looked specifically at the MVC in the major superficial muscles of the ab region, the rectus abdominis and the external obliques. Exercises like plank and side plank had low scores because they tend not to engage those muscles, and instead engage the deep transversus abdominus, which helps with a lot of functional movements and core strength.

鈥淭he moral to the story is, if you really want to have a complete ab training program, you really need several exercises, and not relying on a single exercise,鈥� Bryants says. For his part, he likes to mix plank exercises with crunch or curl-type movements. And he doesn鈥檛 need a machine for that.

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Your sex could affect the amount of time it takes you to recover from a concussion, according to a new in the journal Radiology.

Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an advanced form of MRI, researchers studied the imaging results and medical records of 47 male and 22 female patients diagnosed with concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). They also studied the results of 22 control participants, 11 women and 10 men.

DTI gives scientists a measure of the movement of water molecules along axons, nerve fibers in white matter that allow communication between various areas of the brain. Healthy brains have a high value of this measurement, called fractional anisotropy (FA); in patients with brain injuries, a low FA is linked to cognitive impairment.听

Researchers found male patients with concussions had much lower FA levels within a white matter tract that connects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, called the uncinate fasciculi (UF). They also found that FA levels in that particular area of the brain were the best predictor of recovery time, better than patient reports of their own symptoms.听

鈥淭here are many factors that influence how a patient reports their symptoms, such as ulterior motives for financial gain, a desire to return to play, or post traumatic stress disorder,鈥� says Dr. Saeed Fakhran, assistant professor of neuroradiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 鈥淲e found that the initial symptoms were unreliable in predicting how one would recover after a concussion, but that the findings on advanced MR imaging do predict how one does after a concussion鈥攜ou can't lie to the MRI magnet.鈥�

In this study, average recovery time was 54 days, but the difference in recovery times between the sexes was significant; for women, an average of 26.3 days, and for men, 66.9 days. 聽

It鈥檚 possible that the female hormome progesterone has something to do with the disparity. The UF connects the two areas of the brain with the most progesterone receptors, which 鈥渕ay suggest a protective role of progesterone in concussion, putting males at a disadvantage,鈥� Fakhran says.听

Though the role of progesterone in concussion recovery needs further study, Fakhran believes that DTI imaging should absolutely be used in standard concussion treatment.听

鈥淏efore the use of DTI in concussion, we had patients who were obviously suffering significant symptoms, but simply couldn't understand why because we couldn't see the injuries in the brain with the imaging tools we commonly use,鈥� he says.

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Working on a creative project? You might want to start by going for a walk. has found that people who walk instead of sitting or being pushed in a wheelchair score more highly on tests that measure creative thinking.

Earlier studies have shown that aerobic exercise may protect cognitive abilities, but researchers Marily Oppezzo and Daniel L. Schwartz wanted to see if walking could help encourage particular kinds of thinking. , asking them to do things like name another use for a particular object, play word association games, or come up with analogies. In their experiments, they found that at least 81 percent of those who were walking as they completed tasks came up with more creative ideas than the sitters; in one experiment, 100 percent of walkers performed better than those who sat.

To make sure that practice from earlier tests didn鈥檛 contribute to creative thinking in later tests, Oppezzo and Schwartz had one group of student participants perform a set of tasks while walking, then had them sit for a second set of tests. They found that the participants didn鈥檛 perform as well while sitting, but they did perform better than participants who had remained seated for both tests, indicating that their could be residual effects from walking.

鈥淸Our] research showed that for the eight minutes after the walk, people were more creative than those who never walked,鈥� Oppezzo says. 鈥淲hether this extends to an hour or the whole day, we do not know. But walking to work and thinking about solutions to different problems at work seems like a great prescription.鈥� But walking didn鈥檛 help all kinds of thinking. Walkers performed slightly worse than sitters when they were asked to give one-word answers.

鈥淭his study implies that a treadmill desk would be useful for those tasks that require creative thinking or analogy generation- maybe thinking of things from a different perspective,鈥� she says.

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Though antibiotics can often clear up symptoms of Lyme disease within a few weeks, some patients experience severe symptoms like nervous system abnormalities, heart rhythm irregularities, and arthritis weeks or even months after infection. At this point, scientists don鈥檛 yet completely understand the exact cause of the longer-term symptoms, and they aren鈥檛 easy to treat.

But to help determine which Lyme disease patients develop post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), a little-understood and .

To investigate, researchers at Hopkins set out to identify the biological 鈥渟ignatures鈥� of particular immune system molecules called mediators; the idea was to determine which parts of the immune response are mobilized in reaction to the disease, particularly in the beginning, when patient symptoms are most acute.

After studying the levels of 65 different molecules, the team鈥檚 analysis found two different groups of Lyme disease patients in the early stages of infection: 鈥渕ediator-high鈥� and 鈥渕ediator low.鈥� Those in the high-mediator group exhibited more severe symptoms, higher rates of antibody production, and higher liver enzymes before treatment.

They also showed higher levels of three particular mediators, which returned to normal after treatment. Researchers found that patients in the mediator-low group seemed to have been unable to mount a strong immune response to the disease.

The levels of particular mediators and their receptors may be important biomarkers for Lyme disease that could be linked to individual symptoms.

鈥淲ith this signature in hand we can begin to ask in larger numbers of patients if all or part of this signature stays elevated in some and if these can be related to PTLDS,鈥� says , senior author of the report and a professor of medicine at Hopkins.

鈥淭hese biomarkers have the potential to provide insight into disease process but also may be of value in predicting who may develop PTLDS as well as suggest pathways that can be targeted for therapy.鈥�

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