International Day of Women and Girls in Science

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Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, so we’ve got a bunch of content for the ladies out there. Let’s start with the statement Sima Bahous (the Executive Director of UN Women) made:

❝This year, the sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) will consider as its priority theme “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

This is an unprecedented opportunity for the Commission to develop a definitive agenda for progress towards women’s full and equal participation and representation in STEM. Its implementation will require bold, coordinated, multi-stakeholder action.❞

Read Her Full Statement Here!

Here at 10almonds, we are just one newsletter, and maybe we can’t change the world (…yet), but we’re all for this!

We’re certainly all in favour of education in the digital age, and more of our subscribers are women and girls than not (highest of fives from your writer today, also a woman—and I do bring most of the sciency content).

Medical News Today asks “Why Are Women Less Likely To Survive Cardiac Arrest Than Men?”

You can read the full article here, but the short version is:

  • People (bystanders and EMS professionals alike!) are less likely to intervene to give CPR when the patient is a woman (we appreciate that “your hands on an unknown woman’s chest” is a social taboo, but there’s a time and a place!)
  • People trained to give CPR (volunteers or professionals!) are often less confident about how to do so with female anatomy—training is almost entirely on “male” dummies.

A quick take-away from this is: to give effective CPR, you need to be giving two-inch compressions!

On a side note, do you want to learn how to correctly do chest compressions on female anatomy? This short (1:55) video could save a woman’s life!

As a science-based health and productivity newsletter, we make no apologies if occasional issues sometimes have a slant to women’s health! Heaven help us, the bias in science at large is certainly the opposite:

The list of examples is far too long for us to include here, but two that spring immediately to mind are:

Maybe if women in STEM weren’t on the receiving end of rampant systemic misogyny, we’d have more women in science, and some answers by now!

❗️NOT-SO-FUN FACT:

Women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. The gender gaps are particularly high in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering.

Source: AAUW

The US census suggests change is happening, but is a very long way from equality!

WHAT OUR SUBSCRIBERS SAY:

❝Women are slowly gaining more of a place in academia, and slowly making more of a difference when they get there, and start doing research that reflects ourselves. But I still think that it’s a struggle to get there, and it’s a struggle to be heard and be respected.

It’s a matter of pride, it’s a matter of proving yourself, being in STEM, and [women in STEM] still report being extremely disrespected, not taken seriously all, despite being very very good.

It’s worth noting as well, that we’ve had women in STEM for a while and there are so many things we appreciate nowadays that they were a part of, but they were never given credit for—it’s still a problem today and something we need to more actively fight.❞

Isabella F. Lima, Occupational Psychologist

Are you a woman in STEM, and have a story to tell? We’d love to hear it! Just reply to this email 🙂

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  • The Exercises That Help Keep Breast Cancer At Bay

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    For women, our lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer is about 1 in 7, before we take into account any added risk or protective factors.

    For men, it’s more like 1 in 556, which again, is before taking into account any added risk or protective factors.

    Here’s a good place to start on improving those odds: How To Triple Your Breast Cancer Survival Chances

    And for that matter, check out: 8 Signs On Your Breast You Shouldn’t Ignore

    And for those concerned (or even just curious) about the pros and cons of menopausal HRT when it comes to breast cancer:

    The Hormone Therapy That Reduces Breast Cancer Risk & More ← this is actually very important to understand, as otherwise it’s easy to accidentally self-sabotage and increase one’s overall mortality risk

    So, what’s this about exercise and breast cancer?

    There are two things to focus on

    No, not those.

    Well, yes, those, but also: aerobic exercise and resistance training.

    A research team (Dr. Alice Avancini et al.) analysed data from 22 randomized controlled trials (total n=968 participants) that investigated the effects of exercise on various pro-inflammatory biomarkers (mostly interleukin variants, but also c-reactive proteins) that are known to increase breast cancer reoccurrence risk.

    What they found was:

    ❝Exercise induced small to large significant reductions in IL-6 (SMD = -0.85; 95% CI = -1.68 to -0.02; p =.05) and TNF-α (SMD = -0.40; 95% CI = -0.81 to 0.01; p =.05) and a trend for a decrease in CRP.

    When stratifying by exercise mode, trends toward reduction in IL-6 and TNF-α were observed for combined exercise, whilst changes were not generally affected by exercise program duration❞

    Source: Effects of exercise on inflammation in female survivors of nonmetastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    The “combined exercise” mentioned?

    Aerobic exercise and resistance training.

    This is important, because as regular 10almonds readers may remember…

    What Your Metabolism Says About How Aggressive Breast Cancer Is Likely To Be For You ← this makes a huge difference to survival chances

    So, this study’s findings are very consistent with that, because:

    • Aerobic training increases cardiovascular fitness, improving metabolism
    • Resistance training increases muscle mass, improving metabolism*

    *because muscle “costs” calories to maintain, prompting an increase in metabolism, whereas fat prompts our metabolism to slow, to conserve energy to face the obvious food shortage that must be coming

    See also: Stop Cancer 20 Years Ago

    Want to learn more?

    Here’s the best book we’ve read on breast cancer survival:

    The Smart Woman’s Guide to Breast Cancer – by Dr. Jenn Simmons

    Take care!

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  • Apples vs Carrots – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing apples to carrots, we picked the carrots.

    Why?

    Both are sweet crunchy snacks, both rightly considered very healthy options, but one comes out clearly on top…

    Both contain lots of antioxidants, albeit mostly different ones. They’re both good for this.

    Looking at their macros, however, apples have more carbs while carrots have more fiber. The carb:fiber ratio in apples is already sufficient to make them very healthy, but carrots do win.

    In the category of vitamins, carrots have many times more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, E, K, and choline. Apples are not higher in any vitamins.

    In terms of minerals, carrots have a lot more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Apples are not higher in any minerals.

    If “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, what might a carrot a day do?

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Sugar: From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose C’s

    Take care!

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  • 10 Lessons For A Healthy Mind & Body

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    Sadia Badiei, food scientist of “Pick Up Limes” culinary fame, has advice in and out of the kitchen:

    Pick up a zest for life

    Here’s what she picked up, and we all can too:

    1. “I can’t do it… yet”: it’s never too late to adopt a growth mindset by adding “yet” to your self-doubt, focusing on progress and the possibility of improvement.
    2. The spotlight effect: people are generally too absorbed in their own lives to focus on you, so don’t worry too much about others’ perceptions.
    3. Nutrition by addition: focus on adding healthier foods to your diet rather than eliminating the less healthy ones to avoid restrictive mindsets. You can still eliminate the less healthy ones if you want to! It just shouldn’t be the primary focus. Focusing on a conceptually negative thing is rarely helpful.
    4. It’s ok to change: embrace change as a sign of growth and evolution, rather than seeing it as a failure or waste of time.
    5. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything: be mindful of how you approach small tasks, regular tasks, boring tasks, unwanted tasks—you can either create a habit of enthusiasm or a habit of suffering (it’s entirely your choice which)
    6. Setting goals for success: set goals based on actions you can control (inputs) rather than outcomes that are uncertain. Less “lose 10 lbs”, and more “eat fiber before starch”, for example.
    7. You probably can’t have it all at once: you can achieve all your dreams, but often not simultaneously; goals and desires unfold in stages over time.
    8. The five-year rule: before adopting a new lifestyle or habit, ask yourself if you can realistically sustain it for five years to ensure it’s not just a short-term fix. If you struggle with this prognostic, look backwards first instead. Which healthy habits have you maintained for decades, and which were you never able to make stick?
    9. Are you afraid or excited?: reframe fear as excitement, as both emotions share similar physical sensations and signify that you care about the outcome.
    10. The voice you hear most: speak kindly to yourself in self-talk to create a softer, more compassionate tone. Your subconscious is always listening, so reinforce healthy rather than unhealthy thought patterns.

    For more on each of these, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    80-Year-Olds Share Their Biggest Regrets

    Take care!

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  • Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? – by Dr. Julie Smith

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Superficially, this can be called a “self-help” book, but that undersells it rather. It’s a professionally-written (as in, by a professional psychologist) handbook full of resources. Its goal? Optimizing your mental health to help you stay resilient no matter what life throws your way.

    While the marketing of this book is heavily centered around Dr. Smith’s Internet Celebrity™ status, a lot of her motivation for writing it seems to be precisely so that she can delve deeper into the ideas that her social media “bites” don’t allow room for.

    Many authors of this genre pad their chapters with examples; there are no lengthy story-telling asides here, and her style doesn’t need them. She knows her field well, and knows well how to communicate the ideas that may benefit the reader.

    The main “meat” of the book? Tips, tricks, guides, resources, systems, flowcharts, mental frameworks, and “if all else fails, do this” guidance. The style of the book is clear and simple, with very readable content that she keeps free from jargon without “dumbing down” or patronizing the reader.

    All in all, a fine set of tools for anyone’s “getting through life” toolbox.

    Get Your Personal Copy Of “Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?” on Amazon Now!

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  • We looked at genetic clues to depression in more than 14,000 people. What we found may surprise you

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The core experiences of depression – changes in energy, activity, thinking and mood – have been described for more than 10,000 years. The word “depression” has been used for about 350 years.

    Given this long history, it may surprise you that experts don’t agree about what depression is, how to define it or what causes it.

    But many experts do agree that depression is not one thing. It’s a large family of illnesses with different causes and mechanisms. This makes choosing the best treatment for each person challenging.

    Reactive vs endogenous depression

    One strategy is to search for sub-types of depression and see whether they might do better with different kinds of treatments. One example is contrasting “reactive” depression with “endogenous” depression.

    Reactive depression (also thought of as social or psychological depression) is presented as being triggered by exposure to stressful life events. These might be being assaulted or losing a loved one – an understandable reaction to an outside trigger.

    Endogenous depression (also thought of as biological or genetic depression) is proposed to be caused by something inside, such as genes or brain chemistry.

    Many people working clinically in mental health accept this sub-typing. You might have read about this online.

    But we think this approach is way too simple.

    While stressful life events and genes may, individually, contribute to causing depression, they also interact to increase the risk of someone developing depression. And evidence shows that there is a genetic component to being exposed to stressors. Some genes affect things such as personality. Some affect how we interact with our environments.

    What we did and what we found

    Our team set out to look at the role of genes and stressors to see if classifying depression as reactive or endogenous was valid.

    In the Australian Genetics of Depression Study, people with depression answered surveys about exposure to stressful life events. We analysed DNA from their saliva samples to calculate their genetic risk for mental disorders.

    Our question was simple. Does genetic risk for depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, anxiety and neuroticism (a personality trait) influence people’s reported exposure to stressful life events?

    Girl or teenager leaning against wall, hand across face, looking down
    We looked at the genetic risk of mental illness to see how that was linked to stressful life events, such as childhood abuse and neglect. Kamira/Shutterstock

    You may be wondering why we bothered calculating the genetic risk for mental disorders in people who already have depression. Every person has genetic variants linked to mental disorders. Some people have more, some less. Even people who already have depression might have a low genetic risk for it. These people may have developed their particular depression from some other constellation of causes.

    We looked at the genetic risk of conditions other than depression for a couple of reasons. First, genetic variants linked to depression overlap with those linked to other mental disorders. Second, two people with depression may have completely different genetic variants. So we wanted to cast a wide net to look at a wider spectrum of genetic variants linked to mental disorders.

    If reactive and endogenous depression sub-types are valid, we’d expect people with a lower genetic component to their depression (the reactive group) would report more stressful life events. And we’d expect those with a higher genetic component (the endogenous group) would report fewer stressful life events.

    But after studying more than 14,000 people with depression we found the opposite.

    We found people at higher genetic risk for depression, anxiety, ADHD or schizophrenia say they’ve been exposed to more stressors.

    Assault with a weapon, sexual assault, accidents, legal and financial troubles, and childhood abuse and neglect, were all more common in people with a higher genetic risk of depression, anxiety, ADHD or schizophrenia.

    These associations were not strongly influenced by people’s age, sex or relationships with family. We didn’t look at other factors that may influence these associations, such as socioeconomic status. We also relied on people’s memory of past events, which may not be accurate.

    How do genes play a role?

    Genetic risk for mental disorders changes people’s sensitivity to the environment.

    Imagine two people, one with a high genetic risk for depression, one with a low risk. They both lose their jobs. The genetically vulnerable person experiences the job loss as a threat to their self-worth and social status. There is a sense of shame and despair. They can’t bring themselves to look for another job for fear of losing it too. For the other, the job loss feels less about them and more about the company. These two people internalise the event differently and remember it differently.

    Genetic risk for mental disorders also might make it more likely people find themselves in environments where bad things happen. For example, a higher genetic risk for depression might affect self-worth, making people more likely to get into dysfunctional relationships which then go badly.

    Middle aged man looking sad, leaning on sofa, staring into distance
    If two people lose their jobs, one with a high genetic risk of depression the other at low risk, both will experience and remember the event differently. Inside Creative House/Shutterstock

    What does our study mean for depression?

    First, it confirms genes and environments are not independent. Genes influence the environments we end up in, and what then happens. Genes also influence how we react to those events.

    Second, our study doesn’t support a distinction between reactive and endogenous depression. Genes and environments have a complex interplay. Most cases of depression are a mix of genetics, biology and stressors.

    Third, people with depression who appear to have a stronger genetic component to their depression report their lives are punctuated by more serious stressors.

    So clinically, people with higher genetic vulnerability might benefit from learning specific techniques to manage their stress. This might help some people reduce their chance of developing depression in the first place. It might also help some people with depression reduce their ongoing exposure to stressors.

    If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

    Jacob Crouse, Research Fellow in Youth Mental Health, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney and Ian Hickie, Co-Director, Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Health Benefits Of Cranberries (But: You’d Better Watch Out)

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    Health Benefits Of Cranberries (But: You’d Better Watch Out)

    Quick clarification first: today we’re going to be talking about cranberries. Not “cranberry juice drink” that is loaded with sugar, nor “cranberry jelly” or similar that is more added sugar than it is cranberry.

    We’re going to keep this short today, because “eat berries” is probably something you know already, but there are some things you should be aware of!

    The benefits

    Cranberries, even more than most berries, are full of polyphenols and flavonoids that do “those three things that usually come together”: antioxidant properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and anti-cancer properties

    Unsurprisingly, this also means they’re good for the immune system and thus quite a boon in flu season:

    Consumption of cranberry polyphenols enhances human γδ-T cell proliferation and reduces the number of symptoms associated with colds and influenza: a randomized, placebo-controlled intervention study

    They’re also good for heart health:

    The effects of cranberry on cardiovascular metabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    Quick Tip: we’re giving you one study for each of these things for brevity, but if you click through on any of our PubMed study links, you’ll (almost) always see a heading “Similar articles” heading beneath it, which will (almost) always show you plenty more.

    Perhaps the most popular reason people take cranberry supplements, though, is their effectiveness at prevention of urinary tract infections:

    Cranberry-containing products for prevention of urinary tract infections in susceptible populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

    Indeed, their effectiveness is such that researchers have considered them a putative alternative to antibiotics, particularly in individuals with recurrent UTIs:

    Can Cranberries Contribute to Reduce the Incidence of Urinary Tract Infections? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis of Clinical Trials

    Is it safe?

    Cranberries are generally considered a very healthful food. However, there are two known possible exceptions:

    If you are taking warfarin, it is possible that cranberry consumption may cause additional anti-clotting effects that you don’t want.

    If you are at increased risk of kidney stones, the science is currently unclear as to whether this will help or hinder:

    Where can I get some?

    You can probably buy fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries from wherever you normally do your grocery shopping.

    However, if you prefer to take it in supplement form, then here’s an example product on Amazon

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

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