Lactation hormone also promotes nurturing

The same hormone that stimulates milk production for lactation also acts in the brain to help establish the nurturing link between mother and baby, say University of Otago researchers.

“Our findings establish a critical role for prolactin, which enables milk production, for more than simply producing milk,” said study co-author Dr Rosie Brown. “This work is the first to show this hormone is a literal life saver as establishes and maintains the normal parental care that ensures offspring survival.” 

Physical activity of any kind can prevent heart disease and death, says a study, published in The Lancet, involving more than 130,000 people from 17 countries. 
The study, led by the Population Health Research Institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, showed any activity is good for people to meet the current guideline of 30 minutes of activity a day, or 150 minutes a week to raise the heart rate. The study highlighted that this can reduce the risk for death from any cause by 28 per cent.

A University of Alberta study found there was no relation between biomechanical back stiffness and the reported feeling of stiffness. Feeling of stiffness may mean something else is going on in the back. 

“When we use the same word stiffness to describe a feeling and how we measure actual stiffness, we assume these words are describing the same thing, but that is not always the case,” explained Greg Kawchuk, professor and back and spine expert in the Department of Physical Therapy.