The five most-read stories on Scope this week were:
Can yoga help women suffering from fibromyalgia?: A study published in the Journal of Pain Research shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol and could help ease some symptoms of fibromyalgia such as pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression.
Shrugging off bugs: there's more to beating infections than just fighting them: David Schneider, PhD, has used two kinds of bugs (fruit flies and bacteria) to great effect, teasing out intriguing insights into the effects of sleep and caloric intake on response to infection.
Raising awareness about rare diseases: February 29 was Rare Disease Day, an international event intended to raise awareness of diseases that affect fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. At Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, research is progressing on several rare disease that affect children.
Ask Stanford Med: Sleep specialist taking questions on how to ‘spring forward’ without feeling fatigued: This past week, Stanford’s Rafael Pelayo, MD, took questions from Scope readers on sleep research and ways for making sure the approaching daylight savings time change doesn’t cut into sleep time.
A study of people’s ability to love: To celebrate Valentine’s Day, quarterly DVD magazine Wholphin released a short film documenting an experiment by Stanford neuroscientists to determine if it’s possible for one person to love more than another person can.
