FIGHTING FOR LOVE

NEWLYWEDS seeking to survive the “difficult” first three years of marriage should add boxing gloves to their wedding list - and delay parenthood, according to ongoing research at Iowa University.

Erika Lawrence, a psychology professor, has discovered from studying 164 couples that nearly a third of newlyweds are physically aggressive to each other. Pushing, grabbing and shoving are the most common tactics, she has reported in the Journal of Family Psychology.

Wives are a third more aggressive than husbands, she says. But while aggression is often thought to worsen over time, her study shows otherwise: newlyweds who are moderately aggressive (throwing stuff, grabbing, shoving or slapping) usually maintain a stable level of aggression. But highly aggressive couples who initially kick, bite or hit, develop more restraint, reaching the same level as non-aggressive couples by the third year of marriage.

“One potential explanation is that severe aggression is easier for couples to recognise as a problem than moderate aggression. They may be more motivated to change it,” says Lawrence. “It's also possible that severe aggression causes couples to withdraw from each other, leading to less interaction and opportunity for conflict.”

Fisticuffs aside, Lawrence's latest piece of published research, funded by the US National Institute of Mental Health, cautions that couples experience a notable drop in marital satisfaction in the first year of parenthood. The decline in satisfaction is far more severe in couples with a new baby than in newlyweds without children.

More dismally, even couples who planned to have babies quickly suffered significant declines in marital satisfaction. And people who were happiest as newlyweds experienced the greatest drop in wedded bliss after their bundle of joy arrived.

The study of 156 newlyweds (104 who became parents and 52 who remained childless)

does have some good news: Lawrence says that her research indicates that marital satisfaction levels rebound by the time the baby is 18 months old - especially in couples who had a strong relationship to

start with.

“The initial adjustment of parenthood shakes the foundation of the marriage for a year or so. But as couples go through it, it's helpful to know that it's temporary.”

LOOK NO HANDS

SURGEON-FREE surgery has taken a step closer to reality, claim robotics scientists at Duke University in North Carolina. They have developed a table-top robot that uses 3D-ultrasound technology to “see” patients on whom it is operating. The robot uses artificial-intelligence software to process the data and move surgical instruments precisely.

The researchers report in IEE Transactions on Ultrasonics that this preliminary prototype could be developed into a self-controlled operating table that can perform operations in remote places, battlefields or even outer space.

Removing human input from the job might also cut out the human propensity to leave things such as surgical sponges inside patients. This happens in up to one in every 9,000 operations when the body cavity is opened and can lead to infections, organ damage and even death.

Now a barcode-scanning safety system has proved its worth in a Harvard Medical School study in the Annals of Surgery. Doctors have to scan in and scan out every piece of equipment used in operations, which has cut the incidence of “lost” items by two thirds.

HEPATITIS HEALER

GRAPEFRUIT may offer a new way to treat hepatitis C, thanks to naringenin, a constituent that can cut levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. A report in Hepatology says that hepatitis seems to hitch a ride between blood cells on LDL cholesterol. Naringenin appears to prevent this - and in lab tests it cut viral transmission between cells by 80 per cent, say Harvard University scientists.

HEART WARMER

A PROTEIN that we produce naturally in our livers and kidneys may offer a drug to protect our hearts against injury during a heart attack, say Wisconsin Medical College researchers.

A single dose of the substance, thrombopoietin, has been found in lab tests

to decrease the extent of permanent muscle damage to the heart, report researchers in Cardiovascular Research.

IMPLANTING HOPE

CIGARETTE-sized metal tube could be key to developing an artificial pancreas that helps millions of diabetics to avoid insulin injections, reports Chemical & Engineering News.

The “bio-artificial pancreas” implant could help to keep blood sugar closer to normal levels and may reduce the risk of diabetic complications.

Researchers have been trying to develop an artificial pancreas for years. Most attempts involve transplanting healthy islet cells (below), the pancreatic cells that detect glucose and release insulin, into diabetic patients.

The new device, developed at Akron University, Ohio, is coated with a membrane

that holds the islet cells and promotes the exchange of insulin and glucose between the cells and the blood. The membrane also boosts the islet cells' life span by boosting their oxygen supply. The tube implant has shown promise in lab tests, and trials in humans are being planned.

KEEP TO THE RIGHT

IT'S not just recent election results that make right-wing types happier than lefties: they are generally happier anyway, a New York University study reports. The reason behind the disparity in life satisfaction and wellbeing levels is simple, says the Psychological Science study: life's conservatives aren't burdened by a nagging social conscience.

“Inequality takes a greater psychological toll on liberals than on conservatives,” it says, “apparently because liberals lack ideological rationalisations that would help them to frame inequality in a positive light.”

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