Use of cosmetic surgery by patients of underrepresented racial/ethnic minority patient groups has increased substantially in recent years—well beyond their relative increase in the US population, reports a study in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Music is commonly used during exercise and is often assumed to improve focus, mood, or mental performance. A new systematic review and meta-analysis led by researchers at the Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain at the University of Jyväskylä examined whether these assumptions are supported by experimental evidence.

The scent of wood and visual wood elements reduce stress and significantly enhance recovery and mood indoors. The well-being effects of virtual wooden surfaces are very similar to those of genuine ones. A study carried out by the University of Helsinki and Natural Resources Institute Finland investigated how the scent of wood and walls that mimic wood affect people’s recovery and mood indoors. The focus was on the effects of a scent representing Scots pine, virtual wooden walls and their combination.

A new Danish study compiles 10 years of research from one of the world’s largest and most detailed puberty cohorts and points to three main conclusions: puberty is occurring earlier; genes, pregnancy and family life all play a role; we have confidence in the children’s own reports.

Through a series of experiments supported by the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) researchers say they have advanced understanding of how smoking damages the eye and contributes to the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading worldwide cause of visual impairment and blindness among people 50 and older.