A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Researchers at Imperial College London and the Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF) in Italy have identified a number of sites in the DNA of blood that have been chemically tagged as a result of smoking. These tags are also detectable in lung tissue and could be used to measure the increased risk of certain cancers such [...]
Alcohol use by expectant mothers can lead to problems with the mental and physical development of their children -- a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Research suggests an incidence of 0.2 to 1.5 per 1,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Costs for care of individuals affected by fetal [...]
NAPLAN to blame for teacher, student stress: study - ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
For some time, people have known that using cannabis during adolescence increases the risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental illness (e.g. depression, anxiety or schizophrenia) later in life. Importantly however, the mechanisms responsible for this vulnerability are not well understood. A new study, published in Brain, shows that long-term cannabis use that starts during [...]
The brain has evolved to respond in predictable ways to threats in the physical environment. Similarly, the brain is attuned to identify and reinforce behaviours that benefit our survival. These threat and reward-related circuits are well described. For example the amygdala, the most well studies threat-related brain region, responds to universally threatening stimuli such as [...]
The latest blockbuster film about King George VI, The King’s Speech, is a modern popular example of someone struggling with a stutter. As portrayed in the film it is a psychological derived problem that King George suffered from, not a physical condition. Interestingly for a film with no action, violence or nudity it has proven [...]
We might live in the sunny country, but our deficiency in the so-called 'sunshine hormone', vitamin D, is worse than previously thought. Australia's largest vitamin D study to date, conducted on 24,000 people over two years, has found up to 58 per cent of Australians are deficient in the vitamin, not 23 to 31 per [...]
New neuroscience research is confirming an old adage about the power of a handshake: strangers do form a better impression of those who proffer their hand in greeting. A firm, friendly handshake has long been recommended in the business world as a way to make a good first impression, and the greeting is thought to [...]
Want to be happy? Eat more servings of fruit and vegetables a day. That’s what a study of the eating habits of 80,000 Britons appears to show. University of Warwick and Dartmouth College scientists used seven measures of well-being: life satisfaction, self-reported health, happiness, nervousness and feeling low, mental well-being and mental disorders in an [...]
Even though children may not be watching it, even having a television on in the background may be bad for development, according to a new study. Researchers wrote in the journal Pediatrics children between eight months and eight-years-old are exposed to nearly four hours worth of background TV a day, compared to the 80 minutes [...]
