December 29, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
35% of children injured with a firearm receive a new mental health diagnosis in the year following their injury.
Data published recently in the Anals of Surgery found that child survivors of firearm injury have high rates of new mental health diagnoses, even when compared with children who have injuries in motor vehicle accidents.
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May 30, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
People may take fewer COVID-19 safety precautions and feel less vulnerable to infection when around friends.
Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain were inspired to undertake the research after realising they felt safer when with close friends.
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April 26, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
Air pollution is associated with depressive symptoms in adolescents.
Researchers at the University of Denver found that even in neighbourhoods that met air quality standards, exposure to ozone gas lead to symptoms like sadness, difficulties concentrating and thoughts of suicide in adolescents over time.
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March 8, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Health Environments Research and Design Journal looked at hospital greenspaces and the impacts on wayfinding and spatial experience. The study was an explorative experiment using immersive virtual environment techniques. “The study compares people’s performances and spatial experiences during hospital wayfinding in two scenarios: the virtual hospital with window views of nature and greenspaces, and the virtual hospital without window views,” study author Shan Jiang told us.
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March 1, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in JAMA looked at longitudinal associations of mental disorders with dementia, a 30-year analysis of 1.7 million New Zealand citizens. “This study is about links between mental health and dementia,” study author Barry J. Milne told us. “We wanted to investigate whether there are associations between a range of mental health disorders and subsequent dementia, and whether associations are apparent for both early- and late-onset dementia.”
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January 26, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
For the first time since nation-wide data has been recorded, stigma towards those with depression has dropped significantly.
A study from Indiana University found that stigma associated with depression has dropped to a record low, but stigma surrounding other mental illnesses has either remained the same, or increased.
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December 16, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Despite global upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic, suicide rates in the United States fell during 2020.
The downward trend in suicide rates mirrors what occurred in the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918-1920. But researchers are warning that challenges still remain in addressing the impacts of COVID-19 among disadvantaged communities.
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November 30, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Providing social support to others could be good for your health.
A study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity by researchers at Ohio State University found that those who have positive social relationships in which they are available to provide support to others had lower levels of inflammation.
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June 24, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
As the world grapples to come to terms with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of mask wearing across the United States and around the world is highly variable.
Now a study from MIT has found that a public feeling of “collectivism” predicts whether or not mask use is common.
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June 8, 2021
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Neuropharmacology looked at whether a sensation-seeking trait confers a dormant susceptibility to addiction through intermittent cocaine self-administration in rats. The advantage of studying this phenomenon in rats is that researchers can examine what is different about the brains of high- versus low- sensation-seeking rats. This will help identify new targets for medications designed to treat cocaine use disorder.
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