Brain health is a rapidly expanding field. WHO’s position paper on optimizing brain health across the life course is a technical complement to the recently-adopted Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022–2031. Many determinants are known to affect brain health at different stages of life. The …
Numerous studies have documented the normal age-related decline of neural structure, function, and cognitive performance. Preliminary evidence suggests that meditation may reduce decline in specific cognitive domains and in brain structure. Here we extended this research by investigating the relation between age and fluid intelligence and resting state brain functional …
Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. In 2006, we did a systematic review …
Very high levels of prenatal maternal mercury have adverse effects on the developing fetal brain. It has been suggested that all possible sources of mercury should be avoided. However, although seafood is a known source of mercury, little is known about other dietary components that contribute to the overall levels …
Changes in electroencephalography (EEG) amplitude modulations have recently been linked with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Existing tools available to perform such analysis (e.g., detrended fluctuation analysis), however, provide limited gains in discriminability power over traditional spectral based EEG analysis. In this paper, we explore the use of an innovative EEG …
Order of the Karnataka High Court on assailing the notification dated 18.06.2013 bearing No.G.S.R.377(E) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and to quash the recommendations of New Drugs Advisory Committee (Neurology & Psychiatry) (‘NDAC’ for short) at Sl.No.7(10) pursuant to the meeting held on 11.05.2013.
There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on the developing brain. The impact of TRAP exposure on childhood behavior is not fully understood due to limited epidemiologic studies. The objective of the study was to explore the association between early life exposure to TRAP …
Curcumin is a component of turmeric, a spice used in many types of cooking. Epidemiological evidence suggesting that populations that eat food with a substantial amount of curcumin were at lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) led to the idea that this compound might have a neuroprotective effect. Curcumin has …
New Delhi: Your fear about excessive use of mobile phones causing serious health problems was not ill-founded after all. Months after World Health Organization classified radiofrequency electromagnetic field (EMF) as ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’, another global report has redflagged the use of such technology, citing health risks, including growth of …
Prolonged exposure to radiation from cellphone towers, other wireless technologies can cause imbalance in immune system, metabolism, reproductive system warns this report by the BioInitiative Working Group 2012 based on 1,800 new scientific studies. Today, the BioInitiative 2012 report updates five years of science, public health, public policy and global …
Although fluoride may cause neurotoxicity in animal models and acute fluoride poisoning causes neurotoxicity in adults, very little is known of its effects on children’s neurodevelopment. The researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to investigate the effects of increased fluoride exposure and delayed neurobehavioral development.
Cadmium is a commonly occurring toxic food contaminant, but health consequences of early-life exposure are poorly understood. The researchers evaluated the associations between cadmium exposure and neurobehavioral development in preschool children.
Humans evolved to run. This helps to explain our athletic capacity and our susceptibility to modern diseases, argue Timothy Noakes and Michael Spedding.
Evidence is limited that long-term human exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, without poisoning, is associated with adverse peripheral nervous system (PNS) function. The researchers investigated associations between OP pesticide use and PNS function by administering PNS tests to 701 male pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS).
Dietary trans fatty acids (dTFA) are primarily synthetic compounds that have been introduced only recently; little is known about their behavioral effects. dTFA inhibit production of omega-3 fatty acids, which experimentally have been shown to reduce aggression. Potential behavioral effects of dTFA merit investigation. The researchers sought to determine whether …
The pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of extracellular deposits of misfolded and aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide and intraneuronal accumulation of tangles comprised of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein. For several years, the natural compound curcumin has been proposed to be a candidate for enhanced clearance of toxic …
Ask Priyabrata Kanjilal, a grocery store owner in one of the bylanes of south Kolkata, for a Vim washing bar. Chances are he will produce an egg (dim in Bengali), for he cannot distinguish between the two words. Twenty years at the store has taken a toll on his hearing …
Constant exposure to noise can make one deaf. The major culprit is road traffic. Can one avoid noise? It’s difficult. Checking it, however, is not impossible. As the Central Pollution Control Board regulations remain unimplemented, the authority has initiated a nationwide real time noise monitoring, hoping for an improvement.
AN ESTIMATED 410 million Indians live in the cities. Their lifestyle is seen as an improvement over life in rural areas, be it in terms of job security, stable future or better access to sanitation and medical help. But cities have their ills—higher incidence of violence, never-ceasing noise, increasingly unclean …
Meditators say their practice fundamentally changes the way they experience life. Michael Baime reports on how modern neuroscience is explaining this in biological terms. Original Source
More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, making the creation of a healthy urban environment a major policy priority. Cities have both health risks and benefits, but mental health is negatively affected: mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in city dwellers and the incidence of …