Brain

Cannabis legalization has led to a boom in potent forms of the drug that present new hazards for adolescents

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Research, Solvent, Epilepsy, Brain, Oil, Herbal cigarette, Schizophrenia, Powder, Delusion, Drug, Risk, Electronic cigarette, CBD, Pregnancy, Nature, Protein, Psychology, Systematic review, Cannabis, Adolescence, Dry ice, Smoking, System, Hallucination, Water, Pain management, THC, Beer, Cannabidiol

When other drugs would occasionally come up, I didn’t understand some of the slang terms they used for these drugs.

Key Points: 
  • When other drugs would occasionally come up, I didn’t understand some of the slang terms they used for these drugs.
  • Many people may have that feeling now when the topic of cannabis comes up – especially in its different and newer forms.
  • A major change during my time in research is the legalization and explosion of cannabis availability across the U.S.

A shifting landscape

  • It also serves as a catch-all term for any substance with chemical compounds from cannabis plants and addresses concerns that the word marijuana has some long-standing racist overtones.
  • Cannabis now comes in a larger variety of forms than it used to.
  • These include oils that can be vaporized by vape or dab pens, waxier substances and even powders.

How cannabis derivatives interact with the brain

  • Each one interacts with the brain in different ways, producing different perceived effects.
  • The differences between THC and CBD come from how they interact with cannabinoid receptors – the proteins onto which these drugs attach – in the brain and body.

The changing nature of cannabis products

  • By increasing the amount of THC, concentrated products can increase blood levels of THC rapidly and more strongly than nonconcentrates such as traditional smoked cannabis.
  • Cannabis concentrates also come in many different forms that range from waxy or creamy to hard and brittle.
  • They are made in a variety of ways that may require dry ice, water or flammable solvents such as butane.
  • The myriad names for cannabis concentrates can be confusing.

Cannabis use and adolescents

  • A 2021 systematic review found that past-year cannabis vaping nearly doubled from 2017 to 2020 in adolescents - jumping from 7.2% to 13.2%.
  • In addition, a 2020 study found that one-third of adolescents who vape do so with cannabis concentrates.
  • Cannabis use by adolescents is scary because it can alter the way their brains develop.
  • Adolescents who use cannabis are also more likely to experience symptoms of schizophrenia, struggle more in school and engage in other risky behaviors.
  • This article is part of Legal cannabis turns 10, a series examining the impact of a decade of recreational cannabis use.


Ty Schepis receives funding from US Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His research is also supported by a faculty fellowship from the Texas State University Translational Health Research Center.

Christine Lagarde: Unlocking the power of ideas

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
CHIPS, Reproduction, International Energy Agency, Friends, Face, Learning, Theodore Roosevelt, CIT, The New York Times, Printing, History, Pleasure, Commerce Clause, Frankfurt, Artificial intelligence, Commerce, Wine, Congo, European Commission, Rail transport by country, USD, Inflation, Courage, Speech, Congress, Liberty, Hidden champions, ECB, Gibbons v. Ogden, Shock, Diffusion, Observation, Communication, International Monetary Fund, Ambition, GDP, Coal, IEA, McKinsey & Company, Electricity, EDS, European University Institute, Public policy, CHIPS and Science Act, Research, News, AI, EMU, Competition (economics), Robotics, Oxford University Press, Single market, Machine learning, Book, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Solow–Swan model, European Central Bank, Democratic republic, Brain, Growth, Brookings Institution, European Council, Supreme, Steel, Natural Resources, Society, University of Chicago Press, Literacy, Necessary, Life, Diplomacy, Heart, Optimism, Economic growth, European Investment Fund, Renewable energy

Since 2022 rising housing costs have, on average, largely been offset by growth in household income, leading to stable housing cost to household income ratios.

Key Points: 
  • Since 2022 rising housing costs have, on average, largely been offset by growth in household income, leading to stable housing cost to household income ratios.
  • The housing cost burden has, however, increased slightly for both renter and mortgage households at the upper end of the income distribution.

Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously?

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 19, 2024
Health, Culture, Longevity, Sport, Concussion, Weakness, Brain damage, Risk, AFL, Research, Attitude, Brain, Life, Athlete, Deficit spending, Safety, Retirement, Injury, Language, Myenteric plexus, Rehabilitation, Entertainment

The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, following Angus Brayshaw’s in February and a number of other high-profile footballers in recent years, signals a shift in how athletes view brain trauma risks in sport.

Key Points: 
  • The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, following Angus Brayshaw’s in February and a number of other high-profile footballers in recent years, signals a shift in how athletes view brain trauma risks in sport.
  • Rather than downplaying or ignoring the potential damage being done to their health by a career filled with brain trauma, some athletes are now choosing to end their careers early.

Why do athletes risk their brains?

  • For decades, sports have fostered a win-at-all-costs culture, with a pseudo-military flavour of sacrifice and duty to one’s teammates.
  • This has given rise to athletes ignoring or downplaying injuries whenever possible to continue the game.
  • Media commentators also celebrate athletes who return to the field after sickening collisions as “courageous”, having “no fear”, or “gaining respect from teammates and opposition”.

A shift in attitude?

  • Murphy’s retirement and acknowledgement of his long-term brain health is one sign the culture of valorising injury and risk may be changing.
  • But there is other evidence of a shift.
  • Australian research shows risky attitudes and behaviours toward concussion have begun to dissipate over recent years.
  • However, a 2021 follow-up study, using the same survey in a separate group, showed significant improvements towards concussion.

Are more retirements to come?

  • In the meantime, the current group of athletes – professionals and amateurs alike – must weigh up the costs of participation in high contact games.
  • It’s in the best interests for the longevity of these sports – and the athletes we love to cheer on.
  • Alan is a non-executive unpaid director for the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
  • He has previously received funding from Erasmus+ strategic partnerships program (2019-1-IE01-KA202-051555), Sports Health Check Charity (Australia), Australian Football League, Impact Technologies Inc., and Samsung Corporation, and is remunerated for expert advice to medico-legal practices.

In Knife, his memoir of surviving attack, Salman Rushdie confronts a world where liberal principles like free speech are old-fashioned

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 19, 2024
Speech, Millennials, University of Cambridge, Freedom, Brain, Culture, Quran, Generation, Prevalence, Information technology, American Scene, Survival, ARD International Music Competition, Environment, Social justice, The American Scene, The Satanic Verses, Risk, Author, Lord, History, Charlie Hebdo, PEN America, Generation Z, Friends, Death, Record, Life, Eye, Satanic, Ear, PEN, Artistic language, Authoritarianism, Satanic Verses, Catharsis, Pain, Nose, Hindus, Privacy, Nawab, Parent, Terror, Courage, Booker Prize, Assault

A man named Hadi Matar has been charged with second-degree attempted murder.

Key Points: 
  • A man named Hadi Matar has been charged with second-degree attempted murder.
  • He is an American-born resident of New Jersey in his early twenties, whose parents emigrated from Lebanon.
  • Review: Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder – Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape) Knife is very good at recalling Rushdie’s grim memories of the attack.
  • “Let me offer this piece of advice to you, gentle reader,” he says: “if you can avoid having your eyelid sewn shut … avoid it.
  • Here, for a number of reasons, Rushdie is not on such secure ground.
  • Read more:
    How Salman Rushdie has been a scapegoat for complex historical differences

    Rushdie, who studied history at Cambridge University, described himself in Joseph Anton as “a historian by training”.

  • Indeed, a speech he gave at PEN America in 2022 is reprinted in the book verbatim.
  • For these intellectuals, principles of secular reason and personal liberty should always supersede blind conformity to social or religious authority.

Old-fashioned liberal principles

  • In Knife, though, Rushdie the protagonist confronts a world where such liberal principles now appear old-fashioned.
  • He claims “the groupthink of radical Islam” has been shaped by “the groupthink-manufacturing giants, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter”.
  • But for many non-religious younger people, any notion of free choice also appears illusory, the anachronistic residue of an earlier age.
  • Millennials and Generation Z are concerned primarily with issues of environmental catastrophe and social justice, and they tend to regard liberal individualism as both ineffective and self-indulgent.
  • A new book traces how we got here, but lets neoliberal ideologues off the hook

Suffused in the culture of Islam

  • The Satanic Verses itself is suffused in the culture of Islam as much as James Joyce’s Ulysses is suffused in the culture of Catholicism.
  • In their hypothetical conversation, the author of Knife tries to convince his assailant of the value of such ambivalence.
  • He protests how his notorious novel revolves around “an East London Indian family running a café-restaurant, portrayed with real love”.

Attachment to past traditions

  • Rushdie discusses in Knife how, besides the Hindu legends of his youth, he has also been “more influenced by the Christian world than I realized”.
  • He cites the music of Handel and the art of Michelangelo as particular influences.
  • Yet this again highlights Rushdie’s attachments to traditions firmly rooted in the past.
  • Part of James’s greatness lay in the way he was able to accommodate these radical shifts within his writing.

‘A curiously one-eyed book’

  • Particularly striking are the immediacy with which he recalls the shocking assault, the black humour with which he relates medical procedures and the sense of “exhilaration” at finally returning home with his wife to Manhattan.
  • Yet there are also many loose ends, and the book’s conclusion, that the assailant has in the end become “simply irrelevant” to him, is implausible.
  • He insists he does not want to write “frightened” or “revenge” books.
  • This was despite several brave comeback attempts by Milburn that likewise cited Pataudi as an example.
  • Knife, by contrast, is a curiously one-eyed book, in a metaphorical, as well as a literal sense.


Paul Giles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Getting a good night’s rest is vital for neurodiverse children – pediatric sleep experts explain why

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Friday, April 19, 2024
Epilepsy, Speech, Tea, Gene, Brain, Medicine, ADHD, Sibling, Dizziness, Aggression, Obstructive sleep apnea, Somnolence, Partnership, Headache, Heart rate, Internet, Social media, Sleep, Child, Anxiety, Melatonin, DSM-IV codes, Parenting, Computer, Drug, Neurodiversity, Pediatrics, Caffeine, Person-centered therapy, Habit, Music, Spectrum, Chocolate, Family, Vomiting, Parent, Irritability, Food, Pharmaceutical industry

If you’re a parent with kids at home, it often leaves you and your children on edge.

Key Points: 
  • If you’re a parent with kids at home, it often leaves you and your children on edge.
  • Children with neurodiverse conditions, such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are even more susceptible to the effects of poor sleep, given their emotional reactivity and impulsivity..
  • Struggles with sleep have been linked to increased aggression, irritability, inattention and hyperactivity in children with autism spectrum disorder.

The science behind sleep difficulties

  • There are multiple reasons why neurodiverse children don’t sleep well, including medical conditions, biological causes and behavioral and environmental factors.
  • Medical conditions, such as obstructive sleep apnea or epilepsy, can affect a child’s sleep.
  • Medications that are used to treat medical conditions, such as antidepressants for mood disorders or stimulants for ADHD, can further disrupt sleep.

Treating sleep problems


All of these factors can be addressed and treated. A thorough evaluation by the child’s health care provider may reveal a medical cause, or medication, that is interfering with sleep. Behavioral approaches can make a big difference in improving sleep. These might include:
Changes to daytime habits, including getting lots of morning light and physical activity.
Shifts in evening habits, such as removing all screens (TV, computers, phones, etc.) and establishing calming bedtime routines.
Modifications to how a parent interacts with their child for those families who would like a child to fall asleep and stay asleep independently.

  • It’s important to note that not all families want their children to sleep on their own.
  • Because there are so many factors that can cause disrupted sleep, addressing sleep problems cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach and should be done in partnership with parents.
  • Our team has developed a family-centered approach to address sleep problems in neurodiverse children.

The ups and downs of melatonin

  • While behavioral approaches are recommended as a first-line treatment, melatonin can be helpful in jump-starting a behavioral routine.
  • Overdoses can result from children eating a bunch of gummies, or parents not understanding how much melatonin is safe to give.
  • To help parents sift through all the resources and articles on melatonin on the internet and social media, one of us created a video and wrote several blogs on melatonin safety.
  • These include topics like whether children can become dependent on melatonin supplements over time, whether taking melatonin will delay puberty, whether children might experience side effects from taking melatonin and more.

Promoting healthier sleep


Here are some general tips for helping your child sleep better, regardless of whether they are neurodiverse:
Choose a consistent bedtime and wake time. This consistency will help children’s own natural melatonin kick in.
Make sure bedtime isn’t too early. For example, an 8 p.m. bedtime is too early for most 10-year-olds. Neurodiverse children may struggle to sleep and will become more anxious, which makes going to sleep even harder.
Help your child get natural sunlight in the morning. Morning sunlight sets our brain’s internal clock so that we can fall asleep more easily at bedtime.
Ensure your child is getting physical activity during the day.
Minimize naps longer than one hour, or after 4 p.m. for school-age children. Naps can interfere with going to sleep at night.
Avoid caffeine, including many types of soda, tea and chocolate.
Turn off all screens and smartphones at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
In the evening leading up to bedtime, turn down all lights in the house. Consider using red night lights, if possible. Set any devices to night mode in the evening to limit exposure to blue light.
Create wind-down time in place of screens. Have your child identify an activity they enjoy that is calming and soothing, such as reading a book, coloring or listening to music. If a bath is stimulating, move it to earlier in the evening, such as after dinner.
Help your child learn to fall asleep without needing you or their devices to be there with them. That way, they will settle down on their own at bedtime. And when they wake up throughout the night, since we all wake up in the night, they will be able to go right back to sleep without becoming fully awake.
For more tips, see Autism Speaks for free downloads of brochures and visual aids.

  • She also receives funding from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
  • She has received funding from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Autism Speaks for research on sleep in children with ASD.

The world’s oldest conjoined twins have died – what we know about this rare condition

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Friday, April 19, 2024
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The world’s oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George Schappell, recently died, aged 62.

Key Points: 
  • The world’s oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George Schappell, recently died, aged 62.
  • Conjoined twins are incredibly rare, accounting for about one or two in every 100,000 births.
  • Because conjoined twins are so rare, it is difficult to know exactly how they come about.

Types of conjoined twins

  • There are 15 recognised types of conjoined twins, based on the various places their bodies fuse.
  • Conjoined twins are usually picked up on routine ultrasound scans performed during pregnancy.
  • Conjoined twins who are diagnosed by imaging are typically delivered by caesarean section.

Separating twins

  • One of the longest operations to separate conjoined twins, who were fused at the cranium, took more than 100 hours.
  • The earliest recorded attempt at surgical separation of conjoined twins dates back to AD945 in Armenia where conjoined brothers lived until middle age before one of them died.
  • Separating conjoined twins requires a significant amount of planning before surgery can begin, including, of course, lots of imaging such as ultrasound, CT and MRI.
  • Twins who share vital organs – or whose organs are fused – have a lower chance of a successful separation.


Adam Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 18, 2024
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Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

Key Points: 


Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 18, 2024
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Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn

Key Points: 


Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn

Orphan designation: Sodium (4-{(E)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-[4-(3-morpholin-4-yl-prop1ynyl)phenyl]allyloxy}-2-methylphenoxy)acetate Treatment of long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, 21/08/2020 Withdrawn

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 18, 2024
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Orphan designation: Sodium (4-{(E)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-[4-(3-morpholin-4-yl-prop1ynyl)phenyl]allyloxy}-2-methylphenoxy)acetate Treatment of long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, 21/08/2020 Withdrawn

Key Points: 


Orphan designation: Sodium (4-{(E)-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-[4-(3-morpholin-4-yl-prop1ynyl)phenyl]allyloxy}-2-methylphenoxy)acetate Treatment of long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, 21/08/2020 Withdrawn

Orphan designation: Tranilast Prevention of scarring post glaucoma filtration surgery, 27/07/2010 Positive

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Eurostat, Diagnosis, Civil service commission, Optic nerve, Brain, Pressure, Cell, Disease, Risk, Patient, Committee, Knowledge, Regulation, Cancer, EMA, IRIS, Scar, Eye, Wound healing, European, Allergic conjunctivitis, COMP, Collagen, Skin, European Commission, Safety, Glaucoma, Sclera, Pharmaceutical industry

Orphan designation: Tranilast Prevention of scarring post glaucoma filtration surgery, 27/07/2010 Positive

Key Points: 


Orphan designation: Tranilast Prevention of scarring post glaucoma filtration surgery, 27/07/2010 Positive