It seems that every week there is a new story about coffee in the press. They range from knee-jerk health warnings to studies that show decreased risk of suicide among coffee drinkers. It’s hard to know what to believe. Existing research has focused mainly on the effects of caffeine on cardiovascular disease (generally finding no [read the full story…]
A large observational study from Finland has found that women who drink alcohol and take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressives (SSRI) during the first trimester of pregnancy significantly increase their risk for foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The study also found an increase in risk for some major congenital malformations associated with the use of SSRIs during the first [read the full story…]
Valproate is widely used as a mood stabiliser for people with bipolar disorder, despite the fact that there is very little evidence that shows the effectiveness of this treatment. This observational cohort study looked at over 4,000 bipolar patients in Denmark who were treated with lithium or valproate from 1995 to 2006. The results favoured [read the full story…]
This study looked at 33 children with Down syndrome aged between 10–15 years along with a group of 33 typically developing 3–8 year-old children. The study authors measured motivation through observational assessments of curiosity, preference for challenge, and persistence, and also took reports from the children’s mothers. They found no significant group differences on motivation tasks. [read the full story…]
