Study of close to 400 infants found no association between interrupted sleep and later developmental problems. New parents often expect their baby to start sleeping through the night by around six months of age. Indeed, they often receive messages from paediatricians and others about the importance of early sleep consolidation. But authors of a study […]
Researchers now have a new, more refined tool, the Polygenic-Risk-Score (PRS) on Spark, to help them understand an individual’s genetic risk for common illnesses, including mental illnesses. In an initial validation study, the newly developed software package successfully generated a polygenic risk score for a cohort of Canadian women that explained and predicted more of […]
Those administering policies that separate children from their parents clearly don’t understand the effects of early childhood trauma on the developing brain. In an interview with Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald, Dr Michael Meaney explains how parents insulate their children from stresses while their brains mature. When children are traumatically separated from parents their brain is forced to […]
Since arriving at McGill and the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital more than 30 years ago, Alan Evans has helped the University and its network of affiliated hospitals build one of the world’s largest infrastructures of neuroscience research – from the high-resolution Big Brain atlas to supercomputing data-storage technology. These developments and others by his fellow researchers […]
Eczema may be an early warning sign for potential mental health problems. According to Dr Patricia P Silveira, “When treating young girls for childhood cutaneous allergies, such as eczema, healthcare professionals should be aware of the increased potential for vulnerability for mental health problems. Understanding and investigating these types of associated risks is crucial to […]
A new study in mice provides molecular-level proof that the environment we are raised in continues to exert significant influence on brain development beyond childhood into adolescence. The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrated that the environment in which an adolescent is raised causes measurable epigenetic modifications that influence which genes are activated or muted […]
A new study shows that childhood adversity can get ‘under the skin’ and influence epigenetic markers in our blood. Interestingly, the study also suggests for the first time, that perinatal interventions, that tackle early adversity, might have similar effects. The findings are based on a 30-year trial of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), which has shown […]
Moving beyond the overly simplistic unhealthy lifestyle paradigm, researchers are slowly uncovering the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms behind obesity. Recent research by Ludmer Centre researcher Dr Patricia P Silveira at McGill and the Douglas Institute and her colleagues has shown that altered dopamine signaling may increase a preference for more palatable high-sugar foods leading to a risk […]
We can now project the potential impact of adversity in the womb on a child’s development and their risk of developing a mental illness as an adult. Ludmer Centre researchers and an international team led by Dr Patricia P Silveira at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University have created the first screening […]
New research highlights the limitations of using standard birth-weight cutoffs to define long-term vulnerability. Children born too small or too large are at increased risk for several diseases later in life, including metabolic and mental-health problems. Early identification is important to initiating proper and close follow-up; however, Ludmer Centre researchers and collaborators led by […]