Prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in England have risen 18%  year on year since the pandemic. This is higher than previously reported, and masks wide regional variations in prescribing rates, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Mental Health.

The team found significant associations between participants’ perceived risk factors of COVID-19, which include perceived severity and perceived susceptibility, and the COVID-19 outcome. Perceived susceptibility was associated with increased likelihood of COVID-19, but perceived severity was associated with decreased likelihood of reported COVID-19.

Dental office closures early in the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with a 62-percent increase in the share of emergency department visits from toothaches, abscesses, and other painful dental issues among children covered by Medicaid, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry.

Researchers at UZH have studied the impact of pandemics on the birth rate in Switzerland for the first time. While the number of births unexpectedly rose initially during COVID-19, it fell significantly during previous pandemics in history.

About The Study: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with varying developmental health outcomes in kindergarteners. Negative developmental trends existed immediately before the pandemic, with most persisting or slowing post-pandemic onset. These results highlight troubling trends in kindergarteners’ development, both before and during the pandemic, and more information is needed to understand why developmental outcomes are worsening over time.

In the ongoing battle against misinformation, one prevailing belief is that strong emotions cloud our judgment, making people more prone to accepting false news. However, a new study from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) challenges this simplistic assumption by shedding light on the complex role emotions play in shaping our perceptions and decision-making.

The average proportion of women in the sector is 18% on boards of directors and 15% in executive teams

COVID-19 often causes long-term neurological symptoms, the causes of which remain unexplained. Researchers at the HUN-REN Institute of Experimental Medicine (HUN-REN KOKI), Budapest, Hungary have uncovered the role of microglia, the main immune cells in the brain, in the development of COVID-19-related inflammation and neurological abnormalities. Their results, published in journal Nature Neuroscience, could help understanding how complex neuroimmune mechanisms contribute to brain injury and identify possible therpautic targets.

 

AI models can predict the lengths of time patients will spend in the ICU, helping hospitals better manage their beds and, ideally, cut costs. But until now, doctors have had a hard time trusting the AI predictions because it's not good at describing the reasons behind the predictions. New research by Indranil Bardhan, Texas McCombs professor of information, risk, and operations management, makes AI’s outputs more understandable and useful to ICU doctors, an approach called explainable artificial intelligence (XAI).

About The Study: In 2023, reported breast and colorectal cancer screening rebounded from COVID-19 pandemic–related declines and surpassed pre-pandemic estimates. These findings are encouraging given larger-than-expected declines in early-stage breast and colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2020 and increases in distant-stage breast cancer diagnoses through 2021. Cervical cancer screening rates remained below pre-pandemic levels, a troubling trend as early-stage diagnoses continued to decrease in 2021. The persistent decline may in part reflect longer-term declines in patient knowledge and clinician recommendation of cervical cancer screening.