HKU School of Governance and Policy concludes landmark Inaugural Week, shaping governance and next generation leadership inspired by human progress and innovative ideas
Meeting Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (30-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)
Kyoto, Japan -- Our childhood experiences create ripple effects across our lives and with those whom we encounter. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, have been linked to depression and dementia, and even to perpetuating abuse. The intergenerational transmission of abuse is well- known to affect the children of victims, and recent evidence has also connected a high number of ACEs to an increased risk of abusing elders, indicating broad impacts on later-life relationships and violent behavior.
However, attention is also turning to positive childhood experiences -- PCEs -- which include supportive family relationships, school belonging, and community support. Previous research suggests more PCEs are associated with lower stress and depression along with better health in adulthood. However, their association with the perpetration of elder abuse and cumulative ACE exposure has not yet been explored. A team of researchers at Kyoto University resolved to investigate the association between these opposing factors.
"By distinguishing family and community-related PCEs, we aimed to capture childhood influences on elder abuse from multiple perspectives," says first author Chie Koga.
Experiences of cognitive problems such as memory loss or difficulty concentrating, known as ‘brain fog’, may not predict relapse in depression according to a new study published today (7 May) in the BMJ Mental Health that has confounded researchers’ expectations.
Researchers have identified four more members of Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition, one of whom was the subject of great debate lasting for more than a century.
Anthropologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo led the work that analyzed DNA samples extracted from skeletal remains and found matches with DNA donated by living descendants. These new discoveries bring the total number of identified sailors of the Franklin expedition to six.