The University of Turku and the Turku University Central Hospital (TYKS) have signed a cooperation agreement on the establishment of the Turku Brain & Mind regional network. The network promotes brain health research and cooperation in Southwest Finland. The regional networks of the Neurocenter Finland have been in operation since late 2021.
Vaccine hesitancy was recognised as a serious threat by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019. Now, international experts are joining forces to combat vaccine hesitancy by tackling its root cause – misinformation. With EU funding, the project will harness the potential of health care professionals to challenge misconceptions about vaccination, reinforce confidence in vaccines, and encourage uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine, including being immunised themselves.
The FinnBrain research of the University of Turku has demonstrated for the first time that the stress the father has experienced in his childhood is connected to the development of the white matter tracts in the child’s brain. Whether this connection is transmitted through epigenetic inheritance needs further research.
Doctoral Candidate, MD Anna Aatsinki is finishing her dissertation about the connection between gut microbiota and development of the nervous system. Next, she aims to study how breast milk’s composition affects infant brain – there is plenty to discover in the nascent field.
A new study shows that individuals who react negatively to rules and recommendations and have lower trust in doctors more often use complementary and alternative medicine, that is, treatments or substances that are not included in the care offered or recommended by doctors. The study included altogether 770 parents of young children.
Mother's chronic prenatal psychological distress and elevated hair cortisol concentrations are associated with gut microbiota composition of the infant, according to a new publication from the FinnBrain research project of the University of Turku. The results help to better understand how prenatal stress can be connected to infant growth and development. The study has been published in the esteemed Psychoneuroendocrinology journal.
According to a new study, sleep problems among infants are very common and normally improve by the time the child reaches the age of two. The study was carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the University of Turku.
Study shows correlation between mothers’ self-reported pregnancy-related anxiety, and babies’ blood flow to brain areas responsible for emotional responses when listening to sad speech.
Children’s risk of being diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) increases if parents are diagnosed with any type of mental health disorder, discovered researchers from the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry of the University of Turku, Finland. Particularly parents’ alcohol and drug addiction and mother's depression were associated with reactive attachment disorder in children. The nationwide population-based study is the most extensive study on the risk factors of RAD.