Suicide is the cause of over 800,000 deaths around the world each year according to estimates from the World Health Organization, amounting to one death every 40 seconds. It affects all age groups and all parts of the world[1]. In France, the emergency services handle 220,000 suicide attempts every year[2], and 10,500 individuals take their own lives. Several […]
In 2014, Inserm researcher Jean-Philippe Lachaux launched the ATOL (Attentif à l’écOLe or Attention at School) program, which aims to use neuroscientific knowledge to improve children’s attention span in school. A thousand children from 40 classes, spanning the French equivalents of kindergarten to the 7th grade, have now benefited from this program, which is funded […]
From July 23 to 26, 2017, the Ninth IAS Conference on HIV Science, of which Inserm is a partner, will be held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. For this edition, the International AIDS Society (IAS) has teamed up with ANRS, the autonomous agency of Inserm, to coordinate and fund research on HIV/AIDS and […]
Life expectancy has been on the increase for several decades in Western countries. But what about life expectancy in good health? It is clear that the increase in life expectancy is a new source of inequality between men and women in terms of disability. The work of Jean-Marie Robine (Inserm unit 1198 “Molecular mechanisms in neurodegenerative […]
Today, the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) has decided to open up medically assisted procreation (MAP) to female couples and single women in France. In a report released on June 19, the National Academy of Medicine has advocated egg preservation for women who wish to do so. Medically assisted procreation (MAP) involves manipulating an egg and/or […]
With summer comes the festival season, which begins in France on June 21, with the traditional Music Day. It is also an opportunity to inform festival goers, and young people in particular, about the risk of hearing loss involved, especially at concerts with amplified music. Hearing is a partnership between the ear and the brain. […]
On Friday, June 16, 2017, the French Minister of Solidarity and Health said, in an interview with French daily Le Parisien, that she was considering “making the eleven vaccines intended for children mandatory, for a limited period of time”. Today, only childhood vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis are mandatory and eight others (against whooping […]
Numerous light-related technological innovations were presented at the Onlylight trade fair, which took place in Lyon from June 13 to 15. This year a number of public health issues were discussed, including “illuminating for health”, how to implement “good light habits”, and how to “illuminate for learning without risking myopia”. Read the press release “Dimly […]
With exam time looming, a certain number of students with intense workloads are succumbing to the use of stimulants to boost their intellectual capacities. Classified as psychotropics, stimulants are medicinal doping agents that boost the brain’s function by increasing its capacity for alertness and performance. Used to enhance memory and concentration at exam time, the […]