SPHeRE Blog

Adolescent health: behaviours, outcomes and social context

Teenagers are often portrayed as unhappy, problematic and difficult to live with. However, many of us may forget that the adolescent stage manifests in rapid physical, psychological, cognitive and socio-cultural changes for young people that occur at a time when a sense of identity and autonomy is being established. So, […]

Fine motor skill development and the 21st century child

Growing up as a child in the 21st century is not as easy as we may think. In addition to not being as physically active and being at greater risk of obesity, children today are falling behind in terms of fine motor skill development. Fine motor skills involve the use […]

Smoking prevalence and attributable disease burden

  This Lancet study published on 5th April 2017 (http://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30819-X/fulltext) systematically analysed almost 3000 data sources across 195 countries between 1990 and 2015 to demonstrate comprehensively that smoking is still one of the main killers worldwide. This huge undertaking was possible owing to a large Global Collaborator Network which the […]

Treating a mildly underactive thyroid – levothyroxine may not be the answer

It is controversial how to best treat individuals with subclinical hypothyroidism. There is some observational data that it may be associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease but that it may also have a protective role in those ≥ 85 years. This led investigators to establish the TRUST trial. […]

Lifestyle Behaviours for Health and Wellbeing

Introduction In Ireland, the Department of Health has made a number of commitments to understanding and improving the health of our population. The vision for a Healthy Ireland is to create a supportive society where all individuals can enjoy health and wellbeing to their full potential. Though we have made […]

Weekly update

Vacancies    Post-doctoral researcher: The Epilepsy RCQPS project are currently recruiting for a post-doctoral researcher for a 10 month contract. This contract is ideally suited to scholars who recently completed a PhD and are waiting to take up another post-doc position. The Epilepsy RCQPS project is a nationwide project using ethnography […]

Weekly update

Vacancies  Mindfulness and Multiple Sclerosis Project (2 years Part-time), School of Psychology & Centre for Pain Research, NUI Galway: Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a part time, fixed term position as a Researcher (Research Assistant or Postdoctoral Researcher level) in the School of Psychology and Centre for Pain […]