Accordingly [sic] to old anecdotic [sic] reports the results of this study support the hypothesis of positive effects of natural lithium intake on mental health. Both, the new methodological approach and the results relevant for health may open new avenues in the collaboration between Geographic Information Science, medicine, and even criminology, such as exploring the spatial association between violent or impulsive crime and lithium content in drinking water.
Will Philadelphia’s experiment in eradicating ‘food deserts’ work? That's the question asked in the Washington Post about efforts to put fresh food in corner stores that typical sell only chips and soda. It turns out that studies have not yet shown that access to healthy food changes eating habits, hoped to address obesity. Among the lessons learned: people do not shop where they live.
- WaPo
Now it appears that, even for a single disease or condition, the balance between nature and nurture isn't fixed place to place. That's what researchers at Kings College London,writing this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, are showing with maps that identify hotspots in the U.K. where either genetic or environmental factors dominate.
How would you study this? Via a twin study.
The data comes from the Twins Early Development Study, which has followed more than 5,000 pairs of twins from birth over the last 16 years. Researchers tracked a number of factors for each child, including school performance, behavior problems, mood and attention disorders, and weight. By comparing the variation between children with genetic differences, they were able to figure out how genes and environment relate to each factor.
When they plotted the data on a map, they saw clear geographic patterns. "You can see areas where the variation is explained by genes, and areas where it's explained by the environment," says Davis.
