Author: Tom Patriot

No safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy

Tom Patriot

An international group of researchers has taken one of the first major steps in finding the biological changes in the brain that drive fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). New work using chaos theory to analyze brain signals, discussed this month in the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing, shows the long-term effects. Researchers found that teenagers who were exposed to alcohol while in the womb showed altered brain connections that were consistent with impaired cognitive performance. Their findings were reached by measuring the responses from a brain imaging technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG)…

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Great Earnings Numbers Push Facebook Stock Higher, While Lousy Earnings Drive Down Tesla

Tom Patriot

Great earnings pushed Facebook shares up nearly six percent while lousy earnings drove down Tesla’s stock more than four percent. With the reporting season now in the middle innings, it’s clear that the earnings recession feared by investors — when profits actually decline — will not come to pass this quarter. Profit growth has slowed significantly for companies across the economy but on average, it hasn’t gone negative. Facebook, as it did last quarter, blew away analyst estimates for earnings and revenues. Despite all the angst about user and regulator backlash over privacy…

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Half of all American workplaces offer health and wellness programs

Tom Patriot

Workplace health promotion programs are increasing in the U.S., according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and RTI International. Nearly half of all workplaces in the nation offer some level of health promotion or wellness programs and 17% of workplaces with 50 or more employees offer comprehensive workplace health promotion programs. Laura Linnan, professor in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and founding director of…

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4 THINGS YOUR DERMATOLOGIST WISHES YOU DID IN THE SPRINGTIME

Tom Patriot

Winter is arguably the toughest season on your skin — from the chilling temperatures to the harsh winds and just overall lack of moisture in the air. When spring finally rolls around and temperatures start to creep up,  our complexions are often in need of some major TLC. Thanks to the dry air and artificial heat, our winter skin-care regimen tends to be centered around deep hydration, which begs the question: What should be our skin-care focus in the spring? To get some answers — and make strides towards our best skin of the…

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