A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Swearing helps to lessen the pain
SWEARING AFTER injury may be good for your health, new research suggests.
Scientists from Keele University in the UK found that using foul language can have a “pain-lessening effect”.
Researchers found that volunteers were able to keep their hands submerged for longer in ice cold water when repeating a swear word than those repeating an innocuous one.
The team believes the pain-lessening effect occurs because swearing triggers the “fight or flight” response.
Galway Quakers in joint aid project for children of Gaza
CHILDREN IN Gaza who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder may be helped by a joint project initiated by the Quaker community in Galway last night.
The Gaza Focusing Project is a partnership between the Palestine Trauma Centre and the Focusing Institute, a not-for-profit organisation founded in the US in 1986.
The voluntary project’s aim is to support a team of community-based facilitators, trained in the psychological technique known as “focusing”. The technique is said to help adults and children to develop an inner resilience in the face of difficult living conditions.
Research by the Palestine Trauma Centre found that some 41 per cent of Palestinian children suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder between 2006 and 2008. More than 300,000 also required psychological and medical services.
One of the Palestine Trauma Centre’s founders, Dr Mohamed Altawil of the University of Hertfordshire in England, travelled to Galway for last night’s launch, along with Ms Mary Jennings, a member of the Focusing Institute (Ireland). The event was facilitated by Mr Richard Kimball and fellow members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Dr Altawil believes the wellbeing of an “entire generation” is at stake because of 60 years of hostilities in the Gaza strip.
The Gaza Focusing Project Support Group, which is a registered charity, aims to raise funds to support the training of facilitators who will travel to the region. More details from Richard Kimball at rkimball@eircom.net.
Celebrities go pottery over meningitis research
POTTERY PAINTED by some of Ireland’s leading broadcasters will go under the hammer today to raise funds for meningitis research.
The online auction organised by the Meningitis Research Foundation will feature pottery with designs painted by RTÉ’s Claire Byrne and Miriam O’Callaghan, Ian Dempsey from Today FM and Newstalk’s Sean Moncrieff. Pieces from actor and author Amy Huberman and Irish national football team assistant manager Marco Tardelli will also feature in the sale.
The auction is part of a week of events held by meningitis organisations across the globe to raise awareness of the devastating effects of meningitis and septicaemia in the run up to World Meningitis Day on Sunday April 24th.
Young adults are twice as likely as others to carry the bacteria that causes meningitis – the inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord – and septicaemia, the blood poisoning form of the disease.
Symptoms, which include fever, vomiting, an aversion to bright light, neck stiffness and a rash, come on rapidly and can lead to brain damage, deafness and death if not detected quickly.
Up to 300 cases are recorded each year, with up to 10 per cent of patients dying. Some 20 per cent of survivors are left with after effects. Some forms of these diseases are preventable through vaccination.
As well as joining in the auction today at meningitis.org/auction, the foundation encourages people to free text Time to 50308 for a video explaining the symptoms of both conditions.