Feature Channels: Mental Health

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Researchers associated with the Tulane Brain Institute say they have moved a step closer to improving treatment for chronic depression.

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The severity of symptoms can be reduced for individuals with emerging post-traumatic stress disorder through the use of smart phone apps, according to a new study published in the August edition of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking by researchers at the Uniformed Services University (USU).

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In new research, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have converted skin cells from healthy adults directly into motor neurons without going through a stem cell state. The technique makes it possible to study motor neurons of the human central nervous system in the lab. Unlike commonly studied mouse motor neurons, human motor neurons growing in the lab would be a new tool since researchers can’t take samples of these neurons from living people but can easily take skin samples.

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The UC Davis MND Institute has been awarded a 5-year, $12 million Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) grant, one of five in the nation, to create a “Center for the Development of Phenotype-based Treatments of Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

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While recent research has shown that loneliness can play a role in early death, psychologists are also concerned with the mechanisms by which social relationships and close personal ties affect health. A special issue of American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association, offers an overview of the science and makes the case for psychological scientists to work together to make close relationships a public health priority.

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A study by Indiana University neuroscientists published Sept. 5 finds that a nonpsychoactive compound in cannabis called cannabidiol, or CBD, appears to protect against the long-term negative psychiatric effects of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

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A simple scratch-and-sniff test may one day be able to help identify some people at greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease up to 10 years before the disease could be diagnosed, according to a new study published in the September 6, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A synthetic version of low molecular weight heparin is poised for clinical trials and development as a drug for patients with clotting disorders, and those undergoing procedures such as kidney dialysis, heart bypass surgery, stent implantation, and knee and hip replacement.

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Females tend to report more symptoms—and more severe ones--and may also take longer to recover from brain injuries than their male counterparts.

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Brain imaging study shows white matter structural changes in children correspond to severity of autistic traits.

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Martha Sajatovic, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Willard Brown Chair in Neurological Outcomes Research and Director of the Neurological and Behavioral Outcomes Research Center at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is the recent recipient of two major research grants.

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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, also known as Obamacare, aimed to achieve parity in coverage between mental health care and other forms of health care. A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that ACA plans may still fall short of that goal. The Penn researchers found that provider networks in ACA Marketplace plans tend to offer far fewer choices for mental health care, compared to primary health care. ACA plan networks last year included, on average, only 11 percent of all mental health care providers in their coverage areas — compared, for example, to 24 percent for primary care providers. The study is published today in the September issue of Health Affairs.

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Free Cholesterol Health Fairs Offered Throughout New York City

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An experimental imaging tool that uses a targeted fluorescent dye successfully lit up the benign brain tumors of patients during removal surgery, allowing surgeons to identify tumor tissue, a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows. The tumors, known as pituitary adenomas, are the third most common brain tumor, and very rarely turn cancerous, but can cause blindness, hormonal disorders, and in some cases, gigantism.

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Scientists have long deemed the ability to recognize faces innate for people and other primates. However, the findings of a new Harvard Medical School study cast doubt on this longstanding view. The study may shed light on autism spectrum disorders.

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Biologists have identified the roots of social preference. Studying tadpole brains, the researchers found the neurological basis of kinship attraction and the regulators controlling this behavior. The study carries implications for understanding social attraction and aversion in a range of animals and humans.

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Ongoing advances in understanding the functional connections within the brain are producing exciting insights into how the brain circuits function together to support human behavior—and may lead to new discoveries in the development and treatment of psychiatric disorders, according to a review and update in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Mount Sinai Research Finds That When Making Decisions, Monkeys Use Different Brain Areas to Weigh Value and Availability

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Australian researchers have shown that it is possible for stroke patients to improve motor function using special training involving connecting brain signals with a computer.

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Meningitis and Meningococcal septicaemia (Meningococcal Disease) is caused by a deadly bacteria that can kill in hours. Meningococcal disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose as initial symptoms mimic those of common colds. Researchers at Queen’s University and The Belfast Trust are working to improve testing to prevent unnecessary deaths while at the same time reducing the number of children treated unnecessarily ‘just in case.’

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Children from unintended pregnancies tend to experience more depressive symptoms in early adulthood than children from intended pregnancies, however there's little evidence of a causal relationship. Jessica Su, an assistant professor in UB's Department of Sociology, says the association between fertility intentions and depressive symptoms is more likely due to the mother's socioeconomic background and the accompanying lack of access to resources and services.

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A team of scientists from the University of Chicago designed a way to use microscopic capsules made out of DNA to deliver a payload of tiny molecules directly into a cell. The technique gives scientists an opportunity to understand certain interactions among cells that have previously been hard to track.

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A new study published in Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society has found that low-dose hormone therapy may be effective in easing sleep issues in this population.

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The “Paisa” population, native to northwest Colombia, has far greater rates of suicide than average. A consortium of investigators that includes Javier I. Escobar, MD, associate dean for global health and professor of psychiatry and family medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who grew up in this region of Columbia, was recently awarded a $5.5 million research grant to study the relationship between genetics and behavioral disorders in the “Paisa” population. He believes believes a better understanding of the origins of mental illness, which his research seeks to determine, will lead to enhanced and more personalized treatment for patients across the globe.

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Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center reversed age-related memory loss in mice by boosting blood levels of osteocalcin, a hormone produced by bone cells.

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Federal and state government can alter or hinder state and local activity through a legal mechanism called preemption – when a higher level of government blocks the action of a lower level of government. A new study evaluates whether it could it be used to block taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.

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The fact that spouses often become caregivers for their ailing partners is quite common in American life – and few roles are more stressful. But Michael Poulin, a UB psychologist, is part of a research team that has published a study suggesting that spending time attempting to provide help can be beneficial for a caregiver's well-being, but only under certain circumstances.

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Gift from UC San Diego alumnus will support novel pilot program allowing UC San Diego psychology undergraduates to gain clinical experience in psychiatry

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In a large, international study led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and five coordinating centers around the world, an informational campaign aimed at patients, families and physicians led to a 9-percent absolute increase in the use of anticoagulation therapies. The increased drug adherence was accompanied by a small, but notable reduction in the risk of stroke.

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New insights into the long-lasting effects of Fragile X syndrome on connections in the brain during early development highlight the importance of early detection and treatment.

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The “involuntary treatment” of unwilling psychiatric patients has long been accepted as necessary in some cases, for the sake of patients and society, though it can raise serious ethical concerns as well as legal barriers. In a Viewpoint essay published online today in JAMA, Dominic Sisti, PhD, an assistant professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that some of the concerns about treating patients without their consent would be alleviated if the mental health profession recognized an important distinction among these cases.

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Removing a single gene from the brains of mice and zebrafish causes these animals to become more anxious than normal. Researchers from University of Utah Health show that eliminating the gene encoding Lef1 disrupts the development of certain nerve cells in the hypothalamus that affect stress and anxiety. These results are the first implication that Lef1 functions in this brain region to mediate behavior, knowledge that could one day prove useful for diagnosing and treating human brain disorders.

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A study led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers that tracked activity levels of 646 adults over 30 years found that, contrary to previous research, exercise in mid-life was not linked to cognitive fitness in later years.

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A recent study finds that 21 percent of recent mothers experiencing postpartum mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, do not disclose their symptoms to healthcare providers.

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Evolution has weeded out genetic variants associated with diseases for millennia and propagated genetic variants that protect against ailments, a comparative genetics study shows. But that good trend may have recently gone in reverse.

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A number of factors, including obesity, shorten the lifespan for those with schizophrenia by 20 years and by 10 years for those with bipolar disorder, compared to the general population. In the first study to compare long-term weight gain across psychotic disorders, researchers show that expanding waistlines and the way body fat is distributed are largely to blame.

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After-school activities like sports, clubs, dance lessons and volunteering provide important enrichment opportunities for schoolchildren, but too much participation without enough downtime, or participating for the wrong reasons could lead to unhealthy levels of stress in children.

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Individuals who have a high level of moral reasoning show increased activity in the brain’s frontostriatal reward system, both during periods of rest and while performing a sequential risk taking and decision making task according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Shanghai International Studies University in Shanghai, China and Charité Universitätsmediz in Berlin, Germany.

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A new joint study by the University of Haifa and Assuta Sleep Clinic has found that exposure of two hours prior to sleep to the blue light emitted by screens damages the quality of sleep. Exposure to screens that emitted "ordinary" red light, yielded similar results to sleep without exposure to light at all. “Fortunately there are various applications that filter the problematic blue spectrum and apply a weak red filter, reducing the damage to the darkness hormone melatonin,” explains Prof. Abraham Haim, one of the authors of the study

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Results suggest brain is able to adapt to biological risk of bipolar disorder

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Children and young people under-25 who become victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact self-harm and attempt suicide than non-victims. While perpetrators of cyberbullying are also more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviours, researchers say.

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Cedars-Sinai is bolstering an ongoing effort to strengthen the social safety net in the Los Angeles region with a third year of grants — totaling $4,827,930 — to programs that address the physical and mental healthcare needs of many underserved populations, including the homeless, at-risk youth, immigrants and others.

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Back-to-School Anxiety Tips from Loyola Medicine.

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An abundance of an amino acid called methionine, which is common in meat, cheese and beans, may provide new clues to the fetal brain development that can manifest in schizophrenia, University of California, Irvine pharmacology researchers report in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

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New research proves first link between depression and hindsight bias

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Skin-to-skin contact with mom helps newborns at risk of neonatal hypoglycemia stay out of the neonatal intensive care unit, according to a new study by clinicians at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center — McKinney.

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The Pacific University College of Health Professions held annual commencement exercises for six of its eight schools on Saturday, Aug. 12, on the Marsh Hall East Lawn at the Forest Grove Campus, highlighted by the awarding of the university's first-ever research-focused doctoral degree, a PhD, or doctor of philosophy.In all, nearly 250 students from the schools of Audiology, Dental Hygiene Studies, Graduate Psychology, Healthcare Administration and Leadership, Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies participated in the ceremony and celebrated with their families and friends.

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A University of Delaware researcher has developed an intervention to help at-risk children that will be implemented in Russia through a partnership with St. Petersburg University. Researchers at St. Petersburg will study its effectiveness with children who have been living in orphanages.