Feature Channels: Mental Health

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The case-control method, where researchers compare patients with a particular disease to healthy control participants, has increased understanding of disease-related effects at a group level. However, psychiatric pathology complicates assumptions of the method – that the illness can be defined and that patients cleanly fit the definition. Although psychiatry has characterized different diagnoses, patients within a diagnosis vary widely and symptoms often overlap diagnostic labels.

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Kimon Bekelis, MD, is a cerebrovascular/endovascular fellow at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and instructor of health policy at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

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Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) are starting the first clinical trial in the world using focused ultrasound to treat patients with epilepsy.

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Over two thirds (68 per cent) of the public would like more rest, according to the world’s largest ever survey on the topic.

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Can having a few drinks help people with clinical depression feel better? Yes. At least in terms of biochemistry.

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A woman’s perception that she is experiencing a high number of nighttime hot flashes can trigger mild symptoms of depression during menopause, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Comprehensive occupational therapy care requires a family-centered approach including treatment for the person with dementia and education for the caregiver. Clinical assessments exist to evaluate the capabilities of a person with dementia, but until now, occupational therapists did not have a validated instrument to gain understanding of the caregiver’s perceptions of the person with dementia’s abilities. Occupational therapist researchers at the Jefferson College of Health Professions at Thomas Jefferson University developed a first-of-its-kind tool to close this gap and published their findings in OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health.

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Hunter Coffman was diagnosed with a brain tumor at Seattle Children’s when he was 2-years-old. While preparing for the surgery to remove the tumor, Hunter’s parents were also presented with the opportunity to enroll Hunter in Seattle Children’s Phase 1 trial of BLZ-100 Tumor Paint, a drug that aims to improve surgical outcomes by acting as a molecular flashlight that allows surgeons to visibly distinguish a tumor from normal brain tissue. BLZ-100 Tumor Paint was invented by a team led by Dr. Jim Olson, pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s.

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The Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) announced a new white paper that explores the state of the science for the most misdiagnosed form of dementia. The white paper was developed to create an awareness that there are increasing research opportunities to gain critical insights into LBD.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center a grant worth an estimated $8.7 million over five years for the establishment of a new center for research into Alzheimer’s disease.

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In an analysis of existing studies that used MRI images to study the brain’s white matter, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago describe common brain abnormalities found in multiple emotional disorders. Their findings are published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical.

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To drive awareness of a common but little-known dementia, Lewy body dementia (LBD), the Lewy Body Dementia Association and families across the nation stand together in solidarity, making October, Lewy Body Awareness Month.

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Meditation can help tame your emotions even if you’re not a mindful person, suggests a new study from Michigan State University.

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Time is of the essence when getting people stricken with acute ischemic strokes to treatment. And the use of stent retrievers — devices that remove the blood clot like pulling a cork out of a wine bottle Current professional guidelines recommend that stent retrievers be used to remove blood clots from stroke patients within six hours for people to benefit. But new research finds that the procedure has benefits for people up to 7.3 hours following the onset of a stroke.

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While the association between alcohol and homicide may seem obvious, there has been no recent study of alcohol involvement in homicide victimization in U.S. states. This study drills down into the subject, looking at how often alcohol was involved in homicide victimization, and what socio-demographic and other factors may be predictors.

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Sufferers of migraines, cluster headaches, tension headaches or other headache disorders are at greater risk of developing a thyroid condition called hypothyroidism, according to a study by University of Cincinnati College of Medicine researchers.

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The gut may play a key role in preventing the onset of Parkinson's disease. UI biologists found that in roundworms, an immune response from intestinal cells sparks a series of chemical signals that ultimately preserves neurons whose death is associated with Parkinson's. The results appear in the journal Cell Reports.

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PHILADELPHIA — More and more girls are expected to have to confront breast cancer fears as modern genomics technology makes it easier to detect strong risk factors such as inherited BRCA1/2 mutations. But a new study shows that adolescent girls in families with a history of breast cancer or a high-risk BRCA1/2 mutation do not experience negative psychological effects, on average, and even seem to have higher self-esteem than their peers.

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The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital will provide screening and mental health care for hundreds of children and families that have been affected by violence in many of Chicago’s South and West side neighborhoods.

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Having a happy spouse may be related to better health, at least among middle-aged and older adults, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

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A naturally occurring enzyme called hyaluronidase may be an effective alternative treatment for spasticity, or muscle stiffness, a disabling condition in people who have had a stroke or other brain injury. That is the finding of a study from NYU Langone Medical Center published in the July print issue of EBioMedicine.

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Stimulating the brain via electricity or other means may help ease symptoms of various neurological and psychiatric disorders, with the method already used to treat conditions from epilepsy to depression. But what really happens when doctors zap the brain?

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EL PASO, Texas - Certain symptoms associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease, including agitation and depression, affect Hispanics more frequently and severely than other ethnicities. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience (JNCN), suggest that Alzheimer’s disease manifests itself differently in Hispanic populations.

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For patients who have cancer that has metastasized to the brain, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) results in statistically comparable survival rates, reduced cognitive decline and better quality of life (QOL), compared to whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), according to research presented today at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

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Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for cancer patients who receive the treatment for brain metastases decreases the likelihood of local recurrence but shows no positive difference in terms of overall survival (OS) or distant brain metastases (DBMs) rates, when compared to observation alone following surgical resection of brain metastases, according to research presented today at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

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An international study has found that having a high status job means that you are less likely to respond to standard treatment with medications for depression.

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Researchers from the University of Southampton have discovered a potential way of stopping one of the most aggressive types of brain tumour from spreading, which could lead the way to better patient survival.

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• A new review examines how anxiety may affect the health and care of patients with kidney failure who are undergoing hemodialysis.

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Heavy drinking can lead to neurophysiological and cognitive changes ranging from disrupted sleep to more serious neurotoxic effects. Aging can also contribute to cognitive decline. Several studies on the interaction of current heavy drinking and aging have had varied results. This study sought to elucidate the relations among age, heavy drinking, and neurocognitive function.

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Community characteristics play an important role in perpetuating teen suicide clusters and thwarting prevention efforts, according to a new study.

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Even as doctors across America encourage their patients to share concerns about depression, anxiety and other concerns, a new study suggests the doctors may be less likely to seek help for those same concerns about themselves.

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New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics are designed to help pediatricians identify more serious depression and suicidal tendencies so teens get the help they need to climb out of any dark holes before they get stuck.

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Supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant worth a projected $3.3 million over five years, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center investigators have expanded their research into the cumulative effects of head impacts in young football players to the high school level.

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Loneliness is linked to poor physical and mental health, and is an even more accurate predictor of early death than obesity. To better understand who is at risk, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine conducted the first genome-wide association study for loneliness — as a life-long trait, not a temporary state. They discovered that risk for feeling lonely is partially due to genetics, but environment plays a bigger role.

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An international study has found that having a high status job means that you are less likely to respond to standard treatment with medications for depression. These results, which may have implications for clinicians and their patients, employers and public policy, are presented at the ECNP Congress in Vienna*.

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The type of fat you eat matters, but a new study suggests that the benefits of good fats vanish when stress enters the picture.

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A recent study demonstrates that some individual characteristics and precipitating circumstances may be more prominent in children who die by suicide compared with early adolescents who die by suicide. It is the first study to exclusively focus on precipitating circumstances of suicide in children and early adolescents, defined as ages 5 to 14.

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a switch that redirects helper cells in the peripheral nervous system into "repair" mode, a form that restores damaged axons.

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Cognitive function improves with aerobic exercise, but not for people exposed to high levels of mercury before birth, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Adults with high prenatal exposure to methylmercury, which mainly comes from maternal consumption of fish with high mercury levels, did not experience the faster cognitive processing and better short term memory benefits of exercise that were seen in those with low prenatal methylmercury exposures.

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Loyola Medicine has launched a multidisciplinary Concussion Program to diagnose and treat concussions in athletes and other patients.

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University of California, Irvine and SUNY Downstate Medical Center researchers have created a model illustrating how economic globalization may create stressful employment factors in high-income countries contributing to the worldwide epidemic of cardiovascular disease.

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Incorporating laughter into a physical activity program that is focused on strength, balance and flexibility could improve older adults’ mental health, aerobic endurance and confidence in their ability to exercise, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

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Children differ substantially in their mathematical abilities. In fact, some children cannot routinely add or subtract, even after extensive schooling. This new paper proposes that math disability arises from abnormalities in brain areas supporting procedural memory. Procedural memory is a learning and memory system that is crucial for the automatization of non-conscious skills, such as driving or grammar.

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Columbia University researchers found that a mood-stabilizing drug prescribed to many patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may decrease negative symptoms for people with a certain variant of the COMT gene.

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First systematic study of genetic, clinical profiles of pregnant women on antidepressant

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Working with animals, a team of scientists reports it has delivered stem cells to the brain with unprecedented precision by threading a catheter through an artery and infusing the cells under real-time MRI guidance.

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Medicinal chemist and pharmacologist Daniel Martin Watterson, PhD, has been named the second annual winner of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s (ADDF) Melvin R. Goodes Prize for Excellence in Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery. The prize is the first to specifically recognize researchers working in promising areas of drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Dr. Watterson is the John G. Searle Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He also serves in an advisory role to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

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Relying on clinical symptoms of memory loss to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease may miss other forms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s that don’t initially affect memory, reports a new study.

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UofL epidemiologist Kira Taylor, Ph.D., found that women who reported feeling more stressed during their ovulatory window were approximately 40-percent less likely to conceive during that month than other less stressful months.

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Researchers at Stony Brook University have discovered that dystroglycan, a muscle cell receptor whose dysfunction causes muscular dystrophy, actually has a critical role in brain development.