Psychiatry News and Research

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Psychiatry is the treatment, study and prevention of mental disorders.

APS conference explores gender disparities in cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease and other gender-specific conditions - such as menopause, pregnancy, depression, and obesity - will be explored in depth at a two day conference being sponsored by the American Physiology Society (APS), the nation's leading organization for the advancement of this vital science, with support from the American Heart Association and the Society for Women's Health Research.

14 Oct 2011

Researchers control itch without dulling morphine's pain-killing effects

Itching is one of the most prevalent side effects of powerful, pain-killing drugs like morphine, oxycodone and other opioids. The opiate-associated itch is so common that even women who get epidurals for labor pain often complain of itching. For many years, scientists have scratched their own heads about why drugs that so effectively suppress pain also induce itch.

14 Oct 2011

October is designated as Lewy Body Dementia month

The month of October is designated as Lewy Body Dementia month. Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a degenerative brain disease that progressively impairs thinking and movement, while impacting behavior and sleep. Although it affects an estimated 1.3 million people in the U.S., LBD is under-recognized, under-diagnosed and under-treated. It is most often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

13 Oct 2011

A 'one-size-fits-all' approach to mental health leads to global 'diagnostic inflation'

In this Globalist opinion piece, Ian Dowbiggin, an author and professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada, examines the issue of "diagnostic inflation" within the psychiatry field in the last half century and how, "as Ethan Watters and others have argued, lately American psychiatry has been exporting its diagnoses and treatments to other cultures, 'homogenizing how the world goes mad.'"

12 Oct 2011

UCLA's screening system can target stem cells responsible for glioblastoma

Researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed and used a high-throughput molecular screening approach that identifies and characterizes chemical compounds that can target the stem cells that are responsible for creating deadly brain tumors.

12 Oct 2011

Health situation grim as Greece weathers economic crisis

Researchers warn that the health of people in Greece could be in danger in the wake of the financial crisis. Writing in The Lancet, they said cuts to hospitals' budgets meant they were being overstretched.

11 Oct 2011

Lack of sleep during adolescence could lead to more than dragging, foggy teens

An ongoing lack of sleep during adolescence could lead to more than dragging, foggy teens, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study suggests.

10 Oct 2011

Caffeine may predict risk of drug abuse

Parents of young caffeine consumers take heed: that high-calorie energy drink or soda might present more than just obesity risk. In fact, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that examined responses to stimulants, an individual's subjective response to caffeine may predict how he or she will respond to other stimulant drugs, possibly reflecting differences in risk for abuse of other more serious drugs of abuse, such as amphetamine and cocaine.

10 Oct 2011

New $13.75M data-mining project to better understand factors behind mental disorders

Chicago will be home to a new $13.75 million project that will apply data mining methods to better understand the genetic and environmental factors behind neuropsychiatric disorders.

7 Oct 2011

Hysterectomy increases brain iron levels in both men and women

The human body has a love-hate relationship with iron. Just the right amount is needed for proper cell function, yet too much is associated with brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

7 Oct 2011

Depression frequently seems to uncouple 'Hate Circuit' in the brain

A new study using MRI scans, led by Professor Jianfeng Feng, from the University of Warwick's Department of Computer Science, has found that depression frequently seems to uncouple the brain's "Hate Circuit".

4 Oct 2011

Alzheimer's may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases

The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer's disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

4 Oct 2011

PE, CT appear to reduce PTSD symptoms in patients with recent traumatic event

Prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, and delayed prolonged exposure therapy, appear to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in patients who have experienced a recent traumatic event, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Oct 2011

New data on long-term use of antidepressant drugs

There is increasing awareness that, in some cases, long-term use of antidepressant drugs (AD) may enhance the biochemical vulnerability to depression and worsen its long-term outcome and symptomatic expression, decreasing both its likelihood of subsequent response to pharmacological treatment and the duration of symptom-free periods. A review of literature suggesting potential side effects during long treatment with antidepressant drugs was performed.

3 Oct 2011

Public health officials should determine community storage of anthrax-preventing antibiotics

As part of preparations for a possible large-scale anthrax attack, public health officials on the state and local levels should determine where and how anthrax-preventing antibiotics should be stored in their communities, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

1 Oct 2011

Lifespan researcher receives Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University

Peter J. Snyder, Ph.D., vice president of research for Lifespan, received one of 10 Ig Nobel Prize awards during the annual ceremony last night at Harvard University.

1 Oct 2011

UNC professor wins 2011 PECASE award for research into alcohol addiction

During a White House ceremony next month, Thomas L. Kash, PhD, assistant professor in the department of pharmacology and the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine will receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

30 Sep 2011

Single hallucinogen dose creates personality change lasting for a year

A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called "magic mushrooms," was enough to bring about a measureable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.

29 Sep 2011

Experts to explore implications of mental disorders at 12th EMBL | EMBO conference

You are invited to attend the 12th joint EMBL | EMBO Science and Society Conference - Making sense of mental illness: biology, medicine and society. The conference takes place 4-5 November 2011 at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre, Heidelberg, Germany. Press registration is free.

28 Sep 2011

Stimulant prescription use for ADHD has increased steadily from 1996-2008

The prescribed use of stimulant medications to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rose slowly but steadily from 1996 to 2008, according to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The study was published online ahead of print September 28, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

28 Sep 2011