Psychiatry News and Research

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

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

Asians struggling with alcoholism may benefit from naltrexone

New UCLA psychology research indicates that Asians who are struggling with alcoholism may benefit especially from naltrexone, one of three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcoholism.

28 Sep 2011

BioLineRx's BL-1020 Phase IIb EAGLE trial data on schizophrenia to be presented at ECSR

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, today announced that data from the successfully completed Phase IIb EAGLE study of BL-1020, a first in class GABA-enhanced antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia, will be presented at the 3rd European Conference on Schizophrenia Research (ECSR) held in Berlin, Germany.

28 Sep 2011

Coffee reduces risk of depression in older women: Study

A new study shows that risk of depression decreases as coffee consumption increases. The findings however apply only to post-menopausal women who smoke.

27 Sep 2011

NYU Langone to lead NVVLS on long-term effects of PTSD

NYU Langone Medical Center announced that Charles R. Marmar, MD, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Psychiatry and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, was selected to lead the clinical evaluation component of a national survey — the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study (NVVLS) — on the long-term effects of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other related health conditions on Vietnam veterans.

27 Sep 2011

URBAN ARCH Consortium to examine consequences of alcohol on HIV disease

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health (BUSM/BUSPH), Boston Medical Center (BMC), the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Pittsburgh, have joined together to examine the consequences of alcohol on HIV disease.

27 Sep 2011

Parental motivation could improve diabetes management in high-risk youth

A little motivation for parents could go a long way toward improving young diabetes patients' ability to manage their own care, a Wayne State University researcher believes.

26 Sep 2011

Researchers identify micro-RNA that regulates learning processes, Alzheimer's

Proteins are the molecular machines of the cell. They transport materials, cleave products or transmit signals - and for a long time, they have been a main focus of attention in molecular biology research. In the last two decades, however, another class of critically important molecules has emerged: small RNA molecules, including micro-RNAs. It is now well established that micro-RNAs play a key role in the regulation of cell function."A micro-RNA regulates the production of an estimated 300-400 proteins.

26 Sep 2011

Dementia patients have poor outcomes in hospital

If you have dementia and need to be admitted to hospital to be treated for other illnesses or injuries, your prospects for recovery are substantially worse than for other patients, research has found.

22 Sep 2011

Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in early-onset dementia

No cure exists for frontotemporal dementia, which strikes between the ages of 40 and 64 and accounts for at least one in four cases of early-onset dementia. Caused by the death of cells in the front and sides of the brain, the disease can lead to dramatic changes in a patient's personality and behavior, including the loss of the ability to communicate.

22 Sep 2011

Humour therapy as effective as antipsychotic drugs in managing agitation in dementia patients

Humour therapy is as effective as widely used antipsychotic drugs in managing agitation in patients with dementia - and avoids serious drug side effects, a new study shows.

22 Sep 2011

Common genetic variants linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Knowledge about the biological origin of diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions is critical to improving diagnosis and treatment.

22 Sep 2011

Researchers identify common genetic mutation for ALS, frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- two fatal neurodegenerative disease with distinct but sometimes overlapping symptoms -- are triggered by a common mutation in many cases, according to researchers who say they have identified the mutated gene.

22 Sep 2011

Advertisements seduce consumers to buy products

Are you wooed by advertising? Of course you are. After all, it's one thing to go out and buy a new washing machine after the old one exploded, quite another to impulse-buy that 246-inch flat screen TV that just maybe, in hindsight, you didn't really need.

21 Sep 2011

UIC wins HRSA-MCHB grant to expand disabilities training program

A successful University of Illinois at Chicago-based interdisciplinary effort to train leaders in programs that help children with developmental disabilities and autism has won a $3.3 million five-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration-Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

21 Sep 2011

The obese can’t help but eat: Study

A new study suggests that brains of people who are obese may be wired differently for impulse control, such as resisting a doughnut when their blood sugar levels drop, compared with people who are not obese.

20 Sep 2011

Common DNA variations contribute to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

A team of over 250 researchers from more than 20 countries have discovered that common genetic variations contribute to a person's risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

20 Sep 2011