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

Pledge to reduce antipsychotic use in dementia sufferers

A new coalition of 44 organizations called the Dementia Action Alliance, has called for a cut in the use of anti-psychotic drugs for patients with dementia. The coalition includes Alzheimer's Research Trust, Alzheimer's Society, BUPA, Dementia UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of General Practitioners and Stroke Association.

26 Oct 2010

Eye-gaze technology opens world of communication for Rett Syndrome children

Special eye-gaze technology now being used in the Department of Neurology at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) is revealing the hidden, inner world of children who have Rett Syndrome, a rare and severe autism spectrum disorder that primarily affects little girls. It is a neurological disease in which mobility and autonomic functions are severely impaired, seizures and orthopedic problems are common, and the children lose functional hand use and the ability to speak.

26 Oct 2010

Alzheimer’s risk raised 157% with smoking: Study

A Kaiser Permanente study reported this Monday that heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles the odds of developing Alzheimer's disease. This study is one of the first of its kind to examine the long-term consequences of heavy smoking on Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia explained the study's principal investigator, Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. The research is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

25 Oct 2010

Anxiety sensitivity levels may help in choosing medical treatment for AF patients

Levels of anxiety sensitivity may be important in choosing medical treatment for patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF), Montreal Heart Institute researchers today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

25 Oct 2010

H70 study provides data on cognitive symptoms that predict dementia

Today´s 70-year-olds do far better in intelligence tests than their predecessors. It has also become more difficult to detect dementia in its early stages, though forgetfulness is still an early symptom, reveals new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, based on the H70 study.

25 Oct 2010

UCI scientists receive CIRM grants to improve stem cell treatments

UC Irvine scientists will receive grants totaling $9.35 million to help create stem cell treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, Huntington's disease and traumatic brain injury.

25 Oct 2010

UCSF scientists receive grants to refine embryonic stem cell-based strategies for neurological diseases

UCSF scientists have received two grants from the California Institutefor Regenerative Medicine to refine their human embryonic stem cell-based strategies for treating neurological diseases and liver failure. The goal of the grants is for researchers to make significant strides toward the development of potential therapies within the next three years.

25 Oct 2010

ASD-related health care expenditures escalate in state Medicaid programs

Autism was described as early as 1940, but a marked increase in the prevalence for the broader class of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) during the past decade highlights the demand for treatment of affected individuals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the prevalence of ASD was one in 110 children in 2006 and increased at an average annual rate of 57% between 2002 and 2006. The rising prevalence has heightened concern about the financial impact of treating ASDs in the private and public health care systems.

25 Oct 2010

UTHealth renewed as 'Center of Excellence' by NIDA

By delivering an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to drug abuse and addiction research, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has been renewed as a "Center of Excellence" by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.

22 Oct 2010

Researcher develops workshop method to help children deal with PTSD

A child who grows up in the midst of political conflict, such as war or terrorism, can exhibit severe emotional scars. But certain qualities, which psychologists call "resilience factors," can help overcome this adversity.

22 Oct 2010

TOBI reduces mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis, Pa lung infection

A new analysis of data from more than 12,000 people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) lung infection in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Patient Registry shows that use of TOBI (Tobramycin Inhalation Solution, USP) was associated with a 21% reduction in mortality in the following year.

22 Oct 2010

Mount Sinai School of Medicine launches inner-city mental health program for children

Research has shown that nearly 40 percent of youth in low-income communities exhibit significant mental health needs - needs which remain largely unaddressed due to a myriad of barriers, including system-level obstacles, such as waiting lists, stigma related to seeking mental health care, poverty, family stress and competing priorities.

22 Oct 2010

Parent-only treatments for childhood obesity work effectively: Researchers

A study led by a researcher at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine indicates that parent-only treatments for childhood obesity work equally as well as plans that include parents and child, while at the same time more cost effective and potentially easier for families. The results were published today in the advanced online edition of the journal Obesity.

22 Oct 2010

UCLA researchers receive NIH grant to study HIV-positive men from LA County jails

A team of UCLA researchers has received a $4.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study ways to get HIV-positive men who have been released from Los Angeles County jails into medical care and on sustained treatment.

22 Oct 2010

Study finds online activities does not effect long-term psychological health

After the campus shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008, hundreds of affected students turned to social media websites to share their grief and search for solace. A new study of these students found that their online activities neither helped nor harmed their long-term psychological health.

21 Oct 2010

ISCTM to develop solutions for CNS clinical trial methodology

The International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM) met recently to develop solutions to challenges facing CNS clinical trial methodology.

21 Oct 2010

Researcher creates novel theory about chronic depression

Chronic depression is an adaptive, reparative neurobiological process gone wrong, say two University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, positing in a new theory that the debilitating mental state originates from more ancient mechanisms used by the body to deal with physical injury, such as pain, tissue repair and convalescent behavior.

21 Oct 2010

Tel Aviv University research links obsessive-compulsive disorder to common childhood illness

A common infection in children, strep throat can lead to problems with a child's heart, joints or brain if left untreated. And when the brain is involved, motor and mental functioning may be compromised, leading to syndromes such as attention deficit disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

21 Oct 2010

Team effort involving providers and parents needed to address rise in pediatric obesity rates

Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in the US. Furthermore, the key to successful treatment is a team effort involving providers and parents.

21 Oct 2010

Annual conventional Pap smear is cost effective to reduce cancer incidence and mortality

A study of the options for reducing cancer incidence and mortality among women who have been treated for precancerous cervical lesions found that an annual conventional Pap smear is a cost effective strategy.

21 Oct 2010