Psychiatry News and Research

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

New insight into maternal love

The distinctive ability of mothers to identify the cries of their offspring is widely evident in nature, where it is critical to the survival of these offspring.

28 Feb 2008

Treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia

There is a wealth of scientific literature available on the treatment of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia.

28 Feb 2008

Restricting insulin doses increases mortality risk in women with type 1 diabetes

A new study led by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has found that women with type 1 diabetes who reported taking less insulin than prescribed had a three-fold increased risk of death and higher rates of disease complications than those who did not skip needed insulin shots.

28 Feb 2008

Diltiazem reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School have found that diltiazem, a drug used in the treatment of high blood pressure, reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model.

28 Feb 2008

Depressed teens respond well to combination therapy

More than half of teenagers with the most debilitating forms of depression that do not respond to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) show improvement after switching to a different medication combined with cognitive behavioral therapy, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and their colleagues in a multicenter study have found

27 Feb 2008

URMC cardiac team celebrates 100th heart transplant

The Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation at the University of Rochester Medical Center has reached a milestone, performing its 100th cardiac transplant surgery.

27 Feb 2008

Adult-onset obesity seen in mice when gene ubiquitin disrupted

Texas and California scientists who disrupted one type of the gene ubiquitin (Ubb) in mice observed neuronal death in the hypothalamus, impaired control of energy balance and adult-onset obesity in the rodents.

27 Feb 2008

Researchers isolate biomarkers in the blood that identify mood disorders

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have isolated biomarkers in the blood that identify mood disorders, a breakthrough that may change the way bipolar illness is diagnosed and treated.

26 Feb 2008

Researchers explore the antidepressant effects of ketamine

Drug treatments for depression can take many weeks for the beneficial effects to emerge.

22 Feb 2008

Comparison of venlafaxine and SSRIs in the treatment of depression

There are numerous antidepressant medications currently on the market, but sadly, many patients still experience the debilitating symptoms of depression even with treatment.

21 Feb 2008

Genetic and environmental hormonal response to stress in children depends on family context

A study conducted on 346 19-month-old twins by an international team led by Universite Laval professor of psychology Michel Boivin reveals that the genetic and environmental bases of hormonal response to stress depend on the context in which a child grows up.

21 Feb 2008

Mutation in TDP-43 gene may play role in common dementia

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have linked a mutation in a gene known as TDP-43 to an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the neurodegenerative condition often called Lou Gehrig's disease.

21 Feb 2008

Poor women more likely to suffer from postpartum depression

Poor women in Iowa are much more likely to suffer from postpartum depression than their wealthier counterparts, a new University of Iowa study shows.

20 Feb 2008

Siblings of schizophrenia patients display subtle shape abnormalities in brain

Subtle malformations in the brains of patients with schizophrenia also tend to occur in their healthy siblings, according to investigators at the Silvio Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shape abnormalities were found in the brain's thalamus.

20 Feb 2008

New key finding in neurodevelopment

A longstanding puzzle in neurodevelopment may have yielded up a key secret. A team led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College says they have determined how events at the very tips of the developing neuron's long, skinny axon affect gene transcription back in the cell's distant nucleus.

20 Feb 2008

As depression symptoms improve with antidepressants, hopelessness can linger

People taking medication for depression typically see a lot of improvements in their symptoms during the first few months, but lagging behind other areas is a sense of hopefulness, according to new research from the University of Michigan Health System.

18 Feb 2008

Epidemic of pain addressed by leading physicians

The public health problem that needs to be addressed next is the epidemic of pain, according to pain medicine physicians who have come together to discuss the latest in pain research and treatment at the 24th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), February 12-16 at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee (Orlando), Florida.

17 Feb 2008

Fighting the global obesity epidemic

According to Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and director of the Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital, people who are most successful in preventing weight gain, and dieters who lose weight and keep the pounds off, have made major changes in their in diet and exercise routines.

17 Feb 2008

Researchers find new U.S. trend in antibiotic resistance

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, examining bacterial isolates obtained in hospital and non-hospital clinical settings between 2000 and 2006, has identified drug-resistant strains of E. coli and Klebsiella bacteria in more than 50 blood, urine and respiratory samples.

11 Feb 2008

Mild Alzheimer's sufferers show rapid decline in financial skills over one year

New research from UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) shows that patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) have a dramatic decline in their ability to make financial decisions over a one year period.

11 Feb 2008