Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Health study in northern Uganda calls for improved services for internally displaced persons

There are over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Uganda due to the 20-year conflict waged between a rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, and the central government.

24 Nov 2008

Tapentadol hydrochloride approved for pain relief

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tapentadol hydrochloride, an immediate-release oral tablet for the relief of moderate to severe acute pain.

24 Nov 2008

Exercise helps manage anger in overweight children

Regular exercise seems to reduce anger expression in overweight but otherwise healthy children, researchers said.

24 Nov 2008

New plan to tackle off-label prescribing

Physicians and policy-makers know that drugs are frequently prescribed to treat certain diseases despite a lack of FDA approval - a practice known as off-label prescribing.

24 Nov 2008

Pregnancy study finds strong association between two antidepressants and heart anomalies

Women who took the antidepressant fluoxetine during the first three months of pregnancy gave birth to four times as many babies with heart problems as women who did not and the levels were three times higher in women taking paroxetine.

24 Nov 2008

Valdoxan - a melatonergic antidepressant - receives positive European opinion for major depressive disorder

The first melatonergic antidepressant - Valdoxan/Thymanax (agomelatine) - has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for its use in the treatment of adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

21 Nov 2008

New report shows the financial and social value of investing in medical research

A study commissioned by three leading scientific institutions has demonstrated substantial financial and social benefits from investment in medical research.

21 Nov 2008

FDA approves tapentadol immediate-release tablets for pain in adults

Millions of Americans with moderate to severe acute pain and their health-care providers will soon have a new treatment option.

21 Nov 2008

NJISA experts available for interviews on Alzheimer's disease

An estimated five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, a disease that affects parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language and is the most common form of dementia among older people.

21 Nov 2008

Bipolar disorder genes, pathways identified

Neuroscientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine have created the first comprehensive map of genes likely to be involved in bipolar disorder, according to research published online Nov. 21 in the American Journal of Medical Genetics.

21 Nov 2008

FDA approves Banzel (rufinamide) for Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug, Banzel (rufinamide), for use as an adjunctive (add-on) treatment for seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

20 Nov 2008

Patients at risk of self-harm after discharge from psychiatric care

Non-fatal self-harm may occur in over ten per cent of adults discharged from psychiatric inpatient care in England and Wales, according to new research from the University of Bristol published in the BMJ. The risk was found to be greatest in the first month, Professor David Gunnell and colleagues found.

20 Nov 2008

Prana Biotechnology's compound could halt Alzheimer's pathology

Prana Biotechnology has announced that a recent independent study conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has demonstrated that the Company's Metal-Protein Attenuating Compounds (MPACs) could halt Alzheimer's pathology.

19 Nov 2008

Anal sex being practiced by more teens

A new study by researchers at the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center suggests that the incidence of heterosexual anal sex is increasing among teens and young adults - particularly those who have recently had unprotected vaginal sex.

19 Nov 2008

Stress found to impair decision making in rats

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington have found that a single exposure to uncontrollable stress impairs decision making in rats for several days, making them unable to reliably seek out the larger of two rewards.

18 Nov 2008

Patients with depressive disorders or schizophrenia more likely to re-attempt suicide

Men and women who have tried to kill themselves and are suffering from unipolar disorder (major depression), bipolar disorder (manic depression) or schizophrenia are at a very high risk of committing suicide within a year of their first attempt, concludes a study published today on bmj.com.

18 Nov 2008