Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Nottingham experts identify risk factors associated with childhood obesity

High birth weight, rapid weight gain and having an overweight mother who smokes can all increase the risk of a baby becoming obese later in childhood, research by experts at The University of Nottingham has found.

30 Oct 2012

Ultra-high performance SPECT systems announced by MILabs

MILabs, B.V. the Netherlands‐based innovator and manufacturer of pre‐clinical SPECT/PET/CT imaging devices announces the release of the Plus! Systems: the U‐SPECT+ and U‐SPECT+ /CT.

29 Oct 2012

Eye movement tests to diagnose schizophrenia

There is a long history of research on impaired eye movements associated with schizophrenia. Using a series of simple viewing tests, researchers of a new paper in Biological Psychiatry explored the ability of these eye movement tests to distinguish people with and without the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

29 Oct 2012

ESDM improves social skills and brain responses to social cues

The Early Start Denver Model, a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder as young as 12 months, has been found to be effective in improving social skills and brain responses to social cues in a randomized controlled study published online today in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

29 Oct 2012

AACAP honors Pittsburgh psychiatric professor with Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation award

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is pleased to announce David A. Axelson, M.D, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and Director, Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, as the recipient of the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Award for Research in Depression or Suicide for his paper, "Course of Subthreshold Bipolar Disorder in Youth: Diagnostic Progression From Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified," published in the October 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

29 Oct 2012

Homocysteine not linked to cognition in FEP

Patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis have significantly higher homocysteine levels than mentally healthy individuals, researchers report.

26 Oct 2012

Allergies and hygiene: an interview with Sally Bloomfield

Allergies occur when the body overreacts to substances in our environment, such as pollen, dust mites and so forth. What happens is that when we are exposed to these potential threats, the immune system should react, deal with it, and then shut down.

26 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: Medicare provider cuts 'won't work'; A 'pamphlet isn't a plan'

Once the presidential election is over, Congress will try to address the Medicare cost shortfall one way or another. They will almost certainly consider a method that is guaranteed to fail: Medicare rate cuts for doctors and hospitals. It's been tried before, most notably as part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Not once since the BBA required annual physician rate cuts have those cuts been implemented, leading every year to the predictable and depressing final-hours "doc fix" vote.

26 Oct 2012

Highlights from 25th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress

In the course of the 25th ECNP Congress leading experts and five and a half thousand psychiatrists, neurologists, neuroscience researchers and public health professionals from over 90 different countries met from 13 to 17 October 2012 in Vienna, Austria, to celebrate ECNP´s 25-year anniversary and engage in groundbreaking debate.

26 Oct 2012

Feinstein Institute to study overall impact of WTC disaster on responders

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has been awarded a $1 million grant from the World Trade Center Health Program, which is administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Safety to comprehensively study the overall physical, mental and socioeconomic impact of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on responders, as well as identify the linkage between socioeconomic status and health among all occupations of WTC responders.

26 Oct 2012

Study identifies essential mechanism that regulates calcium flow into mitochondria

Most healthy cells rely on a complicated process to produce the fuel ATP. Knowing how ATP is produced by the cell's energy storehouse - the mitochondria -- is important for understanding a cell's normal state, as well as what happens when things go wrong, for example in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and many rare disorders of the mitochondria.

26 Oct 2012

Extended exercises may improve people’s satisfaction with life

Had a bad day? Extending your normal exercise routine by a few minutes may be the solution, according to Penn State researchers, who found that people's satisfaction with life was higher on days when they exercised more than usual.

26 Oct 2012

HCFC1 protein may cause intellectual disability

Genetics researchers at the University of Adelaide have solved a 40-year mystery for a family beset by a rare intellectual disability - and they've discovered something new about the causes of intellectual disability in the process.

26 Oct 2012

NAFC conducts online survey to examine women’s perceptions about overactive bladder

The National Association For Continence (NAFC) is conducting an anonymous online survey to understand the perceptions women, age 40-65, have about overactive bladder (OAB) and what they are prepared to do about its symptoms. Using constructs from the Health Belief Model, this survey aims to explain the fears and preparedness women have towards general health and OAB. This research is conducted by Kelton Global Research, a market research company and supported by a grant from Merck Pharmaceuticals.

26 Oct 2012

Simple approach results in low rates of MRSA infections

High compliance with hand hygiene and focusing on other simple infection control measures on medical, surgical and neuroscience intensive care units resulted in reduced rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection by 95 percent in a nine-year study, according to research findings by Virginia Commonwealth University physicians presented during IDWeek 2012.

26 Oct 2012

Social disadvantage may increase risk for psychosis

Results from a UK study suggest that social disadvantage is associated with an increased risk for developing psychosis.

25 Oct 2012

Axis I disorder risk increased in youth with parental history of BD

Children with a parental history of bipolar disorder are at increased for DSM-IV axis I disorders, research shows.

25 Oct 2012

Behavioral counseling can impact risky drinking habits

Counseling about alcohol misuse can reduce the number of drinks consumed weekly among adults with risky drinking habits, according to a review of the evidence.

25 Oct 2012

Maternal mental health important to successful motherhood but overlooked

In the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog, Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts, writes, "On the list of health risks women are subjected to, mental health seldom reaches the top. And while there are a lot of stigmas around many diseases, there may not be a close rival to the stigma those with diseases of the mind face each day. Mental illness pushes those who are already marginalized in developed and developing societies, even further into the margins."

25 Oct 2012

BioLineRx intends to conduct interim analysis of BL-1020 Phase II/III trial for schizophrenia

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today that it intends to conduct an interim analysis of the Phase II/III CLARITY trial of BL-1020, a first in class, orally available, GABA-enhanced antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia.

25 Oct 2012