Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

CMHDRE, DCSNO and CHF team up to help autistic children in New Orleans

The disappearance of reliable healthcare services in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina left many children with asthma no choice but to seek treatment in emergency rooms across town - if they sought care at all. Xavier University of Louisiana's Center for Minority Health & Health Disparities Research and Education, Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans and the Children's Health Fund have teamed up to reverse that trend by bringing reliable health care directly to these children.

21 Oct 2011

Combination of available medical tests helps identify risk of AD

With age, forgetfulness and other signs of memory loss sometimes appear, prompting elderly individuals to seek a medical evaluation amid fears that they may be experiencing early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common type of dementia among Americans aged 65 and older.

21 Oct 2011

Mortality rate from homicide, suicide more common in pregnant and postpartum women

Violent deaths are outpacing traditional causes of maternal mortality, such as hemorrhage and preeclampsia, and conflicts with intimate partner are often a factor, researchers report.

21 Oct 2011

Study links leptin levels with symptoms of depression, anxiety

A new study has for the first time in humans linked levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, with symptoms of depression and anxiety independent of weight.

21 Oct 2011

Neuroscientists discover normal brain communication in people with AgCC

Like a bridge that spans a river to connect two major metropolises, the corpus callosum is the main conduit for information flowing between the left and right hemispheres of our brains. Now, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology have found that people who are born without that link-a condition called agenesis of the corpus callosum, or AgCC-still show remarkably normal communication across the gap between the two halves of their brains.

20 Oct 2011

OPHN1 protein mediates mGluR-dependent longterm depression at synapses

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved part of a puzzle concerning the relationship between changes in the strength of synapses - the tiny gaps across which nerve cells in the brain communicate - and dysfunctions in neural circuits that have been linked with drug addiction, mental retardation and other cognitive disorders.

20 Oct 2011

Future-Directed Therapy for patients with major depression

Patients with major depression do better by learning to create a more positive outlook about the future, rather than by focusing on negative thoughts about their past experiences, researchers at Cedars-Sinai say after developing a new treatment that helps patients do this.

20 Oct 2011

New, more effective DBS paradigm may manage Parkinson's symptoms

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a devastating and incurable disease that causes abnormal poverty of movement, involuntary tremor, and lack of coordination. A technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) is sometimes used to improve motor symptoms in patients with advanced disease. Now, a study published by Cell Press in the October 20 issue of the journal Neuron describes a new and more effective DBS paradigm that makes real-time adjustments in response to disease dynamics and progression and may be better for managing symptoms of advanced PD.

20 Oct 2011

Link between neighborhood poverty and low-income women's health

Low-income women with children who move from high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhoods experience notable long-term improvements in some aspects of their health, namely reductions in diabetes and extreme obesity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago and partner institutions.

20 Oct 2011

Lancet series revisits issue of global mental health four years after first examination

Four years after the Lancet "published a special series on global mental health, highlighting the gap in provision between rich countries and the rest of the world," the journal has published a new series, including an "editorial accompanying the series, welcoming the initiatives in global mental health in the past four years, but saying 'there is still a long way to go and many challenges to face,'" IRIN reports.

20 Oct 2011

JHU, Eisai enter drug-discovery research collaboration for brain disorders

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has entered into a drug-discovery research collaboration with Eisai, a pharmaceutical company based in Tokyo, to develop proprietary small-molecule drugs for a range of brain conditions such as schizophrenia, pain, brain tumors and Alzheimer's disease.

20 Oct 2011

Winter health and safety tips

Winter is a special time for celebration. It should also be a time for added caution if you or someone in your family is an older adult. It is the season for falls, slips on icy streets, and other dangers that can be especially harmful for older adults. "Something as simple as a fall can be devastating for older men and women," says Dr. Evelyn Granieri, director of the Division of Geriatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Hospital. "Before the cold weather arrives, it is important to prepare."

20 Oct 2011

Common link between Type 2 diabetes and autism

A review of the genetic and biochemical abnormalities associated with autism reveals a possible link between the widely diagnosed neurological disorder and Type 2 diabetes, another medical disorder on the rise in recent decades.

20 Oct 2011

AAN updated guideline on how to best treat essential tremor

The American Academy of Neurology is releasing an updated guideline on how to best treat essential tremor, which is the most common type of tremor disorder and is often confused with other movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

20 Oct 2011

Research points to ineffective and incomplete drug education as factor in heroin initiation

Researchers found Chicago area suburban heroin users have little knowledge about the drug and its effects when they first use it, and they often substitute heroin after becoming addicted to prescription pain medications.

19 Oct 2011

Women more likely to develop lupus at earlier ages

Debilitating. Destructive. Life-altering. These are just a few words used to describe autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases affect women 8 times more often than men, with lupus being one of the most disruptive. Lupus is a disease that occurs when a person's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs instead of attacking foreign invaders such as common viruses and bacteria. Lupus often results in wide-spread inflammation, pain, swelling and organ/tissue damage throughout the body.

19 Oct 2011

Scott & White to create internships for doctoral psychology students

Scott & White Healthcare in Temple is one of three sites chosen for a $1.6 million initiative to create internships for doctoral psychology students that will help alleviate mental health workforce shortages in Texas.

19 Oct 2011

King's researchers create traditional Chinese medicine database

A comprehensive database developed by King's College London researchers that features the chemical components found in traditional Chinese medicines has been released to market this month, allowing researchers to explore age-old remedies in the search for tomorrow's new drugs.

19 Oct 2011

Melbourne Brain Centre to open on Monday

Melbourne will become a magnet for the world's best and brightest brain researchers after the official opening of the Melbourne Brain Centre at The University of Melbourne Parkville by the Premier Ted Baillieu and Federal MP Michael Danby on Monday.

19 Oct 2011

Forest Laboratories second quarter net sales increase 9.0% to $1,130.3 million

Forest Laboratories, Inc., an international pharmaceutical manufacturer and marketer, announced that reported earnings per share equaled $0.91 in the second quarter of fiscal 2012. Reported earnings per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 were $1.00.

18 Oct 2011