Mental Health Research
03 Sep Cannabis Component May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease Progression
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Chuanhai Cao Ph.D.
Neuroscientist at the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute
and the USF College of Pharmacy.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Cao: The major goal of this study was to investigate the effect of Ä9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a major component of marijuana, on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. THC has long been known to have anti-inflammatory effects, but we were looking to determine whether THC directly affected amyloid beta (Aâ). Aâ aggregation is considered one of the key pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Our study showed that extremely low doses of THC were able to decrease Aâ production, inhibit Aâ aggregation, and enhance mitochondrial function in a cellular model of AD. Decreased levels of amyloid beta, coupled with THC’s inhibitory effect on aggregation may protect against the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
27 Aug Children of Bipolar Parents Have Increased Novelty-Seeking and Impulsivity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Manpreet K. Singh, MD MS Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Faculty Scholar in Pediatric Translational Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Singh: Our research team used a monetary incentive delay paradigm to measure fronto-limbic activity and connectivity associated with anticipation and receipt of reward and loss in healthy offspring of parents with bipolar I disorder. We found that compared to youth offspring without any family history of psychopathology, high-risk offspring had aberrant prefrontal and cingulate activations and connectivity during reward processing. Further, greater striatal, amygdalar, and insula activations while anticipating and receiving rewards and losses were associated with greater novelty-seeking and impulsivity traits in high-risk youth.21 Aug Post Concussion: Returning To Activity Brings Variable Risks
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Li-Shan Chou, Ph.D
Professor and Department Head Department of Human Physiology
University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1240
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Li-Shan Chou: The findings from this study indicate that pre return-to-activity (RTA), the adolescents with concussion reduced their medial/lateral displacement and velocity during dual-task walking, suggesting an improvement in gait balance control, while significantly increasing these frontal plane motion variables during dual-task walking post RTA, suggesting a worsening of frontal plane COM control following RTA. These data suggest that frontal plane motion during dual-task walking are sensitive to the effects of return to activity following concussion and may reveal a possible regression in gait stability following return to activity.
20 Aug Yoga May Improve Cognitive Health in Older Adults
Medical Research Interview with:
Neha P. Gothe, PhD
Division of Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Gothe: The yoga group was speedier and more accurate on tests of information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than it had been before the intervention. Participants in the yoga group showed significant improvements in working memory capacity, which involves continually updating and manipulating information. They were also able to perform the task at hand quickly and accurately, without getting distracted.
13 Aug Systemic Inflammation Linked To Depression and Psychotic Disorders
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr Golam Khandaker
Clinical Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Khandaker: The study shows low grade systemic inflammation may have a role in the pathogenesis of depression and psychotic disorders. Low grade systemic inflammation may also be a common cause for chronic physical and psychiatric illnesses.
The study shows that higher serum levels of the circulating inflammatory marker, interleukin 6 (IL-6), in childhood is associated with nearly two-fold increased risk of developing depression and psychotic disorder in young adulthood. This association persisted after taking into account effects of age, sex, social class, ethnicity, body mass index, maternal depression, and past psychological and behavioural problem in the participant.
We studied a sample of 4,500 individuals from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort, taking blood samples at age 9 and following up at age 18, to see if they had experienced episodes of depression or . We excluded children with an infection at the time of blood test at age 9 years.
11 Aug Nursing Home Patients: Cognitive Function Linked To Emergency Room Visits
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Caroline E Stephens PhD
Department of Community Health Systems
University of California, San Francisco
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Stephens: In our national random sample of nursing home residents, we found that mild cognitive impairment (CI) predicted higher rates of ED visits compared to no CI, but interestingly, ED visit rates decreased as severity of cognitive impairment increased. However, after nursing home residents were evaluated in the ED, severity of CI was not significantly associated with higher odds of hospitalization.
Another important finding was that the proportion of nursing home residents using feeding tubes more than tripled in advanced or end-stage dementia, from 9.9% to 33.8%. Moreover, tube-fed nursing home residents had 73% higher rates of total ED visits, but once evaluated in the ED, they were no more likely to be hospitalized than those without feeding tubes. This finding is particularly striking given the numerous existing studies that have questioned the utility and appropriateness of using feeding tubes in people with advanced dementia.
09 Aug Fish Consumption Linked to Brain Health
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
James T. Becker, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurology
University of Pittsburgh
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Becker: We found that people who eat baked or broiled (but not fried) fish at least once every week had significantly larger brain volumes in areas critical for memory and cognition, namely, hippocampus, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and orbital frontal cortex.
09 Aug Stroke: Lower Cognitive Function Linked to Increase Risk, Mortality
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kumar Bharat Rajan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
Section of Population Sciences
Chicago IL 60612
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the paper?
Dr. Rajan: Lower levels of cognitive functioning was associated with incident stroke and the change in cognitive functioning was increased after incident stroke. Cognitive functioning was an independent marker of mortality even after accounting for incident stroke.
31 Jul Psychotic Experiences Have Inherited and Environmental Influences
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Angelica Ronald
Genes Environment Lifespan (GEL) laboratory
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
Department of Psychological Sciences
Birkbeck, University of London
London WC1E 7HX
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Ronald: Psychotic experiences, such as paranoia, hallucinations and disorganised thinking, are commonly reported by adolescents. Until now it has not been understood whether mild variations in psychotic experiences in the community are part of the same construct as more severe psychotic experiences in adolescence. Our findings suggest that they are. In our study, over 10,000 16-year-old adolescents in England and Wales were assessed on measures of psychotic experiences. The study identified a close link between normal, less frequent psychotic experiences and more severe and frequent experiences in the general population. A classic twin design was employed, which enabled us to conduct analyses investigating the role of genetic and environmental influences on psychotic experiences. The same genetic influences appeared to play a role across the spectrum of severity of psychotic experiences.
The study found that psychotic experiences are moderately heritable in adolescence in the general population. This suggests it would be worth directing molecular genetic endeavours towards this area, which has so far received very little attention in terms of causal explanations. We also show that psychotic experiences have considerable environmental influence; in fact, environmental influence appears to play a larger role in causing psychotic experiences in adolescence than for diagnosed psychotic disorders in adults, such as schizophrenia. This result suggests a fruitful avenue will be to tackle what environmental risk factors influence adolescents to have psychotic experiences.
31 Jul Brainwaves Demonstrate Susceptibility To Stress
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rainbo Hultman, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Laboratory for Psychiatric Neuroengineering, Principal Investigator
Affective Cognitive and Addiction Disorders (ACAD) Research Group
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Center for Neuroengineering Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hultman: Using a mouse model of stress-induced psychiatric dysfunction, we found that the brainwave patterns in two key brain regions (prefrontal cortex, PFC and amygdala, AMY) encode for susceptibility to such dysfunction. Furthermore, such susceptibility can be predicted from the brainwave patterns in these regions before the onset of stress.
31 Jul Adolescent Insomnia Linked to Depression, Anxiety and Chronotype
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pasquale K Alvaro School of Psychology University of Adelaide South Australia, Australia Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: In adolescents, insomnia is related to depression beyond chronotype (a classification system for circadian rhythms or body clock), anxiety and age. Insomnia is also related to Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) beyond chronotype, depression and age. Depression accounts for the relationship between insomnia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Social Phobia (SP). Furthermore, an evening chronotype (delayed sleep phase, that is, preferring to go to bed in the early morning) predicts insomnia beyond depression, anxiety and age. Moreover, an evening chronotype predicts depression beyond insomnia, anxiety and age. Finally, insomnia and depression account for the relationships between an evening chronotype and panic disorder, OCD, SAD and SP.30 Jul Genetic Blood Test May Predict Suicidal Behaviors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Zachary A. Kaminsky, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
Baltimore, MD, 21205
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kaminsky: A DNA methylation increase at the SKA2 gene was identified and observed across three post mortem brain tissue cohorts and was associated with suicide. The DNA methylation at the SKA2 gene was associated with lower gene expression of the gene. The same association was found in blood allowing us to attempt to predict suicidal behaviors in living individuals.
25 Jul Pre-Dementia Syndrome Characterized by Slow Gait, Cognitive Complaints
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joe Verghese, MBBS, MS
Professor of Neurology and Medicine,
Chief, Integrated Divisions of Cognitive & Motor Aging (Neurology) and Geriatrics (Medicine), Director, Resnick Gerontology Center,
Murray D Gross Memorial Faculty Scholar in Gerontology,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome (MCR) is a newly described pre-dementia syndrome that is characterized by presence of slow gait and cognitive complaints in older adults without dementia or mobility disability. In this study, we report that the prevalence of Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome was 9.7% in 26,802 adults aged 60 and older from 22 cohort studies based in 17 countries. Presence of Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome was also associated with an almost two-fold risk of developing dementia.
25 Jul Widowhood May Delay Dementia
MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation
Dr. Bryan K. Woodruff
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Mayo Clinic, Arizona
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Woodruff: There is evidence in the medical literature supporting a negative impact of losing a spouse for health conditions such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, but this has not been evaluated in terms of the impact of widowhood on the development of dementia. We used the National Alzheimer’s Disease Coordinating Center (NACC) database, which pools data gathered by multiple federally-funded Alzheimer’s disease research centers to try to answer this question. Specifically, we looked at the age at which individuals ultimately developed dementia in both individuals who lost their spouse and in those who remained married over the course of the study. Surprisingly, the data we analyzed did not support a negative impact of losing a spouse in individuals who had no cognitive difficulties when they entered the study, and we saw a paradoxical effect of widowhood in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
23 Jul Moral Judgment Impairment Can Be Seen With Both Dementia and Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Agustin Ibanez, PhD Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience Institute of Cognitive Neurology and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council and Sandra Baez, MS; Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Institute of Neuroscience, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Both patients with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and patients with frontal strokes presented moral judgment abnormalities. Their deficits were related to impairments in the integration of intentions and outcomes. Specifically, both patient groups judged moral scenarios by focusing on the actions' outcomes instead of the protagonists' intentions.17 Jul Breast Cancer: Does Tamoxifen Affect Cognitive Function in Postmenopausal Women?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Florien Boel MSc
VU University Medical Center
Department of Medical Psychology
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: In postmenopausal breast cancer patients, endocrine therapy is widely used, and often for many years on end. Endocrine therapy is thought to have an effect on cognitive functioning, but previous studies have not yet accounted for the possible influence of the diagnosis of cancer and subsequent anxiety, depression or fatigue on cognitive performance. In addition, the cognitive effects of endocrine therapy after long-term use are still mostly unknown.
Therefore, we compared cognitive functioning of postmenopausal breast cancer patients who underwent surgery and/or radiotherapy (N=43) with the cognitive performance of women who also received adjuvant endocrine therapy (tamoxifen) (N=20) and a group of healthy matched individuals (N=44). In accordance with the literature, we found that especially cognitive domains that rely heavily on verbal abilities (verbal memory and fluency) seem to be at risk for deterioration during long-term treatment (~2.5 years) with tamoxifen.
17 Jul Post-Concussion Symptoms Mimic Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Emmanuel Lagarde
Director of Research at INSERM, France
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lagarde: Concussion accounts for more than 90 percent of all traumatic brain injuries, although little is known about prognosis for the injury. The symptoms cited as potentially being part of post concussion syndrome fall into three areas: cognitive, somatic and emotional. But the interpretation of symptoms after concussion should also take into account that injuries are often sustained during psychologically distressing events which can lead to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
14 Jul Depressed Patients With Prostate Cancer Have Worse Outcomes
Posted at 21:42h
in Author Interviews, Depression, Journal Clinical Oncology, Metabolic Syndrome, Prostate Cancer
MedicalResearch.com with:
Sandip M. Prasad MD
Assistant Professor
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC and
Scott E. Eggener, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Co-Director, Prostate Cancer Program
Director of Translational and Outcomes Research, Section of Urology
University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL;
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Depressed men with a diagnosis of intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer have worse overall outcomes than those without baseline depression and are less likely to undergo definitive therapy. The difference in overall survival between men with and without a depression diagnosis was independent of prostate cancer treatment type.
12 Jul Psychiatric Medications Linked To High Number of ER Visits
MedicalResearch.com interview with: Lee M. Hampton, MD, MSc: Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Hampton: The study, which used CDC's national outpatient adverse drug event surveillance system (NEISS-CADES), found that there are almost 90,000 estimated annual emergency department visits by adults for adverse drug events from therapeutic use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives and anxiolytics, lithium salts or stimulants between 2009 and 2011. Almost one in five of those emergency department visits (19.3%) resulted in hospitalization. Sedatives and anxiolytics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics each caused 20,000 to 30,000 emergency department visits annually. However, relative to how often each of these types of medications was prescribed at outpatient visits, antipsychotics and lithium salts were more likely to cause emergency department visits for adverse drug events than were sedatives, stimulants, and antidepressants. Antipsychotics caused 3.3 times more emergency department visits for adverse drug events than sedatives, 4.0 times more emergency department visits than stimulants, and 4.9 times more emergency department visits than antidepressants relative to their outpatient use. Out of the 83 specific drugs the study looked at, ten drugs were implicated in nearly 60% of the emergency department visits for ADEs from therapeutic use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives and anxiolytics, lithium salts or stimulants. Zolpidem was implicated in nearly 12% of all such emergency department visits and 21% of such emergency department visits involving adults aged 65 years or older, more than any other antipsychotic, antidepressant, sedative or anxiolytic, lithium salt or stimulant.08 Jul Sleep Deprivation Can Induce Symptoms Resembling Schizophrenia
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ettinger
Departments of Psychology
University of Bonn
Bonn, Germany
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Ettinger: We found that 24-hour sleep deprivation induced subjective cognitive, perceptual and emotional alterations resembling the symptoms of schizophrenia. We also observed that sleep deprivation led to a deficit in a sensorimotor filter mechanism called prepulse inhibition (PPI), similar to the disturbance seen in schizophrenia.
07 Jul Brain Imaging Of Psychedelic State Shows Resemblance To REM Sleep
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Enzo Tagliazucchi: Goethe University, Germany MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Tagliazucchi: The main finding of the study is the objective discovery of an "expanded mind" and a more "unpredictable mind" after the ingestion of a psychedelic (in this case psilocybin, a compound found in...
07 Jul Traumatic Brain Injury: Maintaining Hemoglobin With Transfusions or EPO Found Not Helpful
Posted at 15:03h
in Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Brain Injury, JAMA, Transfusions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Claudia Robertson, MD Professor, Department of Neurosurgery Baylor College of Medicine One Baylor Plaza Houston, Texas 77030 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Robertson: We studied two issues related to treatment of anemia after severe traumatic brain injury. One issue was the optimal hemoglobin transfusion threshold for this subgroup...
01 Jul Women May Be More Comfortable Seeking Mental Health Support Than Men
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Flora I Matheson PhD
Centre for Research on Inner City Health
St. Michael's Hospital
Toronto, ON, Canada
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Matheson:
- We found that women were 10 per cent more likely to use mental health services than men.
- And that within any 3-year period, women with physical illness used medical services for mental health treatment 6 months earlier than men.
29 Jun Maternal Anxiety Disorders Linked To Excessive Infant Crying
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Johanna Petzoldt
Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
Chemnitzer Straße
Dresden, Germany
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We investigated 286 mother-infant couples from the Maternal Anxiety in Relation to Infant Development (MARI) Study from Dresden (Germany) via standardized interview and questionnaire. We found a robust relation from maternal lifetime anxiety disorders as early as prior to pregnancy to excessive crying in the offspring. Also, the association increased when considering incident anxiety disorders during pregnancy and after delivery.
26 Jun Adults with Asperger Syndrome May Experience Increase Risk of Suicidal Thoughts
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Sarah Cassidy PhD
Autism Research Centre,Department of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Cassidy: We found that adults with late diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome (31 years on average), were at significantly higher risk of contemplating suicide during their lifetime (66%) than those from the general UK population (17%), and a sample of patients with Psychosis (59%).
We also found that adults diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome with a history of depression, were significantly more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, and suicide plans or attempts, than those with Asperger Syndrome without a history of depression. A higher level of autistic traits was also a significant risk factor for having planned or attempted suicide.
24 Jun Lifetime Intellectual Enrichment Might Delay Cognitive Impairment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prashanthi Vemur, Ph.D.
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Vemuri: Lifetime intellectual enrichment might delay the onset of cognitive impairment and be used as a successful preventive intervention to reduce the impending dementia epidemic. We studied two non-overlapping components of lifetime intellectual enrichment: education/occupation-score and mid/late-life cognitive activity measure based on self-report questionnaires. Both were helpful in delaying the onset of cognitive impairment but the contribution of higher education/occupation was larger.
23 Jun Booming Need for Long-Term Dementia Care Requires Multifactorial Solutions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Regina Shih PhD
Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Shih: RAND identified 25 high-impact policy options to improve the delivery, workforce, and financing of long term care, with a specific eye toward those with dementia and their caregivers. Undertaking these 25 policy options would achieve five goals: increasing public awareness of dementia and its signs and symptoms; improving access to long-term care; promoting high-quality, person-centered care like that offered at Lakeside Manor; providing better support for family caregivers; and reducing the burden of dementia costs on individuals and their families.
Of these 25 policy options, we identified four unique options that have never been identified in any national plan on dementia or long-term care. This is likely because we focused on the intersection between dementia and long-term care, rather than just one or the other. And, rather than only focusing on actions that federal agencies can take, we identified policy options by interviewing 30 different stakeholders in the public and private sectors at the local, state, and national levels. These unique, high-impact policy options have to do with
- Linking private health insurance with private long-term care insurance;
- Including home and community-based services in state Medicaid plans;
- Establishing cross-setting teams focused on returning the person with dementia to the community;
- Expanding financial compensation to family caregivers.
23 Jun Is There An Association Between Economic Crisis, Unemployment and Suicide?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Grégoire Rey
Directeur du CépiDc
CépiDc-Inserm
Hopitâl Bicêtre France
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rey: We found that, between 2000 and 2010, unemployment and suicide rates were globally associatedin eight Western European countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). However, this ecological association was weak (0.3% increase in suicide rate for a 10% increase in unemployment rate). Across countries, it was inconsistently confounded by the effect of other concomitant features of the economic crisis.
MedicalResearch: Were any of the findings unexpected?
19 Jun Depression Linked To Higher Risk of Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with
Dr. Amit J.Shah MD
Assistant Research Professor
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Emory, Rollins School of Public Health
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Shah: We discovered that in a group of patients who were undergoing heart evaluation with coronary angiography, symptoms of depression predicted increased risk of coronary artery disease and death in women aged 55 years or less. This relationship was stronger in these women than older women, as well as in men aged 55 years or less. Over 1 in 4 women aged 55 years or less had moderate to severe depression, which was higher than any other group; these women had over twice the risk of having heart disease or dying over the next 3 years compared to those with none or mild depression.