A team from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California San Diego has, for the first time, profiled chemical modifications in the DNA of individual neurons, giving the most detailed information yet on what makes one brain cell different from its neighbor.
Like the rest of the body, the brain loses flexibility with age, impacting the ability to learn, remember, and adapt. Now, scientists at University of Utah Health report they can rejuvenate the plasticity of the mouse brain, specifically in the visual cortex. Published today in PNAS, the study shows that manipulating a single gene triggers the shift, revealing it as a target for new treatments to recover the brain’s youthful potential.
The altered state of consciousness and temporary lack of ego that results from using psychedelic drugs could help some mental health patients recover from their symptoms, according to academics at the University of Adelaide.
A recent study by Penn Medicine researchers published online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry found that the costs associated with the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), one evidence-based treatment for young children with autism, were fully offset after only two years following intervention due to reductions in children’s use of other services.
A new study shows that Instagram photos can be examined by a computer to successfully detect depressed people. The computer results are more reliable (70%) than the diagnostic success rate (42%) of general-practice doctors. The approach promises a new method for early screening of mental health problems through social media.
A new study suggests that taking a “distanced perspective,” or seeing ourselves as though we were an outside observer, leads to a more confident and positive response to upcoming stressors than seeing the experience through our own eyes.
Researchers from Yale University School of Medicine have discovered that defects in the transport of lysosomes within neurons promote the buildup of protein aggregates in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The study, which will be published August 7 in The Journal of Cell Biology, suggests that developing ways to restore lysosome transport could represent a new therapeutic approach to treating the neurodegenerative disorder.
Matthew S. Kayser, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Penn Medicine, has been awarded a 2017 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF).
Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered that a patient’s awareness of a diagnosis of cognitive impairment may diminish their self-assessment of quality of life.
A new scoring method may help predict who is at high risk of serious bleeding after a stroke, according to a study published in the August 2, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
A lack of variation in the stress hormone cortisol from morning to evening is tied to a wide range of negative health conditions, including inflammation and immune system dysfunction, new Northwestern University research suggests.
A team of researchers has demonstrated that children with autism spectrum disorder have a unique composition of gut bacteria and urinary metabolites compared with unaffected children. The research, revealed today at the 69th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in San Diego, could lead to promising new treatment options for children with autism as well as earlier detection of the disorder.
The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is establishing the Asperger Syndrome Program of Excellence (ASPE) with a $5.4 million gift from an anonymous donor. ASPE aims to significantly improve understanding of the genetic causes of Asperger syndrome in order to energize the international research and clinical community.
The American Psychological Association, the nonprofit publisher of 90 psychology journals, has entered a partnership with the Center for Open Science to offer open science badges to authors, create an APA data repository to ease sharing and designate a preferred preprint server for APA journal articles.
The American Psychological Association has launched a comprehensive online resource to help psychologists and other mental health professionals, primary care providers, patients and families learn about evidence-based treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder.
People who are diagnosed with coronary artery disease and then develop depression face a risk of death that’s twice as high as heart patients without depression, according to a major new study by researchers at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City.
A brain penetrant drug — a small-molecule mimetic of BDNF, or brain derived neurotrophic factor — is able to improve brain performance in Rett syndrome mice — specifically synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and object location memory. The hippocampus is involved in learning and memory.
Dr. Vladislav Yakovlev, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been developing a more efficient way of propagating light through an opaque medium. Propagation of light refers to the way that light travels from one point to another, in this case, through a medium, such as human tissue.
Does a previous suicide attempt in a soldier’s unit increase the risk of additional suicide attempts? According to a study, “Risk of Suicide Attempt Associated with Previous Attempts in One’s Army Unit,” published July 26, 2017 in JAMA Psychiatry, the answer is yes.
The simple act of silently talking to yourself in the third person during stressful times may help you control emotions without any additional mental effort than what you would use for first-person self-talk – the way people normally talk to themselves.
It’s no secret that university life often includes alcohol use, which can sometimes cause harm. Yet harm can also extend beyond the drinker, such as “secondhand harm” that is caused by intoxicated people: accidents or domestic, physical, or sexual violence; interrupted sleep or property destruction; and arguments, problems with relationships, or financial problems. Prior research suggests that more than 70 percent of college undergraduates have experienced harm from other students’ drinking. This study examined the prevalence and types of secondhand harm among Canadian undergraduates, and whether certain personality risks for alcohol use disorder – impulsivity, sensation seeking, hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity – can predict secondhand-harm exposure.
As a child, Francine Conway often walked down dirt roads in Guyana to fetch water and wash clothes in a river. Today, she is the first African-American dean of one of the world’s leading professional schools of psychology: the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. And she plans to expand the school’s reach, to assist areas inside and outside the U.S. that lack access to mental health care.
The April 2015 civil unrest associated with Freddie Gray’s death while in police custody caused a significant spike of stress in mothers of young children living in affected neighborhoods, according to new research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM). The research, conducted before, during and after the period of civil unrest, found that the number of mothers with depressive symptoms increased from an average of 21% before the incident to an average of 31% during the acute period, spiking to 50% in August 2015. Mothers also reported concerns about disruptions in daily routines such as eating, sleeping and shopping, all of which can undermine maternal wellbeing and negatively affect parenting behaviors and subsequently, child development.
The Mountain Tremors is a partnership between Northern Arizona University's Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and School of Music and the Parkinson's Support Group in Flagstaff.
Mexican immigrants living in a rural Mississippi county and who are highly devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe coped better with immigration-related stress than those less devoted to the religious, Mexican symbol.
In the most comprehensive review to date of studies on subjective well-being, a team of researchers conclude there is a connection between happiness and health in some instances — from better wound healing and immune system function to emotional resilience. The researchers say what’s needed now is more work to unravel when, how and what types of subjective well-being are most influential.
Researchers have identified a unique metabolic signature associated with epileptic brain tissue that causes seizures. It will allow physicians to precisely identify small regions of abnormal brain tissue in early-stage epilepsy patients that can’t be detected today using current technology.
For adult Medicaid beneficiaries with major depression, disruptions in coverage are followed by increases in emergency department (ED) visits and longer hospital stays after the person goes back on Medicaid, reports a study in the August issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
Can the kinds of microbes colonizing the gut at age 1 predict later cognitive development? Findings from the UNC School of Medicine shed light on the surprising role of bacteria in how our brains develop during the first years of life.
More than a third of Americans don’t get enough sleep, and growing evidence suggests it’s not only taking a toll on their physical health through heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and/or other conditions, but hurting their mental health as well.
Scientists have linked specific wiring in the brain to distinct behavioral symptoms of depression. In a study published in Cell, researchers at UC San Diego found brain circuits tied to feelings of despair and helplessness and were able to alleviate and even reverse such symptoms in mice studies.
Ringer Distinguished Professor of Psychology Melinda Green hasn’t missed a beat on her research about the heart’s relationship to eating disorders for 15 years.
Researchers have found cell receptors abnormally overexpressed in post-mortem brains of those with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and that they can be inhibited in animal models to clear toxic protein buildup, reduce brain inflammation, and improve cognitive performance.
New research from Florida State University finds the attractiveness of a romantic partner can influence a person's desire to diet and seek a slim body, though that motivation contrasts sharply between men and women.
Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center announced today that it has been awarded a $225,000 grant from The Nicholson Foundation to implement the Cherokee Health Systems model of providing integrated behavioral health interventions in primary care settings. Jersey Shore University Medical Center is one of six New Jersey health care organizations selected for this initiative.