An engineer at Washington University in St. Louis is working to create a probiotic that would help protect the host from the negative health effects of adrenaline surges. The new probiotic could easily be mixed into yogurt or taken in pill form.
Could unique psychological factors that hamper emotional regulation help explain differences in HIV/STI risk-related sexual behaviors among heterosexually active black youth with mental illnesses?
In a Phase I clinical study, researchers were able to transform the immune system by taking cells damaged in Parkinson’s disease and making them cells that protect and defend against brain injury.
The brain hosts an extraordinarily complex network of interconnected nerve cells that are constantly exchanging electrical and chemical signals at speeds difficult to comprehend. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have been able to achieve — with a custom-built microscope — the closest view yet of living nerve synapses.
In new research, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have implicated a specific molecule in the self-destruction of axons, the wiring of the nervous system. Understanding just how that damage occurs may help researchers find a way to halt it.
Health psychologists have begun treating gastrointestinal disorders that are strongly affected by stress, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, functional heartburn, functional dyspepsia and ulcerative colitis.
Researchers have developed a new, evidence-based alternative to the mental health field’s long-established diagnostic tools for the classification, treatment, and research of mental disorders. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) addresses what the authors say are limitations to the reliability and validity of traditional models.
The parasite that causes deadly sleeping sickness has its own biological clock that makes it more vulnerable to medications during the afternoon, according to international research that may help improve treatments for one of Africa’s most lethal diseases.
A consortium of 50 psychologists and psychiatrists, including Notre Dame professors Lee Anna Clark and David Watson, has outlined a new diagnostic model for mental illness.
A consortium of psychiatrists and psychologists from universities worldwide, co-led by Stony Brook University, University of Minnesota and University of Notre Dame, has proposed a new approach to diagnosing mental disorders.
UCLA scientists have traced the Pavlovian response to a small cluster of brain cells -- the same neurons that go awry during Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Tourette syndrome. The research could one day help scientists find new approaches to diagnosing and treating these neurological disorders.
People who lose a partner to suicide are at increased risk for a number of mental and physical disorders, including cancer, depression, herniated discs and mood disorders than those in the general population, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.
Although college can be demanding for young adults, it may be particularly so for transgender students struggling with identity-formation and other emotional, social, and developmental challenges. Prior research suggests that transgender students may experience greater drinking and negative alcohol-related consequences than their cisgender peers (i.e., those whose gender matches their sex at birth). This study examined levels of drinking, frequency of blackouts and other alcohol-related consequences, and drinking motivations among transgender college students.
A unique institute is being formed to develop and investigate the forward-thinking ideas
of eminent British physicist Sir Roger Penrose. To be based in San Diego, California, with collaborations in London and Oxford in the UK, and Tucson, Arizona, the Institute
will examine the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity and the possible implications on our understanding of consciousness.
“Technophobes” — people who fear robots, artificial intelligence and new technology that they don’t understand — are much more likely to be afraid of losing their jobs due to technology and to suffer anxiety-related mental health issues, a Baylor University researcher says.
UCLA researchers have discovered the molecular basis of an incurable disease known as inclusion body myopathy, Paget disease with frontotemporal dementia, or IBMPFD. Using both fruit flies and human cells the researchers discovered how IBMPFD mutations cause cellular damage, and identified two compounds that are able to reverse the mutations effects. The findings suggest potential strategies to combat IBMPFD and other diseases, including ALS.
Standard antidepressant medications don’t work for everyone, and even when they do they are slow to kick in. In an effort to find better depression treatments, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine discovered that inhibiting an enzyme called Glyoxalase 1 (GLO1) relieves signs of depression in mice. Moreover, inhibiting GLO1 worked much faster than the conventional antidepressant Prozac.
A new study by Waisman Center researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison looks at the daily experiences of the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to provide a more detailed picture of the strengths and vulnerabilities of couples raising a child with ASD.
Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM) announced that Robert Wechsler-Reya, Ph.D., has been named program director for the Joseph Clayes III Research Center for Neuro-Oncology and Genomics at RCIGM. Wechsler-Reya, a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), will retain his position as director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at SBP’s NCI-designated Cancer Center and will hold a joint appointment at RCIGM.