What makes people legally incompetent?

People who have committed crimes are sometimes judged to be not competent to stand trial because of their mental-health problems. Researchers from the City University of New York reviewed 68 studies carried out between 1967 and 2008 to determine which factors were most closely linked to being found incompetent to stand trial. The trials included a total of 26,139 people. Defendants diagnosed with psychosis were eight times more likely to be found incompetent and unemployed defendants twice as likely. The likelihood of being found incompetent was also double for defendants with a previous psychiatric hospitalisation. Those found to be incompetent were slightly older, mostly non-White and unmarried.

Pesticides and children's IQ

A relatively common household insecticide could have an impact on children's cognition. Researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health studied 725 pregnant women assessing them for exposure to a compound used in insecticides called piperonyl butoxide (PBO) and then evaluated them for exposure their children's cognitive and motor development at the age of three. The children who were more exposed to the insecticide scored 3.9 points lower on the Bayley Mental Development Index than those with lower exposures - about the same change found in cases of lead exposure.

Exercise boosts children's IQ

Mens sana in corpore sano - a healthy mind in a healthy body - was long one of the watchwords of the English school system and a new study by researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University has provided interesting new evidence of the effects of improved fitness on children's cognition. The researchers studied 171 overweight seven to 11 year-olds who were all sedentary when the study started. The children were divided into groups taking different amounts of exercise and given tests assessing their planning, maths and reading. A smaller group of children were studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure their brain activity. Those children who exercised for 40 minutes a day after school for three months increased their IQ by an average of 3.8 points and made improvements in maths, although not in reading. The children who exercised showed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex - an area of the brain associated with complex thinking, decision making and social behaviour - and more activity in the part of the brain responsible for executive function. The children's exercise included running games, hula hoops and skipping.

PACAP and PTSD

A team of researchers from Emory University and the University of Vermont have found a link between a hormone released during times of stress and the development of post-traumatic stress in women. The researchers studied 64 people who were, in turn, taking part in a larger research project, the Grady Trauma Project which is a study of 1,200 low-income people living in Atlanta who have high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The 64 participants completed questionnaires on their life histories and provided saliva and blood samples to be analyzed. The study found that women with high levels of a hormone called pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) had PTSD symptoms five times higher than women with lower-than-average levels. PACAP acts throughout the body and brain affecting central-nervous-system activity, metabolism, blood pressure, pain sensitivity and immune function.

Lifting the lid on the pro-ana websites

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have been looking into pro-anorexia social networks and web sites in a piece of qualitative research that found four main themes:

• Staying "true" to the anorexia movement - in which members of social networks or forums "confess" their guilt at eating too much and not exercising enough
• Promoting self-loathing strategies - when web sites encourage postings that involve people's loathing of their bodies and their mental worthlessness and weakness. In pro-anorexia sites these feelings are accepted and not contradicted as they are in other social networks
• Pro-anorexia advising - such as tips on dieting and how to deal with family members who are advising healthy eating
• Pro-anorexia encouragement - affectionate messages that bind the group together and tips and techniques to encourage anorexic behaviour

The researchers carried out their study between October 2006 and May 2007 and most of the members of the sites were thought to be White women or girls between the ages of 13 and 26.

Apgar scores and ADHD

An Apgar score is a way of assessing the health of a new-born baby. It is based on several physical signs including breathing, heart rate and muscle tone. A score of seven or higher is considered normal while a nine or a 10 indicate that a baby is in the best possible condition. Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark have been looking into the links between Apgar scores and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a study of more than 980,000 children. The researchers found that compared with children whose scores were nine or 10 those with a five or six had a 63% greater risk of developing ADHD while those with an Apgar score of one to four had a 75% greater risk. The researchers speculated that a low Apgar score could be due to some sort of stress during pregnancy or birth that could also lead to the development of ADHD a few years later.

Language learning could stave off senior moments

People who speak more than two languages could be at a lower risk of developing memory problems as they grow older. Researchers from the Public Research Centre for Health in Luxembourg - where many people are multilingual - studied 230 men and women with an average age of 73. Those people who spoke four or more languages were five times less likely to develop cognitive problems compared to those who were only bilingual and people who spoke three languages were three times less likely. The study's results took into account the age and education of its participants.

U.S. anti-drugs campaign shows early promise

In 2005 the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy launched its Above the Influence campaign - funded at a cost of $200m a year - which aimed to prevent teenagers from using cannabis. Unlike previous campaigns, which stressed the risks of the drug, Above the Influence stressed how cannabis could prevent teenagers reaching their own goals and compromise their independence and used the slogan "Getting messed up is just another way of leaving yourself behind." Researchers from Ohio State University studied 3,236 children who were around 12 when the study began in 2005. They were surveyed four times beginning in Year Seven and ending about a year and a half later. Up to 79% of children said they had seen the campaign ads. Only 8% of the students who had seen the ads started using cannabis, compared to 12% of those who hadn't. The results are an encouraging first step but the children will need to be followed up for longer to reach a definitive verdict on the success, or otherwise, of the campaign.

NICE issues new guidelines on alcohol problems

In the U.K. the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidelines about the treatment of people with alcohol problems. The guidelines call for an initial assessment with a screening tool such as the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) or the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ). Those who are drinking too much for their own good should be helped with cognitive behaviour therapy, behavioural couples therapy or social network and environment-based therapies. Those with more severe problems should be offered a structured assisted-withdrawal programme after which they should be offered the drugs acamprosate or naltrexone and individual psychotherapy.

You can find out more about the new NICE guidelines here.

ADHD kids at greater risk of drug problems

Children with ADHD are two to three times more likely to develop serious substance-abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood. Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles and the University of South Carolina reviewed 27 long-term studies including a total of 10,900 children and following them from childhood to late adolescence and young adulthood. The study found that both boys and girls and children from all ethnic groups with ADHD were more likely to develop a range of problems with substances including nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and other drugs.

U.K. couples' sunny outlook

The vast majority of couples in the U.K. are happy. Researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University asked married and cohabiting couples to rate their happiness on a seven-point scale from the lowest score of 'extremely unhappy,' to the highest point of 'perfect.' 90% of married women and 93% of married men said they were happy in their relationships with the figures being 88% and 92% respectively for cohabiting couples. The happiest couples were those in which both partners were educated to degree level, had no children, that had been together for less than five years and where the man was employed. After taking into account a variety of factors including age, gender, number of children, length of relationship, employment status and education married couples were found to be happier than cohabiting ones.

You can find out more about this research here.

Lithium and bipolar brains

A team of researchers led by Brian Hallahan from the National University of Ireland in Galway have carried out a review of studies into brain volume, bipolar disorder and the effectiveness of lithium. They found that people with bipolar disorder had increased right lateral ventricular, left temporal lobe and right putamen volumes and decreased cerebral and hippocampal volumes. The longer people had been ill for the greater their cerebral volume reduction. However, people with bipolar disorder who took lithium had less reduction in these areas and showed increases in hippocampal and amygdala volume.

Heart risk and cognitive decline

Researchers from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research have added more weight to the growing body of evidence that a healthy heart is linked to keeping one's mental faculties as one grows older. The researchers studied 4,827 men and women who had an average age of 55 when the study started. At the start of the study the participants were given a Framingham heart-risk score based on their age, sex, cholesterol, blood pressure and whether they smoked or had diabetes. The participants then took cognitive tests measuring their reasoning, memory, fluency and vocabulary three times over the next ten years. The people with a higher cardiovascular risk at the start of the study were more likely to have lower cognitive function and a faster overall rate of cognitive decline. A 10% higher cardiovascular risk was associated with a 2.8% lower score in the memory test for men and a 7.1% fall in women.

Naltrexone for heroin addiction

Heroin addicts are often prescribed methadone as this reduces problems with criminality, contaminated drugs and dirty needles. However, methadone itself is still addictive so Nikolaj Kunoe from the Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research at the University of Oslo looked into the use of a substance called naltrexone. Naltrexone completely blocks the effects of heroin and other morphine-related substances. Kunoe studied 56 heroin addicts who had already been through detoxification treatment. Half of them were implanted with 20 subcutaneous pellets containing naltrexone which was gradually released into the bloodstream and half received treatment as usual. After six months twice as many people in the naltrexone group managed to give up heroin and those who did not give up heroin more than halved their use. By contrast in the control group the majority of people relapsed back into heroin use.

Counting the psychological cost of Deepwater Horizon

In April 2010 there was an explosion and fire on a BP-licensed oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in millions of gallons of oil spilling out into the Gulf. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Florida, Gainesville have been looking into the psychological impact of the spill in a study of 94 people; 71 of whom lived in Florida and 23 of whom lived in Alabama. The study found raised levels of anxiety and depression in people living in Alabama, where the oil reached the shore, and in Florida where it didn't. Both groups had similar high levels of worry about the impact of the spill on the environment, health and seafood safety. However, the levels of psychological distress were higher among people who had suffered income loss because of the spill. They felt significantly more tension, anger, fatigue and overall mood disturbance than those whose income had not been affected and these people also had lower scores for psychological resilience.

Amphetamines and Parkinson's disease

People who use amphetamines could be at an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Apart from their illegal use amphetamines such as Benzedrine and Dexedrine are often prescribed for people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, as weight-loss pills and are also used to treat traumatic brain injury. Researchers from the U.S. health organisation Kaiser Permanente studied 66,348 people who were initially studied between 1964 and 1973 and re-evaluated in 1995. 1,154 people had been diagnosed with Parkinson's by the end of the study. The participants were asked about their use of amphetamines - either as weight-loss pills or in the form of Benzedrine or Dexedrine. There was no increase in risk for the people who used amphetamines for weight loss but those who took Benzadrine or Dexedrine were nearly 60% more likely to develop Parkinson's. Amphetamines are known to affect the release and uptake of dopamine, the most important neurotransmitter involved in Parkinson's disease.

Doctors call for more alcohol restrictions as liver deaths soar

Up to a quarter of a million people could die from alcohol abuse if Britain's drink problem carries on getting worse at the same rate. The U.K. has the 16th highest drinking level in the world and a recent report predicted that binge drinking would cost the U.K. £3.8bn by 2015 with 1.5m A&E admissions a year. Up to 30,000 people a year die of liver disease, the majority caused by alcohol abuse, and if rates continue to rise an extra 8,900 people per year could die over the next 20 years. In a letter to the Lancet a group of doctors call for tougher restrictions on the sale of, and more taxes on, alcohol.

You can find out more about this story here.

How CBT can change your brain waves

A lot of coverage of science concentrates on how what goes on in the brain affects the way we feel and think but the relationship can, of course, work both ways with treatments and good and bad events in people's lives having an effect on what happens between our ears. Researchers from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario looked into this in a study of 25 people who were having psychotherapy for social anxiety. The participants had 12 once-a-week sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy and were compared to two control groups; one control group had very high social anxiety, one very low social anxiety and neither group received any psychotherapy. The participants had a series of electroencephalograms (EEGs) and the researchers measured their levels of delta-beta-coupling (DBC) which is associated with anxiety. Before treatment the participants DBC levels were similar to the high-anxiety control group and much higher than the low-anxiety one. However, as their treatment went on their DBC levels fell, matching the improvement recorded both by themselves and their doctors. Once they had finished their psychotherapy the participants' DBC levels were similar to those of the low-anxiety group.

Study shows power of the brain to deal with pain

Researchers from Oxford and Cambridge and two German universities have shed new light on the power of the mind and the brain's ability to cope with pain. They studied 22 volunteers, each of whom had a pain device placed on their skin that was too hot for comfort. The volunteers were asked to score their pain on a scale of 0 to 100 at various points in the study and also had MRI scans to measure the activity in the pain centres of their brains. At first the participants gave their pain an average score of 66, then the researchers gave them some opiate painkillers via an intravenous drip. Before they told the participants they were getting some painkiller their average pain score fell from 66 to 55 but once the researchers told them they were getting some pain relief their scores fell to an average of 39. Without actually stopping the drugs the researchers then said they were shutting off the supply of painkillers at which point the participants' average pain score went back up again to 64. At the same time the MRI scans of the participants' brain activity showed decreased activity in the pain centres when they thought they were getting the drug and increased activity when they thought they weren't receiving them. The study shows how belief in the effectiveness of a drug can be almost as important as the drug's actual effects and sheds light both on the placebo effect and on patients who are 'resistant' to painkillers.

Sex differences, genes and autism

Men are more likely to suffer from autism than women and men with autism have more testosterone than men without the condition. Researchers at Washington State University have been looking into the influence of male and female sex hormones on a gene called RORA. The gene affects the development of the cerebellum and many other processes that are important in autism and also regulates the production of a protein called aromatase - levels of which are reduced in the brains of people with autism. The researchers found that a decrease in aromatase leads to a build up in testosterone which in turn decreases the levels of RORA and further reduces aromatase. Female sex hormones were found to increase the levels of RORA in brain cells which in turn increases levels of aromatase. The researchers think that the effects of these hormones on the RORA gene could be responsible for some of the differences between the sexes in the prevalence of autism.