Brain activity in OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating condition that affects 2-3% of the population at some point in life. Patients suffer from recurrent intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that are distressing and hard to get rid of such as fears of contamination or that something horrible will happen to a loved one. Sufferers then engage in repetitive rituals designed to neutralise these thoughts (compulsions) including obsessive hand-washing and checking. Scientists at Cambridge University attempted to find out which parts of the brain are affected in OCD. They studied 40 people, 14 of them were healthy and had no family history of OCD, 14 had OCD and 12 were immediate relatives of OCD patients. They gave the participants a learning task and monitored their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The OCD participants and their family members all showed under-activation in an area of the brain called the lateral orbital frontal cortex which is involved in decision making and behaviour.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/18/new-method-measures-risk-for-ocd/2628.html

Topiramate for alcohol abuse

A 14-week trial by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina on 371 male and female alcoholics looked into the effectiveness of the drug topiramate and found that as well as decreasing heavy drinking it also had a number of other health effects. Treatment with the drug was found to lower liver enzymes, cholesterol, body mass index and blood pressure all of which have been associated with heart disease. Topiramate also significantly contributed to a decline in obsessive thoughts and compulsions and led to an improvement in quality of life and a reduction in sleep disturbances. Topiramate is licenced to treat headaches and migraine by the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration but not yet for the treatment of alcoholism.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/18/new-med-offers-hope-for-alcohol-addiction/2631.html

Injections for Alzheimer disease

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a critical component of the brain's immune system and normally finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses in the brain. Elevated levels of TNF-alpha in the brains of people with Alzheimer disease could interfere with this regulation so researchers injected a drug called etanercept into Alzheimer sufferers. Family members, neurologists and other independent observers all noticed a rapid and significant improvement in people's language abilities after the injection.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/21/new-treatment-of-alzheimers-brings-rapid-results/2636.html

Deep-brain stimulation and depression

Deep-brain stimulation is a new treatment that can be used when antidepressants, psychotherapy and even electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) have failed to work. It uses high-frequency electric stimulation targeted at specific areas of the brain. A study of 20 patients by scientists at the University of Toronto and Emory University School of Medicine implanted two, thin wire electrodes (one on each side of the brain) into the white matter of the patients' brains near to the subcallosal cingulate region which has been implicated in depression. The researchers regulated the intensity of the current according to the response of the patient. 12 of the 20 patients experienced a significant decrease in depressive symptoms after six months, with 7 of them being fully recovered. The benefits were still there after a year and no long-term side effects were reported.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/22/dbs-for-treatment-resistant-depression/2645.html

Hearing and dementia

Central auditory processing dysfunction is the inability to pick out sounds among other noise - such as conversation at a party - even though one's hearing is normal in other circumstances. Researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, studied 313 people, with an average age of 80, who had been participating in a dementia surveillance programme since 1994. 17 had dementia, 64 had mild memory impairment and 232 had no memory problems. Participants completed three tests designed to measure central auditory processing; one in which nonsense sentences were read out over the top of an interesting narrative and two involving different numbers and sentences being read into each ear simultaneously. The average scores were significantly lower in the people with dementia and mild memory impairment even when age and hearing status were allowed for.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/22/memory-impairment-linked-to-hearing-disorder/2647.html

PTSD, pain and depression

A study of 241 people by researchers at the University of Michigan looked into the links between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and chronic pain. The results showed that PTSD and depression were significantly correlated and that both disorders were associated with perceived disability attributed to chronic pain. The authors concluded that increased attention to treating PTSD in the rehabilitation of trauma victims is important when prior treatment for pain and depression has not been successful.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/23/ptsds-effect-on-chronic-pain-and-depression/2648.html

Values and motivation to change

Writing about important values can make people feel better and more receptive to advice according to researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In one study the researchers asked participants to rank six values - social life, religion/morality, science, business, arts and government - in order of importance. One group later wrote for ten minutes about why their most important value was important to them and the other group wrote about why their least important value might be important to others. The second study followed the same procedure but some of the participants were smokers and all the participants later read an article about the health effects of smoking. In both studies those who wrote about an important value felt more loving and connected and in the second study those smokers who wrote about an important value were less defensive and more accepting of the content of the article. The researchers thought that writing about what they loved and cared for enabled people to transcend the self and could help foster learning under difficult circumstances; something that might prove useful in the treatment of addictive behaviours.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/23/reflecting-on-values-transcends-self/2649.html

Diet and mental health

A review of previous studies has found that diet can have a major effect on our mental as well as our physical health. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in oily fish, walnuts and kiwi fruit, helped learning and memory and helped fight against mental-health problems such as depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia while deficiencies in omega-3 led to an increased risk of attention-deficit disorder, schizophrenia, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Children who were given increased amounts of omega-3 performed better in school, in reading and in spelling and had fewer behavioural problems. Folate deficiency was also found to lead to neurological disorders such as depression and cognitive impairment.

You can find more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/10/healthy-food-can-improve-mental-health/2587.html

Drugs, genes and depression

Antidepressants are the most prescribed medicine in the U.S. with about 10% of adults taking prescription medication for depression. However, studies show that less than 50% of people treated for depression experience complete remission of their symptoms. Pharmacogenetics is the study of how people's genes interact with their medication and a U.S. study of 1,914 people looked into how people's genetic make-up affected the effectiveness of the antidepressant citalopram. The researchers found that White patients with a variation in the serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4 were more likely to see a remission of their symptoms after treatment with citalopram; but there was no difference for Black and Hispanic patients.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/16/genes-influence-antidepressant-effectiveness/2614.html

Good and bad cholesterol and memory loss

Researchers from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research and from University College, London have found that low levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL or 'good' cholesterol) in middle age can increase the risk of memory loss and lead to dementia in later life. At 55 years old participants with low HDL cholesterol had a 27% higher risk of memory loss compared to those with high HDL. To raise HDL and lower low-density lipoproteins (LDL or 'bad' cholesterol) the American Heart Association recommends exercising regularly, eliminating hydrogenated fats from the diet, reducing saturated fats and eating more polyunsaturates.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/03/cholesterol-level-can-affect-memory/2549.html

Teachers diagnosing ADHD

For children to be diagnosed with ADHD the symptoms of the condition need to have been diagnosed at home and at school so teachers have a crucial role to play in the whole process. However, a review of referrals to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team in Tower Hamlets suggests that teachers may be over-identifying the condition. Of the 52 children referred to the CAMHS team by teachers 14 of them were considered sufficiently serious to warrant a school observation but of these only 5% were diagnosed with ADHD.

You can read more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/08/do-teachers-overestimate-adhd/2567.html

Double trouble for parents of twins

A Spanish study compared the mental health of parents who had had twins with those of parents who had had just one baby. The study looked at those parents who had had twins 'naturally' and those who had had twins as part of an assisted-conception process. After birth the fathers of twins had more depression, anxiety, social dysfunction and sleeping problems than fathers of one baby. However, the mothers of babies produced by assisted conception had fewer symptoms of depression before birth than the mothers of twins conceived spontaneously, perhaps because they had had more counselling preparing them for having twins.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/08/parents-of-twins-have-more-mental-health-risks/2569.html

Infant nutrition and intelligence

People who were better nourished in infancy can score higher on IQ tests years later, regardless of the number of years they attended school. Between 1969 and 1977 Guatemalan children in four villages took part in a study on the effectiveness of nutritional supplements. Some were given atole - a protein supplement - while others were given a sugar drink called fresco. Between 2002 and 2004 1,448 participants were interviewed and given IQ tests. Individuals exposed to atole between 0-2 scored higher on tests of reading comprehension and cognitive functioning than the other children and this association remained significant after allowing for years of schooling.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/08/early-childhood-nutrition-may-influence-adult-iq/2570.html

Pregnancy and mental health

Pregnant women and those who have recently given birth are said to be vulnerable to mental-health problems. Mental-health problems in these women have been linked to poor maternal health, inadequate prenatal care and adverse outcomes for their children including abnormal growth and development, poor behaviour during childhood and adolescence and health problems. A U.S. survey compared 14, 549 women, aged between 18 and 50, who had been pregnant in the past year, to 28,544 other women asking them about mental-health problems, substance use and whether they had sought treatment. The women had significantly lower levels of alcohol use and - apart from major depression - a lower risk of mood disorders than women who had not been pregnant. Age, marital status, health status, stressful life events and a history of traumatic experiences were all significantly associated with a higher risk of psychiatric disorders in pregnant and post-partum women. Women who had been pregnant in the past year were less likely to seek help for psychiatric problems. Groups of women with a particularly high prevalence of psychiatric disorders were identified and these groups included women aged 18-25 living without a partner, widowed, separated, divorced or never married women and women who experienced pregnancy complications and stressful life events.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/09/pregnancy-does-not-increase-risk-of-mental-disorders/2577.html

Dimebon for Alzheimer disease

Dimebon is an antihistamine that used to be popular in Russia before better alternatives became available. It is also a weak cholesterinase inhibitor, similar to certain drugs used to combat Alzheimer disease. A trial of Dimebon for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease found that patients treated for six months did significantly better on four separate measures of cognition, behaviour, and functioning than those given a matching placebo. Doctors' impressions of patients' progress were also significantly more favourable for those patients treated with Dimebon. Dry mouth and depression were the main side effects.

Lancet 2008: 372: 207-215

Low-secure units: outcomes and risk factors

A study of 86 patients admitted to a low-secure unit in S.E. London aimed to measure the effectiveness of treatment and to identify predictors of change. Significant improvements were found on the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), the Staff Observed Aggression Scale (SOAS) and the Global Assessment Scale (GAS) and improvements on the GAS and HoNOS were associated with moves to a lower level of security. Patients with a history of conviction for property damage, cannabis use and who were admitted on a forensics section or who had a diagnosis of personality disorder were more likely to move to a higher level of security. Increased length of stay was related to the presence of physical assault, physical health problems and anxiety symptoms.

Beer, M. Dominic ... [et al] - Predicting outcome in low secure environments: a case series from one low secure unit Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care December 2007, 3(2), 85-92

IQ and vascular dementia

Vascular dementia occurs when the blood flow to the brain is impaired and is the most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. A study of people in Scotland, who took an IQ test in 1932 when they were 11, has found that the people who went on to develop vascular dementia were 40% more likely to have low test scores when they were children than the people who did not develop dementia. However, there was not the same link between IQ and Alzheimer's disease. Risk factors for vascular dementia include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking. The findings support the hypothesis that low childhood IQ acts as a risk factor for dementia through vascular risks rather than the "cognitive reserve" theory which says that greater IQ and education create a buffer against the effects of dementia in the brain allowing people with greater cognitive reserve to stay free of signs of dementia longer, even though the disease has started affecting their brains.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/06/26/iq-linked-to-later-life-dementia/2510.html

New tool helps to diagnose cognitive problems in older people

A new questionnaire developed by researchers in the U.S. could help with the early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The Everyday Cognition questionnaire or ECog is made up of 39 questions and is filled out by someone who knows the affected person well. The questionnaire measures the same things as established tests and its results were found to agree with medical diagnoses. It was able to differentiate between people with no cognitive problems, those with mild cognitive impairment and those with Alzheimer's and its results did not appear to be strongly influenced by education as is the case with some other tests.

You can read more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/02/new-tool-measures-cognitive-impairment/2538.html

Health benefits of relaxation

The relaxation response, which can be produced by practices such as meditation, deep breathing and prayer can not only alleviate the symptoms of psychological disorders, such as anxiety, but has also been found to affect heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption and brain activity. Now researchers from the U.S. have found that it can also affect the way in which genes work. The study compared trained practitioners of relaxation techniques with inexperienced controls who then underwent training in relaxation. The study showed that the relaxation response altered the expression of genes involved with processes such as inflammation, programmed cell death and free radicals. The changes in gene expression were the opposite to those produced, to harmful effect, in conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

You can find out more about this research at:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/02/genetic-study-supports-mindbody-connection/2540.html

Anorexia or just a phase?

Eating-related problems are common in adolescence and tend to be temporary. But in about 10% of cases adolescents continue with their disordered eating patterns increasing the risk of a serious eating disorder. A two-stage study of 15-17 year olds in Finland asked them about their eating patterns at the start of the study and then again a year later. 11% reported symptoms of an eating disorder at the start of the study and 12% did so a year later. 5% reported eating problems at both time points and of these children 84% were girls. There were higher rates of psychological problems and more mental health complaints in those who reported symptoms at both time points and an increased level of anxiety about, and dissatisfaction with bodily appearance. Those who only reported symptoms at one time point also had higher rates of psychological problems and more health complaints than those with no symptoms.

Hautala, L. ... [et al] - Adolescents with fluctuating symptoms of eating disorders: a one-year prospective study Journal of Advanced Nursing 62(6), 674-680