Cognitive-Bias Modification Therapy Helps Addicts Develop An 'Avoidance Bias'
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Clinical trials using patients’ own immune cells to target tumors have yielded promising results. However, this approach usually works only if the patients also receive large doses of drugs designed to help immune cells multiply rapidly, and those drugs have life-threatening side effects. Now a team of MIT engineers has devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor.
The coming weeks mark the return to school for many of our youngest citizens. Sadly the satisfaction of making new friends and obtaining good test scores may be overshadowed by the prospect of substance abuse for some school-aged adolescents. The previous decade has witnessed a two-fold increase in both alcohol consumption and intoxication by adolescents age 12 to 17 [1,2]. In an effort to combat these startling findings, researchers at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry describe a successful personality-based intervention for substance abuse delivered by teachers.
Depression is actually defined by specific clinical symptoms such as sadness, difficulty to experience pleasure, and sleep problems that are present for at least two weeks with impairment of psychosocial functioning. These symptoms guide the physician to make a diagnosis and to select antidepressant treatment such as drugs or psychotherapy.
Something about having a sister – even a little sister – makes 10- to 14-year-olds a bit less likely to feel down in the dumps. That is one of several intriguing findings from a new study on the impact siblings have on one another. Brigham Young University professor Laura Padilla-Walker is the lead author on the research, which also sorts out the influence of siblings and the influence of parents within families. The results will appear in the August issue of the Journal of Family Psychology.
Since the 1980s, a high EEG abnormality rate has been reported for patients with panic disorder. However, how the EEG abnormalities are related to the clinical features and pathology of these patients has yet to be clarified. On the other hand, the risk of diagnosing panic disorder as epilepsy has been pointed out. In this study, researchers investigated whether or not EEG abnormalities are related to the 13 symptoms in the DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of panic attacks. Check the end of this report for a link to download this open access study.
The first for-profit insurance company approved to offer government-subsidized coverage under Massachusetts’ health reform has dangerously restricted access to primary care, according to data reported in Thursday’s (Aug. 5) New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers say the findings raise troubling concerns about the Obama administration’s new health law, which is modeled after the Massachusetts plan.
Gene variants associated with an increased risk for type-1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis may confer previously unknown benefits to their human carriers, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. As a result, the human race may have evolved in the recent past to be more susceptible, rather than less, to some complex diseases, they conclude. The results were published Aug. 17 in Public Library of Science ONE. Check the end of this report for a link to download this open access article.
The incidence of psychotic disorders varies greatly across places and demographic groups, as do symptoms, course, and treatment response across individuals. High rates of schizophrenia in large cities, and among immigrants, cannabis users, and traumatized individuals reflect the causal influence of environmental exposures. This, in combination with progress in the area of molecular genetics, has generated interest in more complicated models of schizophrenia aetiology that explicitly posit gene-environment interactions.
A randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of behavior therapy for pediatric trichotillomania was recently completed with 24 participants (ages 7 to 17). The broad age range raised a question about whether young children, older children, and adolescents would respond similarly to intervention. In particular, it is unclear whether the younger children have the cognitive capacity to understand concepts like “urges” and whether they are able to introspect enough to be able to benefit from awareness training, which is a key aspect of behavior therapy for trichotillomania. Check the end of this report for a link to download this open access article.
While some teenagers may puff on cigarettes to ‘self-medicate’ against the blues, scientists at the University of Toronto and the University of Montreal have found that smoking may actually increase depressive symptoms in some adolescents. Published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, the findings are part of the long-term Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study based at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre.
