Mind Body Practices Affect Health At The Cellular Level Via Gene Expression
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Psychotherapy has come a long way since the days of Freudian psychoanalysis – today, rigorous scientific studies are providing evidence for the kinds of psychotherapies that effectively treat various psychiatric disorders. But Alan Kazdin, the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology at Yale University, believes that we must acknowledge a basic truth – all of our progress and development in evidence-based psychotherapy has failed to solve the rather serious problem of mental illness in the United States.
Over the past decade, prominent federal substance abuse agencies have put a great deal of effort toward ensuring that evidence-based practice (EBP) is being utilized in the treatment of addiction. This effort was galvanized by a 1998 report from the Institute of Medicine calling for improvements in healthcare, which included the implementation of practices proven effective through scientific research (EBPs). However, the majority of frontline agencies that treat people suffering from addiction — community based organizations — have been slow to implement EBPs in their work. Why are frontline workers in the field of addiction treatment hesitant to implement EBPs?
The available evidence is insufficient to draw firm conclusions about the association of modifiable factors and risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a report posted online today that will appear in the September issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Estimates suggest that up to 5.3 million people in this country may have AD, and this number will likely increase as baby boomers grow older.
A bioethics expert from the University of Abertay Dundee has denounced the public funding of homeopathy at a time where Scotland’s health budget is under unprecedented pressure. Speaking in the esteemed journal ‘Bioethics’, Dr. Kevin Smith says that Homeopathy is ‘ethically unacceptable’ and should be ‘actively rejected’ by healthcare and education providers.
Top researchers throughout the country have developed mental health programs to address many of the most profound issues facing schools, including students’ disruptive and aggressive behavior, anger outbursts, anxiety, and suicide. However, according to University of Missouri researchers, many schools lack the capacity to access and fully adopt these programs. This lack of capacity hurts schools, students and families.
Although acupuncture is commonly used for pain control, some questions remain about its effectiveness and safety. Investigators from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) critically evaluated systematic reviews of acupuncture as a treatment of pain in order to explore this question. Reporting in the April 2011 issue of PAIN, they conclude that numerous systematic reviews have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain, and serious adverse effects continue to be reported.
Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., DrPH, the first Sir Richard Doll Research Professor of Medicine in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, has published a commentary for clinicians in this week’s issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In the commentary titled “Statistical Association and Causation: Contributions of Different Types of Evidence,” Hennekens describes the unique contributions, as well as strengths and limitations, of different types of evidence to research conclusions.
Camp STAR, the Chicago area’s only summer camp offering evidence-based therapy for children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other behavioral, emotional, and social difficulties begins its fourth season this June. The camp, whose name stands for Summer Treatment for ADHD and Related Issues, is a partnership of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Jewish Council for Youth Services. Check the end of this report for a link to listen to an audio interview with the director of Camp STAR, Dr. Mark Stein, professor of psychiatry at UIC’s Institute for Juvenile Research.
An expert panel sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has issued comprehensive U.S. guidelines to assist health care professionals in diagnosing food allergy and managing the care of people with the disease. Check the end of this report for links to download the complete and summary guidelines for healthcare professionals.
Proper nutrition therapy is essential for the successful management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and registered dietitians (RDs) can play a key role as part of the health care team. An article in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reviews the evidence and nutrition practice recommendations presented in the American Dietetic Association Nutrition Practice Guidelines for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults. This complete and systematic review presents 29 key nutrition practice guidelines in order to best support people with diabetes.
