EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Cell Stem Cell
Hopkins researchers uncover key to antidepressant response
Through a series of investigations in mice and humans, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein that appears to be the target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. These therapies likely work to relieve depression by stimulating stem cells in the brain to grow and mature. The experiments raise the possibility of predicting individual people's response to depression therapy, and fine-tuning treatment accordingly.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and others

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013

Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Social media may prove useful in prevention of HIV, STDs, study shows
Facebook and other social networking technologies could serve as effective tools for preventing HIV infection among at-risk groups. Researchers found that African American and Latino men who have sex with men voluntarily used health-related Facebook groups, which were created by the study's investigators, to discuss such things as HIV knowledge, stigma and prevention and ultimately to request at-home HIV testing kits.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, University of California - Los Angeles AIDS Institute

Public Release: 5-Feb-2013

Biological Psychiatry
Yale researchers spot attention deficits in babies who later develop autism
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine are able to detect deficits in social attention in infants as young as six months of age who later develop Autism Spectrum Disorders. Published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, the results showed that these infants paid less attention to people and their activities than typically developing babies.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Development, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 5-Feb-2013

Stroke
Stroke damage in mice overcome by training that 'rewires' brain centers
Johns Hopkins researchers have found that mice can recover from physically debilitating strokes that damage the primary motor cortex, the region of the brain that controls most movement in the body, if the rodents are quickly subjected to physical conditioning that rapidly "rewires" a different part of the brain to take over lost function.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013
UC San Diego funded by NIMH to study successful aging in adults with HIV
The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant to a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to study successful aging in HIV-infected adults. HIV is a serious, chronic, medical disease that affects the lives of more than one million Americans.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013

Nature Neuroscience
Human brain is divided on fear and panic
Researchers at the University of Iowa say the human brain has a new, second gatekeeper that registers fear. That region, likely the brainstem, signals fear from internal dangers. The finding could lead to more precise treatment for people suffering from panic attacks and other anxiety disorders. Results appear in Nature Neuroscience.

NIH/National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health Research, Veterans Affairs Deptartment

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013

Translational Behavioral Medicine
Poor mental health leads to unhealthy behaviors among low-income adults
Poor mental health leads to unhealthy behaviors in low-income adults -- not the other way around, according to a new study by Dr. Jennifer Walsh and colleagues from the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital in the US. In this study, stress and anxiety predicted subsequent health-compromising behaviors.

Center for Mental Health Research on AIDS, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 1-Feb-2013

Academy of Health Annual Research Meeting

American Journal of Psychiatry
Mental health parity reduces out of pocket expenses for patients
In a study examining the impact of a parity policy for mental health insurance benefits, researchers have concluded that parity had a different impact on spending and service utilization for enrollees with illnesses that are more severe and chronic.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

The Gerontologist
Mistrust of government often deters older adults from HIV testing
One out of four people living with HIV/AIDS is 50 or older, yet these older individuals are far more likely to be diagnosed when they are in the later stages of infection. Such late diagnoses put their health, and the health of others, at greater risk. New research demonstrates that government mistrust and conspiracy fears are deeply ingrained in this vulnerable group and that these concerns often deter these individuals from getting tested for HIV.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, and others

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

Journal of Neuroscience
Scripps Research Institute study shows how brain cells shape temperature preferences
A new study from The Scripps Research Institute shows that a complex set of overlapping neuronal circuits works in concert to drive temperature preferences in the fruit fly Drosophila by affecting a single target, a heavy bundle of neurons within the fly brain known as the mushroom body.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

JAMA Internal Medicine
Personalized plans to address barriers to HIV drug adherence boost chances of successful therapy
HIV patients who participated in an intervention that helped them identify barriers to taking their drugs properly and develop customized coping strategies took a significantly greater amount of their prescribed doses than those receiving standard care, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, may point to a new strategy to improve adherence to medications for many other conditions.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Research Resources

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

British Medical Journal
Mass. General study clarifies antidepressant contribution to arrhythmia risk
An analysis of the medical records of more than 38,000 patients by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators clarifies the contribution of citalopram and other antidepressants to lengthening of the QT interval, an aspect of the heart's electrical activity that -- when prolonged -- may increase the risk of dangerous arrhythmias.

NIH/National Library of Medicine, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 23-Jan-2013

Neuron
Pavlov's rats? Rodents trained to link rewards to visual cues
In experiments on rats outfitted with tiny goggles, scientists say they have learned that the brain's initial vision processing center not only relays visual stimuli, but also can "learn" time intervals and create specifically timed expectations of future rewards. The research, by a team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sheds new light on learning and memory-making, the investigators say, and could help explain why people with Alzheimer's disease have trouble remembering recent events.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH/National Eye Institute, NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Johns Hopkins University

Public Release: 23-Jan-2013

Translational Psychiatry
Astrocytes identified as target for new depression therapy
Neuroscientists from Tufts have found that our star-shaped brain cells may be responsible for the rapid improvement in mood in depressed patients after acute sleep deprivation. The researchers report that the findings may help lead to the development of effective and fast-acting drugs to treat depression, particularly in psychiatric emergencies.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 23-Jan-2013

Neuron
Whole-exome sequencing identifies inherited mutations in autism
While autism clearly runs in some families, few inherited genetic causes have been found. A major reason is that these causes are so varied that it's hard to find enough people with a given mutation to establish a clear pattern. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have pinpointed several inherited mutations -- among the first to be identified -- through an unusual approach: Using whole-exome sequencing to study large Middle Eastern families with autism.

National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation, Simons Foundation, Autism Consortium, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 22-Jan-2013

Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
NYUCN's Drs. Shedlin and Anastasi publish in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
Complementary and alternative medicines and therapies are often used to improve or maintain overall health and to relieve the side effects of conventional treatments or symptoms associated with chronic illnesses such as HIV infection.

NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 22-Jan-2013

Journal of GLBT Family Studies
Gay African-American youth face unique challenges coming out to families
Coming out to one's family can be stressful, but gay black males face a unique set of personal, familial and social challenges, according to Michael C. LaSala from Rutgers University's School of Social Work.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 15-Jan-2013

American Journal of Psychiatry
Choline supplementation during pregnancy presents a new approach to schizophrenia prevention
Choline, an essential nutrient similar to the B vitamin and found in foods such as liver, muscle meats, fish, nuts and eggs, when given as a dietary supplement in the last two trimesters of pregnancy and in early infancy, is showing a lower rate of physiological schizophrenic risk factors in infants 33 days old.

Institute for Children's Mental Disorders, Anschutz Family Foundation, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 8-Jan-2013

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
Postpartum depression prevalent in under-developed countries, could impact baby health and mortality
Efforts to reduce child mortality and improve infant health in less-developed countries must address the mental health of new moms.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, University of Michigan GlobalREACH

Public Release: 7-Jan-2013

Health Affairs
Black and Hispanic patients less likely to complete substance abuse treatment, Penn study shows
Roughly half of all black and Hispanic patients who enter publicly funded alcohol treatment programs do not complete treatment, compared to 62 percent of white patients, according to a new study from a team of researchers including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Comparable disparities were also identified for drug treatment program completion rates.

NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 3-Jan-2013

Science
Editing the genome with high precision
Researchers at MIT, the Broad Institute and Rockefeller University have developed a new technique for precisely altering the genomes of living cells by adding or deleting genes.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, W.M. Keck Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, Searle Scholars Program

Public Release: 2-Jan-2013

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Bisexual men on the 'down low' run risk for poor mental health
Bisexual men are less likely to disclose their sexual orientation than gay men. In the first study to look at the mental health of this population, researchers found that greater concealment of homosexual behavior was associated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety. The researchers found that men who live with a wife or girlfriend and who think of themselves as heterosexual were more likely to conceal their same-sex behavior.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Public Release: 2-Jan-2013

Nature
Study refutes accepted model of memory formation
A study by Johns Hopkins researchers has shown that a widely accepted model of long-term memory formation -- that it hinges on a single enzyme in the brain -- is flawed. The new study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of Nature, found that mice lacking the enzyme that purportedly builds memory were in fact still able to form long-term memories as well as normal mice could.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 2-Jan-2013

Journal of Clinical Investigation
Identifying the molecular causes of vision loss in demyelinating disease
In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Sanjoy Bhattacharya at the University of Miami investigated the role of deimination in retinal nerve damage in a mouse model of demyelinating disease.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Public Release: 23-Dec-2012

Nature Neuroscience
Decision to give a group effort in the brain
A monkey would probably never agree that it is better to give than to receive, but they do apparently get some reward from giving to another monkey.

Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, US Department of Defense