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New research has studied the effects of Buddhist meditation on attention span when focusing on a specific task that requires a person to distinguish small differences on a computer screen.

 

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Do you or does somebody you know have a stutter? Are you searching the internet for potential stuttering therapies that could potentially help you to eradicate the problem? I am a person who stuttered throughout my childhood and teenage years. I finally managed to kill off all my stuttering demon voices at the age of twenty-two and I am more than pleased to report that fully fifteen years later I am still able to enjoy total fluency.
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A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry has revealed that Omega-3 supplements can be an effective method of treating major depression in patients who do not have anxiety disorders.

At first glance, the efficacy of Omega-3 was not clearly demonstrated; however with further analysis it was clear that Omega-3 improved depressive symptoms as efficiently as those treated with antidepressants.


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In recent news, the Supreme Court of Canada has made a historic ruling that will allow administrative tribunals to find Charter violations and resolve legal disputes using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. The Charter guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil rights of everyone in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. It is designed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II of Canada on April 17, 1982.”

Mr. Paul Conway, who has been detained on a psychiatric ward for 27 years for sexual assault and assaulting a police officer in the 70s, asked the Ontario Review Board to release him and affirm his rights under the Charter. However, the board rejected his request because they did not have jurisdiction to rule under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Ontario Review Board annually reviews the status of every person who has been found to be not criminally responsible or unfit to stand trial for criminal offences on account of a mental disorder. The Ontario Review Board is established under the Criminal Code of Canada. The Board is made up of judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, psychologists and public members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.”

Now, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of allowing administrative tribunals to apply the Charter in their fields of expertise. The ruling opened up the possibility for an array of litigation issues between patients and institutions that can be heard at almost any tribunal in the country. Moreover, the Charter will likely be used by many others in various circumstances, such as by prisoners to execute their rights for special privileges, by parents to dispute school policies and by employees to contest against job conditions.

“Systemically, one can speculate as to the infinite potential of far-reaching implications for the masses. This decision may protect their rights, but my own situation remains status quo. I am locked in the system. I would like to live productively and pro-actively in the community. But, for me, the beat goes on”, says Mr. Conway.

On the surface it seems that prisoners with mental illness will benefit, but many experts see this as a setback. As Kristin Taylor, a CAMH lawyer explains that this “will bring new complexities to the process.” It may take longer for cases to be heard and completed, thereby delaying the process for others. “Richard O’Reilly, a psychiatrist at London’s St. Joseph’s Health Centre, predicted that Charter issues will swamp hearings that are routinely held to consider patient consent, capacity and treatment plans.” However, all sorts of, what might appear to others, as minor Charter rights issues will likely clog up the judicial process.

In addition, June Conway-Beeby, executive director of Ontario Friends of Schizophrenics, believes that patients and their families will be negatively affected by this ruling and states: “It is a only a victory for lawyers, who – from what I have observed recently in many court cases – do not understand the reality of severe mental illnesses”.

Of course this seems like quite the victory from a legal standpoint. “David Baker, a Toronto disability-rights litigator, agreed that the ruling will be very useful at tribunals that are responsible for meting out state benefits – such as reimbursement for medical treatment outside Canada, or special education programs in public schools.”

Besides the legal ramifications this entails, where is Mr. Conway now?

“I was put in an area of high supervision and confinement,” he said. “They stopped taking me into the community. I haven’t had fresh air and sunshine for almost a year now. I feel ostracized and separated and alienated. The system hates me. The system is vindictive.”

He also plans to keep fighting the law while refusing medication as part of his treatment, which may have already freed him…

Legal victory was historic, but plaintiff remains in psychiatric ward
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Ontario Review Board

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Previous research has found that mice, which are missing the Hox genes, a group of core developmental genes, groom themselves compulsively to the point of removing their own hair and leaving self-inflicted sores. Additionally, a more recent study has discovered a link between the Hoxb8 gene and behaviors similar to those found in people with obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder (OCD) and that these mice can be cured with a bone marrow transplant.

“It turns out that the Hoxb8 gene in question plays an important role in the development of immune cells known as microglia, which reside in the brain. Studies in which the researchers labeled Hoxb8 cells found that they show up in the brain exclusively in bone marrow-derived microglia. When they transplanted healthy bone marrow from control mice into the mutant animals, normal microglia made it to the animals' brains in about four weeks' time and many of the animals then stopped their incessant grooming, allowing their hair to grow back in, within three months of the procedure.”

Microglia is a type of glial cell that acts as the first and main form of active immune defense in the central nervous system. During the process of blood cellular formation, some hematopoietic stem cells, which are any cells within the bone marrow whose function is to produce blood cells, give rise to microglia. According to Mario Capecchi of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Utah School of Medicine, hox genes are heavily involved in hematopoietic stem cells, which are critical for the proper number and placement of embryonic segment structures, such as legs, antennae, and eyes.

Capecchi explains that “the classic job of microglia, which outnumber neurons in the brain, is to scan the brain for problems […] When they find that something is wrong -- maybe a pathogen has invaded or there has been a stroke -- they change their shape to infiltrate the area and "clean up the mess." Amazingly, microglia can scan the whole brain in only an hour.

These cells maneuver around the brain and make stops at active neuronal synapses monitoring brain activity. From this research, Capecchi believes that microglia may also regulate neural activity and when it is unable to, as in the case of Hoxb8 mutants, pathologies like OCD-like behaviors may result. The exact way in which microglia controls brain activity is not yet known; however these findings suggest that the immune system may have a larger role in mental health disorders. Capecchi states:

"we have provided strong support for the hypothesis that the excessive pathological grooming behavior exhibited by Hoxb8 mutant mice is caused by a defect in microglia. That a behavioral deficit could be corrected by bone marrow transplantation is indeed surprising. The therapeutic implications of our study on amelioration of neurological behavioral deficits in humans have not escaped us."

Capecchi explains that a connection exists between the immune system and disorders such as depression, autism, Alzheimer's, OCD and schizophrenia, but it has never been entirely clear. This study should lead to more exciting discoveries in how microglia can affect neural activity and behavior. Perhaps our vast knowledge of the immune system could lead to more discoveries and treatments for mental illness.

Compulsive Behavior in Mice Cured by Bone Marrow Transplant
Microglia

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Contrary to popular belief, risks associated with alcohol consumption do not only strike the young. “A new study by researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has found that more than a third of drinkers 60 years old and older consume amounts of alcohol that are excessive or that are potentially harmful in combination with certain diseases they may have or medications they may be taking.”

Researchers studied data from 3,308 older patients from primary care clinics in and around Santa Barbara, California. However, the sample used is more likely to be white, married, well-educated with high income. In addition, findings are based on self-reports, which also weakens the validity of this study.

Despite a clear lack of generalizability and reliability, researchers have found that the risk associated with drinking in older adults who already have certain illnesses or take medications while consuming alcohol are just as numerous as those at risk from alcohol consumption alone.

The Comorbidity Alcohol Risk Evaluation Tool (CARET) was used to assess drinking habits among these older adults. Results determined whether they were considered to be at risk if they fell into any of the following categories:

• more than 2 drinks consumed on most days of the week


• one to two drinks consumed on most days in combination with other illnesses like gout, hepatitis or nausea


• one to two drinks consumed on most days in combination with medications, such as antidepressants or sedatives

The specific findings include:

• 34.7 percent (1,147) of older adults were at risk due to drinking alone or to drinking in combination with comorbidities or medications, and 19.5 percent fell into multiple risk categories.


• Of those at risk, 56.1 percent fell into at least two risk categories, and 31 percent fell into all three.


• Participants who had not graduated from high school had 2.5 times the odds of at-risk drinking as those who had completed graduate school.


• Respondents with annual household incomes between $80,000 and $100,000 had 1.5 times the odds of being at-risk as those with incomes under $30,000.


• Respondents who were 80 or older had half the odds of at-risk drinking as those between the ages of 60 and 64.


• Asians had less than half the odds of at-risk drinking as Caucasians.

Results must be taken with a grain of salt when applying them to the general population as a 62-year-old married white male with a high annual household income cannot compare to an 85-year-old widowed Asian female with a low an annual income. The study also makes no mention of drinking habits prior to older age.

Regardless of the various inconsistencies, results do suggest that Physicians may need to pay more attention to the drinking habits of certain older adults and any possible interactions that may exist between alcohol consumption and other illnesses or medications since this study has shown that as many as one in three older adults in this study’s sample that continue to drink into older adulthood are more at risk.

High Rates of at-Risk Drinking Among Elderly Adults, Study Finds

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The Buck Institute for Age Research has been studying the possibility that antidepressants and mood stabilizers, like lithium for example, could have positive effects on stroke victims. The growth of new neurons has been known to diminish the effects of a stroke as well as dramatically improve impaired functions after a stroke, while those types of medications have been found to encourage neurogenesis in rodents.

"What this study shows more convincingly than in the past is that the production of new neurons after stroke is beneficial in rodents," said Buck faculty member and senior author David Greenberg, MD, PhD. "Assuming that neurogenesis is also beneficial in humans, drugs approved by the FDA for other purposes and already shown to promote new neuron growth in rodents might be worth studying as a potential treatment for stroke in humans. For example, antidepressants are often used to treat post-stroke depression, but their potential for improving outcome from stroke itself is less certain."

Researchers compared the size of a stroke and the recovery from stroke in genetically altered mice that either had the ability to grow new neurons or not. It was discovered that mice without the ability to grow new neurons suffered strokes 30% larger; whereas the mice with the ability to grow new neurons showed dramatic improvement of motor functions following a stroke.

Although this new research sounds very exciting, Greenberg cautions that people should not attempt to treat themselves until clear evidence is made official as testing has not been rigorous enough to determine if negative effects exist or whether these positive effects can be seen in humans. Testing these medications that stimulate the growth of neurons could lead to other exciting discoveries for many other age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.

“Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in this country. Treatments for stroke are limited. Clot busting drugs, which have to be given within hours of the stroke, have been of great benefit to a small number of patients, but stroke is not usually diagnosed in time for them to be used.”

What is a stroke?

A stroke (sometimes called a cerebrovascular accident (CVA)) is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain, caused by a blocked or burst blood vessel. This can be due to ischemia (lack of glucose and oxygen supply) caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or inability to see one side of the visual field.

What factors lead to a higher risk of stroke?

• advanced age
  
• hypertension
  
• a previous stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA)
  
• diabetes
  
• high cholesterol
  
• cigarette smoking
  
• atrial fibrillation

What are the symptoms of stroke?

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the central nervous system include:

• hemiplegia and muscle weakness of the face
  
• numbness
  
• reduction in sensory or vibratory sensation

Generally, the symptoms affect one side of the body and the side affected is typically opposite to the affected brain area.

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the brain stem include:

• altered smell, taste, hearing, or vision
  
• drooping of eyelid and weakness of ocular muscles
  
• decreased reflexes (gag, swallow, pupil reactivity to light)
  
• decreased sensation and muscle weakness in the face
  
• balance problems and nystagmus (involuntary eye movement)
  
• altered breathing and heart rate
  
• weakness in sternocleidomastoid muscle with an inability to turn the head to one side
  
• weakness in tongue (inability to protrude and/or move from side to side)

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the cerebral cortex include:

• aphasia (inability to speak or understand language from involvement of Broca's or Wernicke's area)
  
• apraxia (altered voluntary movements)
  
• visual field defect
  
• memory deficits (with damage to the temporal lobe)
  
• hemineglect (a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of space is observed when there is damage to the parietal lobe)
  
• disorganized thinking, confusion, hypersexual gestures (with damage to the frontal lobe)
  
• anosognosia (persistent denial of the existence of a, usually stroke-related, deficit)

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the cerebellum include:

• trouble walking
  
• altered movement coordination
  
• vertigo and or disequilibrium

What are the long-term effects?

Disability affects 75% of stroke survivors enough to decrease their employability. Stroke can affect patients physically, mentally, emotionally, or a combination of the three. The results of stroke vary widely depending on size and location of the lesion. Dysfunctions correspond to areas in the brain that have been damaged.

Some of the physical disabilities that can result from stroke include:

• paralysis
  
• numbness
  
• pressure sores
  
• pneumonia
  
• incontinence
  
• apraxia (inability to perform learned movements)
  
• difficulties carrying out daily activities
  
• appetite loss
  
• speech loss
  
• vision loss
  
• pain
  
• coma
  
• death

Some of the mental disabilities that can result from stroke include:

• anxiety
  
• panic attacks
  
• flat affect (failure to express emotions)
  
• mania
  
• apathy
  
• psychosis
  
• depression (characterized by lethargy, irritability, sleep disturbances, lowered self esteem, and withdrawal)
  
• emotional lability (a rapid switch between emotional highs and lows and an inappropriate expression of emotions
  
• speech problems
  
• dementia
  
• attention and memory problems
  
• anosognosia (persistent denial of the existence of a, usually stroke-related, deficit)
  
• hemispatial neglect (inability to attend to anything on the side of space opposite to the damaged hemisphere)
  
• seizures

All resulting affects of stroke are dependent on the severity of brain damage.

Antidepressants as Treatment Immediately Following a Stroke?
Stroke

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Richard Borgens and his team from the Center for Paralysis Research at the Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered that chitosan can repair damaged nerve cell membranes. In doing so, the repaired membranes of nerve cells can re-establish the spinal cord's ability to transmit signals to the brain, thus restoring motor abilities.

“Chitosan (pronounced /?ka?t?sæn/) is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed ?-(1-4)-linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit).” It is produced commercially by deacetylation of chitin, a derivative of glucose. Chitin can be found in crabs, lobsters, shrimps, insects, squid, octopuses and cell walls of fungi to name a few.

Firstly, the researchers converted chitin to chitosan. They then isolated and compressed a segment of a guinea pig’s spinal cord. Following this, they applied chitosan and a fluorescent dye into the cells through damaged membranes. All of the neurons in the spinal cord tissue remained unstained by the dye under the microscope. While measuring the guinea pig’s brain response, it was noted that signals could not reach the brain because of the damaged spinal cord. “However, 30•min after injecting chitosan into the rodents, the signals miraculously returned to the animals' brains.” Hence, the nerve cells had been successfully repaired.

Borgens and his team also discovered that the levels of LDH leakage from the spinal cord tissue treated with chitosan were lower than those in undamaged spinal cords. “Lactate dehydrogenase catalyzes the interconversion of pyruvate and lactate with concomitant interconversion of NADH and NAD+. It converts pyruvate, the final product of glycolysis to lactate when oxygen is absent or in short supply, and it performs the reverse reaction during the cori cycle in the liver.” Understanding the function of LDH is quite complex, however, in layman’s terms, high levels of LDH are an indication of tissue breakdown or necrosis.

In addition, the researchers uncovered that the sugar repaired any damaged portions of the cell membrane, not only the compressed portion. During their studies, they also found that chitosan could likely be used to repair mitochondrial membranes. “Mitochondria have been implicated in several human diseases, including mitochondrial disorders and cardiac dysfunction, and may play a role in the aging process.” Could further research lead to developing treatments for certain genetic disorder and neurodegenerative diseases?

Chitosan
First Evidence That Chitosan Could Repair Spinal Damage
Lactate dehydrogenase
Mitochondrion

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It’s no surprise that before the human brain and its particularities can be fully understood that corporations will be utilizing major life-enhancing equipment for their own personal gain. Researchers at Duke University and Emory University suggest in their recent analysis that functional MRI can be used as a cost-effective marketing tool.

“Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a type of specialized MRI scan. It measures the hemodynamic response (change in blood flow) related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals. It is one of the most recently developed forms of neuroimaging. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate the brain mapping field due to its relatively low invasiveness, absence of radiation exposure, and relatively wide availability.”

“So-called "neuromarketing" takes the tools of modern brain science, like the functional MRI, and applies them to the somewhat abstract likes and dislikes of customer decision-making. Though this raises the specter of marketers being able to read people's minds (more than they already do), neuromarketing may prove to be an affordable way for marketers to gather information that was previously unobtainable, or that consumers themselves may not even be fully aware of, says Dan Ariely, the James B. Duke professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke.”

In essence, the results from the study of brain scans that boost sales for materialistic items like food and cars is viewed as more valuable than the understanding of mental illness. Evidently, many people view this as a misuse or abuse of valuable medical resources in an attempt at controlling society.

There is no need to describe the obvious ethical issues involved in such techniques that allows marketers to peek into the brains of their consumers, but considerations must be given to consumers’ awareness, consent, and understanding of what could be an invasion of privacy. Moreover, how could toy companies employ such a method?

Despite these concerns, this type of marketing technique could actually do some good by reducing the number of advertisements that use shock tactics and sexual imagery as main selling points for their products. In addition, companies might actually improve their products to meet consumer expectancy.

Obviously the main function of this technique is not to increase scientific knowledge, but a by-product of such marketing tools could lead to a better understanding of how the human brain creates, stores, recalls and relates information. Furthermore, side-effects of such studies could also mean healthier advertising, for instance, reducing negative influences that lead to over-consumption.

If this is where advertising is going, we can only hope that companies will employ professionals to interpret the brain scans as images must be carefully interpreted by individuals with extensive training since misinterpretation could have serious consequences, even for companies promoting their products.

“Neuromarketing may never be cheap enough to replace focus groups and other methods used to assess existing products and advertising, but it could have real promise in gauging the conscious and unconscious reactions of consumers in the design phase of such varied products as "food, entertainment, buildings and political candidates," Ariely says.”

Nonetheless, there could never be enough benefits from this type of marketing to hold more value than the fMRI’s initial intent, in my opinion.

Brain Scans Could Be Marketing Tool of the Future

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

What is ‘neuromarketing’? A discussion and agenda for future research

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A study in the British Medical Journal found that paroxetine, better known as paxil, decreases the benefits of the cancer treating drug tamoxifen. In addition, they found an increased risk of death in breast cancer patients the longer both drugs were taken concurrently.

Tamoxifen is a popular breast cancer treatment that can be taken for up to five years to prevent a recurrence. Conversely, paroxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant that is typically used to treat major depression, obsessive-compulsive, panic,social anxiety, and generalized anxiety.

Paroxetine has revealed promise for easing the hot flashes that can occur after cancer treatment. However, this anti-depressant has been known to have side effects such as nausea, somnolence, and sexual problems. This medication is also associated with significant weight gain and adult suicide.

Researchers studied the health records of 2,430 women taking tamoxifen between the years 1993 and 2005. They discovered that roughly 25% or 630 of these women were also taking paroxetine. Of the 1,074 women that died during this period, 374 of them died from breast cancer according to Ontario's cancer registry.

“Tamoxifen is an extremely important drug for breast cancer," said Dr. David Juurlink, a co-author of the study and a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. Paroxetine "takes that benefit away by interfering with the body's normal handling of tamoxifen. Specifically, researchers concluded that paroxetine blocks or inhibits an enzyme called cytochrome P450 2D6, which is needed to metabolize tamoxifen into its active form.

Although the evidence suggests that this anti-depressant must be stopped, researchers caution against abruptly ceasing treatment with paroxetine because of withdrawal effects and worsening of depressive symptoms.

Interestingly, the study did not find any increased risk of death among the smaller sample of women taking tamoxifen combined with some other SSRI, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa) and venlafaxine (Effexor). However, this smaller sample size may confound the study’s conclusiveness; however it does suggest that attractive alternatives exist.

Furthermore, there are always unanswered questions when it comes to research that focus on health records as several variables are unknown and uncontrolled. That being said, the slightest risk identified should be enough to stop using this medication, especially when there are equally effective substitutes.

Also, in recent news…

“In the first Paxil birth defect trial that resulted in a $2.5 million verdict against GlaxoSmithKline in October 2009, the infant, Lyam Kilker, was born with three heart defects; an atrial septal defect, a ventricular septal defect, and an interrupted aortic arch, after his mother took Paxil while pregnant.”

Antidepressant interferes with breast-cancer drug
Paroxetine
Paxil Birth Defect Trial - Battle of the Experts

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