Tuesday, July 24, 2012

2:53 PM 7/24/2012 - Mike Nova's starred items

2:53 PM 7/24/2012

We aimed to investigate three reports of a possible role of early parental death in late onset dementia. We tested a multivariate model of risk factors for late onset dementia that included established (female sex, a family history of dementia, APOE ε4) and putative influences (vascular risk f...


Giving phobias a rest: Research suggests key role for sleep in treating ...
Medical Xpress
Exposure therapy for irrational fear of spiders seems to be more effective if it is followed by sleep, according to a recent study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The results have implications for treatment of phobias, social anxiety, and post ...

and more »


World's Largest Resource for OCD Comes to Chicago
MarketWatch (press release)
Presentations about the latest in OCD research, including a study by the IOCDF Genetics Collaborative to be published in Molecular Psychiatry about likely genetic culprits of OCD. -- Kids and teens programs including art therapy, cooking with the hotel ...

and more »

via Psychiatric News Alert by noreply@blogger.com (Psychiatric News Alert) on 7/24/12

Results from a phase 3 clinical trial of a once-promising new medication to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) showed that the drug failed to improve either cognition or daily functioning. Pfizer is developing the drug along with the Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy division of Johnson & Johnson. The clinical trial tested bapineuzumab in 1,100 people with mild to moderate AD, all of whom have the ApoE4 gene, which has been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease. In a July 23 press release, Pfizer said that while the company was disappointed in the results, further studies of bapineuzumab are planned, and data from a clinical trial in about 1,300 AD patients who do not carry the ApoE4 gene will be available soon. The drug is an antibody that binds to beta-amyloid in the brain—that protein is widely believed to be a cause of AD. The companies expected bapineuzumab to destroy beta-amyloid deposits. Commenting on the study results, Samuel Gandy, M.D., director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told the New York Times that since the brain plaques likely develop years or even decades before symptoms appear, "All these symptomatic trials are 25 years too late. I'm not terribly disappointed and I'm not discouraged" by the bapineuzumab data.

Read much more about bapineuzumab and the search for an Alzheimer's treatment in Psychiatric News here and here.

(image: Molekuul.be/Shutterstock.com)
For previous news alerts, click here.

via Health News and Views by Health Editor on 7/24/12

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) — Black teenagers in the United States have become much less sexually active over the past two decades, and those who do have sex appear to be more likely to use condoms, a new survey has found.
The declines are “dramatic,” said report author Laura Kann, who studies adolescent health for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers don’t disclose anything about why black teens might have changed their behavior. “This tells us what kids do, but not why,” Kann said.
Overall, teens of all racial and ethnic groups are about as sexually active as they were a decade ago. And the rate of condom use by teens — just six in 10 used them the last time they had sex — hasn’t changed much since the 1990s.
By contrast, the numbers for black teens are strikingly different. The percentage who reported ever having sex fell from 82 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2011. Kann said the numbers coincide with drops in teen pregnancy and births.
Increased education about HIV/AIDS among blacks, leadership in the black community and a public health focus on black Americans could explain the change, Kann said.
The new CDC teen-sex survey also reveals that:
  • The percentages of students who’ve had sex have remained fairly stable over the last 20 years for Hispanic students (49 percent in 2011) and whites (44 percent in 2011).
  • Overall, 47 percent of all teens surveyed said they’d ever had sex, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate has barely changed since 2001.
  • About one-third of students said they’d had sex within the past three months, and 15 percent said they’d had sex with four or more partners.
  • The percentage of sexually active teens who use condoms grew from 46 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2011, although the number hasn’t changed much in recent years. Black teens are more likely to use condoms: their rate is 65 percent.
The recent stabilization of condom use could have something to do with less focus on HIV, which has largely become a treatable disease, Kann said. Also, “the percentage of high school students overall who have had HIV education has dropped since 1997. That hasn’t helped any either.”
The new survey results come from the CDC’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey of students in grades 9 through 12 from both public and private schools. About 15,000 students take the surveys each year.
Jennifer Manlove, area director of Fertility and Family Structure with the Child Trends advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said the survey shows that much of the evolution toward less sexual activity occurred in the 1990s, even among black teens.
“There’s been a little bit more since 2000, but not really that much. The big news in the 1990s was the real focus on the AIDS epidemic and a lot of attention given to that,” she said.
Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, said the study “is a mix of good news and persistent causes for concern.”
Nearly half of teens in this country are still sexually active, “and a third or more (of those) did not use condoms most recently,” he said. “This means that a very large population of our young people remains vulnerable to all of the perils of unprotected sex, HIV included. So this report is not a cause for celebration. It tells of a job that can be done when we address it well, and of a mission far from accomplished that deserves our more devoted attention.”
He added: “No child should get HIV because our society is squeamish about the readily available means of preventing that.”
The survey findings were scheduled to be released Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., and published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
More information
For more about teen sexual health, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
SOURCES: Laura Kann, Ph.D., branch chief, division of adolescent and school health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; David L. Katz, M.D., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Jennifer Manlove, Ph.D., director, fertility and family structure, Child Trends, Washington D.C.; July 24, 2012, presentation, International AIDS Conference, Washington D.C.; July 24, 2012, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Last Updated: July 24, 2012
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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10:38 AM 7/24/2012

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via Psychiatric News Alert by noreply@blogger.com (Psychiatric News Alert) on 7/24/12

Results from a phase 3 clinical trial of a once-promising new medication to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) showed that the drug failed to improve either cognition or daily functioning. Pfizer is developing the drug along with the Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy division of Johnson & Johnson. The clinical trial tested bapineuzumab in 1,100 people with mild to moderate AD, all of whom have the ApoE4 gene, which has been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease. In a July 23 press release, Pfizer said that while the company was disappointed in the results, further studies of bapineuzumab are planned, and data from a clinical trial in about 1,300 AD patients who do not carry the ApoE4 gene will be available soon. The drug is an antibody that binds to beta-amyloid in the brain—that protein is widely believed to be a cause of AD. The companies expected bapineuzumab to destroy beta-amyloid deposits. Commenting on the study results, Samuel Gandy, M.D., director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told the New York Times that since the brain plaques likely develop years or even decades before symptoms appear, "All these symptomatic trials are 25 years too late. I'm not terribly disappointed and I'm not discouraged" by the bapineuzumab data.

Read much more about bapineuzumab and the search for an Alzheimer's treatment in Psychiatric News here and here.

(image: Molekuul.be/Shutterstock.com)
For previous news alerts, click here.

via Twitter / NIMHgov on 7/24/12
NIMHgov: Attending the #AIDS2012 Intl Conf this week? Don't miss this session about mental disorders and HIV/AIDS on tues eve http://t.co/tjfJoIyK

via Twitter / APAPsychiatric on 7/23/12
APAPsychiatric: RT @APP_Publishing: A Parasite Is Linked With Suicide Risk: In a large prospective study of some 46,000 women in which levels of ant... ...

via Clinical Psychiatry News on 7/23/12
There was a piece in last Sunday’s New York Times written by an oncology nurse...

via Psychiatric Times on 7/18/12
Research is needed on the hypervigilant Narcissistic Personality Disorder subtype, which has been largely understudied in spite of clinicians’ warnings that this is the most frequent presentation in patients.

via Psychiatric News Alert by noreply@blogger.com (Psychiatric News Alert) on 7/23/12

In a large prospective study of some 46,000 women in which levels of antibodies to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii were measured at childbirth, researchers linked infection with the parasite to suicide during the subsequent decade or so after they gave birth. The lead scientist was Marianne Pedersen, M.Sc., of Aarhus University in Denmark. The results were reported online this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

In a previous prospective study conducted with the same large cohort of women, and in which levels of antibodies to T. gondii were also measured at childbirth, Pedersen and her team linked infection with T. gondii to the subsequent development of schizophrenia. For more information about this study, see Psychiatric News.

(Image: Jubal Harshaw/Shutterstock.com)
For previous news alerts, click here.

via Twitter / APAPsychiatric on 7/23/12
APAPsychiatric: RT @APP_Publishing: Could Skin Cells Hold Answers to Alzheimer's?: Skin cells taken from patients with Alzheimer's disease can be re... ...

via Twitter / APAPsychiatric on 7/23/12
APAPsychiatric: Tips for Talking to Kids about #AuroraShooting http://t.co/Xc073CqH … via @APAHealthyMinds #Colorado #mentalhealth #grief #anxiety #mhsm

via Psychiatric News Alert by noreply@blogger.com (Psychiatric News Alert) on 7/23/12

Skin cells taken from patients with Alzheimer's disease can be reprogrammed into brain cells with the help of a particular stem cell research technique, Andrew Sproul, Ph.D., and colleagues at the New York Stem Cell Foundation reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Vancouver July 16. The reprogrammed cells can be used to explore the biology of Alzheimer's and for early-stage testing of potential Alzheimer's treatments, the scientists believe. One advantage of the technology, Sproul said, is that it can generate a nearly infinite supply of brain cells.

Other Alzheimer's advances were reported recently at a National Institutes of Health-sponsored Alzheimer's summit—notably, that results from three trials of experimental Alzheimer's drugs will be announced later this year. For more information about the search for weapons to fight Alzheimer's, see Psychiatric News.

(Image: leonello calvetti/Shutterstock.com)
For previous news alerts, click here.

via Clinical Psychiatry News by m.schneider@elsevier.com on 7/23/12
The Affordable Care Act provided $1.5 billion through September 2015 to the National Health Service Corps to train more primary care providers via scholarships and loan repayment assistance. In...

via Clinical Psychiatry News on 7/23/12
Illicit drug use is common among heavy cigarette smokers in the general population, but among outpatients with schizophrenia who are heavy smokers, it is most common in the first decade of illness,...

via Clinical Psychiatry News by michele.sullivan@elsevier.com on 7/23/12
VANCOUVER, B.C. – An investigational drug has shown promise in improving memory and cognition in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease in a 6-month, randomized, placebo-controlled trial...

via Twitter / NIMHgov on 7/23/12
NIMHgov: Research opportunities: Participants needed for study on pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder #OCD http://t.co/LfBLjpSS

via Twitter / NIMHgov on 7/23/12
NIMHgov: RT @IACC_Autism: Upcoming IACC Conference Call and Webinar - July 27, 2012 - 10:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. Eastern time - More information @ htt ...

via Clinical Psychiatry News on 7/23/12
VANCOUVER, B.C. – Medical foods and supplements designed to support neural health and function may soon expand treatment options for common forms of dementia based on the results of two studies.
One...

via Twitter / NIMHgov on 7/23/12
NIMHgov: Youths with #autism lack options after high school, need better transition planning & services @nimhgov http://t.co/s6JTg0V0

via Clinical Psychiatry News on 7/23/12
The landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) means that states can take the brakes off their implementation of the law. At least two states –...

via Twitter / APAPsychiatric on 7/22/12
APAPsychiatric: APA Job Central Psychiatrists - Lone Star Circle of Care - Central Texas, TX: http://t.co/BtkMfvJw #job

via Home | psychiatry.org on 7/20/12
Talking with Children about Tragedy
Tips for discussing the recent tragedy in Aurora, Colorado

This post has been generated by Page2RSS

Bomb specialists on Saturday neutralized the first of what appears to be many explosive devices in the home of James Holmes, who allegedly killed 12 people in a Denver movie theater. The police also completed the grim task of informing the victims’ families.

via NYT > James Holmes (Batman Shootings, Aurora, Colo.) by By MARC SANTORA on 7/20/12
Kevin B. Barry, a former detective in the New York Police Department who spent 20 years with the bomb squad, said each option available in entering the apartment that is booby-trapped carries its own risks.

The 24-year-old man accused of killing a dozen people inside a Colorado movie theater gathered what the police called a 6,000-round arsenal legally and easily.

James Holmes

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