News Round-Up: November 2009 5th Edition

Research in Dementia

A study in Nature Neuroscience suggests that Amyloid Beta is integral to memory function and that deviation from optimal levels is likely to lead to pathology. This in turn would suggest that removing Amyloid Beta from the plaque may not be a successful strategy in Alzheimer’s Disease if this optimal level is not addressed. However this discussion is taking place around cellular mechanisms and it will be useful to see how these predictions tie in with the relevant clinical trials. A suggestion has been made that a precursor to Nerve Growth Factor may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) on the basis of a significant increase in the levels of the precursor in AD post-mortem samples and findings in a murine model. Stroke is related to dementia in a number of ways and modifying stroke risk factors can reduce the risk of dementia. Thus a prospective study (n=3298) with a follow-up period of 9 years showed that moderate or heavy exercise was asssociated with a significantly reduced risk of developing stroke. Thus the risk was 2.7% in those with moderate-to-heavy exercise and 4.6% in those with no exercise*. A potentially very useful study used the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset to develop a method of analysing MRI data which involves two scans and a focus on loss of tissue in the Entorhinal Cortex and it will be intereresting to see the results of further research in this area. A 32-year prospective study – the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg found an association between central adiposity in middle age and prevalence of subsequent dementia. They did not find the same relationship between BMI and subsequent dementia but the central adiposity was associated with an approximate doubling of the prevalence of subsequent dementia.

General

The researchers in a study in Neuron found an association between modifications of cortical theta oscillations and the perception of intact sounds when presented with fragmentary sounds. Thus the implication is that there is an EEG correlate of auditory illusions. A recent study looking at falls in older adults found associations with a number of medications. The researchers in another study looking at falls in the elderly (the MOBILIZE study, n=729) found that those with chronic pain were significantly more likely to fall than their counterparts without*** An American study showed that just  under half of the 3 to 6 year olds in the study were concerned about becoming obese and one-third wanted to change an aspect of their appearance. Another American study (due to be published next year and with n=184) contrasted brief motivational interviewing with a control intervention (warning about the hazards of drinking and driving) in drink-driving recidivists was associated with a 30% reduction in repeat offences. Another study offers preliminary insights into the potential role of the delta waves generated in the hippocampus and the authors hypothesise on the basis of their results that the frequency of the delta waves code information about the type of processing that should take place in different regions – processing about the past or present.

Evolutionary Psychiatry

The new buzz word in this area is ‘primate archaeology’ which is an attempt to integrate a number of areas including primatology, anthropology and psychology. This article summarises this new ‘movement’ and looks at some very interesting research into the use of stone tools by chimpanzees in what is being described as a parallel with the advent of the stone age in humans.

DSM-V

DSM-V is due to appear in 2012. A twitter campaign has been started to petition for the inclusion of Depressive Personality Disorder in DSM-V. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen has argued against the removal of the Asperger Syndrome label in this New York Times article. Dr Anestis offers his views on this article and Baron-Cohen responds in this blog post.

Psychiatry 2.0

In a small study, participants were observed using search engines. The researchers concluded that search strategies were influenced by the learning styles of the participants and that participants often used search engines to confirm then own recall of a subject. A recent MyPublicServices event was held to discuss ways in which social media might impact on public services. It was suggested at the conference and reported in this article, that social media may impact on public health service delivery as it has done in many other sectors and that a constructive approach to using social media in th9s area could be adopted. One research study into viral marketing campaigns focused on the characteristics of e-mavens – people who spend a lot of time online**. E-maven’s characteristics were identified and those that were more likely to forward viral material onto others scored more highly on measures of individualism and altruism. On the subject of viral marketing – these usually pass me by but this one is pure genius! The video was made by the staff at Providence St Vincent Medical Centre in Portland, Oregon to raise awareness of Breast Cancer. Enjoy!

* The recent finding that dog owners get more exercise than gym-users may be of relevance in this regards. Thus it would be interesting to see the risk of dementia in dog owners (there are forms of pet therapy that have been employed for use in people with dementia although this is a slightly different issue)

** I’m not sure if this group would be considered at risk of the very controversial diagnosis of ‘internet addiction’ although this illustrates very nicely the balance between what some might consider illness behaviour and what others might consider socially constructive behaviour.

*** The study was partly funded by Pfizer

Twitter

You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link

Podcast

You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast).

TAWOP Channel

You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link

Responses

If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail justinmarley17@yahoo.co.uk

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.