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.
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
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Responses
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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.
News Round-Up: November 2009 4th Edition
Miscellaneous
Using data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, an american study involving data on 43,000 people, older adults (over the age of 60 in this study) with alcohol dependence consumed an average of 40 alcoholic drinks per week compared to ‘between 25 and 35 drinks a week’ in the younger group. An american study is looking at whether PTSD can be predicted by incorporating a number of biological markers. The Lean Healthcare Academy recently had an awards ceremony and a hospital which implemented the Productive Ward was the recipient of an award. The Productive Ward and related Productive Series involve a systematic process to enable improvements in outcome measures such as efficiency (see review here). It is interesting to see how American and Japanese culture and technology is being used to improve care for patients in the NHS in an ever more connected world. The Productive Ward series is covered at the National Institute for Technology here. The series also includes approaches to improve outcomes in community care as well as other types of service.
News Round-Ups
Over at the Clinical Cases and Images blog there is a summary of recent news tweets. Alz Forum have got coverage of the recent Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease conference in Las Vegas here. They look at the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention study, the Memory Capacity Test and research on the CogState test amongst others. The Schizophrenia Research Forum have coverage of a recent murine study showing an association between mutations in the dysregulin gene (which has been associated with schizophrenia in genome wide association studies) and the function of fast-spiking interneurons. Mind Hacks has coverage of a number of studies including one in which sounds presented during sleep were associated with improved learning on spatial tasks.
The Google Wave tool which has been recently rolled out enables live collaboration using a number of tools and in this article Leah Betancourt discusses some of the ways this is being used in the creation, dissemination and discussion of news. Conventional methods for disseminating scientific/clinical information including conferences, journals and books are now in the process of being transformed by such tools. Another development which has the potential to have a profound impact on society, Government 2.0 was discussed at a recent conference. The idea here is that citizens can both engage with and contribute to the decision-making process of government. As an example this may impact on the way in which different segments of society are represented and this in turn could impact on health and illness on a number of levels. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has set up an expert lab to help government engage with citizens using technology and enabling them to tap into ‘crowd expertise’. There is a video on the expert lab here. In an american survey by Manhattan Research, 39% of doctors stated that they had communicated with patients online although the insurance-based nature of the healthcare system may influence such relationships. An article here looks at how doctors are using technologies such as twitter and the iPhone in their practice. Meanwhile the Danish Government is intending to go paperless by 2010.
It is a privilege for the TAWOP blog to have been included in a list of 100 blogs for psychology students and there are many interesting blogs included in this list.
Appendix
Researchers at the Universities of Warwick and Manchester compared a course of therapy costing £800 with the effects of an increase in salary or lottery winnings. Their findings apparently showed that the £800 course of therapy produced an increase in a measure of well-being that was equivalent to that produced by a pay rise or winnings of £25,000 causing the researchers to conclude that therapy was ‘32 times more cost-effective at increasing happiness than money’ (quote from news report). However I wasn’t able to find the study (perhaps its preprint) and wasn’t clear on what the outcome measures were and the details of the therapy. In a press release from the company producing the devices a study (n=7) provided preliminary evidence that Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation could improve scoreson measures of auditory hallucinations and psychosis. However these were described as interim results and from the limited information in the press release it looks as though a further 13 patients are to be included and so it will be interesting to further review these results when the study has been completed and submitted for publication.
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.
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