Carbon Radioisotopes Provide Evidence of Neurogenesis in Adulthood News Round-Up June 3rd Edition 2013

Researchers looked at involuntary treatment in people with Schizophrenia in Denmark using a Psychiatry register. The researchers looked at the data for 18599 patients over a 7 year period. Of these patients 3078 underwent involuntary treatment. The researchers found that treatment with antipsychotics accounted for 99.5% of involuntary psychotropic drugs administered. Electroconvulsive therapy accounted for only 4.8% of all involuntary treatments. These findings may not be generalisable to other countries as there are many factors that can influence these results including the structure of health services.

Neuroscience

Researchers have used atmospheric atomic explosions to examine neurogenesis in the human brain in adulthood. There has been a longstanding debate about whether the brain gives rise to new neurons in adulthood. This has been a tricky area to examine due to a number of technical difficulties.

However when nuclear weapons were detonated in the atmosphere between 1945 and 1963 this increased the amount of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere. Carbon is an essential component of living organisms and therefore the uptake of C14 during this period left a signature.

The ratio of these different forms of Carbon enabled researchers to calculate the age of organic tissue. By looking at the brains of several subjects region by region they were able to identify brain regions with evidence of neurogenesis. The analysis is complex but the researchers concluded that neurogenesis occurs in the Dentate gyrus throughout adult life. There were other findings and there is a good write-up at New Scientist.

Evolutionary Psychiatry

Researchers studying Chimpanzees at Lincoln Park Zoo have identified five personality dimensions that correlate well with behaviour. The researchers identified 5 Chimpanzee personality  dimensions including dominance and agreeableness. They monitored the behaviour of 99 Chimpanzees over a two year period and correlated this with the personality measures. The researchers also used two raters to validate the personality measures. Chimpanzees are our nearest extant relative and the classification of Chimpanzee personality may be relevant to personality traits in humans.

 

Appendix

News Round-Up 2008-2011

News Round-Up 2012

Index: There are indices for the TAWOP site here and here 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). It is available for a limited period. 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.

Researchers Study Mediterranean Diet News Round-Up June 2nd Edition 2013

 

 

Researchers undertook a meta-analysis of 22 studies looking at the relationship between Mediterranean Diet adherence and risk for a number of diseases. They found a significant relationship between high adherence to the Mediterranean diet and reduced risk for Depression and Stroke as well as for cognitive impairment.

A Cochrane Database Systematic Review investigated Rivastigmine in the treatment of Vascular Dementia and Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment. The researchers identified only three trials (n=800) with two trials showing no benefit but a third showing some benefit for cognition at 24 weeks versus placebo in Vascular Dementia (n=710). Nevertheless it will be interesting to see the findings in further meta-analyses as more studies become available for inclusion.

An intriguing Swedish study has looked at the effects of Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors (ACHEI’s) on the risk of developing myocardial infarcts in people being treated for Alzheimer’s Disease (this included people with Alzheimer’s Mixed Dementia). This was a cohort study (n=7073) using data from the Swedish Dementia Register and national registers for other health outcomes. Amongst other findings the researchers found that people taking the highest dose of AChEI’s had a significantly lower risk of developing Myocardial Infarcts relative to the control group who had not used them. In this cases the hazard ratio was 0.35 (95% Confidence Interval 0.19-0.64).

Hazard Ratio Explained

 

Nevertheless studies of this type although good at finding possible relationships require further different types of studies to investigate these relationships more closely. It will be interesting to see the results of further studies in this area to clarify the nature of these initial findings.

 

One or more reported episodes of Delirium occurred in 25% of people with Lewy Body Dementia in comparison with 7% of people with Alzheimer’s Disease in this retrospective study (n=180).

 

Neuroscience

There is a write-up here about a consortium of organisations referred to as the ‘Global Alliance’ that are developing standards to share information about the human genome as well as clinical data. This has the potential to facilitate research in human genetics.

There is a write-up here of a study in which the researchers found a significant relationship between the width of the retinal venules (blood vessels on the back of the eye) and IQ in their subjects. It will be interesting to see the results of further replication studies.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have used a statistical model to investigate the origins of languages. The researchers concluded in their analysis that several groups of Eurasian languages had their roots in a 15,000 year old language.

Evolutionary Psychiatry

A fossil dating back 55 million years found in China is thought to be amongst the earliest Primates. The species has been named Archicebus and is just over 7 cm in length although there are similarly sized extant Primates (see video below). The dating of the specimen is relatively close to the end of the Cretaceous period. The expansion of the arboreal primates is an important stage in human evolution with some adaptations to this environment being conserved. This specimen may not have given rise to our lineage ultimately although in that case there are still likely to be important similarities to our ancestors at that time.

Pygmy Marmosets (Smallest Extant Primate)

There is evidence that one species of Lemur undergoes hibernation for up to 8 months of the year.  This is the second Primate species that has been found to undergo hibernation.

Events

Appendix

News Round-Up 2008-2011

News Round-Up 2012

Index: There are indices for the TAWOP site here and here 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). It is available for a limited period. 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.

Psychosis and the Immune System News Round-Up June 1st Edition 2013 (Updated 8.6.13)

Mild cognitive impairment was associated with a reduction in quality of life in this study (n=205). The QOL-AD (Alzheimer’s Disease) instrument was used to assess quality of life.

Musical hallucinations were more likely in females and people with left-sided hearing impairment in this study looking at people undergoing audiometry testing. In their sample of 194 people, 3.6% experienced musical hallucinations. Age and severity of hearing impairment were not risk factors however.

In one study (n=131) researchers looked at the relationship between depression and cognition in people with Alzheimer’s Disease. The researchers found that in their study there was no significant change in cognition in cases with remission of Depression at 24 weeks.

The relationship between Depressive symptoms in women over the age of 85 was examined in this study (n=302). Researchers used the 15 item Geriatric Depression Scale and found that with a score of <6 at baseline 46% had normal cognitive status 5 years later. With a score >6 at baseline 19% had normal cognitive status 5 years later.

In a small fMRI study researchers looked at 15 people with late life depression and 13 controls . Previous research would suggest decreased executive performance in people with Depression. In this study the researchers found that on a test of executive performance there was increased activation in various parts of the Brain in people with late life Depression compared with controls. The study showed activation was increased in areas including the Superior Frontal cortex bilaterally, Insular cortex, Caudate and Putamen.

Professor Julian Leff has been using virtual reality environments to help people with Schizophrenia who hear voices, manage their experiences. There is a write-up here.

Dr Emily Dean has an interesting piece on NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis as a cause of Schizophrenia with papers presented at the recent American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.

There is a write-up of a study by older adult psychiatrist Dr Tony Rao here in which he found that over the 10 year study period admissions for older adults with alcohol misuse had increased 150%.

In one study researchers looked at 581 people undergoing major non-cardiac surgery. They identified a number of risk factors for developing Delirium and stratified people into low and high risk groups. For the entire group the risk of  postoperative delirum was 40% at 1-2 days post-op. The high risk group developed Delirium in 72% of cases if they had postoperative pain and used high dose Opioids. In comparison those in the low risk group who used low-dose Opioids and low level pain developed Delirium in 20% of cases. As Delirium is common, these findings are helpful in monitoring emerging Delirium.

There is a write-up here of a study looking at bright light therapy for daytime sleepiness in 18 people with traumatic brain injury.

Neuroscience

There is a study in rats that suggests that forgetting is more difficult in older rats. These findings might be relevant for humans.

Events

Dr Raj Persaud and Professor Simon Wessely are hosting a conference on the subject of DSM-5 in London (see here and here).

Appendix

News Round-Up 2008-2011

News Round-Up 2012

Index: There are indices for the TAWOP site here and here 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). It is available for a limited period. 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.