Monday 28 September 2009

Adolescents' needs on mental health wards

A mental health self audit of twenty six wards has shown that there is still the need to address the appropriate care of under 18 patients. Obstacles to achieving this legal requirement by 2010 are numbers of staffing and training levels.

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Read the report

Friday 25 September 2009

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder college study begins

According to researchers at University of Rhode Island and Lehigh University, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most under researched conditions. To address this, a first-ever double blind placebo study will test the effectiveness of a drug on college students who suffer from ADHD.

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Thursday 24 September 2009

Mental Health inpatient disatisfaction

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published the results of a survey examining the experiences of mental health inpatients. Although 45% of patients always felt safe on the wards, 16% never felt safe. Furthermore, only one third felt that they had had any involvement in the decisions concerning their treatment.

Read the article in full
Read the survey results

Wednesday 23 September 2009

MMR & autism statistics revisited

The latest statistics on the prevalance of autism in adults further dispels the theory of a link to the MMR immunisation of children. The NHS Information Centre data found that there would be a higher number of children compared to adults suffering if the vaccine had any influence.

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Monday 21 September 2009

2009 World Alzheimer's Report


The 2009 report from Alzheimer's Disease International has been published today (World Alzheimer's Day). Researchers at King's College London prepared the report which states that globally the number of Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers will double every twenty years.

Read the article in depth
Look a the report

Thursday 17 September 2009

Brush up your Kafka

According to psychologists at the University of British Columbia, reading surreal literature such as Kafka can impove the cognitive functioning of the brain that is responsible for learning. The study has been published in the September issue of Psychological Science.

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Read the original abstract

Online gambling ten times more addictive

Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have presented a study at the British Psychological Society’s Social Psychology Conference in Sheffield which concludes that online gambling is up to 10 time s more addictive than offline forms. Most affected are single young males who drink and smoke heavily.

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Prozac's Successor?

Research being presented at the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology in Istanbul has presented results that indicates a new antidepressant is more effective than fluoxetine (Prozac). Agomelatine to be marketed as Valdoxan has also fewer side effects according to the authors of the study

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Thursday 10 September 2009

World Suicide Prevention Day

Today September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day


Check out the International Association for Suicide Prevention website for for the official page (official logo pictured)

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Psychosis and drug abuse

A UK study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has examined the role of substance abuse in the severity of first-episode psychosis. 272 patients were assessed and the researchers concluded that persistant substance abuse caused higher levels of relapse, than for those who had no misuse of drugs.
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Read the original abstract

Monday 7 September 2009

Two Alzheimer's genes discovered


UK Scientists have discovered two genes that are potentially key to understanding the causes of Alzheimer's Disease. It is hoped that the study of 16,000 DNA samples published in Nature Genetics will lead to new treatments. Spokespersons for the Alzheimer's Society and the Alzheimer's Research Trust have expressed positive reactions to the news.

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Friday 4 September 2009

Over the counter addiction

It takes just three days to become addicted to some of the most common over-the-counter pain killers which contain high doses of codeine, according to the government's drug watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This warning comes in the wake of the parliamentary report which reported the dangers of addiction. Stronger warnings on packets are to be introduced and only small packets available without a prescription.

Read the full article
Read the MHRA press release

Wednesday 2 September 2009

The future of Depression

As the first Global Mental Health Summit commences in Athens the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it expects depression to become the major economic and social health problem worldwide within the next twenty years. Furthermore, WHO says it will be the developing countries who only spend 2% of their national budgets on mental health that will bear the brunt of this increase.

Read the article from the BBC in depth

Tuesday 1 September 2009

The genetics of Down's Syndrome

American scientists, using mice have shed light on the causes of genetic conditions such as Down's Syndrome and pregnancy loss. The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a mutation of the Bub1 gene in an egg of a mouse was an factor in producing an abnormal number of chromosomes.

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Read the original abstract