RESEARCH WEEKLY: January digest
TAC
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26 January 2016
(Jan. 26, 2016)
- Natural Defense against Bipolar Disorder
Naturally occurring neurological resiliency may explain why some individuals at high risk for bipolar disorder do not develop the disease even when other members of their families do. The finding suggests that neuroplasticity could become the basis for developing new interventions.Dima, D., et al. (5 January 2016). Connectomic markers of disease expression, genetic risk and resilience in bipolar disorder. Translational Psychiatry. (Summary on Medical Daily)
- Bipolar and sleep.
A comparison of the sleep and circadian patterns in 136 people with bipolar disorder and 422 of their relatives without the condition found significant differences in a dozen specific characteristics such as average length of time spent awake per day and average amount of activity per day. “These variants, in turn, could provide clues to new approaches for both preventing and treating BP.”Pagani, L., et al., Genetic contributions to circadian activity rhythm and sleep pattern phenotypes in pedigrees segregating for severe bipolar disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Summary on Medical News Today) - Negative Symptoms and Lost Neurons
Significant loss of one type of cell in a tiny area of the brain’s memory center called CA2 was found linked to the social deficits of schizophrenia in a mouse study. The same changes, which emerge during the equivalent of young adulthood in the mice, were found in postmortem examinations of people with the disease. There currently are no medications for the “negative symptoms” of schizophrenia: social withdrawal, reduced motivation and decreased emotional involvement common. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying these symptoms could suggest new directions for treatment.Piskorowski, R.A., et al (6 January 2016). Age-Dependent Specific Changes in Area CA2 of the Hippocampus and Social Memory Deficit in a Mouse Model of the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome. Neuron. (Summary on Health Daily) - Marijuana Use and Schizophrenia Risk
“Considerable evidence” suggests that a key ingredient of marijuana increases the risk of developing schizophrenia-related symptoms in early adulthood. The ingredient changed the brains of adolescent rates at the molecular level. Renard, J., et al. (4 January 2016). Adolescent Cannabinoid Exposure Induces a Persistent Sub-Cortical Hyper-Dopaminergic State and Associated Molecular Adaptations in the Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex. (Summary on Medical News Today) - Mental Illness, Young Adults and the ER
Emergency room visits by young adults with mental illness have increased significantly since implementation of the Affordable Care Act. “Significant barriers to care for mental health issues persist, leaving these patients little choice but to seek care in the only place they know they can get it: the ER.”Hernandez-Boussard, T., et al. (6 January 2016). Relationship of Affordable Care Act implementation to emergency department utilization among young adults. Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Summarized in RESEARCH WEEKLY in January:
