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Mice with a particular gene mutation behave much like humans with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), scientists report.
The rodents have a genetic flaw that prevents their brain cells from
producing a protein called SAPAP3, according to a Duke University
Medical Center-led study.
SAPAP3 plays an important role in the transmission of signals between brain cells.
Mice lacking this protein were afraid to move out of the corner of
their cages and compulsively groomed their faces until they bled.
"The mice that could not produce this protein exhibited behaviors
similar to that of humans with OCD, a compulsive action coupled with
increased anxiety," team leader Guoping Feng, a Duke molecular
geneticist, said in a prepared statement.
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The powerful anti-psychotic drug Risperdal was approved by the U.S.
and Food Administration on Wednesday for use in children and
adolescents who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Until this point, the agency hadn't approved any drug for the
treatment of adolescent schizophrenia. For bipolar disorder, only
lithium is approved for use in adolescents aged 12 and older.
"The FDA has approved Risperdal for treating schizophrenia in
adolescents 13 to 17 and for the short-term [three-week] treatment of
bipolar I disorder in children and adolescents 10 to 17," Dr. Thomas
Laughren, director of the Division of Psychiatry Products at the
agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said during a midday
teleconference.
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New research is helping scientists understand why frightening,
traumatic memories go so deep and linger so long in the human brain.
A study in rats shows that a powerful neurochemical called
norepinephrine is released to help the brain deal with trauma -- but it
also "imprints" an emotional fear tagged to the memory of that event.
These emotionally loaded memories could help cause post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), said a team at Harvard University. But the
findings may also provide a target for treatment, they added.
"Norepinephrine is released in a part of the brain called the
amygdala, which is associated with emotional conditions, particularly
in bad situations," said lead researcher Vadim Bolshakov, director of
the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at Harvard-affiliated McLean
Hospital, in Belmont, Mass.
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More Gulf Coast residents are thinking seriously about suicide or
showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as the recovery from
Hurricane Katrina inches along, a new survey finds.
The
survey is a follow-up to one done six months after the hurricane, which
found that few people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — about 3
percent — had contemplated suicide in the storm's aftermath.
That figure has now doubled in the three-state area and is up to 8 percent in the New Orleans area, according to Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School, lead researcher for the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group.
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Americans seem to like psychotherapy. Whether it’s for the mundane conflicts of everyday life or life-threatening illnesses like major depression, psychotherapy is widely viewed as a healthy, if not harmless, pursuit.
Yet unlike most other medical treatments, psychotherapy can take considerable time. An infection can be cured in days, but remission of severe depression or anxiety disorder usually takes weeks or months, and a personality disorder typically requires years of intensive psychotherapy.
So if the outcome may be months or years away, how can a person tell whether his psychotherapy is any good?
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