Current News
Psychology
Chimpanzees Suffer PTSD Like Humans
The paper is co-authored by Gay Bradshaw, PhD, PhD, Lorin Lindner, PhD, MPH, Gloria Grow, founder and director of Fauna Foundation sanctuary, and Dr. Capaldo. The paper analyzes case material of two chimpanzees rescued from research, Jeannie and Rachel. The paper challenges a system that likens c... more »
Losing a Home Can Be Devastating Mentally
New Orleans residents who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina were five times more likely to experience serious psychological distress, a study found. Narayan Sastry of the University of Michigan and Mark VanLandingham of Tulane University in New Orleans examined the mental health status of 144... more »
Gene Therapy Improves Sight in Virtually Blind Patients
For the first time, researchers have used gene therapy to increase light sensitivity and improve vision in patients who were virtually blind, a finding that offers new hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with inherited forms of vision impairment. Although the patients studied have an extrem... more »
Mental Health
Psychological Effect of Bullying Can Last
The psychological consequences of social bullying -- spreading rumors and gossip -- can linger into early adulthood, a University of Florida study shows. Lead author Allison Dempsey, a doctoral student at the University of Florida, says social bullies target a child's social status and relationshi... more »
Anti-Psychotics, Elderly Pneumonia Linked
Elderly patients taking anti-psychotic drugs have a 60 percent increased risk of pneumonia, a Dutch study finds. The risk of developing pneumonia is not associated with long-term use, but is the highest shortly after starting the drug, study authors Dr. Rob van Marum of the University Medical Cent... more »
U.S. Puts More into Treatment; Effectiveness Debated
Apr. 28--Vietnam War veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) returned home in the 1960s and 1970s to a virtual mental-health desert. "You couldn't have written a worse-case scenario (for PTSD care) than the post-Vietnam era," said Matthew Friedman, executive director of the National C... more »
Mind and Body
Are You D-Ficient?
Apr. 22--Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue Lt. Jim McCrady spends 10-hour days patrolling the beach. McCrady may be slightly pink at the end of his four-day work week, but there's one thing he's not suffering from: lack of vitamin D. Vitamin D comes primarily from the sun, not food. http://content.ye... more »
Study: Why Meds Don't Help Some Epileptics
U.S. scientists say a study of a rodent model of epilepsy might solve a medical puzzle: why some epileptics don't respond to anti-epileptic medications. Our work identifies the mechanism by which seizures increase production of a drug transport protein in the blood brain barrier (or BBB), known as... more »
A Chilling Tool Fights Cardiac Arrest: Cooling the Patient's Body Can Save Heart and Brain.
Apr. 25--Max King is no fan of sensationalism, but he relishes declaring, "I literally died." The former journalist and current head of the Heinz Endowments, one of the nation's largest independent philanthropies, was speaking to Pittsburgh civic leaders at the Carnegie Museum of Art 18 months ag... more »
