Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Psychiatry for November 2005. This roundup includes the latest journal articles and updates from government agencies, including the FDA, NIH, and agencies from the UK and Canada, that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.
Mortality Similar with Older and Newer Antipyschotics
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued warnings regarding increased mortality rates in elderly patients taking atypical antipsychotic medications. However, results of a new study suggest the risk is actually 37% less than that imposed by conventional medications. The results, published in the Dec. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the older medications should not be used as an alternative to atypical drugs.
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Separate Process for Face Identity, Expression in Autism
TUESDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- For people with autism, Asperger syndrome or other social development disorders (SDDs), the process of recognizing familiar faces and interpreting facial expressions are distinct, according to a study published in the Nov. 22 issue of Neurology. A deficit in interpreting facial expressions may be related to emotional processing, the authors suggest.
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Abuse of Dopaminergics Can Occur in Parkinson Patients
TUESDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Among patients with Parkinson disease, a small group may develop dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) and compulsively use dopaminergic drugs, researchers report in the Nov. 22 issue of Neurology. This is more likely to occur in patients who are younger than average, depressed or who are heavy drinkers, the report indicates.
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Physician Occupation Linked with Parkinson Disease Risk
MONDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- People in jobs requiring higher education, including physicians, are at a greater risk of developing Parkinson disease than those with "low education" occupations, according to a report in the November issue of Neurology. In addition, people with jobs requiring high physical activity are at a lower risk than those with more sedentary jobs.
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Twins Have Lower IQ Scores Than Their Singleton Siblings
FRIDAY, Nov. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Twins have lower IQ scores in childhood compared to their single-born brothers and sisters, according to a study published online Nov. 18 in the British Medical Journal.
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Chronic Noise Exposure Linked to Myocardial Infarction
THURSDAY, Nov. 24 (HealthDay News) -- The physiological effects of chronic exposure to noise are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI), according to the NaRoMI (Noise and Risk of Myocardial Infarction) study published online Nov. 24 in the European Heart Journal.
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Antidepressant Treatment of Adolescents on the Rise
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 (HealthDay News) -- The use of antidepressant drugs to treat adolescents with depression is on the rise, while mental health counseling is dropping, according to a study reported online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
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Physicians May Not Comply with Black Box Warnings
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Many patients get prescription drugs with Black Box Warnings (BBW), but their doctors may fail to comply with safety guidelines for administering the high-risk medication, according to a study reported online in the Nov. 18 issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
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'Social Bonding' Hormones Altered in Orphan Children
TUESDAY, Nov. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The early social experience of children raised in orphanages may affect their levels of oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, two key hormones critical to social bonding, according to a study in the Nov. 22 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Clinicians Lack Confidence to Deal with Domestic Violence
MONDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Many community hospital clinicians lack the confidence or time to deal with domestic violence reports by their waiting room patients, according to a report published online Nov. 20 in the open access journal BMC Family Practice.
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Hostile Personality Does Not Impact Women's Heart Health
FRIDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Although epidemiological evidence suggests that healthy people with hostile personalities are at increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), having a persistently hostile personality does not affect women's long-term heart health, according to results of a population-based study published in the December issue of Heart.
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DISC1 Gene and Enzyme Interact in Schizophrenia
FRIDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) -- New evidence of the interaction between the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene, a known candidate for susceptibility to the disease, and the gene encoding enzyme phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B), has been presented in a report in the Nov. 18 issue of Science.
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Gene Discovered That May Regulate Anxiety, Fear
THURSDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Stathmin is a gene highly expressed in the fear-processing centers of the brain, and mice that lack the gene have an inability to develop innate and conditioned fear responses, according to a study in the Nov. 18 issue of Cell.
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Diet Drug Cuts Weight Most with Diet, Exercise
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Pharmacotherapy can be effective in weight loss but only when accompanied by lifestyle modifications and sufficient patient compliance, according to two studies in the Nov. 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Poor Sleep May Be Linked To Men's Risk of Diabetes
TUESDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Short sleep duration and difficulty maintaining sleep are associated with increased incidence of diabetes in men, according to a study published in the November issue of Diabetes Care.
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High Mortality Among Those with Diabetes, Depression
MONDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Both minor and major depression are strongly associated with an increased mortality rate over a three-year period in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the November issue of Diabetes Care.
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Prescription Sleep Aids Can Be Risky for the Elderly
MONDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Despite "marginal" benefits, prescription sedative hypnotics put older people at increased risk of adverse events such as falls and cognitive impairment, according to a study published online in the British Medical Journal.
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Prescription Sleep Aids Can Be Risky for the Elderly
MONDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Despite "marginal" benefits, prescription sedative hypnotics put older people at increased risk of adverse events such as falls and cognitive impairment, according to a study published online in the British Medical Journal.
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First-Trimester Screening Can Detect Down Syndrome
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Screening for Down syndrome at 11 weeks using three different methods produces better results than quadruple screening performed in the second trimester, according to a study in the Nov. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. However, combining the results from the first and second trimesters yields a high detection rate (more than 95%) with a low false-positive rate, the authors note.
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MRI May Detect Signs of Schizophrenia
TUESDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Magnetic resonance imaging can detect subtle differences in neuroanatomy of the schizophrenic brain, including a reduction in frontotemporal volume as well as possible differences in the occipital and speech production areas, according to a study in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The specificity and sensitivity may be sufficient to use MRI as a diagnostic aid, the authors suggest.
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New Guildelines Help Manage Failure to Thrive Cases
TUESDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Failure to thrive (FTT) is a common problem among infants and children and is often rooted in child neglect, according to a clinical report published in the November issue of Pediatrics.
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Bullying in School Affects Psychological State
TUESDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Bullying is prevalent among elementary school children and correlates with poor academic performance and psychological strain in both the victim and the bully, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The report highlights the need for anti-bullying programs in the early grades.
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Children Living with Unrelated Adults at High Risk of Death
MONDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Children living in households with unrelated adults are at nearly 50 times the risk of dying from inflicted injury as children living with two biological parents, according to a study published in the November issue of Pediatrics.
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Methylphenidate May Help Autism-Related Disorders
MONDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Methylphenidate may be effective in treating children with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders who have hyperactivity symptoms, according to a study in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
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Gene Variant Linked to Antisocial Behavior in ADHD
MONDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be more likely to develop antisocial behavior if they were low birth weight or if they carry a variant of the catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, which is thought to influence prefrontal cortical function, according to a study in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
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U.S. Leads Six-Nation Survey of Medical Errors
THURSDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- The United States leads five other developed nations in the number of medical mistakes, medication errors or inaccurate or delayed lab results, according to an international patient survey conducted by The Commonwealth Fund.
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Autism May Be Linked to Sex Differences in the Brain
THURSDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- People on the autistic spectrum may have a brain neuroanatomy that fits with the "extreme male brain" theory postulated more than 60 years ago as a way to explain autistic behavior, according to a viewpoint article in the Nov. 4 issue of Science.
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Alcohol Intake Linked to Risk of ER-Positive Breast Cancer
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Postmenopausal women who drink alcohol are at greater risk of developing estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer than abstainers, but there is no association with ER-negative breast cancer, according to a study in the Nov. 2 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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FDA Announces New Electronic Drug Labels
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Under regulations effective Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will require drug manufacturers to submit package insert or labels to the federal agency in a new electronic format known as the structured product labeling (SPL).
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