Home » category » health sciences » Mental Health
CN Publications
Toward a better future through tolerance and mutualism
Sponsored By:
Recent Comments:
Richard on Hamas Occupies Palestinian Lands.
David on Outsourcing to Egypt.
Robert on Europe Discovers Israel Economy.
Isaac, NYC on If We Only Have Love.
Devorah on Palestine Politics.
Nabil on Filipino Workers in Dubai.
Ahmed on Saudis Import Foreign Workers.
Walid on Sri Lankan Labor in ME.
Amir on Arabs Lead Yacht Race.
Devorah on Palestinian Ethnic Identity.
Comments RSS
Education
Middle East
Science
Shopping
Useful Links
For embarrassing memory lapses blame your neurons
Reprinted from Sify News, July 29, 2010
A specific part of our brain processes information about human and animal faces and is responsible for how we recognize them and interpret facial expressions. Now, Israeli researchers are exploring what makes this highly specialized area of the brain unique.
In her “Face Lab” at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Galit Yovel of TAU’s Department of Psychology is trying to understand the mechanisms at work in the face area of the brain called the “fusiform gyrus” of the brain. She is combining cognitive psychology with techniques like brain imaging and electrophysiology to study how the brain processes information about faces. Her most recent research on the brain’s face-processing mechanisms appears in the Journal of Neuroscience and Human Brain Mapping.
The study of face recognition does more than provide an explanation for embarrassing memory lapses. For instance, it may help business executives better match names with faces, and more important can lead to better facial recognition software to identify terrorists or criminals. Similar to faces, bodies are also processed by distinct brain areas. How we perceive faces is not totally intuitive, she says, and therefore raises the question of how this information is combined in our brain to understand how separate face and body areas generate a whole body-image impression. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Middle East, Science on July 29, 2010 - י"ח אב תש"ע at 10:02 am
Comments Off
Autism in the Holy Land: Conference Skyrockets Interest
Av 6, 5770, 17 July 10 11:51
by Ruth Amber Gristak and Maayana Miskin
(Israelnationalnews.com) One in 91 children worldwide, and one in 58 boys, are diagnosed with autism. Where do Jewish children rank in autism numbers? As there is no research in that specific area of autism, there is no answer. In Israel, the official statistic is 1 in 241. “Lack of answer” is the common end point for most questions about autism. There is no definitively known cause for the disorder.
This may be one reason that the Icare4autism 2010 International Autism conference in Jerusalem brought in over 500 attendees from Israel and around the globe. Attendees included educators, researchers, and those touched by autism. This conference was Israel’s first major international autism conference.
The event was held on July 5-6, 2010, by the NY-based, global non-profit, the International Center for Autism Research and Education (Icare4autism). It featured 30 speakers from around the globe and was held at the Ramada- Renaissance Hotel. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Health Sciences, Mental Health, Middle East, Recent Posts, Special Education on July 17, 2010 - ו' אב תש"ע at 9:53 pm
Comments Off
Psychiatric Times. Vol. 27 No. 7
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Integrative Management of ADHD: What the Evidence Suggests
By James Lake, MD | July 7, 2010
Dr Lake is in private practice in Monterey, Calif, and is on the clinical faculty in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University Hospital. He chairs the American Psychiatric Association Caucus on Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine (www.APACAM.org) and is the author of the Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care (Thieme, 2006) and Integrative Mental Health: A Therapist’s Handbook (Norton, 2009).
It is important for mental health professionals to be familiar with emerging research findings about widely used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in order to provide patients with accurate information on efficacy, safety, and appropriate use.
A high percentage of children and adults who have been given a diagnosis of ADHD use alternative therapies alone or in combination with conventional pharmacological treatment.1 More than half of parents of children with ADHD treat their children’s symptoms using 1 or more CAM therapies, most commonly vitamins, dietary changes, and expressive therapies; yet only about 10% disclose use of such nonpharmacological therapies to their child’s pediatrician.2 Most nonpharmacological therapies used to treat ADHD are supported by limited evidence; however, as many as 80% of patients who use herbal preparations and other natural products regard these therapies as the primary treatment of their symptoms.2
Conventional treatment
Stimulant medications, including dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate, and related compounds, are the most widely used treatments of ADHD. The nonstimulant atomoxetine has less potential for abuse but also may be less effective than stimulants.3 SSRIs and other antidepressants are used with varying degrees of success. Behavioral modification aimed at rewarding desirable behavior and extinguishing disruptive or inappropriate behavior continues to be a mainstay of conventional treatment. Psychotherapy and psychosocial support help reduce anxiety and feelings of loss of control that frequently accompany ADHD. It is estimated that ADHD is correctly diagnosed and treated in fewer than one-fifth of adults, which results in significant social and occupational morbidity.
Limitations and risks of conventional treatment
Long-term amphetamine use in childhood is associated with delays in normal development.4 One-third of individuals of all ages who take stimulants for ADHD report significant adverse effects, including insomnia, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain.5 Cases of stimulant-induced psychosis have also been reported.6 Stimulants and other conventional treatments of ADHD in adults are probably only half as effective as they are in children.4
Adverse effects of nonstimulant drugs used to treat ADHD include hypertension, decreased appetite, nausea, fatigue, liver toxicity, insomnia, and seizures. A meta-analysis of 6 controlled trials concluded that stimulant therapy started in childhood reduces the risk of subsequent substance abuse by as much as one-half. In contrast, stimulants started in adolescence or adulthood increase the risk of future substance abuse.7 Nonstimulant medications and extended-release stimulants are less likely to be abused.8 Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Special Education on July 9, 2010 - כ"ז תמוז תש"ע at 11:29 am
Comments Off
TAU Works on Computer Chip Implant to Treat the Brain
Tammuz 17, 5770, 29 June 10 02:23
by Hana Levi Julian, Arutz Sheva
(Israelnationalnews.com) A team of scientists at Tel Aviv University is working on a project that involves implanting a computer chip into the brain in order to treat conditions such as depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Professor Matti Mintz, a member of the Psychobiology Research Unit at the Department of Psychology, is part of a European consortium that is working on issues relating to neurophysiology, human behavior and mental health.
TAU colleague Professor Yossi Shaham-Diamond is also involved, working on the issue of adding sensors while miniaturizing the size of the deep brain electrodes used to deliver the stimulation. Two other TAU scientists, Professor Hagit Messer-Yaron and Dr. Mira Kalish, are also involved in the project as well as partners from Spain, Austria and England. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 29, 2010 - י"ז תמוז תש"ע at 9:41 am
Comments Off
Alzheimer’s Risk Factors & Prevention
Provided as a public service of the American Health Assistance Foundation
On this page, you will find the following:
Risk Factors
Scientists have identified factors that appear to play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, but no definitive causes have been found for this complex disorder.
Known Risk Factors
- Age: The single greatest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is age. Approximately 5 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74, and almost half of those 85 years and older are estimated to have Alzheimer’s.
- Genetics: The majority of Alzheimer’s cases are late-onset, usually developing after age 65, and this form of the disease shows no obvious inheritance pattern. However, in some families, clusters of cases are seen. A gene called Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) appears to be a risk factor for the late-onset form of Alzheimer’s. There are three forms of this gene: ApoE2, ApoE3 and ApoE4. Roughly one in four Americans has ApoE4 and one in twenty has ApoE2. While inheritance of ApoE4 increases the risk of developing the disease, ApoE2 substantially protects against it. Some current research is focused on the association between these two forms of ApoE and Alzheimer’s disease. Several other genes also appear to influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and more detailed information is available in the Heredity section.
Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) or early-onset Alzheimer’s is an inherited, rare form of the disease, affecting less than 10 percent of patients. Familial Alzheimer’s Disease develops before age 65, in people as young as 35. It is caused by one of three gene mutations on chromosomes 1, 14 and 21.
Potential Contributing Factors
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Nutrition & Fitness, Recent Posts on May 12, 2010 - כ"ח אייר תש"ע at 10:51 pm
Comments Off
Son’s autism leads to innovation
By Geoff Adams-Spink , April 23, 2010
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website
The father of a child with severe autism has developed technology to help him communicate.
Stephen Lodge said the idea for his Speaks4Me system came to him years ago but has been waiting for technology to catch up in order to make it a reality.
His eleven-year-old son, Callum, is non-verbal and uses his father’s invention to speak.
Speaks4Me was on show at Naidex 2010 – the annual disability exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham.
Mr Lodge’s system runs on any device that can run the Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating system.
It uses the concept of dragging and dropping images from one area of the screen to another to form sentences.
The user then presses a speech button to "verbalise" the sentence.
"Callum has been using Speaks4Me for some time now and he has already been able to create some very expressive sentences," Mr Lodge told the BBC.
Examples include, "I want a drink of juice", "I want to go outside", and "I feel tired".
Mr Lodge – who lives in South Yorkshire – has 20 years’ experience in technology and developed Speaks4Me after deciding that other products on the market were unsatisfactory for Callum.
He cashed in his savings and raised money on his property in order to finance the venture.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Science and Technology, Special Education on April 24, 2010 - י' אייר תש"ע at 11:24 pm
Comments Off
How Not to Raise a Bully: The Early Roots of Empathy
By Maia Szalavitz, TIME , Apr. 17, 2010
Since the Jan. 14 death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old in South Hadley, Mass., who committed suicide after being bullied by fellow students, many onlookers have meditated on whether the circumstances that led to her after-school hanging might have been avoided.
Could teachers have stepped in and stopped the bullying? Could parents have done more to curtail bad behavior? Or could preventive measures have been started years ago, in early childhood, long before bullies emerged and started heaping abuse on their peers? (Read what can be done about bullying in school.)
Increasingly, neuroscientists, psychologists and educators believe that bullying and other kinds of violence can indeed be reduced by encouraging empathy at an early age. Over the past decade, research in empathy — the ability to put ourselves in another person’s shoes — has suggested that it is key, if not the key, to all human social interaction and morality.
Without empathy, we would have no cohesive society, no trust and no reason not to murder, cheat, steal or lie. At best, we would act only out of self-interest; at worst, we would be a collection of sociopaths.
Although human nature has historically been seen as essentially selfish, recent science suggests that it is not. The capacity for empathy is believed to be innate in most humans, as well as some other species — chimps, for instance, will protest unfair treatment of others, refusing to accept a treat they have rightfully earned if another chimp doing the same work fails to get the same reward. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education, Education Report, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Special Education on April 18, 2010 - ד' אייר תש"ע at 6:34 am
Comments Off
ADHD Is Not a Disease
Today, the “epidemic” of ADHD has grown to about seven million young people in the U.S. Most of these children are on medication. And if you add in the numbers that are on antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, the number is over 10 million. That is larger than the entire population of New York City!
By Jon Herring, Total Health Breakthroughs, March 10, 2010
“Hey, Phillip… do you mind if I sit here and eat with you?” I asked.
“Sure, whatever…”
“How’s school going? Are you doing well?”
“Not really. I just want it to be summer.”
“Yeah, I remember how that used to feel,” I told him.
Phillip is eleven years old. He’s the son of some family friends and I was at a small party when I saw him sitting by himself. I hadn’t seen him for a few years, so I wanted to remind him who I was and get to know him a little better.
As he became comfortable, he opened up a bit more. He told me his plans for the summer. He told me about his friends and the girl he likes at school. And he also told me that he didn’t care for school all that much.
“It’s hard,” he said. “Plus, I have ADHD, so I don’t pay attention very well.”
“Really? How do you know you have ADHD?” I asked.
“That’s what my doctor said. He said I’ve had it since I was born. That’s why I have to take medicine.”
“Well, I think you’re just fine. How does that medicine make you feel?”
“It used to make me kinda nervous,” he said. “And I couldn’t go to sleep when I took it. Now, it just makes me not want to eat.”
After complimenting Phillip on his manners and intelligence, I changed the subject back to his plans for the summer. But what he said bothered me. Here was a bright young boy who was bored and frustrated in school… who probably had a few behavioral problems… and who had now been labeled as having a “disease” and put on medication.
And, unfortunately, Phillip is just one of millions…
I was bothered by his story because I could only imagine what that would do to the psyche and development of a child to be handed a lifelong sentence like that from a doctor. You are broken. You are defective. Your brain doesn’t work right. You are not acceptable in your natural state, but taking these drugs every day can help you.
It might be one thing if ADHD was actually a “disease”… but it’s not.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Special Education on March 12, 2010 - כ"ו אדר תש"ע at 12:58 pm
Comments Off
Mind Matters - March 2, 2010
Antidepressants: Do They “Work” or Don’t They?
A new study finds little difference between pill and placebo
By John Kelley, Scientific American
Question: Are antidepressants effective or ineffective?
Answer: Yes!
In my view, both these statements are true: Antidepressants do work. And antidepressants don’t work. Not to put too fine a Clintonian point on it, but determining whether antidepressants work depends on the definition of the word “work.”
A controversial article just published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that antidepressants are no more effective than placebos for most depressed patients. Jay Fournier and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania aggregated individual patient data from six high-quality clinical trials and found that the superiority of antidepressants over placebo is clinically significant only for patients who are very severely depressed. For patients with mild, moderate, and even severe depression, placebos work nearly as well as antidepressants.
There have been at least four other review articles published in the last eight years that have come to similar conclusions about the limited clinical efficacy of antidepressants, and one of the study authors, psychologist Irving Kirsch, has recently published a book on the topic, provocatively entitled The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth.
The recent review articles questioning the clinical efficacy of antidepressants run counter to the received wisdom in the psychiatric community that antidepressants are highly effective. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that psychiatrist Peter Kramer wrote in his best-selling book Listening to Prozac that this miracle drug made patients “better than well.” Prozac was a Rock Star. Its extraordinary success even led to a photograph of the green and white capsule on the cover of Newsweek Magazine in 1990.
The essential facts about antidepressant efficacy are not in dispute. In double-blind, randomized controlled trials – meaning that patients are randomly assigned to receive either drug or placebo, and neither patient nor clinician knows who gets what – antidepressants show a small but statistically significant advantage over placebos. The debate is over the interpretation of these findings, and it revolves around the distinction between clinical significance and statistical significance. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science on March 3, 2010 - י"ז אדר תש"ע at 7:29 am
Comments Off
Neurons Developed from Stem Cells Successfully Wired With Other Brain Regions in Animals
This is a single stem cell-derived neuron that has migrated away from the transplantation site in the cortex and grown into a mature neuron. The blue stain shows the nuclei of the endogenous neural cells in this part of the brain. (Credit: Courtesy, with permission: Weimann et al. The Journal of Neuroscience 2010.)
ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2010) — Transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells can fully integrate into the brains of young animals, according to new research in the Jan. 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
Healthy brains have stable and precise connections between cells that are necessary for normal behavior. This new finding is the first to show that stem cells can be directed not only to become specific brain cells, but to link correctly.
In this study, a team of neuroscientists led by James Weimann, PhD, of Stanford Medical School focused on cells that transmit information from the brain’s cortex, some of which are responsible for muscle control. It is these neurons that are lost or damaged in spinal cord injuries and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). "These stem cell-derived neurons can grow nerve fibers between the brain’s cerebral cortex and the spinal cord, so this study confirms the use of stem cells for therapeutic goals," Weimann said.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Science on January 24, 2010 - ט' שבט תש"ע at 3:16 pm
Comments Off
Home » category » health sciences » Mental Health
