December 23, 200810:17 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Alcohol exposure can harm the development of white matter

According to findings from a recent study, prenatal alcohol exposure can harm the development of white matter. The damaging of white matter could help to explain visual processing deficits and executive dysfunction. According to Susanna L. Fryer, M.S. of the University of California San Diego, “Optimal white matter integrity is thought to support efficient cognition… So the finding that prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with altered white-matter integrity may help explain aspects of the cognitive and behavioral problems that individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders commonly face.” This study confirms findings from previous studies that indicate white matter is a target of alcohol teratogenesis. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that discusses the study more:

The researchers used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess the microstructure of white matter in the brains of 27 patients ages eight to 18. DTI like other MRI techniques can depict biological tissues at the microstructural level, providing an improved view of subtle damage in the brain.

Of all the patients, 15 had heavy prenatal alcohol exposure, and 12 didn’t.

DTI images revealed that both groups had similar total brain size, but those with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders showed evidence of altered nerve fiber integrity at a microstructural level, the researchers said.

Within the fetal alcohol spectrum group, white matter microstructure didn’t differ whether patients had been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, one of the most serious spectrum disorders.

“In other words, similar brain alterations and behavioral problems can occur because of prenatal alcohol exposure, with or without the facial features and physical growth insufficiency required to diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome,” Fryer said.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 15, 20089:00 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Surviving bipolar disorder: A medical and spiritual journey

Bipolar disorder, if not identified or properly diagnosed, can be devastating to the individual as well as to those they love. The good news is that there is hope. For numerous individuals, the inspiration of a loving heavenly Father and guidance from caring professionals has led to, not only management of the illness, but also an abundant and successful life. Thursday, December 11th 2008, Pastors, Chaplains, and other church professionals joined us as Tim Reside, Executive Director of Brighter Tomorrows, shared his unique and inspiring experience of surviving bipolar disorder. The seminar proved to be a great success as attendance was robust and area ministers stayed up to thirty minutes after the presentation asking questions and requesting more information about bipolar disorder.

Brookhaven’s Renewal Christian Care program hosts educational seminars geared toward faith professionals on a quarterly basis. We invite you to attend any of our upcoming free ministerial luncheons. Click here to browse upcoming topics and dates

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8:47 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Link between lower childhood IQ and adult psychiatric disorders

A recent study, which was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, has discovered a link between lower childhood IQ and adult psychiatric disorders. According to the study mental health disorders including depression and schizophrenia may be predicted by lower childhood IQ. The researchers found that each standard deviation lowering IQ resulted in increased odds of depression (23%) and schizophrenia (42%). The study also found that lower childhood IQ was associated with more severe psychiatric illness. According to Karestan C. Koenen, Ph.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues, “Patients with lower cognitive ability could have difficulty accessing services or difficulty understanding and complying with treatment protocols… These individuals may benefit from interventions aimed at improving mental health literacy.” The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that discusses the findings more:

Childhood IQ averaged across assessments at ages seven, nine, and 11 years predicted a spectrum of psychiatric disorders at age 32.

With every 15 point increase — one standard deviation — above the mean in childhood IQ, the findings were:

* 42% lower odds of lifetime schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis (95% confidence interval 16% to 59%).
* 23% lower odds of an adult depression diagnosis (95% CI 6% to 37%).
* 26% reduced odds of an adult anxiety disorder diagnosis (95% CI 12% to 38%).
* No difference in alcohol, marijuana, or other drug dependence.

These results generally remained significant after adjustment for potentially confounding factors including childhood socioeconomic status, perinatal problems, low birth weight, and childhood maltreatment, although the association for schizophrenia became nonsignificant (P=0.07).

Higher IQ also appeared to reduce the risk of specific anxiety disorders, including 29% lower likelihood of generalized anxiety disorder (95% CI 8% to 45%) and 40% reduced odds of social phobia (95% CI 23% to 53%).

Although post-traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia had similar effect sizes as seen for major depression and generalized anxiety disorder, the associations were not significant, likely because of the small number of cases, the researchers said.

Childhood IQ was likewise a significant factor associated with more severe adult psychiatric illness.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 12, 20081:31 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Genetic mutation may contribute to overeating

According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a genetic mutation may contribute to overeating. The study focused on a group of children who carried a variant of rs9939609, a fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene; in their tests, the researchers found that children who carried the variant gene ate more at meal times than controls. According to Colin N.A. Palmer, Ph.D., of the University of Dundee’s Biomedical Research Institute at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, and colleagues, there are “indications that there is no defect in metabolic adaptation to obesity… In the total study group, the A allele of rs9939609 was associated with significantly increased weight (P =0.003) and BMI (P=0.003).” The following is an excerpt of an article by Medpage Today that discusses the findings more:

On the basis of the skinfold measurements, “children who carried the A allele had an estimated fat mass that was 1.78 kg greater than that of non-carriers (P=0.01) and an estimated lean mass that was less than 400 g greater than that of non-carriers ( P=0.46).

The authors said that their data “suggest that the [fat mass and obesity-associated] gene influences the ‘input’ side of the energy-balance equation,” a finding already reported in animal studies.

Thus the key to preventing obesity in people with this genotype, which occurred in 0.385% of the population studied, would be “moderate and controlled restriction of energy intake.”

In an editorial, Rudolph L. Leibel, M.D., of Columbia University in New York, wrote that the frequency of the rs9939609 A allele has been estimated as “0.45 in Europeans, 0.52 in West Africans, and 0.14 in Chinese.”

And even though the “locus accounts for only a small proportion of differences in BMI in the entire population, it plays a substantial role — in these people, in these environments — in conveying the risk of actually becoming overweight or obese.”

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 11, 20085:08 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Panic attacks may increase the risk for heart attack and coronary disease

Panic attacks may increase the risk for heart attack and coronary disease, according to recent findings published in the European Heart Journal. According to the findings, panic attacks, or disorder, before the age of 50 were associated with a 44% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 38% higher risk of MI. According to the researchers the link may be due to misdiagnosis of heart problems as panic in the first place; however, “clinicians should be vigilant for this possibility when diagnosing and treating people presenting with symptoms of panic,” they wrote. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that reviews the study:

After adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic factors, traditional risk factors for heart disease, and psychiatric co-morbidity, a diagnosis of panic disorder or attacks was associated with a significantly increased risk of MI in younger individuals (HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.79), but not those 50 or older (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.03).

Young women 16 to 39 at study entry were particularly at risk, with a 3.34 times higher incidence of coronary heart disease compared with controls (95% CI 1.59 to 7.02).

A trend also appeared for greater MI risk the more panic attacks a patient had recorded in the database before age 50, but the researchers cautioned that this was based on low event numbers and wide confidence intervals.

Panic sufferers under age 50 were also at greater risk for broader coronary heart disease diagnoses, including cardiac ischemia, angina, acute coronary syndromes, MI, and coronary revascularization.

But the coronary risk associated with panic disorder and attacks was significant at all ages (HR 1.44 under 50, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.65, and HR 1.11 for 50 and over, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.20).

Again, women under 40 were most at risk, with 3.03-fold higher coronary heart disease risk than those without panic disorder or attacks (95% CI 2.15 to 4.27) and the more panic attacks over the years the more the risk tended to increase.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 10, 200812:46 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Mechanism linking binge drinking and atherosclerosis

Researchers believe they have found a mechanism linking binge drinking and atherosclerosis. According to John Cullen, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester, and colleagues, heavy drinking, binge drinking, causes an abundance of acetaldehyde which increases the adhesion of monocytes to cultured endothelial cells. This connection, between binge drinking and atherosclerosis, has been shown in previous studies but without specifying a mechanism. Researchers commenting stated, “These in vitro findings support novel effects of acetaldehyde on processes involved in the initiation of atherosclerosis… yet further studies are warranted to investigate whether these effects are relevant in vivo, and whether these actions of acetaldehyde may underlie, in part, the detrimental effects of binge drinking on cardiovascular disease.”

Binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks within a two hour period for men, four or more for women. It is important to note, however, that moderate alcohol consumption has been shown by various studies to be associated with lower cardiovascular risk. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that discusses the study more:

Because monocyte recruitment plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the researchers set out to evaluate how acetaldehyde affects this process.

They cultured human umbilical venous endothelial cells, primary blood monocytes, and THP-1 monocytes and treated them with acetaldehyde at concentrations ranging from 0.1 µM to 25 µM for six hours, which approximates the amount of time the chemical would remain in the blood after a bout of binge drinking.

The concentrations of acetaldehyde “are physiologically relevant and cover a range of concentrations that are found in the blood following the consumption of moderate and binge amounts of alcohol,” the researchers said.

Acetaldehyde increased the number of THP-1 monocytes expressing CCR2, a receptor involved in attracting the immune cells to damaged endothelial cells (P<0.05). The most significant effect -- a 50.6% increase -- was seen with 10 µM of acetaldehyde.

There was also a significant increase in the number of endothelial cells expressing P-selectin — which is involved in initially tethering monocytes to endothelial cells and rolling them down the line of cells — and in P-selectin receptor density when the cells were exposed to acetaldehyde (P<0.05 for both comparisons).

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 9, 20088:25 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

A happy friend or family member living in close proximity can increase one’s own happiness significantly

According to the Framingham Heart study, published online in BMJ, a happy friend or family member living in close proximity can increase one’s own happiness significantly. Conversely, however, associations with person’s who were sad had much less of an impact. According to the study, having a happy friend or family member less than one mile away increases the likelihood of happiness by 25%. Additionally, a happy next door neighbor increases the likelihood of happiness by 34%. Lastly, having a happy spouse increased the likelihood of happiness by 8%. The study found that happiness extended not only to a happy person’s friend or family member, but also to the happy friend’s friend. The Framingham study included data from 4,739 participants from 1983 to 2003. According to Nicholas A. Christakis, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of Harvard, and James H. Fowler, Ph.D., of the University of California San Diego, the clusters of people who were happy or unhappy reflected in the Framingham network were “significantly larger than expected by chance.” The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that discusses the study more:

Happy people had a perfect score (12) on all four measures — a 3 awarded for those who answered positively most or all of the time, down to a score of zero for those who said they rarely or never experienced the “happy” characteristics.

Not only does happiness seem catching, those with acne in adolescence also keep close company with others who have the skin condition, according to another study of the effects of social networks, also published online in BMJ. So do those who have headaches or have similar heights.

This second social network study analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to “detect implausible social network effects in acne, height, and headaches.”

Ethan Cohen-Cole, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, teamed with Jason M. Fletcher, Ph.D., M.S., of the Yale School of Public Health, to analyze the teen data and found on first blush a correlation with acne, headaches, and height.

The authors analyzed data from 4,300 to 5,400 male and female participants in the health survey. All had at least one friend who was also a survey participant and both were longitudinally surveyed. They used data collected in the 1994-95, 1995-96, and 2000-1 surveys.

But when the adolescent data were adjusted for environmental confounders they became uniformly smaller.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 4, 200812:46 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Sheer anxiety during the holidays

The holidays are a great time for faith, family, fun, and great food… for most. For those that suffer from eating disorders the holidays can be a time of stress, or even worse, terror. According to Cynthia Bulik, director of the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program, “For some people, the holiday season is filled with joyous occasions and wonderful food but for other people, it can actually be quite a nightmare … especially if you have eating disorders.” Kris Shock, 36, of Kennesaw Georgia, recalls that before her recovery from bulimia the holidays were “emotionally and physically exhausting… come the New Year I would have no memories to show for it other than sheer anxiety.” Shock went on to say that a support system during the holidays is extremely important. For Shock, the realization that relapses are a real potential keeps her therapist and nutritionist on speed dial. The following is an excerpt of an article from CNN.com that discusses the subject more:

“It can be incredibly overwhelming to be surrounded by so many different types of food,” Bulik noted. “We often suggest that people with anorexia go to a party with a wingman. … Take someone with you who is safe, to whom you can say, ‘This is really tough for me. I need to take a break.’ “

She shared similar advice for those who suffer from bulimia, a condition in which people binge and purge.

“We tell people to never go to a party hungry. … That’s the worst thing to do. It’s really best to have a decent meal before you get there so you’re not tempted to binge when you’re at the party,” Bulik recommended.

One of Shock’s biggest challenges while recovering from bulimia was coping with probing family members.

“It was very anxiety-filled,” Shock recalled, “I had to eat dinner with all these people where, many times, there were unspoken things I wanted to say.”

Last Christmas, Shock tried a new strategy: eating dinner with her husband and children first and then attending a party. Shock called it a safer situation.

“I can take care of my physical body and then handle the process, the emotional anxiety that comes with typical social situations,” she said.

Bulik advises well-meaning family members to try to help people with eating disorders feel as comfortable as possible.

“There is no play book,” she said. “The best thing to do is not to push. … Don’t focus on their appearance, don’t focus on what they’re eating.”

Click here to read the rest of this article from CNN.com

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December 3, 20084:52 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

College Students Undertreated for Psychiatric Conditions

According to a recent study published in the Dec. 1 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, college students with psychiatric conditions are less likely to seek help than those in the same age group who are not in college. The study, which was a large national interview of more than 5,000 people, found that 45.8% of student enrolled and 47.7% of non-students in the same age group had some form of mental illness. However, only 18.5% of students 19 to 25 sought treatment as apposed to 21.5% of the non-student group. Even more alarming was the fact that students were only half as likely to seek help for drug and alcohol problems as their non-student counterparts. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that reviews the findings:

The two groups differed significantly when it came to treatment of alcoholism and substance use disorders.

The researchers found that college students were only half as likely to seek treatment for these conditions, compared to their non-student peers (adjusted OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.87).

Barely 5% of students with alcohol or drug problems sought treatment, compared with about 10% of non-students.

“The prevalence of psychiatric disorders is high in this population at a particularly vulnerable time of development,” wrote Dr. Olfson and colleagues.

“As these young people represent our nation’s future, urgent action is needed to increase detection and treatment of psychiatric disorders among college students and their non-college-attending peers.”

The findings emerged from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions, conducted in 2001 and 2002 with 43,093 people. Included in the sample were 2,188 college students and 2,904 others ages 19 to 25.

Structured interviews conducted as part of the survey were detailed enough to allow diagnoses of psychiatric conditions by DSM-IV criteria.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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December 2, 20085:28 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Depression associated with poor outcomes in coronary heart disease patients

According to a recent study published in the Nov. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, depression may be associated with worse outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease. According to the study, the correlation between worse outcomes and depression in coronary heart disease patients may be due to the fact that depression lessens healthy behaviors. For instance, a depressed patient may not take their medications or may not get enough exercise. Mary A. Whooley, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues, reported that cardiac patients with depressive symptoms had a 31% higher rate of cardiovascular events. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that reviews the study:

Earlier studies had suggested biological factors like norepinephrine, inflammation, and cortisol could be responsible, but these captured surprisingly little of the effect in their prospective cohort study, Dr. Whooley said.

Rather, adjustment for health behaviors such as physical inactivity and medication adherence eliminated the link (P=0.75).

This is good news for physicians and patients Dr. Whooley said.

“Exercise training can improve both depressive symptoms and markers of cardiovascular risk,” they wrote.

The downside, though, is that lasting changes in behavior, particularly with regard to exercise, are difficult, Dr. Wholley added.

But even for patients who are able to achieve improvements, it’s not been proven that the cardiovascular risk associated with depression would disappear, Dr. Whooley said.

Given the benefits of physical activity across the board, though, she said physicians should still find ways to motivate their patients to make these changes.

Dr. Whooley and her colleagues conducted the prospective Heart and Soul Study among 1,017 patients seen for stable coronary disease at 12 outpatient clinics in the San Francisco area.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Medpage Today

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