Findings from an analysis of data from the 1958 British Birth Cohort Study revealed that there is a connection between childhood behavior and chronic pain in later life. The study, published online in Rheumatology, found that children observed to steal, be irritable, disobedient, or to bully others were at greater risk for chronic pain during middle-life. Youngsters who were observed to have persistent misbehavior (as measured at ages seven, 11, and 16) were found to have twice the risk of developing widespread chronic pain at age 45. The study utilized teachers to fill out standardized questioners due to their relatively intimate observation of the participants in social situations. The researchers wrote, “…teachers are in a unique position to assess each child because they are able to make a comparison with the child’s peers in situations involving varying formal tasks and social demands.” The study of chronic pain in relationship to life-course behaviors is still in its infancy, which makes these findings so unique. Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.

A study recently published online in the Lancet revealed that price increases, by ethanol unit or sale percentage, would decrease alcohol related deaths and overall health costs. Robin Purshouse, PhD., and colleagues at the University of Sheffield, England, used a epidemiological, mathematical model to conclude that a general price increase of 10% would reduce alcohol consumption by 4.4% and deaths related to drinking by 1,460 over a 10 year period of implementation. Similarly, increases in price by unit (a minimum price of 45 pence for 10 milliliters of ethanol) would avoid 1,970 deaths; unit price increases would likely have more of an effect on heavy drinkers. Click here to read an article from The Age AU that discusses this study more.

While many manufactures may see morphine production restrictions as a legal game of cat and mouse, the FDA begs to differ. Threading legal action to include seizure of all unauthorized drugs and injunction without notice, the FDA is attempting to moderate the production practices of six drug manufactures. Cole Petrochiko, of Medpage Today, recently reminded the online medical new source’s readership of the seriousness of unauthorized production of the morphine drug. The following is an excerpt from Medpage Today of his article:

A new letter issued to Glenmark Generics, Lannett Company, Lehigh Valley Technologies, Mallinckrodt Inc. Pharmaceuticals Group, Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, and Cody Laboratories offered the companies a reminder that the limitation on their unmoderated production of unapproved morphine sulfate would expire on July 24, 2010.

The letters threatened legal action, including unlimited seizure and injunction and without further notice. The letter also suggested the companies modify their production schedule to assure no surplus of the drug remained once the legal reprieve expired.

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

Changes to the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) are forthcoming. The fifth edition of the DSM is under review and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is accepting feedback from its members having posted a draft of the new manual online at http://www.psych.org/dsmv.aspx. The APA will be accepting feedback regarding the draft through April 20th. During a press briefing the APA released highlights of some of the more prominent revisions to the DSM; they are as follows:

• Including a category of “risk syndromes” for psychosis and cognitive impairment, intended to capture mild versions of these conditions that do not always progress to full-blown psychotic disorders or dementia, but often do
• Adding a new disorder in children, “temper dysregulation with dysphoria,” for persistent negative mood with bursts of rage
• Revising criteria for some eating disorders, including creation of a separate “binge eating disorder” distinct from bulimia
• Using “dimensional assessments” to account for severity of symptoms, especially those that appear in multiple diagnostic categories
• Recategorizing learning disorders, including creation of a single diagnostic category for autism and other socialization disorders, and replacing the controversial term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability”
• Eliminating “substance abuse” and “substance dependence” as disorders, to be replaced with a single “addiction and related disorders” category
• Creating a “behavioral addictions” category that will include addictions to gambling but not to the Internet or sex
• Offering a new assessment tool for suicide risk

Click here to visit the APA’s DSM-V draft site

According to a study recently reported online in the Lancet, individuals with chronic or acute lower back pain may find help through group cognitive behavioral therapy. After one year individuals that had participated in a group that focused on behaviors and beliefs about exercise in relationship to back pain had significantly greater improvements in both disabilities scores and in measures for pain. According to Sarah E. Lamb, DPhil, of the University of Warwick, and colleagues, “effective treatments that result in sustained improvements for lower back pain are illusive… however, this trail shows that a bespoke cognitive behavioral intervention package is effective in managing subacute and chronic low back pain in primary care.” The trail consisted of 701 patients with a mean age of 54 that were recruited from 56 different general practices. Click here to read an article from ABC News that discusses this study more.

According to findings from a small randomized clinical trail reported in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, high risk psychiatric patients were less likely to have psychotic episodes when taking daily regiments of fish oil (omega-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids- PUFA’s). According to the study, less than five percent of patients that took fish oil had psychotic episodes compared to 25% of patients that did not take the omega 3 fatty acid. According to the researchers, the W-3 PUFAs, which come from fish oil, reduced positive, negative and general symptoms when compared to placebo. The researchers recruited patients in the age range of 13 to 25 who met diagnostic criteria for one of three groups of high risk: transient psychosis, patients with decrease in functioning, and patients with attenuated positive psychotic symptoms. According to the authors, “these criteria comprise a combination of traits and state factors that identify people whose risk of becoming psychotic may approach 40% within a 12 month period.” Click here to read an article from About.com that discusses this study more.

According to findings reported in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, individuals who have a greater sense of purpose in life may have a natural protection against Alzheimer’s as they age. According to Patricia A. Boyle, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues, those were determined to have a good sense of purpose had a greater than 50% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. A greater sense of purpose was defined as goal directedness and internality in life as well as a tendency to gain meaning from many life experiences. Prospects for individuals without a heightened sense of purpose in life are not altogether bleak, however; according to the researchers, “purpose in life is a potentially modifiable factor that may be increased via specific behavioral strategies that may help older persons identify personally meaningful activities and engage in goal directed behaviors.” Click here to read an article from Business Week that discusses this study more.