According to findings from a study published in the May issue of Schizophrenia Research, individuals with schizophrenia who’ve had exposure to herpes simplex 1 tested lower on a range of cognitive tests. Furthermore, a reduction in gray matter volume in areas of the brain linked to executive functioning and psychomotor speed was found in patients with serum antibodies to the virus. David Shretlen, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, commenting on the findings said, “We’re finding that some portion of cognitive impairment usually blamed solely on the disease of schizophrenia might actually be a combination of schizophrenia and prior exposure to herpes simplex virus 1 infection, which reproduces in the brain.” Click here to read an article from United Press International that discusses this study more.

A study published in the May 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that a significant number of new dads develop postpartum depression. According to the data, about one in ten new fathers experience depression during the first six months of a new-born’s life. According to James F. Paulson, PhD, and Sharnail D. Bazemore, MS, of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, “This suggests that paternal prenatal and postpartum depression represents a significant public health concern…” Previous studies indicate numbers between 10 and 30 percent for maternal depression; however, mood disorders in new fathers have been largely ignored. Click here to read an article from the New York Times that discusses this study more.

Findings from a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a 53.1% rate of depression one year after experiencing a traumatic brain injury. According to the May 19 issue, this number is 7.9 times higher than the 6.7% of depression prevalence found in the general population. According to Charles Bombardier, PhD, of Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues, these numbers are alarmingly high considering the previous estimates of depression at 12% to 42% for patients with TBI. According to Joseph Fink, PhD, a neuropsychologist at the University of Chicago, “…because of the methodology that they used and how well they controlled a lot of the extraneous variables in the study, it really helps us be very confident that this is an accurate rate of major depression in this population.” Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.

According to findings published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, caffeine may help boost performance in shift workers. Specifically, data from a placebo-controlled clinical study showed that shift workers’ attention span, memory, reasoning, orientation, perception, and overall cognitive performance were improved when using caffeine; additionally, the risk of on-the-job errors decreased significantly. The study did not provide data on how caffeine relates to risk of workplace injury, however. According to Katharine Ker, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and co-authors, “Caffeine may be an effective intervention for improving performance in shift workers. However, there are no trials from which we can assess its effect on injuries. The results largely originate from studies involving young participants under simulated conditions… and the extent to which the findings are generalizable to older workers and real world shift work is unclear. Based on the current evidence, there is no reason for healthy individuals who already use caffeine within recommended levels to improve their alertness to stop doing so.” Click here to read an article from Business Week that discusses this study more.

Prior studies have shown a connection between medication-treated ADHD in children and slow growth patterns. “Previous studies have demonstrated a relationship between medication treatment for ADHD and short stature with slow growth noted initially, followed eventually by catch up growth,” said Vidhya Viswanathan, MD, a pediatric endocrinology fellow at the University of Indiana School of Medicine in Indianapolis. However, according to Viswanathan’s findings reported in a Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society poster session that was included in the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting, growth hormone deficiency cases appear in general pediatric populations almost as much as in pediatric populations with ADHD. A retrospective chart review of 6,887 children revealed that “growth hormone deficiency affected 12% of the children who were not diagnosed with ADHD and 18% of the children who were diagnosed with ADHD (P=0.18),” said Viswanathan. Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.

The number of individuals with mood disorders reduces with age; however, according to findings from a new study, there are a substantial number of people ages 55 and over for whom they are a problem. Specifically, of those studied 55 and older during a 12-month period, 5% had mood disorders; however, more than twice that amount met criteria for anxiety disorders. Amy L. Byers, PhD, of the University of California San Francisco, and co-authors said, “Given the rapid aging of the U.S. population the potential public health burden of late-life mental health disorders will likely grow as well, suggesting the importance of continued epidemiologic monitoring of the mental health status of the young-old, mid-old, old-old, and oldest-old cohorts.” Click here to read an article from Business Week that discusses this study more.

According to findings from a Finnish study, prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke increases the risk of adult psychiatric drug use by 44%. Mikael Ekblad, a doctoral student at Turku University in Finland, analyzed medical records of 175,869 people born in Finland from 1987 through 1989, a rather large sampling. Mikael revealed his findings at a meeting of the Pediatric Academic Society and relayed that the most likely explanation is that those who used psychiatric drugs did so because of psychiatric problems; “They have an increased risk of psychiatric illness and therefore the need for psychiatric drugs,” he said. Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.