Science News from 2007

Cell Networking Keeps Brain’s Master Clock Ticking

Science Update • May 04, 2007

Each day, a master clock in the brain synchronizes the timing of lesser clocks in cells throughout the body to the rising and setting of the sun, regulating such daily rhythms as sleep, body temperature, eating, and activity. Scientists funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health have now discovered that the secret to this master clock’s robust time-keeping ability lies in the unique way its cells work together.

In Second Try to Treat Depression, Cognitive Therapy Generally As Effective As Medication

Science Update • May 01, 2007

Switching to or adding cognitive therapy (CT) after a first unsuccessful attempt at treating depression with an antidepressant medication is generally as effective as switching to or adding another medication, but remission may take longer to achieve

Cortex Area Thinner in Youth with Alzheimer’s-Related Gene

Press Release • April 24, 2007

A part of the brain first affected by Alzheimer’s disease is thinner in youth with a risk gene for the disorder, a brain imaging study by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found.

Benefits of Antidepressants May Outweigh Risks for Kids

Science Update • April 17, 2007

The benefits of antidepressant medications likely outweigh their risks to children and adolescents with major depression and anxiety disorders, according to a new comprehensive review of pediatric trials conducted between 1988 and 2006. The study, partially funded by NIMH, was published in the April 18, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Gene Knockout Unleashes Manic Mouse

Science Update • April 05, 2007

Mice engineered to lack a specific gene showed behaviors similar to human mania in a study funded in part by NIMH; they were hyperactive, slept less, appeared less depressed and anxious, and craved sugar, cocaine and pleasure stimulation.

Scientists Switch Neurons On and Off Using Light

Science Update • April 05, 2007

Researchers have invented a genetically-engineered way to turn the electrical impulses of brain cells on and off with pulses of blue and yellow light — in synch with the split-second pace of real time neuronal activity.

Intensive Psychotherapy More Effective Than Brief Therapy for Treating Bipolar Depression

Press Release • April 02, 2007

Patients taking medications to treat bipolar disorder are more likely to get well faster and stay well if they receive intensive psychotherapy, according to results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Study Sheds Light on Medication Treatment Options for Bipolar Disorder

Press Release • March 28, 2007

For depressed people with bipolar disorder who are taking a mood stabilizer, adding an antidepressant medication is no more effective than a placebo (sugar pill), according to results published online on March 28, 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Adolescent Brains Show Lower Activity in Areas That Control Risky Choices

Science Update • March 15, 2007

A new NIMH study could help explain why adolescents are so prone to make risky choices. When contemplating risky decisions, they show less activity in regions of the brain that regulate processes involved in decision-making, compared with adults.

Tiny, Spontaneous Gene Mutations May Boost Autism Risk

Press Release • March 15, 2007

Tiny gene mutations, each individually rare, pose more risk for autism than had been previously thought, suggests a study funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, a component of the National Institutes of Health.

Depression Risk Higher in Girls with Low Birth Weight

Science Update • March 09, 2007

Girls’ risk for developing depression after puberty increased significantly if they had low birth weight, in a study funded in part by NIMH. Yet low birth weight didn’t appear to be just one more risk factor for depression. Rather, it seemed to increase the risk effects of other adversities.

HIV Treatment May Help Reduce Severity of Mental Impairment in Children with HIV Infection

Science Update • March 07, 2007

During the first few years of life, children born with HIV infection are most susceptible to central nervous system (CNS) disease, and can develop impaired cognitive, language, motor and behavioral functioning. However, NIH-funded researchers have found that among children with HIV infection, treatment with a protease inhibitor (PI)- based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) helped protect against cognitive and motor difficulties compared to a control group of age-matched children who were born to HIV-infected mothers but who did not contract the virus themselves (e.g., HIV-exposed).

Global Use of ADHD Medications Rises Dramatically

Science Update • March 06, 2007

Global use of medications that treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) nearly tripled from 1993 to 2003, and spending on the drugs rose nine-fold, according to a study co-funded by NIMH and published in the March/April 2007 issue of Health Affairs.

African Americans, Black Caribbeans, and Whites Differ in Depression Risk, Treatment

Science Update • March 05, 2007

Although black Americans are less likely than whites to have a major depressive disorder (MDD), when they do, it tends to be more chronic and severe.

Virtual-Reality Video Game Helps Link Depression to Specific Brain Area

Science Update • March 01, 2007

Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub.

New Details in Schizophrenia Treatment Trial Emerge

Press Release • March 01, 2007

Two new studies from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) provide more insights into comparing treatment options, and to what extent antipsychotic medications help people with schizophrenia learn social, interpersonal and community living skills.

Weight Gain From Antipsychotics Traced to Appetite-Regulating Enzyme, Receptor

Science Update • February 28, 2007

A likely mechanism by which antipsychotic medications trigger weight gain — with its attendant risks of heart disease, diabetes and treatment non-adherence — has been unraveled in mice by NIMH-funded scientists.

Largest-Ever Search for Autism Genes Reveals New Clues

Press Release • February 18, 2007

The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has implicated components of the brain’s glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11.

Common Gene Version Optimizes Thinking — but With a Possible Downside

Press Release • February 09, 2007

Most people inherit a version of a gene that optimizes their brain’s thinking circuitry, yet also appears to increase risk for schizophrenia, a severe mental illness marked by impaired thinking, scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

Study Tracks Prevalence of Eating Disorders

Science Update • February 09, 2007

Results from a large-scale national survey suggest that binge-eating disorder is more prevalent than both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Half of Adults With Anxiety Disorders Had Psychiatric Diagnoses in Youth

Science Update • February 07, 2007

About half of adults with an anxiety disorder had symptoms of some type of psychiatric illness by age 15, a NIMH-funded study shows.

Autism Research Efforts Highlighted in Biological Psychiatry Special Issue

Science Update • February 06, 2007

The February 15, 2007 special issue of Biological Psychiatry is dedicated to recent advances in autism research, including many studies funded by the Institute.

Brain’s Reward Circuit Activity Ebbs and Flows with a Woman’s Hormonal Cycle

Press Release • February 02, 2007

Fluctuations in sex hormone levels during women’s menstrual cycles affect the responsiveness of their brains’ reward circuitry, an imaging study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has revealed.

Extreme Irritability: Is It Childhood Bipolar Disorder?

Press Release • February 01, 2007

Results of a new study may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of two debilitating childhood mental disorders — pediatric bipolar disorder (BD) and a syndrome called severe mood dysregulation (SMD).

New Tests May Help Researchers Detect Genetic Basis For Autism

Science Update • January 30, 2007

Researchers have developed a set of behavioral tests in mice that mimic the core features of autism and may prove useful in detecting a genetic basis for the deficits in social interactions and rigid thinking seen in the disorder.

Clues to Making and Breaking Memories Included in List of Year’s Top Science

Science Update • January 30, 2007

NIMH-funded researchers were cited in Science Magazine’s December 2006 “Breakthrough of the Year” special issue.

Gene Variant Linked to Schizophrenia

Science Update • January 23, 2007

A gene implicated in schizophrenia in adults has now also been linked to schizophrenia in children for the first time, strengthening evidence that the gene plays a role in the disease.

U.S.-born Children of Immigrants May Have Higher Risk for Mental Disorders Than Parents

Science Update • January 17, 2007

In the first studies to examine the effects of immigration and years of residence on the mental health of Caribbean Black, Latino, and Asian populations in the United States, NIMH-funded researchers found that immigrants in general appear to have lower rates of mental disorders than their U.S.-born counterparts.

History of Childhood Abuse or Neglect Increases Risk of Major Depression

Science Update • January 03, 2007

People who were abused or neglected as children have increased risk of major depression, which often begins in childhood and has lingering effects as they mature, according to a study funded by NIMH.

Different Families, Different Characteristics — Different Kinds of Bipolar Disorder?

Science Update • January 03, 2007

People with bipolar disorder (BPD) tend to share similarities in certain characteristics with other members of their families, NIMH-funded researchers have shown.