Science News

Common Gene Version Optimizes Thinking — but With a Possible Downside

February 9, 2007 • Press Release
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

February 9, 2007 • Science Update
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

February 7, 2007 • Science Update
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

February 6, 2007 • Science Update
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

February 2, 2007 • Press Release
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?

February 1, 2007 • Press Release
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

January 30, 2007 • Science Update
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

January 30, 2007 • Science Update
NIMH-funded researchers were cited in Science Magazine’s December 2006 “Breakthrough of the Year” special issue.

Gene Variant Linked to Schizophrenia

January 23, 2007 • Science Update
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

January 17, 2007 • Science Update
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.

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The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.