Brain

Light stimulation of brain cells can recover memories in mice with Alzheimer's disease-like memory loss, according to new research from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics. The rescue of memories, which changed both the structure of neurons as well as the behavior of mice, was achieved using optogenetics, a method for manipulating genetically tagged cells with precise bursts of light.

Residents of Baltimore's low-income neighborhoods who believe rats are a big problem where they live are significantly more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms such as sadness and anxiety, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

March 16, 2016--The percentage of Americans who reported using marijuana in the past year more than doubled between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013, and the increase in marijuana use disorders during that time was nearly as large, according to a new study in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The research also showed that 2.5 percent of adults--nearly 6 million people--experienced marijuana use disorder in the past year, while 6.3 percent had met the diagnostic criteria for the disorder at some point in their lives.

March 16, 2016 - There is a tension between what spouses demand from their marriages and what they are capable of attaining from those marriages, according to recent psychology research. The results are published in the April issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

High standards, whether in caring, support, or independence, improve satisfaction only in strong marriages. For less strong marriages, such as those involving higher levels of indirect hostility or more severe problems, high standards further erode the relationship.

Los Angeles, CA (March 16, 2016) Among the mental health disorders reported in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 2013, 8.7% of the burden of illness was attributed to Afghanistan-related military service while 28.7% was attributed to past child abuse experiences. This research is out today in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, published by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) in partnership with SAGE Publishing.

About half of children born with Jacobsen syndrome, a rare inherited disease, experience social and behavioral issues consistent with autism spectrum disorders. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and collaborators developed a mouse model of the disease that also exhibits autism-like social behaviors and used it to unravel the molecular mechanism that connects the genetic defects inherited in Jacobsen syndrome to effects on brain function.

SAN DIEGO, March 16, 2016 -- Drug therapies for many conditions end up treating the whole body even when only one part -- a joint, the brain, a wound -- needs it. But this generalized approach can hurt healthy cells, causing nasty side effects. To send drugs to specific disease locations and avoid unwanted symptoms, researchers developed cellular "backpacks" that are designed to carry a therapeutic cargo only to inflamed disease sites.

A study of 1.3 million people in Sweden found that the risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychoses was three times higher in refugees than in the Swedish-born population.

The research team, from the Karolinska Institutet and UCL, found that more than one in a thousand refugees were diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychoses every year. For every 10,000 people, there would be approximately 4 new diagnoses among Swedish-born people per year, 8 among non-refugee migrants and 12 among refugees.

Refugees face a substantially higher risk of psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, compared to non-refugee migrants from the same regions of origin, finds a study published in The BMJ today.

The humanitarian crises in Europe, the Middle East, north Africa, and central Asia have led to more displaced people, asylum seekers, and refugees worldwide than at any time since the second world war.

DALLAS - March 16, 2016 - Traumatic brain injury appears to be related to both increased risk and earlier onset of mild cognitive impairment, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - March 16, 2016 - Everyone knows that stubbing your toe hurts. What makes it stop hurting is the body's main pain-blocking process - the natural production of opioids.

Cognitive-based approaches found to reduce pain, such as hypnosis, acupuncture, distraction and even the placebo response, have been shown to work through this system. But does meditation also use opioids to reduce pain?

PITTSBURGH--Most people experience anxiety in their lives. For some, it is just a bad, passing feeling, but, for many, anxiety rules their day-to-day lives, even to the point of taking over the decisions they make.

DALLAS - March 16, 2016 - Traumatic brain injury appears to be related to both increased risk and earlier onset of mild cognitive impairment, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Hispanic Americans report fewer pain conditions compared with non-Hispanic white or black Americans, according to a critical review and analysis of more than 100 studies on pain experience and pain management among Hispanic Americans. The first work of its type was conducted by researchers from the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis led by clinical health psychologist Adam T. Hirsh.

Study finds planned repeat cesarean section not linked to worse child health than vaginal birth after cesarean section.

Long-term health outcomes in children of mothers with planned cesarean sections (CS) are not substantially worse than those children of mothers with vaginal births after cesarean section (VBAC), according to a study published by Mairead Black and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, in this week's PLOS Medicine.