Antidepressants have helped millions of people ease depression and anxiety, but they are not harmless. Many people stop the medications without significant trouble. Some people have significant withdrawal symptoms, and make tiny reductions over a long period of time may help to quit. The drugs initially were approved for short-term […]
A systematic review and network meta-analysis concluded that all 21 antidepressants were more efficacious than placebo in adults with major depressive disorder. Smaller differences between active drugs were found when placebo-controlled trials were included in the analysis, whereas there was more variability in efficacy (response rate) and acceptability (treatment discontinuations […]
A transcriptomic profiling analysis revealed that there were shared and distinct gene-expression patterns across five major psychiatric disorders—autism (ASD), schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), depression (MDD), and alcoholism (AAD)—compared with matched controls. Brain transcriptomes—a quantitative, genome-wide molecular phenotype—were performed using 700 cerebral cortical samples from subjects with ASD (n = […]
A 20-year cohort analysis of medical records in the UK revealed that blood pressure (BP) decreased for more than a decade before death in patients dying at 60 years and older. The analysis included 46 634 participants dying aged at least 60 years (51.7% female; mean age at death 82.4 years), […]
An international consortium showed that patients with depression and increased appetite and/or weight (A/W) carried a higher number of genetic risk variants for body mass index (BMI) and levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and leptin. Data sets were drawn from case-control, cohort, and population-based studies, with established psychiatric diagnoses and […]
According to Dr. Mark Hyman, the problem with migraines is to just treat the symptoms, not the causes. The most important causes of migraines are food allergy/bowel and gut imbalances, chemical triggers, hormonal imbalances, magnesium deficiency, and mitochondrial imbalances. Food allergy/bowel and gut imbalances may be treated with an elimination […]
The American Heart Association scientific statement systematically reviewed data on the potential benefits of meditation on cardiovascular risk. Neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies demonstrate that meditation can have long‐standing effects on the brain, which provide some biological plausibility for beneficial consequences on the physiological basal state, physiological responses, and on cardiovascular […]
A prospective cohort study of a general Japanese population demonstrated a significant independent association between increased day-to-day blood pressure variability (BPV) measured with home blood pressure monitoring and risk of dementia. The study included 1674 community-dwelling Japanese elderly without dementia, ≥60 years of age, and followed up for 5 years […]
A special report revealed that genetics of autism is as complex as autism. The condition runs in families, but most of the relevant mutations identified so far arose spontaneously in the sperm or egg or after fertilization. The list of genes tied to autism continues to grow. Researches have expanded […]
A US cohort study suggested that maternal use of lithium during the first trimester was associated with an increased risk of cardiac malformations, including Ebstein’s anomaly (right ventricular outflow tract obstruction defects). The study included 1,325,563 pregnancies in women who delivered a live-born infant between 2000 and 2010. Cardiac malformations […]