http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A Northeastern University faculty researcher said the elderly often fail to take their medications as prescribed, creating quality-of-life issues, especially for older people with multiple chronic diseases. http://phys.org/news197730038.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:00:48 EST news197730038 New research shows that a unique strain of laboratory mice characterized at Penn State University has behavioral, hormonal, and neurochemical characteristics that are similar to those of human patients with drug-resistant forms of depression. The mice -- which have a defect in a gene -- are expected to be useful as a new model organism in the effort to develop more effective medications for specific forms of depression. The research, led by Bernhard Luscher, a professor of biology at Penn State, will be published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. http://phys.org/news197042288.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:58:24 EST news197042288 The use of medications that increase sensitivity to the sun, combined with exposure to sunlight, appears to be associated with the risk of age-related cataract, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://phys.org/news195739016.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:00:05 EST news195739016 Attempts to reduce suicide in a population do not always focus enough on high-risk patients, argues an Essay in PLoS Medicine this week that discusses different interventions for "secondary suicide prevention." http://phys.org/news194633083.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:40:02 EST news194633083 A new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) found a 68% increase in the overall risk of miscarriage in pregnant women using antidepressants. http://phys.org/news194440155.html Medicine & Health Mon, 31 May 2010 12:00:01 EST news194440155 Some depressed patients who don't respond to or tolerate antidepressant medications may benefit from a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain with a pulsing electromagnet, a study suggests. This first industry-independent, multi-site, randomized, tightly controlled trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) found that it produced significant antidepressant effects in a subgroup of patients, with few side effects. http://phys.org/news192117717.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 May 2010 16:00:08 EST news192117717 Suicidal behavior in adults taking anti-depressants does not vary depending on what medication they are on, according to a study released Monday. http://phys.org/news192119908.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 May 2010 15:38:53 EST news192119908 A study at the Buck Institute for Age Research suggests a new strategy for the treatment of stroke. Research in rodents shows the growth of new neurons, also known as neurogenesis, lessens the severity of stroke and dramatically improves function following a stroke. The research suggests that drugs shown to promote neurogenesis in rodents could have benefits for human stroke victims and that those drugs-which include antidepressants and mood stabilizers such as lithium-may be suitable for study in human clinical trials. Results of the research appear the week of April 12 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news190294436.html Medicine & Health Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:00:05 EST news190294436 Antidepressants are effective against depression in patients suffering from physical illnesses, according to a new systematic review by Cochrane researchers at King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre in the UK. The researchers found the drugs were more effective than placebos at treating depression in these patients. http://phys.org/news187985975.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:20:01 EST news187985975 Some anti-depressant drugs are associated with an increased chance of developing cataracts, according to a new statistical study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and McGill University. http://phys.org/news187281733.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:00:17 EST news187281733 Conventional antidepressant treatments generally require three to four weeks to become effective, thus the discovery of treatments with a more rapid onset is a major goal of biological psychiatry. The first drug found to produce rapid improvement in mood was the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, ketamine. http://phys.org/news186664231.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:30:01 EST news186664231 Acupuncture appears to be an effective way to reduce depression symptoms during pregnancy, according to a first-of-its-kind study from Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. http://phys.org/news186082782.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:50:01 EST news186082782 Clinicians may use one of several approaches to deny patient requests for an inappropriate treatment while preserving the physician-patient relationship, according to a report in the February 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://phys.org/news186078271.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:40:01 EST news186078271 (PhysOrg.com) -- Australian researchers at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute have uncovered how antidepressants stimulate the brain to improve a person's mood. http://phys.org/news185727145.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:30:04 EST news185727145 Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered and synthesized a new compound that in laboratory and animal tests appears to be similar to, but may have advantages over one of the most important antidepressant medications in the world. http://phys.org/news184514533.html Chemistry Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:02:41 EST news184514533 Patients who received the antidepressant escitalopram following a stroke appeared to recover more of their thinking, learning and memory skills than those taking placebo or participating in problem-solving therapy, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://phys.org/news184269518.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:10:02 EST news184269518 According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), women taking commonly used forms of antidepressant drugs may experience delayed lactation after giving birth and may need additional support to achieve their breastfeeding goals. http://phys.org/news183723456.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:40:03 EST news183723456 An excess of one type of serotonin receptor in the center of the brain may explain why antidepressants fail to relieve symptoms of depression for 50 percent of patients, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center shows. http://phys.org/news182609034.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:44:38 EST news182609034 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study of 30 years of antidepressant-drug treatment data published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo may be minimal or nonexistent in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. University of Pennsylvania researchers say, however, the benefit of medications is substantial for patients with very severe depression. http://phys.org/news181931738.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:37:29 EST news181931738 A national survey of 15,762 households by UCLA/Wayne State University researchers found that only 21 percent of Americans suffering from clinical depression receive medical care consistent with American Psychiatric Association guidelines. Half receive no treatment at all. http://phys.org/news181851337.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:30:01 EST news181851337 An increasing number of U.S. adults are being prescribed combinations of antidepressants and antipsychotic medications, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://phys.org/news181851243.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:14:46 EST news181851243 A Mayo Clinic research study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology finds that St. John's wort is not an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). While antidepressants are frequently used to treat IBS, to date, no study has examined the success of using the herbal supplement St. John's wort in treating IBS. http://phys.org/news181826642.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:03 EST news181826642 Suicidal adolescents who were prescribed an antidepressant medication during inpatient psychiatric hospital treatment were 85 percent less likely than others to be readmitted within a month after discharge, a new study found. http://phys.org/news180281395.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:11:30 EST news180281395 Postmenopausal women who take antidepressants face a small but statistically significant increased risk for stroke and death compared with those who do not take the drugs. The new findings are from the federally-funded, multi-institution, Women's Health Initiative Study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, and the results are published in the December 14 online edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://phys.org/news180035249.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:01 EST news180035249 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research from The University of Western Ontario shows why people suffering from depression may have a far greater hope of finding lasting relief by receiving cognitive therapy, rather than simply taking antidepressants. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals treated with cognitive therapy have approximately half of the relapse rate of those treated with medication alone. Research published by Western’s David Dozois provides clues as to why this might be the case. Dozois found that cognitive therapy actually reorganizes and changes the way thoughts are processed. http://phys.org/news180034754.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:50:04 EST news180034754 A key brain protein called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) - is highly elevated during clinical depression yet is unaffected by treatment with commonly used antidepressants, according to an important study published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study has important implications for our understanding of why antidepressants don't always work. http://phys.org/news179504088.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:15:16 EST news179504088 In BMJ today two experts debate whether the conflict of interest is unacceptable when drug companies carry out clinical trials on their own medicines. http://phys.org/news178811649.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:50:07 EST news178811649 (PhysOrg.com) -- Depression occurs in as many as one-third of patients after a stroke, and women are at somewhat higher risk, according to a large new review of studies. Post-stroke depression is associated with greater disability, reduced quality of life and an increased risk of death. http://phys.org/news177092671.html Medicine & Health Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:50:01 EST news177092671 Prozac works wonders for some depressed people, but not for others. In some cases, patients derive little benefit and at worst, it can lead to bizarre hallucinations and fits of rage. Researchers and doctors remain puzzled as to what causes the wide range of reaction to Prozac and similar antidepressants. http://phys.org/news175862631.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:01 EST news175862631 More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The medications are like arrows shot at the outer rings of a bull's eye instead of the center. http://phys.org/news175521459.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:00:21 EST news175521459