Monthly Archives: April 2015

Mental disorders represent a huge public health challenge. The high morbidity and mortality figures speak to the potential for overall health gains if mental disorders can be more effectively diagnosed and treated. Insel and Cuthbert ask whether a “precision medicine” … Continue reading →

Accelerated aging has been proposed as a mechanism explaining the increased prevalence of comorbid general medical illnesses in bipolar disorder. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that shortened lifespan in bipolar patients (due to physical illness) … Continue reading →

This study was designed to validate use of electronic health records for diagnosing bipolar disorder and classifying control subjects. Electronic health record data were obtained from a health care system of more than 4.6 million patients spanning more than 20 … Continue reading →

“The brain is the most energy-demanding organ of the body and is critically dependent on a daily supply of a quarter of a pound of glucose, its main energy source, to generate the ATP it needs to function.” . The … Continue reading →

Chronic cigarette smoking is associated with increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this study was to examine whether smoking history moderated the associations of age and APOE genotype on brain amyloid deposition, glucose metabolism, and neurocognition in cognitively-normal … Continue reading →

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is a decline in cognitive function that occurs after surgery. The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction and identify potential risk factors in older adults undergoing major non-cardiac surgery. A … Continue reading →

“Only 3 medications are currently approved in the US for acute bipolar depression: 2 atypical antipsychotics and a combination atypical antipsychotic-selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Metabolic, neurologic, and hormonal adverse events are associated with all of the atypical antipsychotics approved for … Continue reading →

Amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). According to recent work by Leinenga and Götz, scanning ultrasound could provide a non-pharmacological means of removing amyloid-β deposits from the brain. The authors used repeated scanning … Continue reading →