News

Neurologists have long debated whether NMO is simply a variant of multiple sclerosis (MS) or a separate disease, and misdiagnosis is common.

How will the recent presidential veto on expansion of funding for stem cell research impact scientific endeavors in the United States?

Ampakines, agents that have been shown to enhance memory, appear to trigger endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a natural mechanism in the brain that could restore neuronal viability and synaptic plasticity through increased trophic support.

An unfavorable prognosis may be in store for patients who report severely disrupted sleep patterns accompanied by rapid eye movement (REM).

Did you know the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) launched a new online epilepsy discussion forum this past February?

Although cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), specifically donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Reminyl), and rivastigmine (Exelon), are considered first-line treatment for Alzheimer disease (AD), they are not FDA-approved for use in late-stage disease.

Your patient has pain and numbness that extends from the shoulder to the hand. You suspect a herniated cervical disk, but the MRI scan comes back normal. What else could the culprit be?

Everyone is talking about the decline in reimbursements and the increase in overhead costs. While most practices are faltering, some are quite successful--that is, they are economically thriving. So what makes the difference?

The Terri Schiavo story that was widely publicized in early 2005 was one in which clinical issues were at best misunderstood and at worst overshadowed by political posturing and media sensationalism.

There will be some major changes in the Medicare fee schedule for 2007. While psychiatrists are apt to make out better than some other subspecialties, it is unclear whether total payments for psychiatrists will go up or down.

In a study published in the April issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers sought to determine whether young women who were hospitalized with acute MI also had higher rates of depression than other groups.

Having lost a few battles over state laws allowing psychologists to prescribe drugs in some cases, organized psychiatry is trying a new tactic--this time at the national level--in order to define professional boundaries in scientifically appropriate ways.

A review of the book, "Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry."

Stress Neurobiology and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor

Poetry of the Times

Is apathy in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) merely a symptom of depression or a core symptom of PD itself?

Interventions addressing symptom education, service continuity, and daily structure are the most effective in avoiding inpatient stays in patients with schizophrenia who have had multiple hospitalizations, a study in the June issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease reported.

Did homophobia and other resentments have an influence on the outcome of the Academy Awards?

The continuation of the epidemic of childhood obesity and overweight has major implications and consequences for future research in psychopathology.

While many parents fear that strangers might kill their children, a parent is actually more likely to be the perpetrator. This column focuses on preventing the tragedy of maternal filicide.

While some mental health services for adolescents allow self-referral, many require parental involvement. There is increasing evidence that working with the family and the child is important if only to increase compliance with medication and to tackle any comorbid difficulties.

Infant, or developmental, psychiatry is a subspecialty of child and adolescent psychiatry that focuses on the promotion of mental health in infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families through the consultation, assessment, and treatment of clinical problems.

Current treatments for autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are useful in some cases, but have little enduring impact. This had lead to many parents seeking nonconventional treatments that often border on quackery.

Noninvasive brain imaging methods are providing unprecedented views of the structural and functional development and aging of an individual's brain or state of brain pathology. These exciting new may provide novel information relevant to the enhancement of clinical practice.

Several forums at the May 2006 American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) addressed the issue of the gap between the number of investigational addiction treatment drugs and the few actually available on the market.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in girls may be more persistent than originally thought and may also be associated with a variety of behavioral and mental health consequences such as eating disorders, depression, and substance abuse.

Adolescents reject their parents’ icons and seek out and empower their own. Antiheroes seem deliberately provocative, assailing almost every social convention of the adult generation, and parents often fear they are leading youth astray.

New findings in epidemiology, developmental psychiatry, and neuroscience offer the opportunity for a new perspective on the problems of juvenile delinquency and bring to bear the insights of modern psychiatry in the treatment and successful rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

The inclusion of parents in their children's treatment for eating disorder is not universally accepted. However, recent studies suggest that families should be included in treatment and that they are often a powerful resource for helping their children recover.

Friendship with patients, particularly those with serious mental illness, may seem anathema for a psychiatric ethicist, yet there is a long and rich history of physician-patient friendship in medical ethics.