:
August 27, 2007
Researchers Identify Brain Network That May Help Prevent Or Slow Alzheimer's Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a brain network within the frontal lobe that is associated with cognitive reserve, the process that allows individuals to maintain function despite brain function decline due to aging or Alzheimer’s disease. The study was led by principal investigator Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., a professor at the Taub Institute for the Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center. It is published in the current issue of Cerebral Cortex.
:
August 1, 2007
Kids treated for attention deficit get better in a few years Most children treated for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder — whether with medication, therapy or both — improve greatly within a few years, according to a three-year study out today.
They're still more likely than the average child to break laws and take drugs by early adolescence, a link that was suggested in earlier research. But those who get into trouble tend to be children with other mental disorders, not just ADHD, says lead author Peter Jensen, director of the Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health at Columbia University.
New York Times :
July 13, 2007
President Bush has nominated Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., a Kentucky cardiologist, to be surgeon general. Today he is to go before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Here are 15 questions the committee members might want to ask.OP-ED: Faith in Medicine By RICHARD P. SLOAN
According to a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine, more than 40 million Americans are cared for by doctors who believe that their religious convictions supersede their obligation to provide patients with legal treatments. Are doctors’ primary obligations to their patients or their religious convictions?
RICHARD P. SLOAN, a professor at Columbia University Medical Center and the author of “Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine.”
:
July 13, 2007
Two Large Studies Show Decline In Suicide Attempts With Antidepressant Treatment Patients with depression treated in two independent health care systems experienced overall drops in suicide attempts between the month prior to starting treatment with antidepressant medications and the month after treatment began.
The second study, involving veterans, is described in "The Relationship Between Antidepressants and Suicide: Results of Analysis of the Veterans Health Administration Datasets," by Robert Gibbons, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., J. John Mann, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The findings are based on 226,866 veterans diagnosed with depression during 2003-2004.
Washington Post :
July 10, 2007
FINDINGS: Nearly One-Third in U.S. Have Abused Alcohol Nearly one-third of Americans abuse or become dependent on alcohol at some time in their lives, and most never seek treatment, according to a new study.
"Alcohol dependence was significantly more prevalent among men, whites, Native Americans, younger and unmarried adults and those with lower incomes," Deborah S. Hasin of Columbia University Medical Center [and the New York State Psychiatric Institute] and colleagues wrote.
Reuters :
June 19, 2007
More body fat means better recovery for anorexics In a study of anorexic women who had regained their normal weight, those with the most body fat relative to their total weight were the least likely to relapse, Dr. Laurel E. S. Mayer and colleagues found.
"These data suggest that restoring body fat to normal levels may be integral to recovery," Mayer, of Columbia University [and the New York State Psychiatric Institute]in New York City, and her team write in the June issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Washington Post :
May 24, 2007
LETTER TO THE EDITOR - Re: “Combat Zone," [May 15]
Legitimate debate exists as to whether persistent symptoms are due to persistent infection, a post-infectious process, or both. In 2001, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article documenting persistent "severe impairment" after treatment among patients with well-documented Lyme disease. In 2003, Neurology published an article documenting that repeated antibiotic treatment results in clinically meaningful improvement three times more often than placebo.
Acknowledgment of this uncertainty would diminish polarization and advance the interests of both scientists and patients.
Brian A. Fallon, MD
Director, Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center
Columbia University
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER :
May 15, 2007
Living Well: Tune in to your children's TV habits May is not shaping up as a highlight month for anyone in the business of getting kids to watch television. On the heels of TV Turnoff Week in late April, two new and notable studies about the downside of children's
viewing habits were published last week in peer- reviewed pediatrics journals.
One study, from researcher Jeffrey Johnson at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, reported that teens who watch three or more hours of TV daily are at significantly higher risk for developing attention and learning problems. Importantly, Johnson made it clear that it didn't work in reverse, that teens with learning problems simply watch more television.
Washington Post :
May 15, 2007
Combat Zone As the incidence of Lyme disease has grown nationwide -- roughly 23,300 cases were recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005, up from about 17,000 in 2001 -- so has the political clout of Lyme activist groups, building on some people's frustration with standard treatments and the belief that many diffuse ailments, from arthritis and headaches to irritability and poor concentration, are actually symptoms of lingering, active Lyme disease. The activists have attacked legislation on state and federal levels, protested outside doctors' offices and lined up powerful allies. Last month they opened the Lyme Disease Research Center at Columbia University, made possible by $3 million the groups raised.
ST. CLOUD TIMES :
May 15, 2007
Our View: Mental health care needs to be addressed Not surprisingly, improving Minnesota's approach to mental health care and coverage isn't drawing the same legislative buzz as smoking bans or tax increases. But that doesn't minimize this important issue, nor
should it squelch the good ideas legislators and the governor have debated so far.
When it comes to political buzz, the one mental health proposal that's drawn the most attention this session is creation of a screening program for children to help identify early in life potential mental health
issues. Most often cited as an example of what proponents want is the program commonly known as TeenScreen. Created by Columbia University, it offers a voluntary screening for children that's run through public schools.
