PHILADELPHIA— Contrary to past concerns, using prolonged exposure therapy to treat patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid alcohol dependence does not increase drinking or cravings, Penn Medicine psychiatrists report in the August 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence/human rights. In a first-of-its-kind single-blind, randomized clinical trial, researchers also found that PTSD patients treated with naltrexone for alcohol dependence drank less—and that the use of prolonged exposure therapy and naltrexone better protects PTSD patients from ...

Research to be published Aug. 7 in the highly respected international journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B clearly demonstrates that at least five and as many as nine species of tropical fruit flies, including the infamous Medfly, are permanently established in California and inexorably spreading, despite more than 30 years of intervention and nearly 300 state-sponsored eradication programs aimed at the flies. The new study by a trio of scientists affiliated with the University of California, Davis, has significant implications for how government agencies develop ...

In an examination of risk factors associated with suicide in current and former military personnel observed 2001 and 2008, male sex and mental disorders were independently associated with suicide risk but not military-specific variables, findings that do not support an association between deployment or combat with suicide, according to a study in the August 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence/human rights. "Despite universal access to healthcare services, mandatory suicide prevention training, and other preventive efforts, suicide has become one of the leading ...

In a trial that included patients with alcohol dependence and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), treatment with the drug naltrexone resulted in a decrease in the percentage of days drinking while use of the PTSD treatment, prolonged exposure therapy, was not associated with increased drinking or alcohol craving, according to a study in the August 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence/human rights. "Alcohol dependence and PTSD are highly comorbid [co-existing], yet little is known about how best to treat this large, highly dysfunctional, and distressed population. ...

A review of articles on disaster and emergency mental health response interventions and services indicates that in postdisaster settings, a systematic framework of case identification, triage, and mental health interventions should be integrated into emergency medicine and trauma care responses, according to a study in the August 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence/human rights. "Mental and physical consequences of major disasters have garnered increasing attention to the need for an effective community response. It is estimated that much of the U.S. population ...

"In January 1996, Congress passed an appropriations bill amendment prohibiting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using 'funds made available for injury prevention ... to advocate or promote gun control.' This provision was triggered by evidence linking gun ownership to health harms, created uncertainty among CDC officials and researchers about what could be studied, and led to significant declines in funding," write Joseph A. Ladapo, M.D., Ph.D., of the New York University School of Medicine, New York, and colleagues. As reported in a Research ...

Dolphins can recognize their old tank mates' whistles after being separated for more than 20 years — the longest social memory ever recorded for a non-human species. The remarkable memory feat is another indication that dolphins have a level of cognitive sophistication comparable to only a few other species, including humans, chimpanzees and elephants. Dolphins' talent for social recognition may be even more long-lasting than facial recognition among humans, since human faces change over time but the signature whistle that identifies a dolphin remains stable over many ...

A RIKEN research team has discovered an enzyme called Rines that regulates MAO-A, a major brain protein controlling emotion and mood. The enzyme is a potentially promising drug target for treating diseases associated with emotions such as depression. Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is an enzyme that breaks down serotonin, norephinephrine and dopamine, neurotransmitters well-known for their influence on emotion and mood. Nicknamed the "warrior gene", a variant of the MAOA gene has been associated with increased risk of violent and anti-social behavior. While evidence points ...

The first report of probable person to person transmission of the new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in Eastern China is published on bmj.com today. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet of H7N9 transmission between humans, but the authors stress that its ability to transmit itself is "limited and non-sustainable." Avian influenza A (H7N9) virus was recently identified in Eastern China. As of 30 June 2013, 133 cases have been reported, resulting in 43 deaths. Most cases appear to have visited live poultry markets or had close contact with live poultry 7-10 ...

One-to-one telephone health coaching did not seem to reduce hospital use and related costs for patients with long term conditions – and may even lead to increased use, finds a study published on bmj.com today. The study adds weight to the view that health coaching by itself does not appear to reduce hospital activity. The authors suggest that it may be more effective if it were better integrated into the respective care pathways for these groups of patients or were coupled with other interventions. Telephone health coaching is used to provide guidance and support to ...

The length of a human pregnancy can vary naturally by as much as five weeks, according to research published online today (Wednesday) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]. Normally, women are given a date for the likely delivery of their baby that is calculated as 280 days after the onset of their last menstrual period. Yet only four percent of women deliver at 280 days and only 70% deliver within 10 days of their estimated due date, even when the date is calculated with the help of ultrasound. Now, for the first time, researchers ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When it comes to some of the health hazards of light at night, a new study suggests that the color of the light can make a big difference. In a study involving hamsters, researchers found that blue light had the worst effects on mood-related measures, followed closely by white light. But hamsters exposed to red light at night had significantly less evidence of depressive-like symptoms and changes in the brain linked to depression, compared to those that experienced blue or white light. The only hamsters that fared better than those exposed to red ...

VIDEO: Dr. Yvette Calderon has found that community-based pharmacies can be effective locations for offering rapid HIV testing, diagnosing HIV, and connecting those who test positive with medical care quickly. The... Click here for more information. August 6, 2013 – (BRONX, NY) – Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that community-based pharmacies can be effective locations for offering rapid HIV testing, diagnosing HIV, and connecting ...

A new study of cancer patients indicates that certain patient groups have unmet needs for greater involvement in decisions about their treatment. Cancer patients under 55 and those with some rarer types of cancer want more of a say in the decisions made about their treatment, according to new research being published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Wednesday). Recently, several US states have introduced legislation or other policies supporting share-decision making. The research also shows that ethnic minorities and patients with rectal, ovarian, multiple myeloma ...

DALLAS – Aug. 6, 2013 – Mental health services should be integrated into disaster response as part of emergency services planning, according to a new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists who completed an exhaustive review of articles on the aftereffects of disasters on mental health. The researchers sifted through more than 1,000 articles, reviewing more than 200 that showed disasters can exacerbate existing problems and generate new disorders. Many in the population will experience a natural disaster during their lifetime, while man-made disasters – ...

A Dartmouth-led team has discovered a group of stress-related proteins that explains how plants avoid sunburn in intense light, a finding that one day could help biotechnologists to develop crops that can better cope with hotter, drier conditions occurring in climate change. Their findings appear this week in the journal PNAS. The study, titled "Subset of heat-shock transcription factors required for the early response of Arabidopsis to excess light," was led by researchers from Dartmouth, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Australian National University. Too ...

WASHINGTON — The longer a child with minor blunt head trauma is observed in the emergency department, the less likely the child is to require computed tomography (CT) scan, according to the results of a study published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Impact of the Duration of Emergency Department Observation on Computed Tomography Use in Children with Minor Blunt Head Trauma"). "Every hour of observation time in the emergency department was associated with a decrease in CT rates for children whether at low, intermediate or high risk of traumatic brain ...

Feelings of entitlement and superiority that go beyond patriotism and love of country may be a key predictor for Americans who will feel or behave negatively toward undocumented Latino immigrants, according to a study from The University of Texas at Arlington. Researchers looked at those enhanced feelings of superiority - referred to as group-level narcissism – along with a factor called national in-group identification in a new work to be published in the August issue of the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science. National in-group identification happens when a person's ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — According to a recent study, the Summer Community Program offered by the University of Missouri School of Medicine has made a significant impact on physician access in rural communities. The 15-year study showed medical school graduates involved in the program not only entered family practice residency training at higher rates than nonparticipants, but nearly half began their medical careers in rural locations. "In the United States, only about 10 percent of physicians practice in rural areas, and less than 3 percent of entering medical students nationally ...

LONDON, ON – Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol, are among the best selling drugs in North America and around the world. However, statin myopathy, which results in muscle pain and weakness, is a common side effect affecting up to 10 percent of statin users. A recent study led by Dr. Richard Kim of the Lawson Health Research Institute, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Hegele of Robarts Research Institute, and researchers from Vanderbilt University, found that commonly occurring genetic variations in a person's genes could put them at risk for statin-associated ...

Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory are helping to create electronics capabilities for electric vehicles, with the development of a high temperature capacitor. Electric Vehicles (EV) are hoped to represent more than 50% of worldwide light duty vehicle sales by 2050. The absence of suitable capacitors is one of the major barriers to meeting this goal. Capacitors are a means of storing energy and are vital to the process of converting DC power from the vehicle battery, into AC power required to drive the motor. Current capacitors do not meet the EV requirements, ...

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a report on the land use requirements of solar power plants based on actual land-use practices from existing solar facilities. "Having real data from a majority of the solar plants in the United States will help people make proper comparisons and informed decisions," lead author Sean Ong said. The report, "Land-use Requirements for Solar Power Plants in the United States,"PDF was written with NREL colleagues Clinton Campbell, Robert Margolis, Paul Denholm and Garvin Heath. Ong gathered ...

Researchers at NJIT's Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in Big Bear, CA have obtained new and remarkably detailed photos of the Sun with the New Solar Telescope (NST). The photographs reveal never-before-seen details of solar magnetism revealed in photospheric and chromospheric features. "With our new generation visible imaging spectrometer (VIS)," said Wenda Cao, NJIT Associate Professor of Physics and BBSO Associate Director, "the solar atmosphere from the photosphere to the chromosphere, can be monitored in a near real time. One image was taken with VIS on May ...

A sleepless night makes us more likely to reach for doughnuts or pizza than for whole grains and leafy green vegetables, suggests a new study from UC Berkeley that examines the brain regions that control food choices. The findings shed new light on the link between poor sleep and obesity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), UC Berkeley researchers scanned the brains of 23 healthy young adults, first after a normal night's sleep and next, after a sleepless night. They found impaired activity in the sleep-deprived brain's frontal lobe, which governs complex ...

Mechanical engineers at the University of California, San Diego invented a robot designed to scoot along utility lines, searching for damage and other problems that require repairs. Made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed on an inexpensive 3D printer, the SkySweeper prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more economical than the two models of robots currently used to inspect power lines. "Current line inspection robots are large, complex, and expensive. Utility companies may also use manned or unmanned helicopters ...