435 posts · 452,020 views
Brain Blogger covers topics from multidimensional biopsychosocial perspectives. It reviews the latest news and stories related to neuroscience, psychiatry, and neurology. It serves as a focal point for attracting new minds beyond the science of the mind-and-brain and into the biopsychosocial model.
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- September 8, 2008
- 11:30 PM
- 2,414 views
Planning for Postnatal Depression
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Depression is a subtle thing. It can easily take on the disguise of other illnesses or temporary conditions.
Tired? Who isn’t? Sad? Well, the world can be depressing. Worried? Yeah, that’s why we all have grey hairs. Can’t sleep well? Join the club. Aren’t hungry? You’re just too busy. Unfocused? You just need to simplify. Irritable? [...]... Read more »
R. V Reed. (2008) Don't forget children and fathers. BMJ, 337(aug27 1). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a1414
- April 12, 2008
- 11:06 AM
- 2,283 views
Inflammatory Markers Altered in Depression and Suicide
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Inflammation is a hot topic in medical research, with studies showing links to heart disease, dementia and longevity. Depression is a relatively new addition to the list of inflammation-associated diseases, with two recent publications demonstrating altered levels of inflammatory molecules in the blood of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Both studies evaluated the levels ... Read more »
T Eller. (2008) Pro-inflammatory cytokines and treatment response to escitalopram in major depressive disorder. Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 32(2), 445-450.
YK Kim. (2008) Differences in cytokines between non-suicidal patients and suicidal patients in major depression. Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 32(2), 356-361.
- September 3, 2008
- 12:25 AM
- 2,278 views
Stroke’s Little Known Complication - Pain
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Many people have a general familiarity to the obvious symptoms of stroke complications: paralysis, thinking and concentration deficits, speech problems, emotional difficulties, and daily living problems. However, many are unaware of the possible pain complications.
A 29 year old stroke victim in the magazine Stroke Connection provided vivid detail of his stroke pain,
Someone is ripping [...]... Read more »
P. Hansson. (2004) Post-stroke pain case study: clinical characteristics, therapeutic options and long-term follow-up. European Journal of Neurology, 11(s1), 22-30. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0552.2004.00793.x
P. D. McGeoch, L. E. Williams, R. R. Lee, & V. S Ramachandran. (2008) Behavioural evidence for vestibular stimulation as a treatment for central post-stroke pain. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery . DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.2008.146738
- January 23, 2009
- 03:12 AM
- 2,205 views
An Old Weapon May Still Be Effective in the War Against Bioterrorism - Smallpox Vaccination
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
In recent years, there has been renewed interest in creating new smallpox vaccines due to the threat of the smallpox pathogen being used as a bioterrorism tool. The vaccinia virus vaccine has been used to prevent smallpox disease since the late 18th century and, until 30 years ago, most countries conducted routine smallpox vaccination programs. [...]... Read more »
Andrew W. Artenstein. (2008) New generation smallpox vaccines: a review of preclinical and clinical data. Reviews in Medical Virology, 18(4), 217-231. DOI: 10.1002/rmv.571
A GARCEL, J PERINO, J CRANCE, R DRILLIEN, D GARIN, & A FAVIER. (2008) Phenotypic and genetic diversity of the traditional Lister smallpox vaccine. Vaccine. DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.11.063
D TAUB, W ERSHLER, M JANOWSKI, A ARTZ, M KEY, J MCKELVEY, D MULLER, B MOSS, L FERRUCCI, & P DUFFEY. (2008) Immunity from Smallpox Vaccine Persists for Decades: A Longitudinal Study. The American Journal of Medicine, 121(12), 1058-1064. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.08.019
- September 16, 2008
- 11:09 PM
- 2,192 views
What Does Your iPod Say About You?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Right now, I have hundreds of songs on my mp3 player. I listen to everything from heavy metal when I run, to classical when I need to relax, to jazz when I am cooking. I listen to Broadway show tunes, movie soundtracks, and classic rock, depending on my mood. I also have tracks of nursery [...]... Read more »
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, & Adrian Furnham. (2007) Personality and music: Can traits explain how people use music in everyday life?. British Journal of Psychology, 98(2), 175-185. DOI: 10.1348/000712606X111177
Peter J. Rentfrow, & Samuel D. Gosling. (2003) The do re mi's of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1236-1256. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1236
Peter J. Rentfrow, & Samuel D. Gosling. (2006) Message in a Ballad. The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal Perception. Psychological Science, 17(3), 236-242. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01691.x
- November 27, 2008
- 09:07 AM
- 2,187 views
Should Doctors Engage in Racial Profiling?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
The time was June 2000. Scientists with the Celera Genomics Corporation, in conjunction with the international Human Genome Project, announced that they had successfully derived the entire sequence of the human genome. Furthermore, they noted that humans share 99.9% of their genetic code with one another. This discovery served as the platform for the medical [...]... Read more »
P CARSON, S ZIESCHE, G JOHNSON, J COHN, & FORTHEVASODILATORHEARTFAILURE. (1999) Racial differences in response to therapy for heart failure: Analysis of the vasodilator-heart failure trials1, 2. Journal of Cardiac Failure, 5(3), 178-187. DOI: 10.1016/S1071-9164(99)90001-5
A. V. Chobanian. (2003) Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension, 42(6), 1206-1252. DOI: 10.1161/01.HYP.0000107251.49515.c2
- September 6, 2008
- 12:30 PM
- 2,138 views
A Baby’s Smile - Mom’s Natural High
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Many people, at one time or another, have witnessed this ritual: a beaming new mother enters with baby pictures. A group of genuinely excited women gather around the new mother admiring the pictures as they are passed around. The new mother is oblivious to the fact that she has showed dozens of pictures at different [...]... Read more »
L. Strathearn, J. Li, P. Fonagy, & P. R. Montague. (2008) What's in a Smile? Maternal Brain Responses to Infant Facial Cues. PEDIATRICS, 122(1), 40-51. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-1566
- August 13, 2008
- 12:51 PM
- 2,109 views
Culturally Competent Care - Are Health Care Providers Doing Enough?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
America is arguably one of the most diverse nations in the world. While such diversity can provide opportunities for unique social and cultural interactions, it can also present opportunities for poor medical care. Many studies show that ethnic and cultural minorities do not receive the same level of care as patients in majority groups. The [...]... Read more »
Helen Gilburt, Diana Rose, & Mike Slade. (2008) The importance of relationships in mental health care: A qualitative study of service users' experiences of psychiatric hospital admission in the UK. BMC Health Services Research, 8(1), 92. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-8-92
G Quintero, E Lilliott, & C Willging. (2007) Substance Abuse Treatment Provider Views of "Culture": Implications for Behavioral Health Care in Rural Settings. Qualitative Health Research, 17(9), 1256-1267. DOI: 10.1177/1049732307307757
A QURESHI, F COLLAZOS, M RAMOS, & M CASAS. (2008) Cultural competency training in psychiatry. European Psychiatry, 49-58. DOI: 10.1016/S0924-9338(08)70062-2
- September 28, 2008
- 05:43 PM
- 2,080 views
Preventative Care in Medicine
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Medicine and health care are classified into various categories based on different specifying criteria. One of the classifications is a distinction on the basis of preventative and curative care: primary, secondary and tertiary cares. Primary care occurs when lifestyle modification behaviors are taught and encouraged in order to maintain a state of good health before [...]... Read more »
J PROCHASKA, W VELICER, C REDDING, J ROSSI, M GOLDSTEIN, J DEPUE, G GREENE, S ROSSI, X SUN, & J FAVA. (2005) Stage-based expert systems to guide a population of primary care patients to quit smoking, eat healthier, prevent skin cancer, and receive regular mammograms. Preventive Medicine, 41(2), 406-416. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.09.050
- August 14, 2008
- 10:27 AM
- 2,046 views
Will Money Improve NYC’s Health?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
You know, there’s a reason why famous sayings are, well, famous sayings. It’s because they’re true and they usually sum up this truth is just a few words so as to package their neat truism in a tidy little box.
BMJ’s article, New York’s road to health, quickly brought to mind one of those sayings in [...]... Read more »
K McColl. (2008) New York's road to health. BMJ, 337(jul08 3). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a673
- August 25, 2008
- 07:01 PM
- 1,984 views
Can Drug Therapy Prevent Parkinson’s Disease?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
A recent issue of the journal Neurology published two separate case-controlled studies that showed a decreased risk for Parkinson’s disease associated with both cholesterol-lowering medication and blood pressure-lowering medication.
A common class of cholesterol-lowering medications, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (also collectively called “statins”), includes the well-known and often-prescribed atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), lovastatin (Altocor, Mevacor), and pravastatin [........... Read more »
C Becker, S Jick, & C Meier. (2008) Use of antihypertensives and the risk of Parkinson disease. Neurology, 70(Issue 16,Part 2), 1438-1444. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000303818.38960.44
G Hu, R Antikainen, P Jousilahti, M Kivipelto, & J Tuomilehto. (2008) Total cholesterol and the risk of Parkinson disease. Neurology, 70(21), 1972-1979. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000312511.62699.a8
Annlia Paganini-Hill. (2001) Risk Factors for Parkinson. Neuroepidemiology, 20(2), 118-124. DOI: 10.1159/000054770
K Simon, H Chen, M Schwarzschild, & A Ascherio. (2007) Hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and risk of Parkinson disease. Neurology, 69(17), 1688-1695. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000271883.45010.8a
T TON, S HECKBERT, W LONGSTRETHJR, M ROSSING, W KUKULL, G FRANKLIN, P SWANSON, T SMITHWELLER, & H CHECKOWAY. (2007) Calcium channel blockers and β-blockers in relation to Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism , 13(3), 165-169. DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2006.08.011
A Wahner, J M Bronstein, Y M Bordelon, & B Ritz. (2008) Statin use and the risk of Parkinson disease. Neurology, 70(Issue 16,Part 2), 1418-1422. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000286942.14552.51
- December 11, 2008
- 10:09 AM
- 1,983 views
Depression and the Risk for Cardiovascular Events
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Depression is a risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease in healthy patients, as well as a predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diagnosed heart disease. One-fifth of patients with coronary heart disease and one-third of patients with congestive heart failure show signs of depression. Many of these cases of depression [...]... Read more »
J DENOLLET, K MAAS, A KNOTTNERUS, J KEYZER, & V POP. (2008) Anxiety predicted premature all-cause and cardiovascular death in a 10-year follow-up of middle-aged women. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.08.006
H Lester, & A Howe. (2008) Depression in primary care: three key challenges. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 84(996), 545-548. DOI: 10.1136/pgmj.2008.068387
M. A. Whooley. (2006) Depression and Cardiovascular Disease: Healing the Broken-Hearted. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(24), 2874-2881. DOI: 10.1001/jama.295.24.2874
M. A. Whooley, P. de Jonge, E. Vittinghoff, C. Otte, R. Moos, R. M. Carney, S. Ali, S. Dowray, B. Na, M. D. Feldman.... (2008) Depressive Symptoms, Health Behaviors, and Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 300(20), 2379-2388. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2008.711
- October 18, 2008
- 12:52 PM
- 1,968 views
Is Vitamin C the New Cancer Cure?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
In addition to the popular saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, maybe some day we can say the phrase, “Vitamin C a day keeps cancer away”.
Who would have thought that oranges and lemons, fruits easily found in a local grocery store, may hold the answer to curing cancer? Oranges vs. cancer — [...]... Read more »
Q. Chen, M. G. Espey, A. Y. Sun, C. Pooput, K. L. Kirk, M. C. Krishna, D. B. Khosh, J. Drisko, & M. Levine. (2008) From the Cover: Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(32), 11105-11109. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804226105
S. J. Padayatty. (2006) Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 174(7), 937-942. DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.050346
- October 7, 2008
- 07:57 PM
- 1,949 views
China’s Tainted Reputation
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Call me paranoid but I am careful about what I allow in my house. When I buy toys for my son I actually look to see where they are made. The same with clothing. And ditto for food items. Although I consider these actions quite sound, there is a kink when it comes to execution.
You [...]... Read more »
J. Parry. (2008) China's tainted infant formula sickens nearly 13 000 babies. BMJ, 337(sep24 1). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a1802
J. H. Tanne. (2008) Efforts to reduce US trainees' hours were ineffective, study says. BMJ, 337(aug05 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a1140
- January 10, 2009
- 10:03 AM
- 1,942 views
Safety Concerns with Prescription Drug Samples
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Drug manufacturers widely use prescription drug samples as a marketing tool. In 2004, drug samples accounted for approximately half of the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing budget, or $16 billion. An advantage, touted by pharmaceutical companies and some physicians, is that these samples are made available to low-income and uninsured patients, providing them with otherwise unaffordable medications. [...]... Read more »
S. L. Cutrona, S. Woolhandler, K. E. Lasser, D. H. Bor, D. U. Himmelstein, W. H. Shrank, & N. S. LeLeiko. (2008) Free Drug Samples in the United States: Characteristics of Pediatric Recipients and Safety Concerns. PEDIATRICS, 122(4), 736-742. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-2928
S. L. Cutrona, S. Woolhandler, K. E. Lasser, D. H. Bor, D. McCormick, & D. U. Himmelstein. (2008) Characteristics of Recipients of Free Prescription Drug Samples: A Nationally Representative Analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 98(2), 284-289. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.114249
Daniella A. Zipkin. (2008) Medicare Beneficiaries and Free Prescription Drug Samples: A National Survey. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(10), 1726-1726. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-008-0746-2
- August 29, 2008
- 12:31 PM
- 1,938 views
When the Doctor is the Patient
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Sometimes we forget that doctors are just like everyday people. They have families, they are members of parent/teacher organizations (PTOs), they help their children with school projects and homework, and they, in many cases, are still repaying school loans. You name it, and yes, the doctor has probably experienced it. So too is the case [...]... Read more »
E Fromme. (2003) Care of the Dying Doctor: On the Other End of the Stethoscope. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 290(15), 2048-2055. DOI: 10.1001/jama.290.15.2048
Robert Kempainen, Dianne M Bartels, & Patricia McCarthy Veach. (2007) Life on the Receiving End: A Qualitative Analysis of Health Providers??? Illness Narratives. Academic Medicine, 82(2), 207-213. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31802d9513
R KLITZMAN. (2006) Views and approaches toward risks and benefits among doctors who become patients. Patient Education and Counseling, 64(1-3), 61-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2005.11.013
SIR Noble, A Marie, & IG Finlay. (2008) Challenges faced by palliative care physicians when caring for doctors with advanced cancer. Palliative Medicine, 22(1), 71-76. DOI: 10.1177/0269216307084607
- March 4, 2008
- 01:15 PM
- 1,929 views
Are Insurance Copayments Unethical?
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Mammograms are recommended for all women over the age of 45 as a breast cancer screening tool. Some insurance and Medicare plans provide full coverage for these tests because they are deemed necessary and beneficial. Other plans apply co-pays to mammograms, and other similar medical interventions, despite the prevalent medical opinion that they are both ... Read more »
A Trivedi, W Rakowski, & J Z Ayanian. (2008) Effect of Cost Sharing on Screening Mammography in Medicare Health Plans. New England Journal of Medicine, 358(4), 375-383. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa070929
- October 13, 2008
- 11:39 AM
- 1,929 views
ADHD - A Very Incomplete Puzzle
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
Teaching students with ADHD was always challenging for me. My usual methods of managing behavior, explaining assignments, and reviewing routines weren’t very effective for many of these kids. I’ve been lucky enough to know a handful of teachers who were knowledgeable about techniques that helped their ADHD students achieve. And although I often picked their [...]... Read more »
T. Kendall, E. Taylor, A. Perez, & C. Taylor. (2008) Diagnosis and management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children, young people, and adults: summary of NICE guidance. BMJ, 337(sep24 1). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.a1239
- April 17, 2009
- 08:18 AM
- 1,926 views
Objective Testing for Alzheimer’s Disease
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
The clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at the earliest clinical stages can be difficult. Given the variability in clinical threshold at which there is functional compromise in one’s social and professional life — a necessary component to AD diagnosis — there are several in-organic factors that affect early detection. Health professionals and biomedical scientists [...]... Read more »
CHUPIN, M., MUKUNABANTUMBAKULU, A., HASBOUN, D., BARDINET, E., BAILLET, S., KINKINGNEHUN, S., LEMIEUX, L., DUBOIS, B., & GARNERO, L. (2007) Anatomically constrained region deformation for the automated segmentation of the hippocampus and the amygdala: Method and validation on controls and patients with Alzheimer’s disease. NeuroImage, 34(3), 996-1019. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.10.035
Colliot, O., Chetelat, G., Chupin, M., Desgranges, B., Magnin, B., Benali, H., Dubois, B., Garnero, L., Eustache, F., & Lehericy, S. (2008) Discrimination between Alzheimer Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Normal Aging by Using Automated Segmentation of the Hippocampus. Radiology, 248(1), 194-201. DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2481070876
Gauthier, S., Reisberg, B., Zaudig, M., Petersen, R., Ritchie, K., Broich, K., Belleville, S., Brodaty, H., Bennett, D., & Chertkow, H. (2006) Mild cognitive impairment. The Lancet, 367(9518), 1262-1270. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68542-5
Hunderfund, A., Roberts, R., Slusser, T., Leibson, C., Geda, Y., Ivnik, R., Tangalos, E., & Petersen, R. (2006) Mortality in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A prospective community study. Neurology, 67(10), 1764-1768. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000244430.39969.5f
Lakhan, S. (2006) Schizophrenia proteomics: biomarkers on the path to laboratory medicine?. Diagnostic Pathology, 1(1), 11. DOI: 10.1186/1746-1596-1-11
Petersen RC, & Negash S. (2008) Mild cognitive impairment: an overview. CNS Spectr, 13(1), 45-53.
- September 13, 2008
- 01:08 PM
- 1,925 views
George Huntington and the Disease Bearing His Name
by Shaheen Lakhan in Brain Blogger
George Huntington was the son and grandson of medical practitioners. He gave rise to a great interest in the origins of this disease which now bears his name.
At the age of 22, the year following his graduation from medical school at Columbia, George Huntington (1850-1916) made his contribution to medical research, publishing his report on [...]... Read more »
T Neylan. (2003) Neurodegenerative Disorders: George Huntington's Description of Hereditary Chorea. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 15(1), 108-108. DOI: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.15.1.108
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