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  • May 16, 2014
  • 02:25 PM
  • 1,139 views

MORE Science Fact and Fiction Behind Fat Loss

by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories

I was shocked by the huge response to my first post on the science behind weight loss, so much so that I wanted to do a second post in the series […]... Read more »

Hana Kahleova, Lenka Belinova, Hana Malinska, Olena Oliyarnyk,, Jaroslava Trnovska, Vojtech Skop, Ludmila Kazdova, Monika Dezortova,, & Milan Hajek, Andrea Tura, Martin Hill, Terezie Pelikanova. (2014) Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective than six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover study. Diabetologia. info:/10.1007/s00125-014-3253-5

Lombardo, M., Bellia, A., Padua, E., Annino, G., Guglielmi, V., D’Adamo, M., Iellamo, F., & Sbraccia, P. (2014) Morning Meal More Efficient for Fat Loss in a 3-Month Lifestyle Intervention. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1-8. DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2013.863169  

Andersson DP, Eriksson Hogling D, Thorell A, Toft E, Qvisth V, Näslund E, Thörne A, Wirén M, Löfgren P, Hoffstedt J.... (2014) Changes in Subcutaneous Fat Cell Volume and Insulin Sensitivity After Weight Loss. Diabetes care. PMID: 24760260  

Fletcher, G., Dawes, J., & Spano, M. (2014) The Potential Dangers of Using Rapid Weight Loss Techniques. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 36(2), 45-48. DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000043  

  • May 13, 2014
  • 11:05 AM
  • 637 views

Sleep Manipulation to Enhance Cognition

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

In the next series of posts, I will focus on research related to learning, learning disabilities and education.Sleep is known to play a key role in consolidation of memories and and learning.However, there has been relatively little discussion of how the effect of sleep on learning might be enhanced.Susanne Diekelmann reviewed this issue in a recent manuscript published in the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.In this review, two theories for sleep enhancement of memories are proposed:Ac........ Read more »

Diekelmann, S. (2014) Sleep for cognitive enhancement. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00046  

  • May 7, 2014
  • 11:39 PM
  • 2,200 views

Hypermetabolism in Anorexia Nervosa

by Tetyana in Science of Eating Disorders


Weight restoration is a crucial component of anorexia nervosa treatment. It is a challenging process for a multitude of reasons. Adding to the complexity and the challenge is the fact that during weight restoration, individuals with anorexia nervosa tend to require increasingly more calories to maintain the same rate of weight gain.
That is, individuals need to continually increase their caloric intake, in steps, sometimes upwards of 100 calories (technically, kilocalories) per kilogram pe........ Read more »

  • May 7, 2014
  • 11:01 AM
  • 732 views

Sleep, Inflammation and Risk of Depression

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Dr. Michael Irwin at the Warren Neuroscience Lecture Series in Tulsa, OK.Dr. Irwin has been a leader in research related to sleep disturbance, inflammation and depression risk. Here are my notes from the presentation and few related citations.Notes on Irwin PresentationDepression is important because it is prevalent, recurrent and often resistant to treatmentSleep disturbance is common as a symptom of depression, but also may be an independe........ Read more »

  • April 28, 2014
  • 10:04 AM
  • 827 views

Religion As A Suicide Protective Factor: Part I

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Risk factors for suicide include male gender, older age, previous suicide attempts and presence of a mental disorder.Factors that reduce risk of suicide or provide a protective effect are less well understood.Two recent studies suggest religious belief and church attendance are linked to reduced risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.Nicole Cushing and colleagues conducted a study of older adults suffering from depression.In this study, a series of subjects over 59 receiving outpatient o........ Read more »

  • April 22, 2014
  • 10:21 AM
  • 960 views

Religious Belief Linked to Brain Cortex Thickness

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

In a previous post, I reviewed a longitudinal study of religious belief and major depression.This study by Lisa Miller and colleagues found a reduced risk of depression in subjects who rated religious belief or spirituality as an important factor in their lives.Reduction in depression risk with religiosity/spirituality was largest (90% smaller risk) in those with a family history of depression.This correlation may not be causal and may be explained by some common third factor between religion an........ Read more »

  • April 15, 2014
  • 11:43 AM
  • 792 views

Religious Belief and Depression Resilience

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Identifying risk factors for brain disorders is a key element in clinical research.Understanding protective or resilience factors for brain disorders is also important and receiving increased attention in clinical research.Factors that promote resilience to brain disorders may come from a variety of domains. Religious belief is one domain receiving attention as a potential resilience factor.Miller and colleagues recently published a longitudinal study of religious belief and risk for major ........ Read more »

Miller L, Wickramaratne P, Gameroff MJ, Sage M, Tenke CE, & Weissman MM. (2012) Religiosity and major depression in adults at high risk: a ten-year prospective study. The American journal of psychiatry, 169(1), 89-94. PMID: 21865527  

  • April 14, 2014
  • 10:24 AM
  • 558 views

Some exploratory evidence that wait-list conditions may act as a nocebo in psychotherapy trials

by Kristoffer Magnusson in R Psychologist

The hypothesis that wait-lists could be nocebo conditions was investigated by Furukawa et al (2014). The authors performed a network meta-analysis of 49 RCT that involved cognitive-behaviour therapy for depression. ... Read more »

Furukawa TA, Noma H, Caldwell DM, Honyashiki M, Shinohara K, Imai H, Chen P, Hunot V, & Churchill R. (2014) Waiting list may be a nocebo condition in psychotherapy trials: a contribution from network meta-analysis. Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica. PMID: 24697518  

  • April 7, 2014
  • 11:37 AM
  • 823 views

The Genetics of Religious Belief

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

In the next few posts, I will review some of the recent brain-related research related to religious belief.Religious belief and religious affiliation run in families. This effect is not surprising as parents influence their children's type of religious experience during development.However, there is increasing evidence that adult religious belief and behavior is also influenced by genetic factors independent of family environment experience.Twin studies represent a powerful research model to tea........ Read more »

  • March 27, 2014
  • 12:51 PM
  • 689 views

Is Insomnia Relief Just a Mouse Click Away?

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia (CBT-I) is increasingly recognized as an important treatment option.However, in some regions of the U.S. and the world, access to this type of therapy is limited and may be cost prohibitive.A recent review of the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia noted the promise of internet-based CBT-I. The promise of internet-based CBT-I is based on several randomized controlled trials.Ritterband and colleagues published a study 44 subjects randomize........ Read more »

Buysse DJ. (2013) Insomnia. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, 309(7), 706-16. PMID: 23423416  

Ritterband LM, Thorndike FP, Gonder-Frederick LA, Magee JC, Bailey ET, Saylor DK, & Morin CM. (2009) Efficacy of an Internet-based behavioral intervention for adults with insomnia. Archives of general psychiatry, 66(7), 692-8. PMID: 19581560  

  • March 25, 2014
  • 11:08 AM
  • 646 views

When Sleeping Pills Don't Work

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Hypnotics or sleeping pills typically are effective and indicated as an option for the short-term relief of transient insomnia.However, a minority of individuals report persistent insomnia and lack of sleep despite use of a hypnotic.When drugs that typically treat a disorder fail to work, it is important to reconsider the accuracy of the diagnosis.Yun Li and colleagues from China recently published a case report illustrating this issue in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.They reported on a........ Read more »

Li Y, Li Z, Lei F, Du L, & Tang X. (2013) Persistent insomnia despite long-term nightly use of sleeping pills. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 9(8), 834-6. PMID: 23946716  

  • March 19, 2014
  • 12:01 PM
  • 749 views

Naptime Stories Boost Word Learning in Children

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Sleep is known to have a beneficial effect on the consolidation of memory.There have been few studies to demonstrate how this effect my be utilized.Williams and Horst recently tested the effect of storybook reading, sleep and word learning in group of 3 year old children.Their study recently published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology randomized 48 three year old children into four groups:Group one: children were read the same story before a napsGroup two: children were read different stori........ Read more »

  • March 18, 2014
  • 11:46 AM
  • 743 views

Short Sleep Duration in Children with Autism

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Parents of children with autism and autism spectrum disorder commonly report sleep problems in their child.However, there have been few prospective systematic studies of sleep in this disorder.Joanna Humphreys from Canada and colleagues from England recently published an important manuscript addressing this topic.They used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. This data set includes prospective data collected from a cohort of over 14,000 children born between April 1991 ........ Read more »

Humphreys JS, Gringras P, Blair PS, Scott N, Henderson J, Fleming PJ, & Emond AM. (2014) Sleep patterns in children with autistic spectrum disorders: a prospective cohort study. Archives of disease in childhood, 99(2), 114-8. PMID: 24061777  

  • March 17, 2014
  • 11:10 AM
  • 711 views

Brain Gray Matter Volumes in Primary Insomnia

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

Chronic primary insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by delayed sleep onset, reduced total sleep duration and fatigue on morning awakening.In addition, by definition chronic primary insomnia cannot be due to a primary medical or psychiatric disorder. Some patients with chronic primary insomnia also demonstrate subjective and objective impairment in concentration and memory.Eun Yeon Joo and colleagues from South Korea recently published an analysis of brain structural features in 27 su........ Read more »

Joo EY, Noh HJ, Kim JS, Koo DL, Kim D, Hwang KJ, Kim JY, Kim ST, Kim MR, & Hong SB. (2013) Brain Gray Matter Deficits in Patients with Chronic Primary Insomnia. Sleep, 36(7), 999-1007. PMID: 23814336  

  • March 13, 2014
  • 12:11 PM
  • 740 views

Outcome in REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

This is the second in series of posts examining recent research in sleep and the brain.Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder is a complex sleep problem seen primarily in older adults.REM, or dream sleep, typically occurs with atonia.  Atonia is the temporary state of muscle paralysis.  This prohibits muscular activity or acting out during dream states.With REM sleep behavior disorder, atonia is not present with REM sleep resulting in motor restlessness, agitation and occasio........ Read more »

Iranzo A, Fernández-Arcos A, Tolosa E, Serradell M, Molinuevo JL, Valldeoriola F, Gelpi E, Vilaseca I, Sánchez-Valle R, Lladó A.... (2014) Neurodegenerative Disorder Risk in Idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: Study in 174 Patients. PloS one, 9(2). PMID: 24587002  

  • March 11, 2014
  • 11:09 AM
  • 751 views

Depression-related Sleep Abnormalities Vary By Age

by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts

This month I will be focusing on sleep and the brain. The importance of sleep to normal and abnormal brain functioning is receiving increased research attention.A variety of sleep abnormalities have been described in major depression and bipolar affective disorder. Depression has been linked to delayed sleep onset, reduced time to first rapid eye movement (REM) period, reduced sleep efficiency and disruption of the circadian rhythm of sleep.Sleep physiology also varies throughout the lifesp........ Read more »

Robillard, R., Naismith, S., Smith, K., Rogers, N., White, D., Terpening, Z., Ip, T., Hermens, D., Whitwell, B., Scott, E.... (2014) Sleep-Wake Cycle in Young and Older Persons with a Lifetime History of Mood Disorders. PLoS ONE, 9(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087763  

  • March 9, 2014
  • 12:49 PM
  • 1,142 views

Matters of Appearance: Eating Disorder Patients’ Interpretations of Therapists’ Bodies

by Andrea in Science of Eating Disorders


Therapeutic alliance is often highlighted in studies looking at treatment effectiveness, both in and beyond the realm of eating disorder therapy. Evidently, there are a number of factors that can impact how well we get along with our therapists, ranging from disagreements with the course of treatment or type of therapy to a simple, unnamable dislike for the person. But what about their appearance? What kind of impact could a therapist’s body size have on the therapy relationship?
Rance, ........ Read more »

  • February 24, 2014
  • 03:34 PM
  • 1,295 views

Taking a Transdiagnostic Approach to Understanding Self-Injury

by amikulak in Daily Observations

Millions of people are affected by self-injury, especially adolescents and young adults. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been the focus of numerous studies and, yet, there is still a lot to […]... Read more »

Bentley, K.H., Nock, M.K., & Barlow, D.H. (2014) The Four-Function Model of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Key Directions for Future Research. Clinical Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/2167702613514563  

  • February 9, 2014
  • 11:26 PM
  • 688 views

Multiple Functional Motifs Are Required for the Tumor Suppressor Activity of a Constitutively-Active ErbB4 Mutant

by JCRTO in JScholar Publishers

ErbB4 (HER4) is a member of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases, which includes the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR/ErbB1), ErbB2 (HER2/Neu), and ErbB3 (HER3). Mounting evidence indicates that ErbB4, unlike EGFR or ErbB2, functions as a tumor suppressor in many human malignancies. Previous analyses of the constitutively-dimerized and –active ErbB4 Q646C mutant indicate that ErbB4 kinase activity and phosphorylation of ErbB4 Tyr1056 are both required for the tumor suppressor........ Read more »

Richard M. Gallo#, Ianthe N. Bryant#, Christopher P. Mill, Steven Kaverman, David J. Riese II*. (2013) Multiple Functional Motifs Are Required for the Tumor Suppressor Activity of a Constitutively-Active ErbB4 Mutant. Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutic Oncology, 1(1), 1-10. info:other/1:104

  • February 9, 2014
  • 08:21 PM
  • 760 views

I Wanna Hold Your Hand (after 23 sessions of Emotionally Focused Therapy)

by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic

Can neuroscience illuminate the nature of human relationships? Or does it primarily serve as a prop to sell self-help books? The neurorelationship cottage industry touts the importance of brain research for understanding romance and commitment. But any knowledge of the brain is completely unnecessary for issuing take-home messages like tips on maintaining a successful marriage.In an analogous fashion, we can ask whether successful psychotherapy depends on having detailed knowledge of the mechan........ Read more »

Coan JA, Schaefer HS, & Davidson RJ. (2006) Lending a hand: social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychological science, 17(12), 1032-9. PMID: 17201784  

Johnson SM, Moser MB, Beckes L, Smith A, Dalgleish T, Halchuk R, Hasselmo K, Greenman PS, Merali Z, & Coan JA. (2013) Soothing the threatened brain: leveraging contact comfort with emotionally focused therapy. PloS one, 8(11). PMID: 24278126  

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