The AP (http://tinyurl.com/long-lasting-zyprexa 12/15) reports Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co said regulators have approved a longer-lasting version of its top-selling drug, the anti-psychotic Zyprexa.  The Food and Drug Administration approved Zyprexa Relprevv, an injection that can last up to four weeks, for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.  Patients on Zyprexa currently take a pill daily. Lilly also makes a fast-acting injection of the drug that can be absorbed by the body in a few hours to treat agitation.  For the new version, patients will visit their doctors every two or four weeks to receive the injection, spokeswoman Janell Smith said.  She said the longer-lasting version makes it easier for patients to stay on the medication, and it allows doctors to track whether they’re doing that since they have to make office visits for the injections. 

According to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry (http://tinyurl.com/lead-and-psychiatry), in young adults with low levels of lead exposure, higher blood lead levels were associated with increased odds of major depression and panic disorders. Exposure to lead at levels generally considered safe could result in adverse mental health outcomes.  The mean blood lead level was 1.61 µg/dL.  Increasing blood lead levels were associated with higher odds of major depression and panic disorder but not generalized anxiety disorder.  Persons with blood lead levels in the highest quintile had 2.3 times the odds of major depressive disorder  and 4.9 times the odds of panic disorder as those in the lowest quintile.  Cigarette smoking was associated with higher blood lead levels and outcome, but models that excluded current smokers also resulted in significantly increased odds of major depression and panic disorder with higher blood lead quintiles.

According to a study published online Nov. 27 in the journal Gait and Posture (http://tinyurl.com/pakinson-s-gait) the later stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are characterized by altered gait patterns.  Although decreased arm swing during gait is the most frequently reported motor problem in individuals with PD, quantitative descriptions of gait in early PD have largely ignored upper extremity movements.  This study was designed to perform a quantitative analysis of arm swing magnitude and asymmetry that might be useful in the assessment of early PD.   Strikingly, the PD group showed significantly greater arm swing asymmetry compared to the control group.  Unlike arm swing magnitude, arm swing asymmetry unequivocally differs between people with early PD and controls.  Such quantitative evaluation of arm swing, especially its asymmetry, may have utility for early and differential diagnosis, and for tracking disease progression in patients with later PD.

According to a recent New York Times article (12/8, D6 http://tinyurl.com/depressed-dads) up to 80 percent of women experience minor sadness after giving birth, and about 10 percent plummet into severe postpartum depression.  But it turns out that men can also have postpartum depression.  4 percent of fathers have clinically significant depressive symptoms within eight weeks of the birth of their children.  A 2006 study on marmoset monkeys, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, reported that new fathers experienced a rapid increase in receptors for the hormone vasopressin in the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Along with other hormones, vasopressin is involved in parental behavior in animals, and it is known that the same brain area in humans is activated when parents are shown pictures of their children.  There is also some evidence that testosterone levels tend to drop in men during their partner’s pregnancy, perhaps to make expectant fathers less aggressive and more likely to bond with their newborns.  Given the known association between depression and low testosterone in middle-aged men, it is possible that this might also put some men at risk of postpartum depression.  By far the strongest predictor of paternal postpartum depression is having a depressed partner.  In one study, fathers whose partners were also depressed were at nearly two and a half times the normal risk for depression.

The UK’s Telegraph(http://tinyurl.com/grape-juice-and-memory 12/9) reports that scientists from the University of Cincinnati’s psychiatry department carried out a study which involved 12 people with early memory loss drinking pure 100 per cent Concord grape juice for 12 weeks.   The results showed an improvement the longer the trial went on in the half of the group who were drinking the juice.  Experts believe this proves the brain-boosting powers of antioxidants contained in the skin and juice of the grapes.  Dr Robert Krikorian of the university presented the results of his study at the International Polyphenols and Health conference in Harrogate, Yorks, on Tuesday.  He said: ”While there were no significant differences between the groups at baseline, following the treatment, those drinking Concord grape juice demonstrated a significant improvement in list learning.   “And trends suggested improved short-term memory retention and spatial, non-verbal memory.  ”The results involving Concord grape juice are very encouraging and certainly warrant an additional study.  ”A simple, easy-to-incorporate dietary intervention that could improve or protect memory function, such as drinking Concord grape juice, may be beneficial for the ageing population.”  The study gives further weight to the suggestion that the consumption of antioxidant-rich foods and beverages, such as fruits and vegetables, and their 100 per cent juices may help preserve cognitive function and slow or reverse memory decline in certain populations.  Dr Krikorian lead the study, which was carried out earlier this year, as part of ongoing research into the link between fruit and vegetables and the prevention of mental decline.  His trial involved a dozen older adults between the ages of 75 and 80 already suffering from early memory loss.  Each participant drank 100 per cent Concord grape juice or a placebo for almost three months, during which time they were followed for measures of memory function including both verbal and non-verbal tasks.  A 2006 US study conducted at Vanderbilt University revealed drinking fruit and vegetable juices frequently could significantly cut the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.  US researchers followed almost 2,000 people for up to 10 years – providing a powerful set of results. They found the risk was 76 per cent lower for those who drank juice more than three times a week, compared with those who drank it less than once-a-week.   Alzheimer’s is linked to the accumulation of clumps of beta-amyloid protein in the brain.  There is a suggestion this process may be controlled by the chemical hydrogen peroxide.

The AP ( 12/4 http://tinyurl.com/seroquel-xr-mdd) reported Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC has won U.S. approval for use of its schizophrenia drug Seroquel XR as an add-on treament for major depressive disorder.  But the London-based company said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked for more information before allowing the drug’s use as a single agent to treat major depressive disorder, or MDD.  Seroquel XR is an extended-release version of AstraZeneca’s schizophrenia medication Seroquel, a major seller for the company. It is already approved for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  AstraZeneca said it is evaluating the FDA’s request.  “AstraZeneca will continue discussions with the FDA and will provide a response to the agency in due course,” it said in a statement.

HealthDay (http://tinyurl.com/love-and-pain 11/26, Preidt) reported that,  “thinking about a loved one might help reduce physical pain.” In an experiment with “25 young women who’d been in a good relationship with a boyfriend for more than six months,” University of California-Los Angeles researchers found that women who “were just looking at pictures of their partner…actually reported less pain to heat stimuli than when they were looking at pictures of an object or pictures of a stranger.” In another “experiment, the women reported less heat-related pain when they held the hand of their boyfriend, compared with when they held the hand of a stranger or held a squeeze ball.”

HealthDay (http://tinyurl.com/psychotherapy-and-happiness 11/28, Preidt) reported that,  “psychological therapy may be much more effective at making people happy than getting a raise or winning a lottery prize.” University of Warwick “researchers analyzed data on thousands of people who provided information about their mental well-being and found that the increase in happiness from a $1,329 course of therapy was so significant that it would take a pay raise of more than $41,542 to achieve an equal boost in well-being.” This “suggests that therapy could be as much as 32 times more cost-effective at improving well-being than simply getting more money,” the researchers said.

In a [rominent story, the New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/psychosurgery 11/27, A1, Carey) reported that “in the last decade or so, more than 500 people have undergone brain surgery for problems like depression, anxiety, Tourette’s syndrome,” and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, “for all the progress that has been made, some psychiatrists and medical ethicists say, doctors still do not know much about the circuits they are tampering with, and the results are unpredictable: some people improve, others feel little or nothing, and an unlucky few actually get worse.” Psychiatrist Darin D. Dougherty, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, said that “given the history of failed techniques, like frontal lobotomy,” should current psychosurgery experiments go wrong, “it’ll shut down this approach for another hundred years.”

The Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/autism-classes 12/3, Brown) reports, “As the number of children with autism has ballooned nationwide, so has the population of children who…are capable of grade-level academics,” but who lack “social and emotional skills they need to negotiate school on their own.”  Many of these youngsters “spend the bulk of their day in mainstream classes supported with a suite of special education services.”  Now, “many parents of this growing group worry that” mainstreaming “children…this way fails to teach them what they need to navigate the world independently and instead imbues them with a sense that they’re unacceptably weird.”  The article goes on to discuss alternative programs started by Washington, DC-area schools to assist children with mild autism acquire social skills.