Depressed People May Report More Physical Symptoms Than Actually Experienced.

HealthDay (http://tinyurl.com/depression-pain 11/3, Preidt) reported that, according to a study published online Oct. 15 in Psychosomatic Medicine, “depressed people tend to report more physical symptoms than they actually experience.” Researchers evaluated “109 women who completed questionnaires designed to assess their levels of neuroticism and depression.” Three weeks later, the investigators found that women “who had a higher depression score at the start of the study were more likely to overstate the frequency of their symptoms.”

THC-like Compound May Prevent Stress-induced Enhancement of Fear Memories.

The  Time (http://tinyurl.com/thc-for-ptsd  11/4, Szalavitz) “Wellness” blog reported that, according to a study (http://tinyurl.com/cannaboid-receptor-study) published in the journal Neuroscience, “a synthetic” compound “that acts like one of the active components in marijuana (THC) can prevent stress-induced enhancement of fear memories in rats.” In rodents, the “marijuana-like compound” makes “extreme stress more like ordinary stress,” a result that can “also be seen in terms of reductions in a key stress hormone in their brains.” Notably, it does not “matter if the rats” are given the compound “before or after” a stressful event, suggesting that in humans, this substance could point the way to a possible new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Asperger’s Syndrome May be Eliminated from DSM-V.

On the front page of its Science Times section, the New York Times(11/3, D1, Wallis http://tinyurl.com/eliminating-aspergers) reports that “experts who are revising” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “have proposed to eliminate” Asperger’s syndrome “from the new edition, due out in 2012,” folding “Asperger’s syndrome and another mild form of autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified…into a single broad diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder.” These “proposed changes” are “part of a bigger overhaul that will” see “psychiatric disorders…as a continuum, with many degrees of severity,” with the goal of developing “severity measures within each diagnosis,” according to Darrel A. Regier, MD, “research director at the American Psychiatric Association and vice chairman of the diagnostic manual’s task force.”

Children with AD/HD and ADD May Have Mineral and Nutrient Deficiencies.

Medscape (11/3, Cassels) reported that, according to research, “overall nutritional status in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) shows that this patient population is at risk for low trace mineral status, including deficiencies in zinc and copper.” Canadian found that, “among 44 children aged six to 12 years with AD/HD, rates of zinc and copper deficiency were 45% and 35%, respectively.” In addition, “40% of the children consumed less than the recommended levels of meat and meat alternatives and had low levels of related micronutrients that are essential cofactors for the body’s manufacture of dopamine, norepinephrine, and melatonin.”  Researchers associate low folate levels in pregnancy with increased odds for AD/HD in offspring.  Healthday(11/3, Preidt http://tinyurl.com/low-folate-ADD) reported that, according to a study published online Oct. 28 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, “low folate levels during pregnancy are associated with higher odds for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in offspring aged seven to nine.” Investigators also discovered that “children of mothers with low folate levels had notably smaller head circumference at birth, which may indicate a slower rate of prenatal brain growth.”

New Antipsychotic Targets a Different Combination of Neurotransmitters in Schizophrenia.

The Washington Post (11/2, Musgrove http://tinyurl.com/new-antipsychotic-Fanapt) reports that , “Early next year, if all goes according to plan, doctors will be able to prescribe a new antipsychotic drug for patients with schizophrenia.  Fanapt, like other antipsychotic drugs, controls the way information is carried from one nerve cell to another and reduces the activities of some brain activity associated with schizophrenia. The compound blocks a different combination of neurotransmitters than earlier-generation antipsychotic drugs.  Fanapt targets a more relevant set of neurotransmitter receptors, so that patients are likely to suffer fewer side effects than with other medications.

Sleepless in America.

The AP (10/30) reports ( http://tinyurl.com/sleepless-in-america) on “the first government study to monitor state-by-state differences in sleeplessness.” The CDC study found that West Virginia led the country in sleeplessness, with a lack of sleep “about double the national rate, perhaps a side effect of health problems, like obesity, experts said.” The study found that “nearly one in five West Virginians said they didn’t get a single good night’s sleep in the previous month. The national average was about one in 10, according to the federal health survey conducted last year.” Tennessee, Kentucky, and Oklahoma also had high rates of sleeplessness. Healthday (10/29, Reinberg) explained that the survey, appearing in the Oct. 30 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, included responses of 403,981 adults across the US. It found that “11.1 percent said they did not get enough sleep every day of the month.” Moreover, “women (12.4 percent) were more likely than men (9.9 percent) to report not getting enough sleep. There were ethnic differences, with blacks (13.3 percent) saying they got less sleep compared with all other ethnic groups.”

One Gene Associated With Both Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Mutations in the dystrobrevin binding protein 1 gene (DTNBP1), which has been known to be associated with schizophrenia, may also be associated with bipolar disorder (http://tinyurl.com/DTNBP1).   There has always been a suspicion that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may have a common genetic cause.   The DTNBP1 gene is a potential genetic link between the two disorders.  The gene codes for dystrobrevin binding protein 1. 

Postpartum Bipolar II Disorder May be Mistakenly Diagnosed as Postpartum Depression.

Sharma et al published an article online Oct. 17 in the Journal of Affective Disorder(doi:10.1016/j.jad.2009.09.014) discussing the fact that bipolar II disorder may be underdiagnosed in postpartum women or misdiagnosed as unipolar depression.  After conducting a literature search “for relevant articles published between 1998 and 2009,” Canadian researchers found that “estimates of the prevalence of hypomania in non-clinical populations ranged from 9.6 percent to 20.4 percent on day three postpartum.” Moreover, nearly “20 percent of patients with hypomanic symptoms at day three postpartum developed postpartum depression in one study, with a significant proportion diagnosed with bipolar II disorder or bipolar disorder not otherwise specified.”

Seasonal Flu Vaccine May Cause Strong Response in Pregnant Women.

The Los Angeles Times (http://tinyurl.com/flushotanddepression 10/28, Maugh) “Booster Shots” blog reported that, according to a study published Oct. 28 in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, “depressed pregnant women respond more strongly to the seasonal flu vaccine, producing higher levels of potentially damaging cytokines — a finding that could help explain why pregnant women have about six times the normal risk of hospitalization and complications from pandemic H1N1 influenza.” Ohio State University researchers recruited “22 pregnant women” who “filled out a questionnaire about their depression symptoms and gave a blood sample before being immunized against seasonal flu,” then gave “a second blood sample…six to nine days later.”   The investigators then discovered that “women who scored highest on the depression scale had roughly twice as much” macrophage migration inhibitory factor “in their blood as women who scored the lowest, meaning their bodies mounted a greater inflammatory response to the vaccine,” the Time (10/28, Guthrie) “Wellness” blog reported. The authors explained that depression and pregnancy deliver “a one-two punch to the immune system,” because pregnancy dampens the “immune system to protect the fetus,” and “major depression hobbles the immune system by putting chronic, low-grade stress on the body.”

Patients With Bipolar Disorder May be at Increased Risk of Suicide if They Smoke.

Medwire(Grasmo http://tinyurl.com/smoking-and-suicide) reports that, according to a study published online Oct. 14 in the journal Bipolar Disorders, “current cigarette smoking is a predictor for current and nine-month suicidal ideation and behavior in” patients with bipolar disorder (BD). After examining “the association between smoking, suicidality, and prospective suicide attempts in 116 BD patients over a nine-month period,” Harvard Medical School researchers found that smokers were “5.25-fold more likely to attempt suicide than nonsmokers (16.1 percent vs. 3.5 percent).”