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Marijuana gives people with schizophrenia a quick rush but worsens their psychotic symptoms within a few hours, a new study reveals.
Researchers in the Netherlands recruited 48 psychiatric patients and 47 healthy people to record what they were doing and how they felt 12 times a day for six days. All the study participants were regular pot smokers. The results showed that schizophrenia sufferers were more sensitive than healthy individuals to both the positive and negative effects of marijuana, or cannabis. continue reading
Source: Live Science
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A new study finds drug abuse is becoming a growing problem with older Americans. As Ben Tracy reports, more than 12 percent of those seeking treatment are 50 or over.
Source: CNN
There is a great deal of interest in factors that contribute to the vulnerability to developing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. One factor that appears to contribute to the heritable vulnerability to PTSD is a variation in the gene that codes for the serotonin transporter, also known as the serotonin uptake site.
Having a shorter version of the serotonin transporter gene appears to increase one’s risk for depression and PTSD after exposure to extremely stressful situations. This same gene variant increases the activation of an emotion control center in the brain, the amygdala.
More recently, scientists began focusing on factors contributing to resilience to the impact of stress exposure. Could the same gene that contributes to the vulnerability to PTSD be implicated in the recovery from PTSD? [continue reading…]
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Alzheimer’s disease and its associated dementia can be a scary prospect for individuals and families faced with it. Between 2.4 million and 4.5 million Americans suffer from this debilitating, incurable disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. That figure is expected to rise as the baby boomers age.
Cmmunity memory screening events are becoming increasingly popular as individuals and their families seek to detect dementia in its earliest stages—before it destroys patients’ memories and thinking skills. But many physicians warn against these screenings, which are often ineffective when it comes to detecting dementia, and can leave test-takers feeling scared and powerless. continue reading
Source: Scientific American
