Physicians may be able to detect and treat Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in its earliest stages, when patients are experiencing only mild degrees of cognitive impairment, thanks to new diagnostic criteria proposed by an international group of researchers.

Published in Lancet Neurology, the development of new guidelines was co-led by Dr. Howard Feldman, head of the Div. of Neurology in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine. [continue reading…]

 Teenage pregnancy is widely recognized to be a major public health concern. These young mothers face many life challenges and they have an increased risk for becoming depressed. How might the behavior of these young mothers be related to later psychiatric or behavioral problems in some of their offspring? A new study being published in Biological Psychiatryon September 15th suggests an association between a history of depression in the mothers, a particular style of mothering, “maternal over-control”, and increased stress reactivity of their infants. [continue reading…]

Chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with chronic enterovirus infection of the stomach

Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME (myalgic encephalitis), is linked to a stomach virus, suggests research published ahead of print in Journal of Clinical Pathology.

The researchers base their findings on 165 patients with ME, all of whom were subjected to endoscopy because of longstanding gut complaints.

Endoscopy involves the threading of a long tube with a camera on the tip through the gullet into the stomach. [continue reading…]