Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Mood Disorder Signaling Pathway Implicated in Schizophrenia
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "A signaling pathway linked to mood disorders may also play a role in schizophrenia, according to a report published in the January 25th online issue of Nature Genetics. Because it is a target for lithium, AKT1-GSK3beta signaling has been implicated in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder. However, it was unclear if alterations in such pathways were also involved in other psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia." "med"  
  

Medscape Psychiatry Journal Scan, December 2003
"Journal Scan is the clinician's guide to the latest clinical research findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry, The Lancet, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. Short summaries of feature articles include links to the article abstracts and full text, when available." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Medscape Journal Scan: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, December 2003
Articles at Medscape from the American Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychiatric Services. [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

FDA Weighs Anti-Depressant Risk to Kids
AP story at PsycPORT - "Parents of children with depression must sort through an emotionally charged controversy in deciding on treatment: Do popular adult antidepressants sometimes increase the risk of suicide when they're given to kids? British authorities last month declared a list of common antidepressants unsuitable for children, citing that possibility. Next week, U.S. health authorities open public hearings on the issue, at which parents who blame the drugs for children's deaths are expected to face families who credit the same pills for saving lives."  
  

Caution Urged on Anti-Psychotic Drugs
AP story reprinted at PsycPORT - "People taking certain drugs for schizophrenia, manic-depression, autism, dementia or several other psychiatric disorders should be carefully watched for signs they are developing diabetes, obesity or high cholesterol, four medical societies say. The recommendation follows recent studies that link those potential side effects to certain anti-psychotic drugs. The statement deals with six now available in the United States: Abilify, Clozaril, Geodon, Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa. The recommendation, released Tuesday, comes from the American Diabetes Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. It appears in the February issue of the journal Diabetes Care."