Monday, July 12, 2004

Researchers Accuse Bush of Manipulating Science
July 9 Los Angeles Times story - "More than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel Prize winners and 127 members of the National Academy of Sciences, accused the Bush administration Thursday of distorting and suppressing science to suit its political goals. ... The administration has frequently been accused of misusing and ignoring science to further its policy aims. The list of signatures collected by the Union of Concerned Scientists suggests that the issue has become worrisome throughout the scientific community..." [Viewing Los Angeles Times stories requires registration, which is free]. See also, at the Union of Concerned Scientists web site, a related press release and the full report (in Adobe Acrobat format), Scientific Integrity in Policy Making.  
  

Gene Discovery Could Change Psychiatric Care
HealthDay story at Yahoo - "For the first time, researchers working with mice have identified a naturally occurring genetic mutation that affects brain levels of serotonin, a neurochemical linked to depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions. The discovery may help explain why some patients feel much better after taking serotonin-altering antidepressants such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, and why others do not..."  
  

Depression Ups Risk of 'Metabolic Syndrome'
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Women who have had an episode of depression have increased odds of having "metabolic syndrome" -- a cluster of conditions such as abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and unhealthy cholesterol levels, that set the stage for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. These findings, reported the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, may help explain why depression has long been linked to heart disease and other cardiovascular ills, the researchers write..."  
  

Algorithm-Based Program Effective for Major Depressive Disorder
A new CME unit from Medscape - "Patients treated with an algorithm-based program for major depressive disorder (MDD) had better outcomes than those treated with usual care, according to the results of a prospective trial published in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry..." "med"  
  

The Expanding Role of Antipsychotic Pharmacotherapy in Bipolar Disorder
A new CME unit at Medscape - " Bipolar disorder is one of the most symptomatically complex disorders in psychiatry. The presence of multiple phases of the disorder with varied presentations in each phase makes it challenging to both diagnose and treat. Until recently, studies and medications specifically targeted for bipolar disorder were few in number. This clinical and scientific dearth is now changing for a number of reasons..." See also the Medscape resource center on bipolar disorder. [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].