Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Debating the Evidence on Gulf War Illnesses
New York Times article - "When a Department of Veterans Affairs panel produced a provocative report last week on the illnesses of veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war, it stepped into a treacherous territory where patients' suffering meets scientists' skepticism. By dismissing combat stress or other psychological causes and finding a "probable link" between the veterans' health problems and exposures to pesticides, sarin or other chemicals, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses suggested that it was correcting the record based on the latest scientific evidence. But some outside scientists, including several whose earlier gulf war studies found scant support for the chemical theory, wondered whether the committee was instead stretching thin data to tell veterans what they wanted to hear."  
  

Having a Confidant May Ward Off Depression in Children
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Among abused and neglected children who are genetically prone to develop depression, the risk of doing so may be reduced if they have someone to talk to, share good news with and get advice from, new study findings show. ... Researchers have also found that the availability of a caring, stable parent or guardian may positively influence the long-term development of a person with a history of abuse."  
  

Cognition, Quality of Life Improves After ECT for Depression
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is associated with early improvements in mood, quality of life, and global cognition in patients with major depression, according to a research team at Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Although ECT effectively treats major depression, the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence recently recommended that the use of ECT be limited until more information regarding its effects on quality of life (QOL) become available. Therefore, lead investigator Dr. W. Vaughn McCall and colleagues examined ECT's antidepressant efficacy, along with the treatment's cognitive side effects and impact on changes in function and QOL. They report their findings in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry." "med"