Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Medical Journal Calls for a New Drug Watchdog
New York Times story - "The United States needs a better system to detect harmful effects of drugs already on the market, and it should be independent of the Food and Drug Administration and the drug industry, medical researchers and journal editors said yesterday. Arguing that it was unreasonable to expect the same agency that approves drugs to 'also be committed to actively seek evidence to prove itself wrong,' the editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association recommended that the nation consider establishing an "independent drug safety board" to track the safety of drugs and medical devices after they were approved and in widespread use..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Social supports lessen effects of maltreatment on children vulnerable to depression
Yale University press release at EurekAlert - "Maltreated children who are genetically pre-disposed to depression can be spared lifelong emotional problems if the necessary social supports are made available to them, according to a Yale study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. There are nearly one million substantiated reports of child maltreatment each year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Joan Kaufman, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and author of the study, said many, but not all abused children develop chronic difficulties, particularly depression. Previous studies have shown that a malfunction in the serotonin transporter gene is associated with the development of depression, but only in adults with histories of childhood maltreatment or recent stressful life events. After the release of serotonin from a cell into the synapse, this transporter takes the extra serotonin back into the cell so it is not degraded. In genetic pre-disposition to depression, fewer and less efficient transporter molecules are made."  
  

Problems Linger for Recovering Alcoholics
Health Day News story reprinted at Yahoo - "Even with prolonged sobriety, alcoholics can have problems with visual perception and frontal executive brain function, which can make it hard for them to do things such as read maps or put together puzzles, according to a study in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Researchers compared 51 recently detoxified alcoholic men with 63 non-alcoholic men. Men in both groups were asked to complete a picture fragment identification task, assessing their ability to identify line drawings of common objects or animals when they were only partially visible. Compared to the men in the control group, the alcoholic men had to see more of a complete image before they could identify the animals or object, the researchers report."  
  

Congress Completes Work on Omnibus Spending Bill for FY 2005
Legislative update at the NAMI web site - "As is being widely reported in the press, over the weekend Congress approved a massive $388.4 billion "omnibus" spending package for the current fiscal year and then adjourned for the year. The omnibus spending package includes funding for 14 cabinet departments and dozens of agencies, including mental illness research and services, housing and veterans' programs. President Bush is expected to sign the bill later this week..."  
  

The Expanding Role of Antipsychotic Pharmacotherapy in Bipolar Disorder
A new Medscape CME unit - "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." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Children Left Behind
Washington Post editorial - "Deficit spending didn't bother the Bush administration when the issue was tax cuts. Congress had no trouble finding "savings" to supposedly offset new costs when the costs were in a corporate tax bill stuffed with special-interest provisions. But when it comes to health care for poor children, different, stricter rules seem to apply. This week's lame-duck Congress is poised to leave town without taking any action to restore $1 billion in federal funding for children's health care that wasn't used before its Sept. 30 expiration and therefore reverted to the Treasury. Republican lawmakers say they don't oppose renewing the funding but insist that it has to be paid for with cuts elsewhere. The result is that some 200,000 low-income children will be at risk of losing health coverage in the next three years." [Viewing Washington Post stories requires registration, which is free.]  
  

State Tactics Aim to Reduce Drug Spending
Feature story in the New York Times - "Alarmed at soaring pharmaceutical costs, states are trying a wide range of new tactics to curb spending on prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients, public employees, prisoners and other residents, bringing them into lobbying combat with the drug industry. A dozen states have joined purchasing pools in an attempt to use market power to reduce costs. Dozens more are requiring Medicaid recipients to use generic or lower-priced drugs from preferred lists..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

The Antidepressant Dilemma
Feature article in the New York Times that traces one family's story of seeking treatment for their 13-year old son - "Over the course of the past two years, however, the debate over whether antidepressants, particularly those known as S.S.R.I.'s -- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors -- can trigger suicidal behavior in teenagers has migrated from the margins of the medical community to the front pages of newspapers. Adding to the controversy was public outrage at revelations that a number of pharmaceutical companies had deliberately withheld damning information about S.S.R.I.'s -- specifically, data from clinical trials that suggested that these drugs were both more dangerous and less effective for adolescents than millions of consumers had been led to believe." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Depression May Raise Risk of Dementia
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Depression and manic depression are associated with dementia, and the more often a patient is hospitalized for these mental illnesses the greater their risk, Danish researchers report. The study involved an analysis of all hospital admissions for mental illnesses that took place in Denmark between 1970 and 1999. The study included 18,726 patients with depression and 4248 with manic depression, also called bipolar disorder."  
  

HHS Awards $12.5 Million to Support Statewide Family Network and Consumer Network Grants
PR Newswire press release at Yahoo - "Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the award of 19 grants totaling $3.9 million over three years for statewide consumer network grants that facilitate involvement by consumers of mental health services in the development of mental health programs, and 43 grants totaling $8.5 million over three years for statewide family network grants that involve families in mental health policies and programs affecting their children. Both the statewide consumer and statewide family network programs are designed to support state level organizations in the development of policies, programs and quality assurance activities involving mental health services."  
  

Panel hopes to push reform in Michigan mental health system
Detroit Free Press story - "A former state mental health director says he wouldn't want a member of his own family to enter a state institution if they needed help today. 'We used to be considered a leader," C. Patrick Babcock says of the state mental health system's national reputation. "Now we are considered to be the bottom of the barrel.' Babcock, who ran the state Department of Mental Health under Democratic Gov. James Blanchard in the 1980s, is among those trying to change that." See also, at the same source, Findings of the Michigan Mental Health Commission.  
  

Not enough mental health support (UK)
Evening Chronicle story - "Vulnerable young people do not get enough support from the UK's mental health services, according to a new report. Leading children's charity ChildLine is calling for more Government funding to plug the gaps in the system. In a report released today, the charity makes a series of recommendations aimed at improving the UK's "very stretched and patchy" provision of mental health services for children." See also, at the ChildLine web site, the full report, "Can I Talk To You Again?" (Adobe Acrobat format).