The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) recently won the inaugural Grand Award for the Hospital of the Year at this year’s Asian Hospital Management Awards (AHMA). Besides the Grand Award, IMH also bagged a Winner award and two Excellence awards in different categories (see news in Medical Grapevine, September issue). AHMA was part of the [...]
An emerging therapy known as cognitive bias modification (CBM) helped improve anxiety symptoms in a small pilot study. The therapy used a computer software to help subjects divert attention away from anxiety and interpret situations more calmly. The findings of the Brown University-led study were published in advance online in the journal Depression and Anxiety. [...]
Children and teens with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) experienced a significantly greater reduction in OCD symptoms when cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was added to treatment with medication, according to a study published in the September 21 issue of JAMA. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, conducted a 12-week randomised controlled study at [...]
A single session of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could help individuals who suffer from severe dental phobia to overcome their anxieties, reported a UK study. The study, which was published in a recent issue of the British Dental Journal, was based on an initial trial of 60 dental patients who, 10 years ago, had routinely [...]
Any aerobic physical activity that raises the heart rate may reduce the risk of dementia and slow the condition’s progression once it starts, reported a study published in the September issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The researchers searched for scientific literature on the evidence of a cognitive neuroprotective effect of exercise in PubMed, and had [...]
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a promising therapeutic target in the brain that could lead to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study was published in the September issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The research team evaluated 96 patients: 49 with PTSD, 20 who were exposed to [...]
Ubiquilin-1, the protein that “chaperones” the formation of amyloid precursor protein (APP), a molecule whose malformation has been directly tied to Alzheimer’s pathology, was found to be reduced in the brains of patients of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Published in the August online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers from the University of Texas [...]
The risk of autism in infants with an autistic older sibling appears to be substantially higher than previously estimated – about 19 percent versus previous estimates of 3-10 percent. A large, international, multi-site study reported the results in the online issue of Pediatrics. The study included 664 infants (average age of eight months) enrolled from [...]
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has released a new definition of addiction, highlighting that addiction is a chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavioural problem involving too much alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex. The new definition also describes addiction as a primary disease, i.e. it is not the result of other emotional [...]
Adults who age successfully tend to focus more on positively gratifying emotions rather than stressful life challenges, suggests a study published in the July 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry. Using neuroimaging data on 21 older and 22 young adults, neuroscientists led by Dr Stefanie Brassen tracked how the brain engages in specific cognitive tasks while [...]