In a study published online yesterday in Archives of General Psychiatry, investigators at UCLA published the results of a pilot study using psilocybin (the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms”) to treat anxiety in cancer patients. This was a small study, with 12 patients who acted as their own controls (each had two sessions, one using […]

Futuristic-sounding story out of University of Utah today: electrodes implanted in the skull allow patients to speak without making a sound. While this is certainly a cool new trick, the investigator was quick to add: “It doesn’t mean the problem is completely solved and we can all go home. It means it works, and we […]

While I was in medical school, near the end of second year, I was burnt out. We were all preparing for USMLE Step 1 and final exams for Pathology, Pharmacology, etc.  at the same time. I had the distinct feeling that if the school had for some reason added two more courses to our workload […]

A nice little study in the Sep/Oct issue of Child Development found that children with an autism diagnosis are less susceptible to contagious yawning than “neurotypical” children. My first reaction was happiness that someone is studying this. Contagious yawning is one of those pop-neuropsychiatric phenomena that I am likely to be asked about at a […]

Yet another addition to the burgeoning mountain evidence of vaccine safety: early exposure to thimerosal doesn’t cause autism. You may remember that thimerosal was targeted by the anti-vaccination autism advocates as a dangerous mercury-containing agent that caused brain damage in children who were victims of vaccination. At face value, it seems natural...

In the September 17 of Science, a new mouse study of SSRI effects finds that there is a microRNA that is upregulated by SSRIs, and which affects expression of serotonin transporters. This is presumably in addition to the direct inhibition of the reuptake pumps by the drug itself. It’s an interesting new piece of info […]