Recovery Michigan

http://goo.gl/ieuoL

The researchers found that consuming carbohydrates like those found in processed foods can cause excess hunger and stimulate areas of the brain involved in reward and cravings, regions that also play a role in addiction, according to the study published June 26 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study might have implications for weight control, the researchers said.

"Limiting high-glycemic index carbohydrates like white bread and potatoes could help obese individuals reduce cravings and control the urge to overeat," study leader Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity prevention center at Boston Children's Hospital, said in a hospital news release.

Interesting if very early study. This also has an interesting conceptual connection to memory reconsolidation techniques used in supporting persons with PTSD.

http://goo.gl/2MPOH

"The smell and taste of alcohol were such strong cues that we could target the memory specifically without impacting other memories, such as a craving for sugar," said Barak, who added that the Ron research group has been doing brain studies for many years and has never seen such a robust and specific activation in the brain. 

http://goo.gl/ZY1Cy

What the researchers found was striking. The kids who ended up incarcerated were 13 percentage points less likely to graduate high school and 22 percentage points more likely to end up back in prison as adults than the kids who went to court but were placed under, say, home monitoring instead. (This was after controlling for family background and so forth.) Juvenile detention appeared to be creating criminals, not stopping them.

The authors lay out a couple of reasons why this would be. Going to prison can obviously disrupt school and make it harder to get a job later on. But also, as other researchershave found, many people who end up behind bars end up making friends with other offenders and building “criminal capital.” Prison turns out to be excellent training for a life of crime.

http://goo.gl/XVaEK

As part of an innovative 3-year project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Schroeder Institute at Legacy have developed a new Facebook app that will both help smokers quit as well as provide data about how people quit smoking on social networks like Facebook.   

UbiQUITous is currently the only evidence-based app on Facebook dedicated to helping users quit smoking. The development of UbiQUITous capitalized on more than a decade of work and experience by Schroeder Institute and Legacy staff, including the design, development and evaluation of the largest and best known online social networks for smoking cessation - BecomeAnEX.org and QuitNet.com.

http://goo.gl/eWysp

he U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating two unexplained deaths in patients who received an intramuscular injection of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa Relprevv (olanzapine pamoate).  The patients died 3-4 days after receiving an appropriate dose of the drug, well after the 3-hour post-injection monitoring period required under the Zyprexa Relprevv Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS).  Both patients were found to have very high olanzapine blood levels after death. High doses of olanzapine can cause delirium, cardiopulmonary arrest, cardiac arrhythmias, and reduced level of consciousness ranging from sedation to coma.

FDA is providing this information to health care professionals while it continues its investigation.  If therapy with Zyprexa Relprevv is started or continued in patients, health care professionals should follow the REMS requirements and drug label recommendations.  Patients and caregivers should talk to their health care professional(s) about any questions or concerns.

http://goo.gl/2fsK4

The Panel gathered data from latest research on the complex relationship between bullying and suicidal behaviors among young people. They found that three themes stood out:

• Youth bullying is a major public health problem in America. Bullying causes extensive and often damaging mental and physical health problems
• There is a close link between bullying and suicide-related behaviors
• Bullying and suicide are problems that need to be addressed, and with public health strategies, they can be

http://goo.gl/8DMTB

The small biotechnology research company, founded by neuroscientists Dr. Frank L. Rice and Dr. Phillip J. Albrecht, reports on a unique peripheral neurovascular pathology consistently present in the skin of female fibromyalgia patients which may be a driving source of the reported symptoms. 

"Instead of being in the brain, the pathology consists of excessive sensory nerve fibers around specialized blood vessel structures located in the palms of the hands," said Dr. Rice, President of Intidyn and the senior researcher on the study. "This discovery provides concrete evidence of a fibromyalgia-specific pathology which can now be used for diagnosing the disease, and as a novel starting point for developing more effective therapeutics." 

http://goo.gl/QleS5

"This is the first study to show that estrogen replacement ameliorates the tendency for anxiety in anorexia nervosa and may prevent increasing body dissatisfaction with weight gain," said the study's lead author Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH, pediatric endocrinologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. "This is very important given that anorexia nervosa can be difficult to treat, and underlying anxiety, eating attitudes and concerns of body shape with increasing weight during treatment may reduce the success of treatment programs." 

http://goo.gl/TDZm3

They examined the range and levels of sibling aggression endured by the interviewees, observing measures such as:

• physical assault with and without a weapon or injury
• stealing something from the child with or without force
• breaking siblings' belongings on purpose
• saying things to make the child feel bad, scared, or unwanted

http://goo.gl/VPDb5

The study, based on 120 participants who recently attempted suicide, suggests many motivations believed to play important roles in suicide are relatively uncommon. For example, suicide attempts were rarely the result of impulsivity, a cry for help, or an effort to solve a financial or practical problem. Of all motivations for suicide, the two found to be universal in all participants were hopelessness and overwhelming emotional pain.