The best way for adolescent boys to stay positive in violent neighbourhoods is to join in with the violence, says a study by Cornell University. The two-year study of 8,939 adolescents published in the Journal of Community Psychology (2005, 33; 355) found that while violent adolescents tend to become depressed over time, and normal adolescents in violent areas are also more prone to depression, violent adolescents in violent neighbourhoods do not appear to get as depressed.
Advertisement
Twentysomethings who misuse drugs are three times more likely to suffer brain damage resembling the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, says an Edinburgh University report in Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology (June). Post-mortem brain studies of 32 intravenous drug users with an average age of 27 found cell damage in areas linked to learning, memory and emotional wellbeing.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can alter the physiology of the brain, researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s annual conference said last week. The Johns Hopkins University study used positron emission tomography (Pet) scans to find that, after 12 CBT sessions, the brains of women with bulimia nervosa changed to resemble healthy women’s brains in areas where previously they had been deficient in receptors linked to positive emotions.
Advertisement
Up to one child in five with Type 2 diabetes may also have a psychiatric disorder, such as depression or autism, says a Philadelphia Children’s Hospital study in Pediatric Diabetes (June). The researchers speculate that depressive illnesses and diabetes may share a physical cause, but add that some psychiatric medication can cause weight gain that may lead to diabetes.
Advertisement
Texas University researchers claim to have found a mechanism that causes a protein to clump together in the brain cells of people with Parkinson’s disease. In the Journal of Biological Chemistry (June 17) they say that the discovery could lead to new treatments. The clumps cause a vicious cycle where they increasingly inhibit an enzyme that usually breaks them down.