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Posts

March 25, 2013

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9:44 AM | The gut microbiome and chronic fatigue syndrome
I've hinted before on this blog and its sister blog about how one of the most unappealing of interventions - fecal bacteriotherapy - is starting to make some waves in managing various conditions. I know its not everyone's cup of tea but the concept of transplanting whole stools or specific types of enteric bacteria from one person to another is actually providing some well needed relief for quite a few people.Insert here.... @ Wikipedia  If it sounds like an undesirable treatment option, […]

Thomas Borody, Anna Nowak & Sarah Finlayson (2012). The GI microbiome and its role in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A summary of bacteriotherapy, Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, 31 (3) Other: Link

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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6:36 AM | Empathy, Neurochemistry and story telling
Buffer Explanation of empathy, the neurochemistry of empathy and how this relates to the power of good stories. The emotionally charged story recounted at the beginning Dr. Paul Zak’s film—of a terminally ill two-year-old named Ben and his father—offers a simple yet remarkable case study in how the human brain responds to effective storytelling. As [...] No related posts.
Dr Shock MD PhD
Academic Life | Psychiatry
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5:19 AM | Increasing telomerase to save you from stress
It seems that humans have, throughout their life history, suffered from a lot of stress. First there were lions and tigers and bears, then there were other humans with pointy metal objects, and now there are deadlines and traffic jams and bankruptcy. Stress, even the kind of stress many of us deal with nowadays, can [...]
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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4:08 AM | Are There Any Meaningful Differences Between Subthreshold and Full Syndrome Anorexia Nervosa?
I see this on an daily basis: patients with subtreshold eating disorders feeling invalidated and “not sick enough.” They are struggling so much, but maybe they still have their periods, or maybe their weight isn’t quite low enough, and so they often (but not always, thankfully) get dismissed by doctors, other healthcare professionals, and insurance companies. Do you think you really need this treatment, maybe you can just focus on eating healthier? You know you are not fat, […]
Science of Eating Disorders
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 24, 2013

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11:30 AM | New Use for Ancient Memory Technique and Updated Neandertal Genome Sequence News Roundup: March 2013 4th Edition
Professor Wray Herbert has a very good write-up of a study looking at memory in people with Depression. The researchers found that an ancient technique for storing memories – the method of loci – was effective in helping people with Depression improve their recall of positive memories. Joshua Foer Discusses the Method of Loci Memory [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 23, 2013

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5:37 PM | Decision Making – What are the Brain’s Limitations?
There is an interesting TEDx talk by Timothy Mullett at the University of Nottingham. In this talk he gives us insights into decision making by looking at key research studies. The theme permeating the talk is how we use comparisons to make decisions. Neuroimaging findings further clarify how the brain might be making these comparisons. [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 22, 2013

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5:18 PM | Friday Weird Science: Dark or clear liquor, which makes you sicker?
Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today, asking the question, bourbon or vodka? Which one tastes better isn’t the question, the question is…which gives you the worst hangover? We all have our alcohol preferences, but it turns out that this question isn’t individual! And to find that out…we need a well-controlled lab party. Head over and [...]
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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9:52 AM | Advancing grandparental age and autism risk
The paper by Emma Frans and colleagues* looking at autism risk across the generations is the focus of this post. Published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry alongside a provocative article by Andrea Roberts and colleagues** on maternal exposure to child abuse being "associated" with elevated risk for offspring autism (see here and here), the theme is transgenerational effects and quote: "that your father's and grandfather's lifestyle choices can affect you" as per some of media on this […]

Frans, E. (2013). Autism Risk Across GenerationsA Population-Based Study of Advancing Grandpaternal and Paternal AgeAutism Risk, JAMA Psychiatry, 1. DOI:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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March 21, 2013

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8:36 PM | Your Body’s Response to Chewing and Spitting: The Role of Insulin
In my previous post, I looked at two hormones released during the cephalic phase (gastric secretion that occurs before food is eaten), ghrelin and obestatin, and how they may contribute to runaway eating behavior. Today I’m going to be looking at insulin release during chew and spit (CHSP), a fairly common symptom in eating disorders where the food is tasted, chewed and spit out. Insulin is a small peptide hormone that acts as a key regulator of metabolism; deregulation of […]
Science of Eating Disorders
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 20, 2013

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3:25 PM | From destructive dudes to devoted dads
Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today, with a new paper on the vomeronasal organ. It doesn’t really exist in humans, but in mice…it’s the difference between a homicidal male and a magnificent mate! Following mating, changes in how the vomeronasal organ responds to baby mice turn these formerly aggressive males into great fathers! Head over [...]
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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12:59 PM | 1 in 50 children with parent-reported autism in the US
An estimated 1 in 50 US children aged between 6 - 17 years old present with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Attention-grabbing isn't it?Today's post is based on the source of that soundbite, the publication by Stephen Blumberg and colleagues* (open-access) describing results from data mining of the 2007 and 2011-2012 US National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) relevant to the numbers of cases of ASD.Testing 1, 2, 3 @ Wikipedia  The autism-numbers game is something that has been […]

Wilson, C., Gillan, N., Spain, D., Robertson, D., Roberts, G., Murphy, C., Maltezos, S., Zinkstok, J., Johnston, K., Dardani, C. & Ohlsen, C. (2013). Comparison of ICD-10R, DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 in an Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Clinic, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, DOI:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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10:17 AM | Supporting Children with Cancer: The Cellie Cancer Coping Kit
I love it when research gets translated into practice. This guest post by Aimee Hildenbrand, BS & Meghan Marsac, PhD shows a great example. Aimee is a doctoral student at Drexel University and a clinical research assistant at the Center … Continue reading →
Trauma Recovery
Psychiatry | Psychology

March 19, 2013

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1:38 PM | Academic Copyright: The bad news and the good news
There has been a lot of tragically depressing news regarding academic copyright recently. Aaron Swartz committed suicide after being hounded for downloading academic papers and now Indian students are being denied access to course material after the Delhi High Court implemented a ban on course ...Read More
Neurobonkers | Big Think
Psychiatry | Psychology

March 18, 2013

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7:30 PM | Demystifying the Genetics of Eating Disorders – Part II
In my last post I talked about some methods that scientists use to study the genetics of eating disorders. I focused on a subfield of genetics called behavioural genetics (which you can think of as a field that attempts to understand, in part, the interplay of genetics and environment in behaviour). In this post I’ll shift gears and focus on molecular genetics. I’ll be working of the same review paper by Drs. Zerwas and Bulik (2011). Molecular geneticists study the structure […]
Science of Eating Disorders
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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9:33 AM | Folic-ing around in schizophrenia
I seem to have been focusing a lot on folic acid (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12 these days. It's not that I'm in anyway choosing the direction taken, it just happens that the published papers are appearing that way.And as if to prove my point, enter the paper by Joshua Roffman and colleagues* (open-access) reporting results from a gold-standard, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the addition of folic acid and vitamin B12 supplement to antipsychotic medication for a group of […]

Roffman JL, Lamberti JS, Achtyes E, Macklin EA, Galendez GC, Raeke LH, Silverstein NJ, Smoller JW, Hill M & Goff DC & (2013). Randomized Multicenter Investigation of Folate Plus Vitamin B12 Supplementation in Schizophrenia., JAMA psychiatry (Chicago, Ill.), 1-9. PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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8:41 AM | Two ships passing in the night: neuroscience and social media
The data is in. Neuroscientists don’t really use blogs. But they think they are very important for policy. Super important, but no one uses them? What gives? (I’m with this guy. Source) I found this paper because of a fight. Well, it was more of a discussion than a fight, but there’s no tone of [...]
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 16, 2013

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11:11 PM | Electrical Stimulation of the Brain and Creativity News Roundup: March 2013 3rd Edition
A Canadian meta-analysis looked at the use of high frequency repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the treatment of Depression. This approach to treating Depression has been examined in the research setting. The authors of this study compared actual treatment with sham treatment. The meta-analysis included a cumulative total of 392 people with Major Depression. At [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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12:55 PM | Operant and Classical Conditioning Explained in Under 5 Minutes
As part of the TED Education series (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Psychologist Dr Peggy Andover and animator Alan Foreman have created this very stylish introduction to Operant and Classical Conditioning. I was  impressed by the pigeons! There is a brief example of some of Alan Foreman’s other work here. Index: There are indices for the [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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1:50 AM | Demystifying the Genetics of Eating Disorders – Part I
Today I thought I’d take the time to do an overview of what researchers know about the genetics of eating disorders and try to clear up some common misconceptions. The bulk of the content in this blog post comes from a very nice review paper published in 2011 by Drs. Stephanie Zerwas and Cynthia Bulik on the genetics and epigenetics of eating disorders. In an effort to keep blog posts short, this will be a multi-part mini-series. When it comes to the genetics of eating disorders, there […]
Science of Eating Disorders
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 15, 2013

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8:16 PM | Friday Weird Science: It’s the time, of the season…when sperm runs high.
Yes, it’s Friday Weird Science time!!! Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today to talk about a recent study showing that humans…have a season. All sperm are equal, but certain times of year are more equal than others. Are you at the time of the season? Head over and check it out.
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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10:12 AM | Autism, maternal immune activated mice and suramin
Avid followers of the autism research circuit must have noticed the increasing tide of studies looking at a possible role for maternal immune activation (MIA) in relation to risk of offspring autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It's a topic I've covered more than once on this blog; predominantly in relation to the work of people like Paul Patterson and his colleagues (see here), observations on things like C-reactive protein (see here) and the various ways to experimentally mimic such MIA in the […]

Schwartzer JJ, Careaga M, Onore CE, Rushakoff JA, Berman RF & Ashwood P (2013). Maternal immune activation and strain specific interactions in the development of autism-like behaviors in mice., Translational psychiatry, 3 PMID:

Naviaux, R., Zolkipli, Z., Wang, L., Nakayama, T., Naviaux, J., Le, T., Schuchbauer, M., Rogac, M., Tang, Q., Dugan, L. & Powell, S. (2013). Antipurinergic Therapy Corrects the Autism-Like Features in the Poly(IC) Mouse Model, PLoS ONE, 8 (3) DOI:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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March 14, 2013

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9:46 PM | A Look at Language and Speech in the Three Structure Model. Integration in Neuroscience: A Core Problem – Part 10
In the three structure model we have previously focused on the conscious and unconscious aspects of the model (see the Appendix). In this post I will look at language and speech in relation to conscious experience and unconscious activity. The diagram below illustrates the relationships to be discussed.   A Three Structure Model of Neural [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 13, 2013

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11:02 PM | Looking at a Reference Manager: A Brief Look at Mendeley
  Reference managers are software solutions that help you to manage academic references. This is perhaps an oversimplification as there are many types of reference manager with subtle differences between them. The Wikipedia site has a very useful article outlining the many different solutions available. In a previous series of posts we looked at PubMed [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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4:12 PM | Compliments only, please
Sci is posting over at SciAm today to help promote the new area of the SciAm Blogs: SciAm MIND! It’s great to see so much interest placed on all things brain, and I look forward to posting as part of the group. Make sure to check out all of the new bloggers, and of course [...]
The Scicurious Brain
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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9:32 AM | Just say NO to sapropterin for autism
Actually the title of this post is a bit of a misnomer.I'm not really asking readers to say 'no' to sapropterin, otherwise known as tetrahydrobiopterin or BH4, for autism as if it were some kind of Zammo-esque drugs in the toilet scenario (note: for anyone born post-Grange Hill golden era or for my non-UK readers, you might want to follow this link to see what I'm going on about). But neither am I saying yes, as per my prime directive on this blog: no medical or clinical advice given or […]

Frye RE, Delatorre R, Taylor HB, Slattery J, Melnyk S, Chowdhury N & James SJ (2013). Metabolic effects of sapropterin treatment in autism spectrum disorder: a preliminary study., Translational psychiatry, 3 PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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4:04 AM | Avoiding Refeeding Syndrome in Anorexia Nervosa
Refeeding syndrome (RS) is a rare but potentially fatal condition that can occur during refeeding of severely malnourished individuals (such as anorexia nervosa patients). After prolonged starvation, the body begins to use  fat and protein to produce energy because there are not enough carbohydrates. Upon refeeding, there’s a surge of insulin (because of the ingested carbohydrates) and a sudden shift from fat to carbohydrate metabolism. This sudden shift can lead to a whole set of […]
Science of Eating Disorders
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 12, 2013

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10:53 PM | Brain Awareness Week (March 11th-17th 2013)
Brain Awareness Week runs from March 11th to the 17th 2013. Brain Awareness Week was started by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in 1996. The main Dana Foundation pages here and here are self-explanatory. There are a series of events around the world to celebrate Brain Awareness Week and those interested in registering as [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry

March 11, 2013

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11:03 PM | GABA Receptors and Emotions: Building a Model of the Insular Cortex – Part 12
In this post we will look at the original open model of the Insular Cortex and its role in emotional regulation. In part 11 there is a summary of the posts in this series which look at the relationship between the Insular Cortex and emotional regulation. The diagram above illustrates the main themes in the [...]
The Amazing World of Psychiatry
Neuroscience | Psychiatry
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2:17 PM | Auti-sim: An attempt to simulate sensory overload in autism
Autism is a complex phenomenon with an extremely broad spectrum of effects that vary in every individual, a new interactive simulator aims to provide only a hint at what it is like to experience just one symptom of autism - sensory overload.  To try the simulator for yourself click here. Use ...Read More
Neurobonkers | Big Think
Psychiatry | Psychology
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9:49 AM | Inflammatory bowel disease in autism: distinctive features?
Where to start with this very long post... where to start?That autism, some cases of autism, also coincide with various comorbidities sometimes including severe gastrointestinal (GI) issues is a relatively undisputed finding these days. I'm actually getting a little bored of saying this myself on this blog and I'm sure some readers are getting bored of hearing it too.Health inequalityLymphocytic infiltration @ Wikipedia  The reason why I continue to keep hammering away at this line however […]

Walker, S., Fortunato, J., Gonzalez, L. & Krigsman, A. (2013). Identification of Unique Gene Expression Profile in Children with Regressive Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Ileocolitis, PLoS ONE, 8 (3) DOI:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
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