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A recent review in the Journal of Trends in Pharmacological Sciences was written by four scientists from different universities -- Dr. Bernhard Luscher from Penn State University, Dr. Jamie Maguire from Tufts University, Dr. Uwe Rudolph from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Dr. Etienne Sibille from the University of Toronto -- who have a longstanding interest in the role that GABAA receptors play in the brain, specifically for the development and therapy of depression. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Youth and Society looked at the influence of the neighborhood environment on stress among Black American adolescents. “My study uses this scoping review method to explore what is known about various aspects of the neighborhood environment and how these aspects contribute to stress among Black children and youth aged 10-18 years old. We were hoping to identify specific characteristics of the neighborhood environment and home in on how these characteristics have contributed to stressors among Black children and youth – with the goal of brainstorming some strategies for resolving this relationship," study author Dr. Melissa L. Villodas told us. [More]

People who bought firearms at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have higher rates of mental health problems and political extremism. Research published in PLOS One found those who bought firearms during the pandemic had higher rates of self harm, suicidal thoughts and intimate partner violence when compared with those who don’t own firearms or other firearms owners who bought firearms outside the height of the pandemic. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Emotion looked at the influence of sleep on subjective well-being through an experience sampling study. “In the study we wanted to find out, how various indicators of sleep influence well-being on the next day. We were hoping to find multiple associations between sleep and well-being,” study author Dr. Anita Lenneis, from the University of Warwick’s Department of Psychology, told us. “We pre-registered our ideas of how the results would look like in advance.” [More]

A new study published in JAMA Neurology looked at the characteristics of emergency department visits among older adults with dementia. “This study provides the first estimates of how often older adults with dementia utilize emergency services and the main reasons that drive such care,” study author Lauren Gerlach told us. “We anticipated that patients with dementia would utilize emergency services frequently but were unaware of what the main drivers of care were.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research looked at bisexual people’s health experience in primary care in English. “The study was part of a larger study where we used data from the General Practice Patient Survey (GPPS) from England across a few years to track whether disclosing/reporting of sexuality had changed over the years,” study author Carrie Llewellyn told us. “We found from this part of the study that reporting of being straight (heterosexual) was declining year on year and hence identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual was increasing.” [More]

Children who read for pleasure experience better mental health during adolescence as well as superior performance in cognitive tests. Research published in Psychological Medicine found that roughly 12 hours of reading per week was the perfect amount associated with an improvement in brain structure. [More]

A recent study looked at paternal and maternal psychiatric history and risk of preterm and early term birth. It was a nation-wide study using Swedish registers. “It has been known for some time that women who are clinically anxious or depressed are more likely to deliver a child prematurely,” study author Michael E. Silverman told us. “Indeed, considerable evidence now exists showing a relationship between various psychiatric illnesses and the likelihood of delivering a premature infant.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Psychological Medicine looked at early-initiated childhood reading for pleasure and its associations with better cognitive performance, mental well-being and brain structure in early teens. “I and my co-authors wanted to understand the effects of reading for pleasure in young children on brain structure, cognition, school academic achievement and mental health,” study author Barbara J. Shakahian told us. “Some of the previously published literature suggested that there should be beneficial effects on cognition, but there had not been a very large scale study, with over 10,000 adolescents before on all these measures together.” [More]

The US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended adults under the age of 65 be screened for anxiety disorders. This is the first time anxiety screening for this group has been recommended. [More]