Bipolar Disorder News and Research

Latest Bipolar Disorder News and Research

GABA neuronal deficits in psychiatric disorder can be prevented using N-acetylcysteine: Study

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) deficits have been implicated in schizophrenia and depression. In schizophrenia, deficits have been particularly well-described for a subtype of GABA neuron, the parvalbumin fast-spiking interneurons.

14 Mar 2013

AKAP protein alterations implicated in bipolar disorder

Researchers have found increased cellular expression of the postsynaptic signaling protein AKAP5/79 in the anterior cingulate cortex of patients with bipolar disorder.

8 Mar 2013

Family-focused therapy improves mood symptoms in youth at risk of bipolar disorder

A study published in the February 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that children and adolescents with major depression or subthreshold forms of bipolar disorder - and who had at least one first-degree relative with bipolar disorder - responded better to a 12-session family-focused treatment than to a briefer educational treatment.

8 Mar 2013

Attachment to parents unaffected in offspring of bipolar disorder patients

Children born to families where at least one parent has bipolar disorder do not show abnormalities in attachment compared with other children, say Canadian researchers.

7 Mar 2013

Prostate tissue androgen content predicts ADT outcome

Determining the androgen content in prostate tissue could predict patients’ responses to androgen deprivation therapy and the risk for castration-resistant prostate cancer, show study findings.

6 Mar 2013

Non-social cognitive deficits outweigh social ones in bipolar disorder

Patients with bipolar disorder have relatively greater impairments in non-social cognition than social cognition, whereas the opposite is true for patients with schizophrenia, researchers report.

6 Mar 2013

UK’s health performance declining compared with 14 EU countries over past 20 years

Six decades of universal free health care, the introduction of widespread public health initiatives (eg, tobacco control, cancer screening, and immunisation), and substantial increases in health expenditure have failed to improve the UK’s health outcomes or longevity ranking against the average of 14 other original members of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Norway, and the USA (EU15+) over the past 20 years.

6 Mar 2013

Bipolar disorder patients avoid rewarding activities

People with bipolar I disorder tend to be aware of the potential for goal achievement to trigger mania and as a result dampen their emotions and avoid reward, preliminary research suggests.

5 Mar 2013

Misdiagnosed bipolar depression has subtle clinical features

Increased appetite, sleep, and weight gain, among other clinical features, can be used to help identify patients with bipolar disorder who have been misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder.

5 Mar 2013

Androgen deprivation therapy interferes with diabetes control

Androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer hampers glycemic control in men with diabetes, report researchers.

5 Mar 2013

KMO gene variant associated with increased production of kynurenic acid

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found an explanation for why the level of kynurenic acid (KYNA) is higher in the brains of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disease with psychosis. The study, which is published in the scientific periodical Molecular Psychiatry, identifies a gene variant associated with an increased production of KYNA.

5 Mar 2013

Bipolar disorder associated with increased hypertension risk

Taiwanese individuals with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk for hypertension when compared with the general population, research shows.

28 Feb 2013

Autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia share common genetic risk factors

For the first time, scientists have discovered that five major psychiatric disorders—autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia—share several common genetic risk factors.

28 Feb 2013

Biomarker for testicular sperm extraction outcome discovered

Researchers have used an original proteomic strategy to identify a biomarker for residual spermatogenesis in the semen of patients with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA).

27 Feb 2013

Calcium channel risk allele linked to executive function in bipolar disorder

Researchers have found an allele in a voltage-gated calcium gene that is associated with an increased risk for poor executive function in patients with bipolar disorder.

27 Feb 2013

Cognitive impairments in bipolar disorder 'stable'

Impaired cognitive function among bipolar disorder patients seems to be stable over time, suggesting it is an enduring feature of the condition, show the results of a longitudinal study.

26 Feb 2013

Depression links PTSD to life quality in bipolar disorder

The association between post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health-related quality of life among individuals with bipolar disorder may be mediated by depressive symptoms, the results of a US study indicate.

26 Feb 2013

Research roundup: Patients hesitant to focus on costs; Increase in primary care demand is uneven

One way to contain health care spending is to get patients involved in weighing costs of treatment options with their doctors. Researchers recruited 211 medically insured participants to assess their willingness to consider costs when choosing treatments. The authors found that participants generally "preferred better care, even when the relative benefit it offered was marginal, and even when told that the second-best choice still met the threshold of 'good enough' care from a clinician's perspective.

26 Feb 2013

Adolescent bipolar disorder ‘does not conform to checklist’

Young people with bipolar disorder who are in a depressive episode do not conform to the child behavior checklist–juvenile bipolar disorder phenotype profile, the results of a US study indicate.

25 Feb 2013

Policymakers, insurers should consider generic-only coverage to improve health and reduce costs

A new study published online today in the American Journal of Managed Care found that in Medicare Part D, generic drug coverage was cost-saving compared to no coverage in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, while also improving health outcomes.

21 Feb 2013