The NARSAD Feed: NARSAD Discovery, Woman Without Fear, and Patrick Kennedy Focuses on Brain Research

The NARSAD Feed: NARSAD Discovery, Woman Without Fear, and Patrick Kennedy Focuses on Brain Research

Posted: December 23, 2010

Story highlights

 

Link Between Depression and Inflammatory Response Found in Mice: New Treatments for Mood Disorders?

Vanderbilt University researchers may have found a clue to the blues that can come with the flu – depression may be triggered by the same mechanisms that enable the immune system to respond to infection.

(Note: This article is about NARSAD-funded research. Randy Blakely, Ph.D., is a member of the NARSAD Scientific Council, Lynette Daws, Ph.D., is a NARSAD Independent Investigator, and Chong-Bin Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., is a NARSAD Young Investigator.)

 

Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling.

Brain Anomaly Leaves Woman Without Fear

Researchers who have studied a woman with a missing amygdala – the part of the brain believed to generate fear – report that their findings may help improve treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders.

Patrick Kennedy Says He’s Ready for the ‘Next Frontier’

“The Next Frontier,” as Kennedy has dubbed it, will be the “inner space” of brain disorders – “a moon shot to the mind.” The catalyst for a unified, all-fronts effort like his uncle’s space program is the need to treat the neurologically damaged war veteran, whether suffering from battle-related stress or from the physical brain injuries that often afflict the survivors of roadside bombings.

by Barbara Wheeler, NARSAD manager of communications and media relations