Monthly Archives: September 2017

Depression: Major Study of College Freshman Kicks Off at UCLA

“Can we screen you for depression?”

Depending on their answer, as many as 10,000 incoming UCLA freshmen and transfer students could become part of the school’s massive study into the causes and treatments of the mental disorder.

Called the Depression Grand Challenge, UCLA’s initiative — which seeks to cut the incidence of depression worldwide in half by 2050 — is launching the screenings as new students move into their dorms and prepare for the first day of classes on Thursday. Read more ›

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ADHD Kids Can Be Still – If They’re Not Straining Their Brains

Your ADHD child fidgets and squirms his way through school and homework, but seems laser-focused and motionless sitting in front of the TV watching an action thriller.

New research shows lack of motivation or boredom with school isn’t to blame for the differing behavior. It turns out that symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder such as fidgeting, foot-tapping and chair-swiveling are triggered by cognitively demanding tasks – like school and homework. But movies and video games don’t typically require brain strain, so the excessive movement doesn’t manifest. Read more ›

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Autism Study: Early Intervention Pays Off Quickly

Intensive early intervention for kids with autism can be extremely costly, but new research finds that such treatment can pay for itself in short order.

Children who participated in the Early Start Denver Model — an evidence-based treatment for autism — saw the cost of treatment offset in as little as two years, according to findings published recently in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Read more ›

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Poll: Parents Not Confident Schools Can Assist Child with Chronic Disease, Mental Health Issues

Just 38 percent of parents are very confident in schools’ ability to assist a student suspected of having a mental health problem, according to a new report from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at the University of Michigan.

Most parents (77 percent) are sure schools would be able to provide first aid for minor issues, such as bleeding from a cut. But parents are less confident about a school’s ability to respond to more complex health situations, such as an asthma attack or mental health problem. Read more ›

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NIH Awards Nearly $100 Million for Autism Centers of Excellence Program

The National Institutes of Health has awarded nine research grants totaling nearly $100 million over the next five years for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE), a program that supports large research projects aimed at understanding and developing interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The ACE program was created in 2007 from the consolidation of previous programs. Grants have been awarded every five years, and 2017 marks the third cycle of ACE grants. Read more ›

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Young Victims of Cyberbullying Twice as Likely to Attempt Suicide and Self-Harm

Children and young people under-25 who become victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact self-harm and attempt suicide than non-victims.

While perpetrators of cyberbullying are also more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors, researchers say.

The study, which is a collaboration of a number of researchers from across the United Kingdom (UK) including the University of Birmingham, looked at more than 150,000 children and young people across 30 countries, over a 21-year period. Read more ›

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Study Associates Altered Mitochondria with Increased Autism Risk

Mitochondria, the tiny structures inside our cells that generate energy, may play a key role in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A provocative new study by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)’s pioneering mitochondrial medicine team suggests that variations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) originating during ancient human migrations may play an important role in predisposition to ASDs. Read more ›

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Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why’ Linked to Suicidal Thoughts

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health associate research professor John W. Ayers delved into Americans’ Internet search history in the days after the series 13 Reasons Why aired. He found that queries about suicide and how to commit suicide spiked in the show’s wake. Read more ›

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New Teen Survey Reveals Cyberbullying Moving Beyond Social Media to Email, Messaging Apps, YouTube

Bullying among teens is nothing new, but social media outlets are providing new avenues for it, often out of sight of parents and teachers.

Nearly one in three American high school students has been a victim of cyberbullying, according to a recent study. Students reported witnessing or experiencing cyberbullying on all eight platforms listed on the survey, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube, according to results the company provided to The 74. Read more ›

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In Tough Neighborhoods, Can High-School Mental Health Counselors Cut the School-to-Prison Pipeline?

When he was 16, DeMarrco Nicholson came home to find his mother unresponsive in the bathroom of their Washington, D.C., apartment, dead from sudden heart failure. In a matter of weeks, he was separated from his siblings, thrown into foster care and bounced from group home to group home in Anacostia, one of the poorest, high-crime neighborhoods in the nation’s capital. Read more ›

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