Research Explores Mechanisms of Reward Processing in Patients with Treatment Resistant Major Depression

Worldwide, an estimated 340 million people suffer from an episode of major depression every year. About 20 percent of patients fail to respond to a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Research studies the role of the ventral striatum in processing rewards and its potential for targeting treatment in patients with major depression.

Smoking May Counteract Benefit of Moderate Drinking on Stroke Risk

New research finds any beneficial effect of drinking moderate amounts of alcohol on stroke may be counteracted by cigarette smoking, according to research that will be presented as part of the late-breaking science program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 – 17, 2010.

Sleep Deprivation Influences Drug Use in Teens’ Social Networks

Recent studies have shown that behaviors such as happiness, obesity, smoking and altruism are “contagious” within adult social networks. In other words, your behavior not only influences your friends, but also their friends and so on. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University have taken this a step farther and found that the spread of one behavior in social networks influences the spread of another behavior, adolescent drug use.