Pudgy with a purpose: Fat cats could help humans better understand the way gut bacteria influences conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes, a new study claims. Food-related changes in obese cats’ gut microbiome have striking similarities to the way diet affects the gut of humans, researchers reported recently in the journal Scientific Reports. As a result, pet cats might be the best source of information about the human microbiome, and whether altering gut bacteria could help battle obesity, researchers say. “Being able to see changes in cats that come up in the context of obesity and type 2 diabetes in people makes them a really good model to start looking at more microbiome-directed therapeutics for obesity in humans if we’re seeing a similar shift,” said lead researcher Dr. Jenessa Weston, an assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University. “Animals share our beds. They share our ice cream. There are all these things that people do with their pets that highlight they are a naturally occurring disease model with similar environmental exposures as humans,” Weston added in a university news release. For the study, researchers fed seven obese cats a rigidly engineered diet for 16 weeks. The diet progressed from free-feeding of commercial cat food to feeding a special weight-loss diet, then to calorie-restricted feeding of the weight-loss food. Researchers found that…  read on >  read on >

Kids whose families frequently move have a significantly higher risk of depression later in life, a new study warns. Children who move once between the ages of 10 and 15 are 41% more likely to be diagnosed with depression in adulthood, compared with those whose families don’t move, researchers found. And kids who move twice or more at that age are 61% more likely to develop depression, results. By comparison, kids who live in a poor neighborhood are 10% more likely to develop depression as adults, researchers noted. The results suggest that a settled home environment during childhood is crucial to protecting children against future mental health problems. “We know there are a number of factors which lead to a person being diagnosed with a mental illness,” said lead researcher Clive Sabel, a professor with the University of Plymouth in the U.K. “However, this is the first evidence to suggest that moving to a new neighborhood during childhood is among them, and we believe the numbers we are seeing could be the tip of the iceberg.” “During those formative years, children are building their social networks through school, sports groups or other activities,” Sabel said in a university news release. “Each time they have to adapt to something new it can be disruptive, so we potentially need to find new ways to help people overcome…  read on >  read on >

Folks need to have their meals at regular intervals or risk slipping into anxiety or depression, a new study of airline personnel has found. Delaying breakfast or dinner appears to increase a person’s risk of developing a mood disorder, researchers report. The study also found that confining meals to a 12-hour “eating window” every day helps sustain an even mood — good news for folks who engage in intermittent fasting. “An eating window of less than 12 hours may be associated with reduced severity of anxiety or depression,” concluded the research team led by Mi Xiang, an associate professor with Shanghai Jio Tong University in China. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 22,600 airline crew members participating in an ongoing health survey of employees at China’s major airlines. The team tracked when participants ate breakfast and dinner, and how much time passed between meals.  They then compared that data to the crew members’ scores on anxiety and depression screening tools.  They found that people working a day shift who delayed their dinner past 8 p.m. had twice the risk of depression and a 78% higher risk of anxiety, compared with when they ate before 8 p.m., according to results published July 17 in the journal JAMA Network Open. Similarly, delaying breakfast until after 9 a.m. increased risk of depression by 73% and…  read on >  read on >

Telemedicine could be a better way to get opioid addicts to seek out and stick with treatment, a new study suggests. People referred to an addiction treatment clinic following a telemedicine evaluation were more likely to show up to their first appointment than those whose referral resulted from an ER visit, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment. Those referred to addiction treatment through telemedicine also were more likely to stick with the program for at least a month. “Our study shows that patients referred from telemedicine are more likely to follow up initially, and still be retained in care at 30 days,” said lead researcher Dr. Joshua Lynch, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Buffalo in New York. Long-term recovery from addiction requires consistent care, involving repeated outpatient visits as well as continuing use of treatment drugs like buprenorphine or methadone, researchers said. “Patients with opioid use disorder often seek care in times of crisis in emergency departments,” said senior researcher Dr. Brian Clemency, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Buffalo. “However, the emergency department may not be a good option for all patients. We wanted to see if telemedicine could be used as a gateway to ongoing care.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 400 patients referred to addiction…  read on >  read on >

“Magic” mushrooms achieve their psychedelic effects by temporarily scrambling a brain network involved in introspective thinking like daydreaming and remembering, a new study reports. Brain scans of people who took psilocybin — the psychedelic drug in ‘shrooms — revealed that the substance causes profound and widespread temporary changes to the brain’s default mode network. These findings provide an explanation for psilocybin’s mind-bending effects, and could lay the groundwork for better understanding how the drug might be used to treat mental health conditions like depression, researchers said. “There’s a massive effect initially, and when it’s gone, a pinpoint effect remains,” said co-senior study author Dr. Nico Dosenbach, a professor of neurology with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “That’s exactly what you’d want to see for a potential medicine.” “You wouldn’t want people’s brain networks to be obliterated for days, but you also wouldn’t want everything to snap back to the way it was immediately,” Dosenbach added in a university news release. “You want an effect that lasts long enough to make a difference.” Psilocybin showed promise as a treatment for depression in the 1950s and 1960s, but research into its potential flagged after the federal government deemed the substance an illegal drug in the late ‘60s, researchers explained in background notes.  However, research efforts have revived in recent years as psilocybin has…  read on >  read on >

Children born with type 1 diabetes are much more likely to develop certain mental health issues than those without the condition, a new study warns. Kids with type 1 diabetes are more than twice as likely to develop a mood disorder and 50% more likely to suffer from anxiety than other children, researchers reported June 17 in the journal Nature Mental Health. They also are more than four times as likely to develop behavioral issues like eating or sleep disorders, researchers said. However, the findings suggest this isn’t due to any specific health problem caused by type 1 diabetes. Rather, children appear to be vulnerable to “diabetes distress” resulting from the ongoing management of their chronic condition, researchers said. “This emphasizes the importance of prevention and sustained attention to the mental health needs of children and young people with type 1 diabetes,” said lead researcher Tomas Formanek, a doctoral student with the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and the National Institute of Mental Health, in Klecany, Czech Republic. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system turns on the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. Damage to the pancreas destroys its ability to make insulin, or decreases production so much that people need to take insulin to live. For the new study, researchers analyzed data for more than 4,500 children with type 1 diabetes…  read on >  read on >

Just two years after the launch of the nation’s three-digit crisis hotline, more than 10 million calls, texts and chat messages have been fielded by counselors, U.S. health officials announced Tuesday. Introduced in July 2022 to simplify emergency calls and help counter a burgeoning mental health crisis in the United States, 988 was touted as a simpler way for folks struggling with their mental health to get help. “We’re connecting more people to help than ever before,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a news release announcing the milestone. “We’re connecting them faster and with more personalized services, which are critical for helping people in crisis. We know that 988 is saving lives and helping millions of people. I hope anyone who feels alone, or that they are without options, knows that 988 is there to help.” Of the 10 million messages answered in the past two years, 1.7 million were texts — with 988 answering 51% more texts in the past 12 months than the year before, the HHS said. Nearly 1.2 million of 988 calls were answered by the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), through 988’s Press 1 option. “Our Veterans Crisis Line connects veterans to caring, qualified responders 24/7 — and two years ago, we made it even easier for veterans in crisis and their loved ones to reach out for help by…  read on >  read on >