Over the years electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) — commonly known as “shock therapy” — has gotten a bad rap. But new research out of Italy suggests that reputation may be unwarranted. Investigators found that among bipolar patients who fail to respond to standard treatments, ECT can be a lifesaver, preventing out-of-control mood swings and dramatically lowering suicide risk. The study — among the largest of its kind — tracked 670 Italian adults who had ECT for bipolar disorder at a single psychiatric clinic between 2006 and 2019. “Importantly, 84% of patients showing high risk of suicide before ECT were no longer considered overtly suicidal after treatment,” said lead author Dr. Giulio Brancati, a resident in clinical and experimental medicine at the University of Pisa. “Overall, 72% of patients showed a good response to ECT,” Brancati added. For about six in 10, ECT appeared to offer relief from an array of debilitating symptoms — including delusions, aggressiveness, uncooperativeness, emotional oversensitivity, physical hyperactivity and paranoia. Depression and anxiety were alleviated in just over one-quarter of the patients. Based on the findings, Brancati said, “ECT should be considered a valuable treatment for severe episodic syndromes,” especially the kind of overexcitement, restlessness, hostility and suspiciousness that can arise when manic, depressive and psychotic symptoms intertwine. The study team noted that bipolar disorder affects about 1% of the population. It can…  read on >

FRIDAY, Sept. 25, 2020 (Healthday News) — The U.S. coronavirus death toll passed 7 million on Friday, with California the hardest hit state so far in a pandemic that has crippled the country for more than six months. The United States has been averaging about 41,500 cases daily, down from the pandemic’s midsummer peak, but states in the Midwest and West are seeing case numbers climb, The New York Times reported. In California, the case count has now passed 800,000, the Times reported, but the figure does not capture the state’s current situation. Recently, California has been reporting a relatively low number of new cases daily, the newspaper said. It was less than a month ago that the United States reached 6 million cases, the Times reported. It took over three months for the country to record its first million cases. Despite those startling case counts, herd immunity is far from sight: The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a Senate committee on Wednesday that 90% of Americans are still at risk of contracting the virus. “The preliminary results in the first round [of a very large, ongoing CDC study] show that a majority of our nation, more than 90% of the population, remains susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield testified. “A majority of Americans are still susceptible to this virus.” At…  read on >

Dentists are drilling down on another worrying trend related to the coronavirus: more cracked teeth. Like sleepless nights and stomach jitters, teeth grinding is a telltale sign of stress. And the habit — which can damage and break your choppers — is sending people to dental offices in growing numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I have been seeing a lot of broken teeth lately — way more than I normally see,” said Dr. Todd Bertman, a dentist in New York City. “There is definitely an uptick in cases,” agreed Avina Paranjpe, a professor of endodontics at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. How much of an uptick? “Considering the number of cases we have seen at the university and in practice, I would say about a 30% to 35% increase in cases,” Paranjpe said. Following health guidelines, Bertman and his colleagues closed their facility between March 16 and May 18. “But we did continue to provide tele-dentistry,” he said. “We would take emergencies through Zoom. Even at that point I was starting to see many cases of broken teeth. And then when we reopened, there were so many issues related to broken teeth that we really had to prioritize, focusing on handling these sorts of emergencies instead of cleanings.” Bertman and Paranjpe attributed the trend to rising stress levels during the pandemic. “Stress,” said…  read on >

THURSDAY, Sept. 24, 2020 (Healthday News) — The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a Senate committee on Wednesday that 90% of Americans are still at risk of contracting the virus. “The preliminary results in the first round [of a very large, ongoing CDC study] show that a majority of our nation, more than 90% of the population, remains susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield testified. “A majority of Americans are still susceptible to this virus.” Redfield added that some states are seeing infection rates of 15% to 20% while others are seeing a less than 1% infection rate, CBS News reported. At the same time, Redfield reiterated that the majority of Americans may not be able to get a coronavirus vaccine until next year this after President Donald Trump said last week that Redfield had “made a mistake” in stating that earlier this month, CBS News reported. “We will have the 700 million doses based on projection by late March, early April,” Redfield told the committee. At the same committee hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there would likely only be 50 million doses by December, so “it is not going to be a large proportion of the population” that receives the vaccine by the end of the year. Fauci said the…  read on >

The loss of a pet may be a child’s first encounter with death, and new research suggests no one should underestimate the psychological trauma that the loss can bring. Previous studies have found that kids form deep emotional attachments to their pets and having a furry companion in your youth has been linked to greater empathy, self-esteem and social skills. “The effects of pet loss were unique,” said study co-author Erin Dunn, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. To learn more, she and her hospital colleagues looked at a sample of more than 6,000 British children. Almost 9 out of 10 had owned a pet during their youth, and more than half had lost one during their first seven years of life. Information was collected as a part a long-term study of parents and kids in Britain. When kids were 8 years old, their mothers filled out questionnaires about their youngsters’ mental health symptoms. “For example, how often does your child feel sad, depressed or anxious — these are the kind of emotional and behavioral indicators that are used to identify and characterize children who might be experiencing some mental health-related challenges,” said Dunn. The research team found that kids who lost a pet were more likely to have poor mental health. And the…  read on >