<![CDATA[Explore APA sessions on recruiting and retaining psychiatry faculty, assessing intimate partner violence risk, and building leadership skills.]]>
Trump blasts ‘disloyal’ Sen. Cassidy while pushing challenger in Louisiana Republican primary
NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy is fighting for his political life in Louisiana’s Republican primary on Saturday as he faces a challenge backed by President Donald Trump, the latest attempt by the president to purge the party of politicians he views as disloyal.
Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow over Cassidy, in an unusual attempt to dislodge an incumbent senator. Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, stemming from the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a doctor, has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, even though he provided crucial support to help Kennedy get confirmed.
<![CDATA[At APA, Helen Lavretsky spotlights mentorship, trainee research, and integrative mind-body tools to boost resilience and brain health.]]>
<![CDATA[Computational phenotyping reveals prodromal psychosis clues, connects biomarkers to symptoms, and shows why stress and cannabis reduction matters.]]>
Opinion: The cloudy truth about ‘blue zones’
Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Shelley Wood and Eric Topol. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode by signing up for the “First Opinion Podcast” newsletter. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday.
Torie Bosch: Twenty-five years ago, before peptides and biohackers were mainstream conversation, there were the blue zones: communities isolated geographically where residents reportedly lived far longer than average. Since then, the concept of the blue zone has exploded, influencing today’s longevity movement. But does the science hold up?
Opinion: Marty Makary misunderstood something fundamental about the FDA
On Tuesday, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned from his position, leaving a vacancy at the top of the agency to match the turnover already challenging its drug and biologics divisions.
It was just a year ago that Makary joined Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya on the X platform to triumphantly announce in a 58-second video that the Covid-19 vaccine would no longer be routinely recommended for healthy pregnant women and children. The video exuded the elation of Covid response skeptics at long last grabbing the reins of power.
NIH-supported project expands access to care for children with amblyopia
Open-access tool guides eye doctors without specific pediatric eye care training in amblyopia diagnosis and management.
Preclinical and Emerging Clinical Evidence Supporting the Translational Potential of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists for Treating Psychostimulant and Nicotine Use Disorders
Psychostimulant use disorder (PSUD) and nicotine use disorder (NUD) affect tens of millions of people worldwide, yet no clinically-approved medications exist for PSUD and existing NUD treatments have limited long-term efficacy. Recent preclinical evidence suggests that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists could be repurposed for treating PSUD and NUD. This review summarizes the current literature investigating the efficacy of GLP-1R agonists to reduce psychostimulant and nicotine-mediated behaviors in animal models of PSUD and NUD, respectively.
Psychiatric risk implications from behavioral and neural effects of adolescent exposure to environmental insecticides: a systematic review of rodent studies
Adolescence is a sensitive neurodevelopmental period marked by remodeling of brain circuits that support cognitive development and emotion and behavior regulation. These maturation processes heighten psychiatric vulnerability to environmental exposures, including to toxicants such as insecticides. Epidemiological studies show widespread adolescent insecticide exposure and increasingly link this with psychiatric outcomes, yet underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Preclinical studies can clarify these associations and identify insecticide-induced mechanisms that may disrupt neurodevelopment and produce consequent long-term behavioral outcomes.
Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation Improves Long-Term Outcomes in Alcohol Use Disorder by Modulating a Craving-Related Dynamic Network
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by craving. While continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) shows promise for AUD, its long-term effects on drinking reduction and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We evaluated the 12-month efficacy of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) cTBS for reducing alcohol consumption and identified associated neural and molecular mechanisms.