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Women at the Podium: ACNP Strives to Reach Speaker Gender Equality at the...

Lately, scientists have begun to pay closer attention to the numbers of men and women who present at scientific meetings. Even in those fields where women are a majority, men dominate speaking roles;...

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Harnessing Smartphone-Based Digital Phenotyping to Enhance Behavioral and...

Smartphones have become nearly ubiquitous in the United States. These mini-computers that we carry around in our bags or pockets have the potential to dramatically influence the practice of medicine,...

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LSD Acutely Impairs Fear Recognition and Enhances Emotional Empathy and...

LSD is not only a well-known psychedelic drug, but it was also studied extensively for its potential in psychotherapy in the early days of its use, about fifty years ago. Those early studies didn't...

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Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: The Immunology of Behavior - Exploring the...

The 2017 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, "The Immunology of Behavior—focuses on the growing appreciation of the immune system in understanding brain and health illness. This podcast...

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Sex as a Biological Variable: Who, What, When, Why, and How

The National Institutes of Health recently published a statement requiring sex as a biological variable in studies. This is in part simply because it's good science, and in part to correct for decades...

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The Gateway Hypothesis of Addiction

The National Institutes of Health recently published a statement requiring sex as a biological variable in studies. This is in part simply because it's good science, and in part to correct for decades...

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Arbaclofen in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a disorder that has been defined by the medical community, but so far, none of the medications available for ASD treat the core symptoms of the disease, but rather secondary...

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Beta-Adrenoceptor Blockade in the Basolateral Amygdala, But Not the Medial...

One method of treating Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves extinction therapy, but researchers have found that the timing of such therapy is extremely important, and that it often doesn't...

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Opioid Self-Administration is Attenuated by Early-Life Experience and Gene...

Studies have shown that stress and trauma early in life can lead to an increased risk for drug addiction later in life. In rat models developed to mimic and study this effect, some rats received normal...

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Opioid Release after High-Intensity Interval Training in Healthy Human Subjects

Many people who exercise regularly have experienced a so-called "runner's high," either a feeling of euphoria after exercise, or a feeling of happiness and well-being. Scientists have studied this and...

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Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: Cannabis and Cannabinoids: From Synapse to...

The 2018 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, "Cannabis and Cannabinoids: From Synapse to Society," showcases the remarkable advances in the biology of cannabinoids and cannabis in the past two...

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Considerations for the Use of DREADDs in Behavioral Neuroscience

There's a technology that's proven to be increasingly useful in the past decade -- it's called DREADD, or "designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs." The current approach is to create...

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Caffeine consumption in adolescents

Adolescent consumption of caffeine, the most commonly used psychoactive stimulant in the world, has increased strikingly in recent years. Caffeine use has been associated with illicit drug use and...

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Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: Impact of Stress on the Brain: Pathology,...

"Impact of Stress on the Brain: Pathology, Treatment and Prevention," the 2016 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, focuses on advances in our understanding of the impact of stress on the brain:...

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Does Cannabis Cause, Exacerbate or Ameliorate Psychiatric Disorders? An...

Marijuana use for medical purposes is becoming increasingly common in the U.S., and doctors prescribe it for ills ranging from headaches to insomnia. And yet, there is little scientific data supporting...

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Abuse of New Psychoactive Substances: Threats and Solutions

There has been a recent and notable increase in the non-medical use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), or "designer drugs." Unlike classic drugs of abuse, many NPS were initially developed for...

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Burst activation of dopamine neurons produces prolonged post-burst...

For years now, scientists have noticed a rather strange phenomenon in animal models: scientists would stimulate dopamine production in the brain, but once the stimulation was over, the dopamine would...

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Neurocognitive effects of umami: association with eating behavior and food...

While the influence of sweet taste on neurocognitive function has been widely studied, umami or savory has received less of a research focus. Animal models and even some small human studies seem to...

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Recent advances in the study of aggression

Aggression is an evolutionary behavior seen throughout the animal world. When it comes to humans, however, some forms of aggression can be seen as pathological, dangerous, and quite costly to society....

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Sex Matters

As our environment becomes ever increasingly complex, understanding how sex differences impact disease risk and resilience will only become more critical. The 2019 , "Sex Matters," edited by Dr. Tracy...

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Food Addiction: A Valid Concept?

Over the past decade, the use of the term 'food addiction' to describe an unhealthy approach to eating has grown. It refers to the idea that, for some people, their inability to control their food...

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Cues play a critical role in estrous cycle-dependent enhancement of cocaine...

Research has demonstrated that, overall, women are more vulnerable to drug addiction than men are. They become addicted more quickly after first using, they have a harder time staying off drugs, and...

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Superolateral medial forebrain bundle deep brain stimulation in major...

Depression is an incredibly important disorder—according to Thomas Schlaepfer, head of the department of interventional biological psychiatry at the University of Freiburg, at least 20 percent of...

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Effects of MDMA on attention to positive social cues and pleasantness of...

The recreational drug MDMA, also known as Ecstasy or Molly, is particularly popular in social settings and raves, in large part because of how socially connected it makes the users feel. It's being...

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Chronic opioid pretreatment potentiates the sensitization of fear learning by...

It’s known that there’s a relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and a higher rate of opioid abuse. What isn’t understood, though, is what that relationship is. Does PTSD cause...

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Distinct acute effects of LSD, MDMA, and D-amphetamine in healthy subjects

A number of drugs that are used recreationally are now being studied for their use in psychopharmacology. But while the ways in which these drugs are similar or different has been described anecdotally...

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Social networking and mental health: looking beyond frequency of use and...

Over the past decades, there’s clearly been a dramatic increase in the amount of time people spend online using social networking sites. For instance, Facebook and Instagram have literally billions of...

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Pubertal adversity alters chromatin dynamics and stress circuitry in the...

It’s understood in epidemiological research that women who experience trauma during puberty are at significantly higher risk for affective disorders such as depression and anxiety when they become...

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Leveraging large genomic datasets to illuminate the pathobiology of autism...

The application of the study of genetics and the use of big data to identify patterns of inheritance as well as de novo mutations has had a dramatic impact on the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder...

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Big behavior: challenges and opportunities in a new era of deep behavior...

Scientists who study neuropsychiatric conditions and treatments often use rodent models to do so. From depression to anxiety to memory impairment and impulsivity, there are certain rodent behaviors...

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Acute dose-dependent effects of lysergic acid diethylamide in a double-blind...

Interest is growing in the use of the psychedelic drug LSD for psychiatric research and even potentially for treatment. But placebo-controlled studies conducted to date have used just one dose of the...

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Big data in psychiatry: multiomics, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and...

The world of medicine has been changing rapidly due to the increasing use of ‘big data.’ And there’s been a major revolution in this approach in neuroscience and psychiatry as well: computing power,...

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Addiction as a brain disease revised: why it still matters, and the need for...

Nearly 25 years ago, a paper was published about addiction that transformed the field. The director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse at the time called addiction a “brain disease,” and he...

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Medial orbitofrontal cortex dopamine D1/D2 receptors differentially modulate...

It’s known that dopamine transmission in the brain, particularly in the frontal lobes, can affect decision-making and can regulate choices when it comes to actions and rewards. But the effect of...

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Neurobiology of loneliness: a systematic review

Loneliness is a subjective experience, but neuroscientists define it as a distress that arrives from a discrepancy between perceived and desired social relationships. There may be an evolutionary...

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Astrocyte-neuron signaling in the mesolimbic dopamine system: the hidden...

Star-shaped cells called astrocytes are the most abundant cells to be found in the human brain. In the past, they’d been thought to play a supporting role to neurons, such as providing metabolic...

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Evolution of prefrontal cortex

In the past, there had been a school of thought that looked at evolution linearly — that is, you could in theory draw a line among mammals as they evolved, and so, say, rodent brains would basically be...

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Identification of THC impairment using functional brain imaging

Driving while under the influence of THC, known as drugged driving, is becoming more of an issue as more states legalize cannabis for both medical and recreational use around the country. THC is known...

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A scientific approach to navigating the academic job market

Kirstie Cummings and Sofia Beas are both new assistant professors in the department of neurobiology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. When they met, they discussed the job application process,...

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What’s wrong with my experiment?: The impact of hidden variables on...

Sometimes, when researchers are conducting an experiment, the results are confusing. Maybe the control group of animals doesn’t behave the way a control should in theory be behaving. Maybe a researcher...

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Sex differences in appetitive and reactive aggression

Maladaptive aggression, while not a diagnosable neuropsychiatric disorder on its own, often presents as an important comorbid condition with other neuropsychiatric disorders. But while both men and...

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Sex-dependent risk factors for PTSD: a prospective structural MRI study

After a traumatic event, women are more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Research has been conducted on what might be causing this higher rate of diagnoses; for...

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Low doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) increase reward-related brain...

Psychedelic drugs have received attention recently for their potential use as treatments for psychiatric disorders. Single, high doses of LSD have shown promise for treating depressive disorders. But...

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To dismantle structural racism in science, scientists need to learn how it works

It’s clear there are diversity issues in science, both in terms of who does or doesn’t receive research grants, as well as who is or isn’t represented at the highest levels of scientific research. When...

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Oxytocin effects on amygdala reactivity to angry faces in males and females...

Antisocial personality disorder, or ASPD, is a difficult disorder to study. There have been studies on psychopathic individuals, and on youth with psychopathic traits, but most studies on ASPD to date...

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AI-based analysis of social media language predicts addiction treatment...

In-person treatment for substance use disorders is an incredibly important tool, but there’s a high failure rate — more than 50 percent of people who enter drop out within the first month. There hasn’t...

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The why, when, where, how, and so what of so-called rapidly acting...

Sanjay Mathew is a professor and vice chair for research at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. He’s one of the two authors of a recent review paper in...

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Integrating public health and translational basic science to address...

The drug naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, is a critical tool in reversing fentanyl overdoses and reducing mortality. But now fentanyl is appearing on the streets adulterated with a drug called...

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Comparable roles for serotonin in rats and humans for computations underlying...

Serotonin is a critical chemical when it comes to a number of psychiatric conditions, such as OCD, where it seems to play a particular role in cognitive flexibility. That is, serotonin levels are...

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Spotlighting SHAPERS: Sex hormones associated with psychological and...

Dr. Nicole Petersen is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UCLA. Her commentary is a new paper in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, called “Spotlighting...

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