A round-up of other news in brief
RITALIN AND WEIGHT LOSS:A single dose of Ritalin appears to dampen adults' taste for calories and fat - suggesting, researchers said, that the ADHD drug should be studied as a weight-loss medication.
Weight loss is known to be a potential side effect of methylphenidate, best known by the brand name Ritalin. However, whether the drug stands as a potential weapon in the battle of the bulge has been studied little.
Theoretically, Ritalin could help overweight people control their appetite because the drug increases brain levels of the chemical dopamine, which is involved in feelings of pleasure and "reward".
Dopamine levels increase in response to food and some research has suggested that people with normally low dopamine levels may be more vulnerable to becoming overweight due to the reward value they get from food.
"This is the theoretical basis for using Ritalin or other drugs that boost brain dopamine," explained Dr Gary Goldfield, the lead author of the new study. "We hope it will reduce appetite, possibly by reducing craving, wanting and/or the reinforcing value of food."
THE PLACEBO EFFECT:It cannot be assumed that an antidepressant has lost its effectiveness if a patient relapses while continuing on the medication because the medication may never have been effective in the first place, according to study findings reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. In the study, the majority of relapses occurred in patients who had never been true responders, Dr Mark Zimmerman, director of outpatient psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital, said.
Some patients with a major depressive disorder, similar to other medical disorders, respond to placebo, Dr Zimmerman explained. In clinical practice, everyone is given an active drug, so it's not clear if a patient who responds has improved because of the drug or because of "non-specific" effects, such as the placebo effect.
The placebo effect is a sort of "power of suggestion" response in which a patient begins to feel better because he thinks he has received treatment. These responses are usually short term.
Similarly, relapses that occur during a continuation phase of treatment could be because of a true loss of response or they could be because an initial placebo response has worn off.
Using two different methods of estimating relapse, the researchers found the majority of relapses occurred because the patients were never true responders to the drugs.
ASSISTED PREGNANCY RISKS:The risk of developing high blood pressure during pregnancy is higher in pregnancies resulting from infertility treatments compared with those resulting from spontaneous conceptions.
The risk of pre-eclampsia is also elevated in assisted pregnancies, according to a study published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility.
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can affect multiple systems of the body and is characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine. The condition occurs in up to 8 per cent of pregnancies and accounts for up to 15 per cent of the 500,000 pregnancy-related deaths worldwide each year.
Dr Allen A Mitchell, of Boston University, who led the study, found that overall, 9.3 per cent of the women reported having gestational hypertension and 2.6 per cent reported having pre-eclampsia.
Women who had undergone infertility treatments had a higher rate of gestational hypertension than those who did not have treatments, at 15.8 per cent versus 8.9 per cent, respectively.
BIRD ALERT:Senior managers at a hospital have apologised after maggots from a dead seagull fell through the ceiling into a maternity unit. The shocking event was branded "an extremely unpredictable consequence of seaside living" by a spokeswoman at Scarborough General Hospital.
Hospital medical director Dr Ian Holland said the bird died on the roof, which was not checked in the regular maintenance programme. He said there was no risk to babies or any other patients at the time."It appears that a seagull died on the tiled roof above the maternity department. Unfortunately this led to there being larvae in the roof cavity, a few of which found their way through the ceiling fittings," he said.