Adults With TBI May Benefit From Screening for Cardiometabolic Disease, Other Comorbidities

Female doctor shows brain scan images to older male patient in hospital bed

An analysis of prospectively collected data has demonstrated that adults who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI), regardless of age and injury severity, are at higher risk of certain cardiovascular, endocrine, neurologic, and psychiatric disorders.

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Brigham Researchers Take a Closer Look at Lithium’s Effects on the Brain

Close up of a pile of pink lithium tablets with "223" imprinted on one side

Through brain imaging and laboratory research, Brigham investigators are examining how lithium affects the brain at the individual neuron and brain-circuit levels. Psychiatrist Amit Anand, MD, explains how it may increase the growth of certain areas of the brain and influence the organ functionally and structurally.

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Sensitive Cognitive Outcomes Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease Trials

3D rendering of Beta-amyloid found in Alzheimer's disease.

Kathryn V. Papp, PhD, and Reisa A. Sperling, MD, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues recently determined that very early Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a decline in existing measures of processing speed and memory retrieval.

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Black Elders Show Greater Posttraumatic Growth During COVID-19 Than White Elders

Black older man sitting at edge of bed wearing COVID-19 mask

Patrizia Vannini, PhD, of the Department of Neurology, and colleagues conducted the first study of posttraumatic growth and other mental health factors related to COVID-19 among older adults. They describe how the pandemic affected Black and white older adults differently and name ways to foster posttraumatic growth.

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Presurgical Physical, Psychosocial and Sensory Factors All Influence Total Knee Arthroplasty Outcomes

Doctor evaluates patient knee suture scar after total knee arthroplasty

Robert R. Edwards, PhD, of the Center for Pain Management at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues conducted the first multicenter study that comprehensively examined clinical, functional, psychosocial and sensory factors as predictors of pain and functional outcomes after total knee arthroplasty.

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Inside the NICU: When the Parent Becomes the Patient

Close up of doctor's hands holding a newborn in the NICU

The Brigham’s new multidisciplinary Parent Mental Health Program, created by Cindy H. Liu, PhD, and Leena P. Mittal, MD, is designed to provide timely and consistent mental health services for parents and caregivers of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit.

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22q11.2 Deletion, Duplication Linked to Opposing Changes in White Matter

3D color medical concept of human brain white matter

Ofer Pasternak, PhD, and Johanna Seitz-Holland, MD, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues conducted the first study to compare white matter in 22q-del and 22q-dup, and report finding opposing abnormalities that might indicate distinct pathologies.

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How Trauma-informed Care Improves the Patient Experience

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program Team

In the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic and a renewed emphasis on issues surrounding racial justice have brought the need for trauma-informed healthcare into greater focus. Consultation-liaison psychiatrist Nomi Levy-Carrick, MD, MPhil, has been involved in expanding such programs across more areas of the Brigham.

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Brain Circuit Mapping Refines Targets for Neurostimulation

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a novel brain mapping method that suggests lesions, TMS and DBS converge on a common brain circuit for depression—which may represent a better target for therapeutic neurostimulation. The approach seems to be generalizable to other neuropsychiatric diseases.

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Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Identified

Human Brain Scan X-Rays

By using a newer technique called lesion network mapping, Michael Ferguson, PhD, Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, of the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues have identified a specific brain circuit that seems to be a neural substrate for spirituality and religiosity.

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