R01 funding awarded to Julia Sheffield, PhD et al to study delusions associated with schizophrenia
The NIMH has recently funded a new R01 to study the computational, cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying delusions in individuals with schizophrenia. Dr. Sheffield is the PI of the study with Co-I's Stephan Heckers, Aaron Brinen, Neil Woodward, Baxter Rogers, Jinyuan Liu and Philip Corlett (Yale School of Medicine). The grant will fund a 5-year clinical trial providing 16-weeks of psychotherapy for individuals with schizophrenia and strongly held paranoia.
Effects of open-label transdermal nicotine antidepressant augmentation on affective symptoms and executive function in late-life depression
A recent report from faculty and staff in the Vanderbilt Division of Geriatric Psychiatry demonstrates the potential benefit of adding transdermal nicotine patches to standard antidepressant medications for older adults with depression. The open-label study found that administration of nicotine patches safely resulted in improvement in mood and some measures of cognitive performance. This study supports that further work is needed, such as the ongoing placebo-controlled trial currently underway in the Vanderbilt Division of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Taylor co-authors paper on cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular reactivity as predictors of antidepressant response
Warren D. Taylor, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, served as co-author on a new paper titled "Frontocingulate cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity as predictors of antidepressant response in late-life depression." The paper appears in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The study was directed by Dr. Margarita Abi Zeid Daou, a PGY4 resident in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, mentored by Dr. Taylor.