For people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), distressing memories repeat in an endless loop. Thus far, one of the best treatments found for PTSD is exposure therapy, in which suffers relive or re-visualize their traumas in a controlled environment until they are no longer haunted by them.
Unfortunately, this therapy helps only half of the patients that try it, Melissa Pandika writes for Ozy Magazine. And since 7.7 million Americans suffer from PTSD (according to the National Institutes of Health), many of them veterans (according to several studies, at least 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans experience PTSD), researchers are looking for ways to make this treatment more effective.
MIT neuroscientists have high hopes for a new drug — CI-994 — which could strip the negative emotions out of traumatic memory.
Neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai, who leads the MIT team conducting trials of the drug, discovered that a certain enzyme was present in large quantities in mice showing symptoms of dementia. She wondered if the same enzyme that causes mice to lose their memories could play a role in how traumatic memories are locked into place. She trained mice to fear a specific chamber of their enclosure by administering a shock to them when they entered. She reintroduced some mice to the chamber the next day, teaching them that it was now safe, and these mice no longer reacted in fear. The mice that weren’t reintroduced to that chamber until 30 days after they’d been shocked retained the fearful memory and could not be retrained. This situation might be analogous to a veteran who waits for months or years before seeking treatment for PTSD.
Next Tsai administered the CI-994 drug to the mice who had 30-day traumatic memories of the shock chamber. The CI-994 drug suppresses the dementia-associated enzyme she’d discovered earlier. After one treatment, the mice were no longer afraid. They retained all their other memories and the associated emotional responses to them except the traumatic one.
There’s still a long way to go before determining whether CI-994 can be effective in humans. The Navy is currently preparing a clinical trial of the drug. But if the drug proves promising, it might entice some of the estimated 50 percent of veteran PTSD sufferers who don’t seek treatment to give therapy a try.
MORE: How One Veteran Discovered the Healing Power of Art and Made it His Mission to Share it With Others
Tag: research
To Change Public Education, This Nonprofit Is Hacking the System
In order to effectively change American education, it’s imperative to understand what schools, students and their teachers are lacking. DonorsChoose, an online nonprofit that has channeled more than $220 million to classroom projects, has been collecting data on the country’s educational needs and charitable donations for the past 13 years, gathering a treasure trove of information into giving in the U.S. education system. Now, for the first time, DonorsChoose, in partnership with Looker, a software company that focuses on data discovery and business intelligence, is releasing this unprecedented data collection to the public, free of charge, through their Hacking Education initiative, in order to allow citizens to generate their own insights into the state of public education.
MORE: The Radical School Reform That Just Might Work
Starting today, anyone with a valid email address can request access to explore DonorsChoose’s more than 20 million records, which Looker has combined with public education data. This allows people to learn about what schools need and which causes donors are more apt to support. “Exploring and analyzing our data through Looker has helped us develop strategies to increase charitable donations to schools,” Charles Best, CEO of DonorsChoose said in a press release announcing the initiative. “By identifying giving trends, we can better restructure and target our fundraising.”
DON’T MISS: The Surprising Secret to Improving Math Skills
So what factors do drive funding to schools in need? Here are some examples [PDF] from DonorsChoose’s 2013 Giving Index — a report that analyzes 340,000 donors, $60.2 million in donations and more than 130,000 school projects during the course of the year:
- People are far more likely to donate funds to schools within 25 miles of their zipcodes.
- Elementary education received the most funding, topping other grades by more than $3 million.
- Literacy and language projects received 42 percent of funding, followed by math and science, which received 30 percent. Health and sports received the least amount of funding, with 3%.
- 50 percent of projects requested basic school supplies and books.
- STEM projects were most funded for older students (grades 9–12).
These types of insights — many and more of which can be found through DonorsChoose’s Hacking Education initiative — can chart the course for research, spending and fundraising to help teachers find the tools they need to provide students with the quality education they deserve.
ALSO: Is This the Pinterest of Math and Science Education?
Pediatric Cancer Research Was Falling Behind in One Crucial Area. Until Now.
So much of the hope and promise of cancer research comes from the incredible potential that personalized, targeted treatments can offer. Targeting the specific genetic mutations in an individual’s cancer leads to much more effective, manageable treatment. But most of the research and success stories have been (not surprisingly) for adult cancers. Pediatric cancer researchers, on the other hand, haven’t had the resources to share the same sense of victory. The Hugs for Brady Foundation committed itself to changing that trend, with a large research grant at Rutgers University. Some kids’ cancers are among the rarest types, which means they’re the toughest to study and cure, and the commitment from Hugs for Brady will allow for innovation in research to apply precision medicine’s best practices to these devastating forms of cancer.
How Finding Diabetes Treatment Can Be as Easy as Online Dating
For many patients suffering from a chronic illness, clinical trials can help advance treatment options. For a prevalent disease, such as Type 2 Diabetes, over 350,000 participants are needed for clinical trials every year in the United States alone. Corengi is a website that helps people seeking treatment for a variety of diseases discover and access clinical trials throughout the country, using a simple online form, similar to dating sites. Co-founder Ryan Luce recently stated in Forbes, “I recognized clinical trials couldn’t get enough participants and there weren’t great tools available for patients to learn about diseases either. I thought, ‘How do we create free tools for patients to learn about the problem?'” The site operates as a for-profit, purpose-driven business that hopes to impact as many lives as possible. If you’d like to help advance diabetes research, take a look at the programs available in your zip code.