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, including psychiatry. A team of researchers is currently investigating the use of smartphones for what's known as digital phenotyping, or the continuous monitoring of someone's status via a personal digital device, to enhance behavioral and mental health. Listen to this month's BrainPod to hear Dr. JP Onnela discuss how digital phenotyping is crucial for studying mental health disorders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 research purposes. In this podcast, Drs. Michael Baumann and Nora Volkow discuss the complexities of working with these substances and how, given their genesis, research with NPS could be considered "dual use;" or, potentially utilized for both beneficial and malicious purposes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 its medical use. In this podcast, Drs. Margaret Haney and Eden Evins discuss the relationship between cannabis use and two psychiatric disorders: post-traumatic stress disorder and psychotic illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"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: From pathology to circuits, treatment to prevention. Emerging data from genetics, epigenetics, neural circuit and intergenerational models, animal models, and neuroimaging all suggest that stress affects the brain in a variety of dynamic and often long-lasting ways. The effects of these processes on developmental risk for pathology are particularly notable.Produced by Nature Publishing Group and featuring Kerry J. Ressler, MD, PhD and Jordan W. Smoller, MD, ScD, this podcast synthesizes a broad array of neuroscience perspectives and approaches, demonstrating with fascinating clarity how the brain, when homeostasis / allostasis is dysregulated through the process of stress (whether external or internal), can lead to emotional dysregulation and behavioral difficulties.Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: http://www.nature.com/nppr/index.html Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this issue of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, entitled Neurodevelopment and the Origins of Brain Disorders, subject discipline experts provide both experimental highlights and perspectives on the current understanding of basic mechanisms of neurodevelopment, the influence of developmental disruptions on childhood and adult-onset brain and behavioral disorders, and the emerging promise of translation into treatments.In this podcast, the editors of this year's volume, Pat Levitt (Simms/Mann Chair in Development Neurogenetics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles) and Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele (Mortimer D Sackler Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute), discuss the recent research and its future applications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 risky behaviors, but whether consumption of caffeine during adolescence has effects on the mature brain is controversial. In this podcast, author Ryan Bachtell discusses his recent study, which found that consumption of caffeine by male adolescent rats results in enduring neurobiological effects in a key reward area in the brain and an increased sensitivity to cocaine in adulthood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Young adult smokers may experience alterations in brain structure related to cigarette exposure, dependence, and craving. The brain structure of adults has been shown to vary with smoking status, particularly in the insula—a part of the cerebral cortex involved in monitoring internal states and decision-making. In a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, Dr. Edythe London and colleagues took smoking histories, assessed cigarette craving and dependence, and examined the insula using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 16-22-year-old participants. The results suggest that participants with greater smoking exposure had more severe nicotine dependence, more cigarette craving, and less insular thickness than those with less exposure. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.