The compound CGP3466B, already proven nontoxic for people, may effectively and rapidly treat depression, according to results of a study in mice.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine neuroscientists who conducted the research say that the compound -- previously shown to block cocaine craving in the brains of rodents -- delivers antidepressant effects to mice within hours instead of weeks or months, like currently available antidepressants. The results of the study will be summarized Jan. 12 online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Psychiatrists investigating depression have been energized in recent years by reports of rapid, successful treatment with drugs that interfere with the brain chemical glutamate, such as the anesthetic ketamine.

New research from Emory University School of Medicine is providing hints as to which forms of depression may respond best to drugs that target glutamate.

The findings are scheduled for publication online on January 12 in Molecular Psychiatry.

Depressed patients with signs of systemic inflammation have elevated levels of glutamate in regions of the brain that are important for motivation, the researchers have found.

The Romans created a clear line between Iron Age and modern sanitation and hygiene. They built public multi-seat latrines with washing facilities and sewerage systems, they piped drinking water from aqueducts and heated public baths for washing.

To augment that, they developed laws designed to keep their towns free of excrement and rubbish.

But it may not have helped when it came to putting a stop to intestinal parasites such as whipworm, roundworm and Entamoeba histolytica dysentery, according to a journal in the journal Parasitology.

The coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) is a plague that affects coffee crops. It has a detoxification system based on microbial communities so it can perform its life cycle in the plant while exposed to high levels of caffeine.

In human terms, the caffeine is equivalent to 500 espressos , which would kill a person.

"The aim was to study which are they and how they are associated with the digestive tract of the insect. For the study we took samples of insects from different locations like Hawaii, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Kenya, India and Guatemala," Javier A. Ceja Navarro of Berkeley National Laboratory told Investigación y Desarrollo.

It may be time to embrace DDT again. New findings from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirm dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, the first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection in Cambodia, has failed in certain provinces due to parasite resistance to artemisinin and piperaquine.

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients at high genetic risk of developing bipolar disorder avert the onset of the illness, according to a new study in Translational Psychiatry.  

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes fluctuations in patients' mood, energy, activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Bipolar disorder is highly heritable, meaning that people with a parent or sibling with bipolar disorder have a much greater risk of developing the illness, compared with individuals with no family history.