‘Magic Mushroom’ Psychedelic Compound Shows Promise In Treatment of Depression
04/15/21 AT 11:53 AM
A small study done by researchers from London found psychedelic drugs may treat depression just as effectively as commonly prescribed antidepressants.
The results of the six-week study were published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers conducted a Phase 2 clinical trial that compared the therapeutic doses of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, with escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).
During the trial, scientists from Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research observed the functioning and moods of 59 adults.
Around 40 percent of the group had to be weaned off of the medication they were prescribed to treat their depression before the study began. Of the participants, 30 were given two 25 mg doses of psilocybin three weeks apart and also received daily placebo pills for six weeks.
Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.
After the first surge of COVID-19 cases in spring 2020, a new worry emerged: Some people didn’t get better. For those with so-called Long COVID, lingering symptoms ranged from brain fog and intense fatigue to shortness of breath and loss of smell and taste. So far, there’s little clarity about what causes or how to treat this constellation of symptoms. Some surveys suggest between 10% and 30% of people infected with the pandemic coronavirus may struggle to recover, but these data are preliminary.
Emilia Liana Falcone, an infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, and Michael Sneller, an infectious disease specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), are each leading a large Long COVID clinical trial. They are recruiting volunteers who’ve had COVID-19 some with ongoing symptoms and some without along with a control group of people wh
Rhian M Touyz to Lead Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre thesuburban.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thesuburban.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TORONTO Among all the manifestations and complications of COVID-19, yet another puzzling question is emerging â is the virus triggering cases of diabetes? Like many doctors around the world, Dr. Mihail Zilbermint began noticing something strange midway in the pandemic. More and more people seemed to be suddenly developing diabetes. âMy team usually manage about 16 to 17, or 18 patients with diabetes per day,â Zilbermint told CTV News. âAnd our numbers increased up to 30 per day.â Zilbermint is an endocrinologist and an associate professor with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland. The sudden change was surprising, he said, and worrying. A diagnosis of diabetes was also a shock to John Kunkel, who lives in Arkansas, and had just recovered from a serious case of COVID-19 when he discovered his pancreas had stopped making enough insulin, forcing him into daily blood sugar testing, and metformin to manage his diabetes.
A new COVID-19 side effect? Some patients are developing sudden onset diabetes
Like many doctors around the world, Dr. Mihail Zilbermint began noticing something strange midway in the pandemic.
More and more people seemed to be suddenly developing diabetes.
“My team usually manage about 16 to 17, or 18 patients with diabetes per day,” Zilbermint told CTV News. “And our numbers increased up to 30 per day.”
Zilbermint is an endocrinologist and an associate professor with John Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland. The sudden change was surprising, he said, and worrying.
A diagnosis of diabetes was also a shock to John Kunkel, who lives in Arkansas, and had just recovered from a serious case of COVID-19 when he discovered his pancreas had stopped making enough insulin, forcing him into daily blood sugar testing, and metformin to manage his diabetes.