Adults with treatment-resistant depression who continued esketamine nasal spray plus an oral antidepressant in a long-term extension study (SUSTAIN-3) showed sustained improvement in depression ratings over up to 4.5 years. Among 1148 participants, common side effects included headache, dizziness, nausea, dissociation, somnolence, and nasopharyngitis. Depression scores dropped during the initial four-week induction phase and remained low during maintenance; about 46% of participants were in remission at the maintenance phase endpoint. No new safety concerns emerged with long-term, intermittent dosing.
Gratitude, a self-transcendent and pro-social emotion, may foster a stronger connection with nature and pro-environmental attitudes. In a questionnaire study with 890 participants divided into gratitude, recreation, and control groups, gratitude increased positive emotions of self-transcendence, which in turn strengthened connection to nature. This sequential pathway fully explained gratitude's indirect effect on both willingness to participate in environmental protection and willingness to sacrifice for the environment. The findings suggest that cultivating gratitude could help promote a harmonious human-nature relationship.
Rats treated with phencyclidine (PCP) to model schizophrenia showed increased dopamine neuron activity in the ventral tegmental area. Increasing endogenous cannabinoid levels with URB-597 normalized this aberrant activity. The ventral pallidum was identified as the site where URB-597 acts to restore normal dopamine neuron activity. The authors propose that augmenting endogenous cannabinoids may be an effective therapy for schizophrenia, acting in part through the ventral pallidum.