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6 papers
This paper is a clear review of how ketamine can lift severe depression quickly for some people and what we know about how it works in the brain. The authors say a single low-dose intravenous shot of ketamine can produce rapid and lasting antidepressant effects in people whose depression did…
Researchers studied 85 married couples (170 people) to see if worries about close relationships (attachment anxiety) link to stress hormones and immune cells. People with higher attachment anxiety had higher saliva cortisol across three days and lower counts of several T-cell types in blood. The study is observational, mostly white…
This lab study looked at what chemicals form when common vape liquid diluents (cutting agents) are heated and made into vapor. The researchers found that heating these diluents creates toxic byproducts (for example quinones, carbonyls, esters, and alkyl alcohols). Condensed vapor from these products slowed growth and increased toxicity in…
Researchers isolated two compounds from the medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus—N-de phenylethyl isohericerin (NDPIH) and hericene A. In lab cultures, these compounds caused strong axon growth and more branching in hippocampal neurons even without serum. Tests showed they activate ERK1/2 signaling and do not act only through the TrkB (BDNF) receptor.…
Polysaccharide-K (PSK, also called Krestin) is a mushroom extract widely used as an additive in cancer treatment in Asia, especially Japan. Studies over about 40 years report anti-tumor effects in laboratory experiments and in living organisms for several cancer types, but researchers say the exact ways PSK works are not…
Researchers reviewing ibogaine and its chemical relatives say these drugs point to a new way to treat substance use disorders by blocking a brain receptor called α3β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Animal studies found ibogaine and some derivatives reduced self-use of drugs like morphine, cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine. But ibogaine…
