<table style="border:1px solid #adadad; background-color: #F3F1EC; color: #666666; padding:8px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; line-height:16px; margin-bottom:6px;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-research-links-adhd-medication-to-reduced-risk-of-suicidal-behaviors-accidents-and-crime/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">New research links ADHD medication to reduced risk of suicidal behaviors, accidents, and crime</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 14th 2025, 10:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A large-scale study of nearly 150,000 individuals has found that starting drug treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with a significantly lower risk of several serious life events. The findings suggest that for people with a new diagnosis, medication is linked to reduced rates of suicidal behaviors, substance misuse, transport accidents, and criminal convictions over a two-year period. This research provides real-world evidence that the benefits of treating ADHD may extend far beyond the management of its core symptoms.</p>
<p>Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a common neurodevelopmental condition that affects both children and adults. Characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, ADHD can create substantial challenges in academic, professional, and social settings. While often diagnosed in childhood, its symptoms frequently continue into adulthood, impacting daily functioning.</p>
<p>Beyond these core difficulties, research has consistently shown that individuals with ADHD face elevated risks for a range of negative outcomes, including accidental injuries, substance use disorders, and involvement with the legal system. These heightened risks are thought to be connected to the impulsivity and difficulties with emotional regulation and executive function that are hallmarks of the condition.</p>
<p>While therapies and behavioral interventions are available, medication is a primary treatment for many individuals with ADHD. The use of these medications has grown substantially in recent years, prompting public and scientific discussion about their long-term effectiveness and safety. Standard scientific studies, known as randomized controlled trials, have confirmed that these drugs are effective at reducing the core symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity.</p>
<p>However, these trials are often limited in scope. They may not run long enough to observe broader life outcomes, and they often exclude patients with co-occurring conditions, who represent a large portion of people receiving treatment in the real world. This creates a knowledge gap about how medication affects critical outcomes like suicide risk or criminality for the general population of people with ADHD. To address these limitations, researchers turned to a powerful method using comprehensive national data from Sweden.</p>
<p>The study, published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-083658" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The BMJ</a></em>, employed a sophisticated research design known as “target trial emulation.” This approach uses observational data from routine clinical practice to mimic the structure of a randomized controlled trial, strengthening the ability to draw conclusions about cause and effect. The research team utilized several of Sweden’s national registers, which contain detailed and anonymous health, demographic, and legal information for the entire population. They identified 148,581 Swedish residents between the ages of 6 and 64 who received a new ADHD diagnosis between 2007 and 2018.</p>
<p>The researchers then compared two groups over a two-year follow-up period. The first group consisted of individuals who began taking medication for ADHD within three months of their diagnosis and continued the treatment. The second group was composed of individuals who did not start medication during the follow-up period. The researchers balanced the two groups on a wide range of factors, including age, sex, co-occurring psychiatric and physical conditions, and history of health care use, to ensure the comparison was as fair as possible. The team then tracked the occurrence of five specific outcomes: suicidal behaviors, substance misuse, accidental injuries, transport accidents, and criminal convictions.</p>
<p>The results demonstrated a clear association between starting medication and reduced risk for four of the five outcomes. Compared to the group that did not initiate treatment, individuals who started medication had a 17 percent lower rate of suicidal behaviors. They also experienced a 15 percent lower rate of substance misuse, a 12 percent lower rate of transport accidents, and a 13 percent lower rate of criminal convictions. The analysis did not find a statistically significant reduction in the risk for a first-time accidental injury.</p>
<p>Recognizing that many of these adverse events can happen more than once, the researchers conducted a secondary analysis looking at all occurrences, not just the first one. When examining these recurrent events, they found that medication was associated with lower rates across all five outcomes. This included a 25 percent reduction in the rate of substance misuse events, a 25 percent reduction in criminality, and a 4 percent reduction in accidental injuries, which became statistically significant in this analysis.</p>
<p>The reductions for repeated suicidal behaviors (15 percent) and transport accidents (16 percent) were also robust. This pattern suggests that medication may offer a genuine reduction in risk over time, rather than just delaying an initial event.</p>
<p>The study also revealed that the protective association of the medication appeared stronger for certain individuals. For people who already had a history of one of the negative outcomes before their ADHD diagnosis, the risk reduction linked to medication was more pronounced. For example, the reduction in substance misuse and criminality was significantly greater among those with a prior history of these issues compared to those without. Further analysis showed that stimulant medications, such as methylphenidate, were associated with greater risk reductions across all outcomes when compared to non-stimulant options. This finding aligns with clinical guidelines that often recommend stimulants as a first-line treatment due to their established effectiveness on core ADHD symptoms.</p>
<p>While the study’s design and use of comprehensive national data are major strengths, the authors acknowledged some limitations. The registers did not contain information on non-drug treatments like psychotherapy, so the comparison was between medication and “care as usual,” which could include other forms of support. The data also reflects prescriptions dispensed, not whether patients took their medication as directed, which could lead to an underestimation of the treatment’s true effect.</p>
<p>Additionally, since the study was conducted in Sweden, which has a universal healthcare system, the findings may not be fully generalizable to countries with different healthcare access or prescribing patterns. To increase confidence in their findings, the researchers performed a “negative control” analysis, testing the association between ADHD medication and type 1 diabetes, an outcome they had no reason to believe would be affected. They found no link, suggesting their main results are unlikely to be the product of general unmeasured factors like a person’s overall health consciousness.</p>
<p>The implications of this research are significant for patients, families, and clinicians making decisions about ADHD treatment. The findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date that initiating and sustaining medication for ADHD is associated with a reduction in the risk of some of the most serious challenges linked to the condition.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-083658" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ADHD drug treatment and risk of suicidal behaviours, substance misuse, accidental injuries, transport accidents, and criminality: emulation of target trials</a>,” was authored by Le Zhang, Nanbo Zhu, Arvid Sjölander, Mikail Nourredine, Lin Li, Miguel Garcia-Argibay, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Isabell Brikell, Paul Lichtenstein, Brian M D’Onofrio, Henrik Larsson, Samuele Cortese, and Zheng Chang.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/creatine-shields-the-brain-from-inflammation-in-a-rat-model-of-chronic-colitis/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Creatine shields the brain from inflammation in a rat model of chronic colitis</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 14th 2025, 08:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new animal study sheds light on how a common dietary supplement may ease both gut and brain symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease. The research, published in the journal <i><a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/fo/d5fo01620g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Food & Function</a></i>, suggests that creatine supplementation can reduce the physical symptoms of ulcerative colitis while also preventing mood and motor disturbances. In rats with colitis, creatine appeared to reduce intestinal inflammation, preserve brain function, and prevent the development of anxiety and depression-like behaviors. The protective effects were observed in both male and female rats, though some benefits were more pronounced in females.</p>
<p>Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the colon that often follows a cycle of flares and remission. Along with gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea, many patients experience mental health challenges, including depression and anxiety. Some of these symptoms tend to persist even during periods when intestinal inflammation appears to be under control.</p>
<p>Prior research has suggested that the connection between gut inflammation and mental health may be driven by what scientists call the gut–brain axis. This is a complex communication network that includes neural, hormonal, and immune signals linking the digestive system with the brain. When the colon becomes inflamed, this communication pathway may promote changes in the brain that affect mood and behavior.</p>
<p>Studies in both humans and rodents have shown that gut inflammation is associated with increased levels of pro-inflammatory molecules in the brain, particularly in areas involved in mood and motor control. This neuroinflammatory response is often linked to the activation of microglia, the immune cells of the brain.</p>
<p>Current treatments for ulcerative colitis mainly target gastrointestinal symptoms. While these treatments can help reduce flare-ups, they often do not address the emotional or cognitive effects of the disease. That gap led <a href="https://departamento.us.es/fisiologia/fisiopatologia-del-intestino-cerebro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">researchers at the University of Seville</a> to investigate whether creatine might offer a broader range of benefits.</p>
<p>“There’s a well-known saying from Hippocrates, the father of medicine: ‘All disease begins in the gut.’ While not every illness comes from the gut, today’s science shows a strong link between gut health and the brain,” said study author María Dolores Vázquez-Carretero.</p>
<p>“In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202400837R">our earlier work</a> in an animal model, we demonstrated that chronic gut inflammation not only damages the intestine but also leads to problems with mood, memory, and locomotion. This fact should be considered in the therapies of inflammatory bowel diseases and made us wonder: could there be a safe and familiar molecule that helps both the gut and the brain at the same time?”</p>
<p>“Creatine quickly caught our attention. It’s already widely used by athletes to boost performance, and it has a long record of safety, even approved by the FDA. On top of that, creatine has known anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, and some studies had hinted it might ease gut symptoms and even depression.”</p>
<p>“We also wanted to explore differences between males and females,” Vázquez-Carretero continued. “Both gut disorders and mood problems are known to vary by sex, but very few studies look at both systems together—the gut and the brain—in a way that allows us to compare results between males and females.”</p>
<p>The researchers used a rat model that mimics the relapsing–remitting nature of ulcerative colitis. They induced chronic colitis in male and female Wistar rats using dextran sulfate sodium, a chemical that causes inflammation in the colon. This model produces symptoms that resemble human colitis, including diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and weight loss.</p>
<p>Some rats were given creatine supplementation in their drinking water starting 10 days before the colitis-inducing treatment and continuing throughout the experiment. The researchers tracked the severity of colitis symptoms using a disease activity index and also assessed behavioral signs of anxiety, depression, and motor function using an open field test. They collected brain and colon tissue at the end of the study to measure creatine concentrations, inflammation markers, and microglial activation.</p>
<p>The study included both sexes to explore whether creatine’s effects differed in males and females. This attention to sex differences is notable, as both ulcerative colitis and mood disorders are more common in women, but animal research often underrepresents female subjects.</p>
<p>The results indicate that creatine supplementation led to widespread improvements in both intestinal and neurological outcomes.</p>
<p>In rats with colitis, creatine reduced the overall disease activity score during flare-up phases. This included less weight loss, improved stool consistency, and reduced bleeding. The intestinal lining also showed less damage, especially in male rats, where creatine appeared to protect the surface epithelium more effectively. Importantly, these benefits were observed throughout the disease progression and did not seem tied to whether the colitis was in an active or remissive state.</p>
<p>In both sexes, creatine supplementation increased creatine levels in the colon and cerebral cortex. This suggests that the compound was absorbed and distributed effectively, reaching both peripheral and central tissues.</p>
<p>The behavioral results showed that rats with colitis exhibited reduced locomotion, signs of anxiety, and depression-like symptoms such as increased immobility and decreased grooming. Creatine prevented these changes, keeping behavior in treated rats comparable to healthy controls.</p>
<p>Females tended to benefit more strongly in certain areas. For example, the improvement in traveled distance, a measure of motor activity, was greater in females than males. Similarly, reductions in immobility time and increases in center exploration—measures associated with lower anxiety and depression—were more pronounced in females.</p>
<p>“Interestingly, creatine worked in both sexes, though in some cases females benefited more,” Vázquez-Carretero told PsyPost. “This highlights how important it is to study treatments in both males and females rather than assuming the results are the same.”</p>
<p>The biological mechanisms behind these behavioral improvements appeared to involve reductions in neuroinflammation. In rats with colitis, the researchers observed elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor, in both the prefrontal and motor cortices. These increases were prevented by creatine. The pattern of change varied slightly by sex, with creatine appearing to reduce interleukin-6 more strongly in males and interleukin-1 beta more strongly in females.</p>
<p>Microscopic analysis of the brain showed that colitis activated microglia in both sexes, a sign of inflammation in the central nervous system. Creatine supplementation prevented these changes, and again, some effects were stronger in females, particularly in the prefrontal cortex.</p>
<p>“The key message is that creatine could be a promising nutritional strategy to help with both gut inflammation and emotional issues that sometimes come with it,” Vázquez-Carretero said. “In our study with rats, creatine reduced the severity of colitis symptoms like diarrhea and weight loss, protected the gut barrier, and prevented anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. It even helped avoid brain inflammation that is linked to these problems.”</p>
<p>The findings offer preliminary support for the idea that creatine might be a useful supplement for managing both the intestinal and neurological symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis. The supplement not only improved physical symptoms of colitis but also protected brain function and behavior, possibly by reducing inflammation and preserving tissue function in the brain.</p>
<p>“The important point is this: creatine is not just a sports supplement,” Vázquez-Carretero said. “It may also be a safe, affordable tool to protect both gut health and mental health at the same time.”</p>
<p>While these findings are promising, they come from a rat model and cannot be directly applied to human treatment without further research. Human trials would be needed to confirm whether creatine supplementation has similar benefits in people with ulcerative colitis, especially in terms of mood and cognition.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that creatine is not a replacement for standard medical treatment. Instead, it may offer a complementary approach, possibly helping to improve quality of life and reduce psychiatric symptoms that are not always addressed by conventional therapies. Although creatine is widely considered safe and is already used as a dietary supplement, especially by athletes, its use in clinical populations still requires careful testing..</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/fo/d5fo01620g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creatine differently prevents chronic colitis-induced motor deficits, anxiety and depressive behaviors, neuroinflammation, and microglial activation in male and female rats</a>,” was authored by Gema Sotelo-Parrilla, Alejandro Ruiz-Calero, Pablo García-Miranda, María Luisa Calonge, María Dolores Vázquez-Carretero, and María José Peral.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/love-doesnt-thrive-on-ledgers-keeping-score-in-relationships-foreshadows-decline-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">“Love doesn’t thrive on ledgers”: Keeping score in relationships foreshadows decline, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 14th 2025, 06:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>People often say relationships should be fair. But new research suggests that keeping score may actually backfire. A long-term study of couples in Germany found that when partners expected something in return for favors or sacrifices, their satisfaction tended to decline over time. The study was published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251330700" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</a></em>.</p>
<p>Relationship researchers have long distinguished between two broad mindsets: communal and exchange orientations. A communal approach involves caring for a partner’s needs without expecting direct repayment. By contrast, an exchange orientation involves a sense of keeping score. A person might expect their partner to repay a favor, match effort, or show appreciation in proportion to what was given.</p>
<p>Past research has repeatedly found that exchange orientation tends to predict lower relationship satisfaction. But most of that work was based on cross-sectional data, which can only capture snapshots at one point in time. That makes it hard to determine whether expecting reciprocity leads to dissatisfaction or whether dissatisfaction makes people more likely to keep score.</p>
<p>Little was known about how exchange orientation changes over time. Is it a fixed personality trait, or does it shift with the ups and downs of a relationship? Another open question was whether similarity between partners in exchange orientation might help or hurt. Some researchers speculated that if both partners shared the same transactional mindset, they might better understand each other’s expectations. Others suspected that any form of scorekeeping, whether mutual or not, could disrupt the emotional connection that supports long-term intimacy.</p>
<p>“There’s been growing public concern that modern romance is becoming increasingly transactional—where people approach love less as emotional connection and more as a ledger of give-and-take. I thought exchange orientation, or the tendency to keep track of what one gives and receives, provided a timely and theoretically meaningful way to study this trend. It allowed us to ask whether adopting a transactional mindset actually shapes the course of romantic relationships,” explained study author <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=ko&user=r48auQUAAAAJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Haeyoung Gideon Park</a>, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto.</p>
<p>To investigate, the research team turned to a uniquely comprehensive dataset: a nationally representative panel of German couples followed for over a decade. This gave them the opportunity to track not only changes within individuals but also patterns across partners.</p>
<p>The researchers drew from the German Family Panel (pairfam), a long-running longitudinal study that follows individuals and their partners across different stages of life. For this project, they analyzed responses from 7,293 heterosexual couples who participated in up to seven survey waves over a 13-year period. The surveys were conducted every two years.</p>
<p>Participants responded to questions assessing their exchange orientation, such as whether they expected something in return when doing a favor or giving in to their partner. They also rated their overall satisfaction with their relationship using a standard scale. By collecting repeated responses from both members of each couple, the researchers could examine both individual and dyadic patterns.</p>
<p>To analyze the data, the researchers used a statistical approach called latent curve modeling with structured residuals. This method allowed them to separate long-term trends from shorter-term fluctuations and distinguish within-person effects (how someone changes over time) from between-person differences (how people compare to each other on average). They also used a technique called dyadic response surface analysis to explore whether partners’ similarity in exchange orientation had any impact on their shared satisfaction.</p>
<p>Across the full sample, the researchers observed that most individuals became less exchange-oriented as their relationships matured. In other words, over time, people were less likely to expect direct repayment or acknowledgment for sacrifices made in the relationship. This overall shift away from transactional thinking suggests that romantic partners may gradually adopt a more communal mindset as their bond deepens.</p>
<p>Importantly, the speed of this shift mattered. People who showed slower declines in exchange orientation were also more likely to experience steeper drops in relationship satisfaction over the years. This pattern held true even when controlling for initial satisfaction levels. It suggests that clinging to a transactional mindset may interfere with the natural development of emotional intimacy.</p>
<p>The researchers also examined more immediate changes within individuals. They found that when a person’s exchange orientation increased from their usual level at a given time point, their relationship satisfaction tended to drop—both in that moment and two years later. These time-lagged effects support the idea that expecting something in return may gradually wear down relationship quality.</p>
<p>“Our findings suggest that keeping score isn’t just a reaction to relationship struggles—it can actually foreshadow them,” Park told PsyPost. “In other words, when people become more focused on payback, their satisfaction tends to decline in the years that follow. We also found that couples didn’t necessarily benefit from both being transactional; what mattered most was whether either partner was focused on keeping things even. The less emphasis on payback, the better the relationship tended to be.”</p>
<p>The researchers found little evidence that being dissatisfied led people to become more exchange-oriented later on. This points to a directional link in which transactional thinking tends to reduce satisfaction, not the reverse.</p>
<p>“I expected that declines in satisfaction would predict increases in exchange orientation, but that wasn’t the case,” Park said. “One limitation is that our data were collected every two years, which may have missed short-term or situational shifts.”</p>
<p>Another key finding concerned partner similarity. While it might seem intuitive that sharing a similar mindset would promote harmony, the data did not support this assumption. Couples who were equally high or equally low in exchange orientation did not report greater satisfaction than couples who differed. Instead, relationship satisfaction was lower whenever either partner was more exchange-oriented, regardless of the other’s views.</p>
<p>These results challenge the idea that “matching” mindsets protect relationships. Instead, they suggest that lower levels of exchange orientation in both partners—regardless of similarity—tend to support higher satisfaction.</p>
<p>“I was surprised that partner similarity in exchange orientation didn’t provide any benefits,” Park said. “As a follow-up, We’re now examining the emotional processes that underlie the negative effects of exchange orientation, which may help explain why this mindset is harmful regardless of whether both partners share it.”</p>
<p>It is important to note that the findings are correlational, which means they cannot establish definite causation. While the use of lagged analyses and longitudinal methods strengthens the argument for directional effects, it remains possible that unmeasured factors influenced both exchange orientation and relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>Future research could explore whether the effects of exchange orientation differ across relationship stages. A transactional mindset might feel more acceptable in early dating relationships, but less so in long-term partnerships where emotional bonds are deeper. Another avenue is to examine how exchange orientation plays out across different domains.</p>
<p>“Right now, we’re investigating the emotional processes that contribute to the harmful effects of exchange orientation,” Park explained. “Looking further ahead, I’d like to examine whether these dynamics differ across relationship stages (such as new vs. long-term relationships), across domains (such as chores, finances, or intimacy), and across cultures. It’s also important to understand what leads people to adopt a transactional mindset in the first place, and whether it can be intentionally altered.”</p>
<p>“Our study highlights a simple but important message: love doesn’t thrive on ledgers,” the researcher added. “Fairness matters, but constantly expecting something in return can quietly erode warmth and trust. Letting go of the mental tally may help relationships flourish.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251330700" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘Pay Me Back’: Testing the Implications of Long-Term Changes and Partner Similarity in Exchange Orientation Within Intimate Relationships</a>,” was authored by Haeyoung Gideon Park, Matthew D. Johnson, Amie M. Gordon, and Emily A. Impett.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cannabidiol-shows-no-immediate-effect-on-brain-or-behavior-in-young-people-with-alcohol-use-disorder-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Cannabidiol shows no immediate effect on brain or behavior in young people with alcohol use disorder, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 13th 2025, 16:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new placebo-controlled study has found that a single dose of cannabidiol does not appear to change brain chemistry, reduce alcohol cravings, or influence drinking behavior in youth with alcohol use disorder. Published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02141-z" target="_blank">Neuropsychopharmacology</a></em>, the study provides evidence that acute cannabidiol administration, at least in isolation, may not have measurable therapeutic effects in this population. Although cannabidiol is widely marketed as a natural remedy for substance use problems, this research suggests its impact in youth may be more limited than hoped—at least in the short term.</p>
<p>Youth alcohol use continues to be a significant public health concern. Nearly one in seven adolescents meets the criteria for alcohol use disorder by age 18. Although psychotherapy remains the primary method of treatment, these interventions often show only modest benefits. Because there are few approved medications for young people with alcohol use disorder, researchers are actively exploring new pharmacological options that might be safer, more appealing, or better tailored to this age group.</p>
<p>Cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating compound found in cannabis, has attracted attention as a possible treatment due to its safety profile and potential to reduce alcohol-related behaviors in animal studies. Preclinical research suggests that cannabidiol can reduce alcohol consumption, prevent relapse, and protect the brain from alcohol-induced damage. Because it lacks the euphoric properties of THC and is generally well-tolerated, cannabidiol has been proposed as a promising candidate for young people with substance use issues, especially those who are skeptical of conventional pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Cannabidiol interacts with multiple brain systems that are linked to addiction, including the cannabinoid, glutamate, GABA, dopamine, and serotonin systems. Animal models suggest it may influence brain circuits involved in craving, decision-making, and impulse control. However, very few studies have evaluated these effects in humans, particularly in adolescents and young adults. The new study was designed to rigorously test whether cannabidiol could produce measurable short-term changes in brain function or alcohol-related behavior in young people diagnosed with alcohol use disorder.</p>
<p>“A lot of people don’t know this, but alcohol use disorder often begins during adolescence and young adulthood. Unfortunately, there are not many effective treatments for this age group and no approved medications that might help to improve the effectiveness of existing psychosocial treatments,” said study author Anna E. Kirkland of the Medical University of South Carolina.</p>
<p>“We wanted to see if CBD might be a potential medication to help youth struggling with alcohol use right now and maybe even help to prevent a lifetime problem with alcohol. CBD is very safe and tolerable, plus it has some solid work in animals indicating it might reduce alcohol use, so we thought it would be really interesting and useful to see if there was any indication that CBD could help reduce alcohol use in young people.”</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 36 young adults between the ages of 17 and 22, all of whom met diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder. Participants were not seeking treatment, and many were actively using alcohol during the study. Nearly 70 percent of the sample was female, and most participants identified as white. Participants were screened for other mental health conditions and underwent a full medical evaluation before being cleared for the study.</p>
<p>In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, participants attended two lab sessions spaced at least 18 days apart. In one session, they received a 600 mg oral dose of cannabidiol. In the other, they received a placebo solution. The order was randomized, and neither the participants nor the researchers knew which session involved cannabidiol. The cannabidiol used in the study was an approved pharmaceutical-grade solution, and all participants consumed a high-fat snack beforehand to increase the compound’s absorption.</p>
<p>Two to three hours after ingestion, participants underwent a series of tests to assess the short-term impact of cannabidiol on brain function and behavior. These included brain scans to measure levels of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region involved in impulse control and emotion regulation. Functional MRI scans were used to track brain activity while participants viewed alcohol-related images. </p>
<p>Participants also completed an olfactory cue-reactivity task, where they smelled their preferred alcoholic beverage and rated their craving. Physiological responses such as heart rate variability and skin conductance were recorded during this task. Finally, participants reported their alcohol use over the following week to see if cannabidiol influenced subsequent drinking behavior.</p>
<p>The results showed no significant effects of cannabidiol on any of the key outcomes measured. Neuroimaging data indicated that cannabidiol did not change glutamate or GABA levels in the anterior cingulate cortex compared to placebo. There were also no differences in whole-brain activity or in specific reward-related regions, such as the amygdala or nucleus accumbens, when participants were exposed to alcohol cues.</p>
<p>During the olfactory cue task, participants reported higher craving after smelling alcohol compared to non-alcoholic beverages, which suggests the task was effective in eliciting a response. However, cannabidiol did not reduce self-reported craving levels compared to placebo. There were also no differences in physiological responses such as heart rate variability or skin conductance during exposure to alcohol cues.</p>
<p>“We were surprised that the olfactory/smell task (where individuals smelled their favorite alcohol in comparison to apple juice or water) did not result in any changes in heart rate or skin conductance,” Kirkland told PsyPost. “We were excited to try this as a new human laboratory task to look at the effects of alcohol without taste, since a large portion of our participants are under the legal drinking age. It seems like smell might not be an important part of alcohol use in this age range.”</p>
<p>The researchers also analyzed participants’ drinking behavior over the week following each session. They found no evidence that cannabidiol reduced the number of drinks consumed or the number of drinking days. The only significant predictor of alcohol use during that week was the participant’s baseline drinking level, not whether they had received cannabidiol or placebo.</p>
<p>“Importantly, we just gave a single dose of CBD to see if it affected things that we know are related to alcohol use (like craving),” Kirkland said. “While we did not observe any significant findings in our study, we do not think this is the end of the CBD story for alcohol use disorder. It will be important to test other things, like higher doses, longer term use instead of just one dose, or other ways that CBD might help young people, such as reducing anxiety. Science is always a work in progress!”</p>
<p>The absence of significant effects may reflect several factors, including the short-term nature of the intervention. Many previous studies showing benefits of cannabidiol have used higher doses, longer treatment periods, or adult populations with more established substance use problems. For example, some studies in adults with alcohol use disorder have reported changes in craving and brain activity after several days of cannabidiol administration or after combining it with more intense alcohol-related cues.</p>
<p>It is also possible that the brain systems of younger individuals may be less sensitive to cannabidiol’s effects, or that the cues used in the study were not strong enough to provoke meaningful brain or physiological responses. The researchers noted that taste cues, rather than smells or images, tend to produce more robust reactions, but such methods were not appropriate given that many participants were under the legal drinking age.</p>
<p>Additionally, there were no adverse events reported across any of the sessions, supporting the general safety of a single 600 mg dose of cannabidiol in this population.</p>
<p>While this study did not find evidence of short-term effects, it lays the groundwork for future trials that may examine chronic dosing, different formulations, or combinations with other therapies. The researchers emphasize that longer studies with larger and more diverse samples may be needed to fully evaluate the potential of cannabidiol as a treatment for youth with alcohol use disorder.</p>
<p>“Our study was focused on the potential acute effects of CBD, which means participants only received a single dose of CBD,” Kirkland noted. “It seems likely that CBD may need to be taken for longer periods of time in order to see mechanistic level results like we were interested in.”</p>
<p>“We are so proud of this study! We used very strict methods and tried our best to do the very best science possible. Our team was fantastic, and we could not have done this study without the generous volunteers who participated.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02141-z" target="_blank">The neural and psychophysiological effects of cannabidiol in youth with alcohol use disorder: A randomized controlled clinical trial</a>,” was authored by Anna E. Kirkland, Brittney D. Browning, Lindsay R. Meredith, Elizabeth Robertson, Cori Herring, Rachel L. Tomko, Kevin M. Gray, and Lindsay M. Squeglia.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/from-brain-circuits-to-gut-health-a-new-review-details-the-complex-biology-of-mood-disorders/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">From brain circuits to gut health, a new review details the complex biology of mood disorders</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 13th 2025, 14:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A comprehensive new review published in the journal <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11427-025-3024-y" target="_blank">Science China Life Sciences</a></em> synthesizes decades of research to explain how anxiety and depression arise from a complex interplay of genetic vulnerabilities, environmental stress, and widespread changes in the brain’s biology. The authors provide a detailed roadmap of the underlying mechanisms, from malfunctioning brain circuits to the influence of gut bacteria, offering a clearer picture of why these conditions are so prevalent and pointing toward more personalized and effective treatments.</p>
<p>Anxiety disorders and depression represent a significant global health challenge, affecting individual well-being and placing a heavy burden on society. The review highlights the staggering scale of the problem and the urgent need for a deeper understanding of these conditions.</p>
<p>“Our review shows that over the past two decades, the prevalence of anxiety and depression has continued to rise. In 2021 alone, nearly 700 million people were affected globally. Together, these disorders account for more than 90 million years of healthy life lost each year,” said Professor Wei-Hua Yue, dean of the Peking University Sixth Hospital and a corresponding author of the review. “The COVID-19 pandemic further fueled this trend, adding tens of millions of new cases in 2020. The numbers are truly alarming.”</p>
<p>Professor Yue also pointed out that existing treatments, while beneficial for many, are not a complete solution. “Not all patients respond well. Side effects such as weight gain and emotional blunting are common, and effective options for treatment-resistant cases or older adults are limited,” she noted. “This reality makes it essential to explore the underlying biological mechanisms of these disorders, which will be fundamental for advancing precision psychiatry and tailoring interventions to individual needs.”</p>
<p>One of the most significant advances discussed in the review is the shift toward understanding how entire networks of brain cells, known as neural circuits, become dysfunctional. This approach moves beyond looking at single brain regions in isolation and instead examines how they communicate and work together to regulate mood and emotion.</p>
<p>“We think of neural circuits as the brain’s intricate wiring system, networks of neurons that communicate to regulate specific functions, such as processing emotions or making decisions,” explained Professor Bing-Xing Pan of Nanchang University, the lead researcher of the study. “Rather than studying brain regions in isolation, this approach examines how different regions connect and work together dynamically, much like an electrical grid powering a city.”</p>
<p>Professor Pan’s work has helped identify specific circuit breakdowns linked to symptoms. “For instance, we recently identified that hyperactivity in the prefrontal-amygdala circuit is strongly linked to anxiety-like behaviors, while reduced function in the hippocampus-nucleus accumbens circuit is associated with anhedonia, a core symptom of depression where a person loses the ability to feel pleasure,” he said. “Overactivation of the lateral habenula, often called the brain’s ‘anti-reward center,’ can significantly drive depression-like behaviors. These insights not only expand our understanding of emotional disorders but also highlight new targets for neuromodulation and circuit-based therapies.”</p>
<p>The review provides a thorough analysis of the multiple biological systems that go awry in anxiety and depression. For many years, the leading theory was the “monoamine hypothesis,” which suggested that these conditions were caused by a simple deficiency of neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. While medications that increase these chemicals can be effective, they often take weeks to work and do not help everyone, suggesting a more complex picture. The review explains that these drugs likely initiate a cascade of downstream changes, including promoting the growth of new brain cells and altering signaling pathways, which are responsible for their therapeutic effects.</p>
<p>Beyond serotonin, the review details the dysfunction of the brain’s primary excitatory and inhibitory systems, governed by the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA. Chronic stress can lead to an excess of glutamate in brain regions responsible for emotional control, like the prefrontal cortex, causing a state of over-excitation that damages neurons. At the same time, the brain’s main inhibitory system, which relies on GABA to calm neural activity, can become weakened. This imbalance between excitation and inhibition is considered a core feature of these disorders.</p>
<p>The authors also synthesize evidence on the role of the body’s stress response system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This system releases the stress hormone cortisol. In many people with depression, the HPA axis becomes chronically overactive, leading to sustained high levels of cortisol that can damage the hippocampus, a brain area vital for memory and mood regulation.</p>
<p>Another area of focus is neuroinflammation, the inflammatory response within the brain. The review describes how chronic stress can activate the brain’s resident immune cells, called microglia. When over-activated, these cells release inflammatory molecules that can interfere with neurotransmitter systems and contribute to the death of neurons, fostering a brain environment conducive to depression and anxiety.</p>
<p>Expanding beyond the brain, the review explores the growing field of the body-brain axis, highlighting how peripheral systems influence mental health. The gut-brain axis has received particular attention, as the community of microorganisms in the digestive tract can produce compounds that communicate with the brain. An unhealthy balance of gut bacteria has been consistently linked to both anxiety and depression. Similar communication pathways exist between the brain and other organs, including the liver, lungs, and even bones, indicating that mental health is deeply intertwined with whole-body physiology.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the review serves as a bridge between foundational neuroscience and clinical practice. The detailed understanding of these biological mechanisms is already paving the way for new diagnostic tools and treatments.</p>
<p>“Future studies should integrate cutting-edge technologies with clinical practice, accelerate the discovery of reliable biomarkers, and support the development of cross-diagnostic treatments,” said Professor Qi-Gang Zhou of Nanjing Medical University, a co-corresponding author. “These efforts will be vital for building more precise, effective, and comprehensive strategies to manage mental health disorders.”</p>
<p>By consolidating what is known about the biological underpinnings of anxiety and depression, the researchers provide a framework for the next generation of mental healthcare, one that moves away from a one-size-fits-all model and toward personalized therapies aimed at correcting the specific biological dysfunctions driving an individual’s symptoms.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11427-025-3024-y" target="_blank">Unveiling the enigma of anxiety disorders and depression: from pathogenesis to treatment</a>,” was authored by Han-Qing Pan, Tian Xia, Yu-Ya-Nan Zhang, Hui-Jie Zhang, Meng-Jie Xu, Jing Guo, Yan Liu, Xue-Ying Bai, Qian Liu, Wei-Zhu Liu, Wen-Hua Zhang, Qi-Gang Zhou, Wei-Hua Yue, and Bing-Xing Pan.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/attachment-insecurity-shapes-mentalization-in-interracial-long-distance-relationships/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Attachment insecurity shapes mentalization in interracial long-distance relationships</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 13th 2025, 12:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new study suggests that people in interracial long-distance romantic relationships engage in lower or higher levels of reflective functioning toward their partners depending on their attachment style. The findings, published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.70004" target="_blank">Personal Relationships</a></em>, indicate that attachment insecurity—whether expressed as anxiety or avoidance—plays a central role in shaping how individuals interpret and respond to their partner’s mental states.</p>
<p>Mentalizing refers to the ability to understand another person’s actions in terms of underlying thoughts, feelings, and intentions. When applied to romantic contexts, this capacity is known as partner reflective functioning. It refers to how well individuals can consider their partner’s mental states during interactions, particularly in times of stress or conflict.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that higher levels of partner reflective functioning are linked to greater relationship satisfaction, better communication, and more emotional intimacy. However, researchers have also noted that reflective functioning tends to vary depending on the relationship context and the psychological characteristics of the individual. One such factor is attachment style. </p>
<p>Attachment styles refer to enduring patterns in how people relate to others in close relationships, shaped in part by early caregiving experiences. These styles typically fall along two dimensions: attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. People high in attachment anxiety often worry about being rejected or abandoned. They may be hyperaware of signs that their partner is pulling away and tend to seek reassurance to ease their fears. </p>
<p>In contrast, people high in attachment avoidance tend to keep emotional distance from others. They often prefer self-reliance, may find intimacy uncomfortable, and are less likely to turn to partners for support. People who are high in attachment anxiety or avoidance may struggle to regulate emotions or interpret others’ behaviors accurately, especially when they perceive relationship threats.</p>
<p>Interracial romantic relationships may pose additional challenges to partner reflective functioning. These relationships often involve navigating differences in cultural norms, assumptions, and lived experiences. When partners do not share the same racial or ethnic background, it may be more difficult to interpret each other’s behaviors or emotions based on shared scripts or expectations. This can increase the need for deliberate, effortful mentalizing.</p>
<p>At the same time, the broader literature on intergroup relationships suggests that some individuals—especially those who are secure in their attachment bonds—may be particularly motivated to understand partners from different backgrounds. This dynamic may create both obstacles and opportunities for reflective functioning in interracial romantic relationships. The researchers sought to test how attachment insecurity might interact with relationship type to shape partner reflective functioning in a sample of adults in long-distance relationships.</p>
<p>“We have expertise in interracial couples, partner reflective functioning, and attachment theory independently and this paper was a way of bringing all of those interests together. Partner reflective functioning is a fairly new topic, one that is of particular interest in the context of interracial couples,” said study authors Nicole M. Froidevaux, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Oregon and <a href="https://www.drjessicaborelli.com/" target="_blank">Jessica L. Borelli</a>, a professor at the University of California, Irvine.</p>
<p>The study analyzed data from 307 individuals in long-distance romantic relationships, recruited online in 2013. Participants were excluded if they were part of a separate intervention study, if their relationship distance fell outside the specified range, or if key variables were missing. Participants were categorized as being in either an interracial (90 individuals) or intraracial (215 individuals) romantic relationship based on self-reported racial identities of themselves and their partners.</p>
<p>All participants completed a battery of self-report measures, including the widely used Experiences in Close Relationships scale, which assessed levels of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Participants also completed a narrative-based task designed to measure partner reflective functioning. In this task, they were asked to imagine a stressful relationship scenario in which their partner failed to check in after a social event, and then to answer six open-ended questions about the situation.</p>
<p>Their responses were coded by trained raters based on how well participants considered their own and their partner’s mental states, acknowledged ambiguity or opacity in understanding others’ experiences, and linked emotions to behavior. The final reflective functioning score represented an average across all questions and coders.</p>
<p>The results supported the researchers’ predictions, with several notable patterns emerging. First, for both attachment anxiety and avoidance, higher levels of insecurity were associated with lower partner reflective functioning in interracial relationships compared to intraracial ones. However, this effect only appeared at the higher ends of the attachment insecurity spectrum.</p>
<p>In the case of attachment anxiety, individuals in interracial relationships showed significantly lower reflective functioning than those in intraracial relationships only when anxiety levels were at or above the 91st percentile. For attachment avoidance, the difference was more pronounced. People high in avoidance showed a clear drop in reflective functioning if they were in an interracial relationship, but not if they were in an intraracial one.</p>
<p>At the same time, individuals in interracial relationships who were low in attachment avoidance—suggesting higher attachment security—actually demonstrated higher partner reflective functioning than their intraracial peers. This suggests that when individuals are less inclined to distance themselves emotionally or suppress relationship-related distress, they may be more open to exploring and understanding their partner’s mental and emotional landscape.</p>
<p>“We were surprised to find that low attachment avoidance was associated with high partner reflective functioning for individuals in an interracial relationship,” Froidevaux and Borelli told PsyPost. “This finding suggests that low attachment avoidance allows individuals in interracial relationships to thrive by way of broadening their understanding of their partner through curiosity and emotional exploration. We view this as an important and encouraging finding that may help strengthen community support for interracial relationships.”</p>
<p>The researchers note that this pattern highlights both a risk and a potential strength in interracial relationships. On one hand, attachment insecurity may interfere with the emotional work required to navigate cross-cultural dynamics. On the other hand, when individuals feel secure in their relationships, the diversity and complexity inherent in interracial partnerships may prompt them to engage more deeply with their partner’s inner world.</p>
<p>“Our findings help us to understand that being in an interracial relationship may not be inherently difficult, despite common public misconceptions,” Froidevaux and Borelli explained. “While psychologists often emphasize the role of similarity in relationship success, our results highlight that there are also ways that people can bridge differences to build understanding and love for one another. Importantly, we identify attachment avoidance as a psychological factor that may help explain when interracial couples might struggle and when they might thrive.”</p>
<p>While the study provides new insights into the intersection of attachment, race, and mentalizing in romantic relationships, there are some caveats. The data were collected over a decade ago, and social norms and relationship dynamics may have shifted since that time. The sample consisted of individuals in long-distance relationships, which may differ in important ways from geographically close couples.</p>
<p>“An important limitation is that this study did not test our questions over time,” Froidevaux and Borelli noted. “Therefore, we could not test whether one psychological experience came before the other. This is important because sometimes people begin relationships with backgrounds that make their new relationship more challenging while other times they begin to engage in behaviors in their new relationship that make that relationship more challenging. Testing these questions over time will help us understand which one, if any, aspect of the study was important temporally.”</p>
<p>“We would like to test these questions over time, longitudinally, and we would also like to test these questions in a more generalizable sample of individuals. It would also be valuable to investigate whether partner reflective functioning can be enhanced in this population, for example through brief interventions.”</p>
<p>“Relationships are the cornerstone of health and well-being for humans,” the researchers added. “Openness and acceptance of diverse relationships can allow individuals to access partners who they might not otherwise have thought would be a good match for them. We hope that our work and the work of other scientists can continue to elucidate what factors contribute to thriving interracial, interethnic, interfaith, and intercultural relationships around the world.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.70004" target="_blank">Attachment Insecurity and Partner Reflective Functioning in the Context of Long-Distance Interracial Romantic Relationships</a>,” was authored by Nicole M. Froidevaux, Summer Millwood, Hannah K. Hecht, Hannah Rasmussen, Margaret L. Kerr, David A. Sbarra, and Jessica L. Borelli.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
<p><strong>This information is taken from free public RSS feeds published by each organization for the purpose of public distribution. Readers are linked back to the article content on each organization's website. This email is an unaffiliated unofficial redistribution of this freely provided content from the publishers. </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><s><small><a href="#" style="color:#ffffff;"><a href='https://blogtrottr.com/unsubscribe/565/DY9DKf'>unsubscribe from this feed</a></a></small></s></p>