Source: Medical Xpress

GLYX-13, a molecular cousin to ketamine, induces similar antidepressant results without the street drug side effects, reported a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that was published last month in Neuropsychopharmacology.

Major depression affects about 10 percent of the adult population and is the second leading cause of disability in U.S. adults, according to the World Health Organization. Despite the availability of several different classes of antidepressant drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), 30 to 40 percent of adults are unresponsive to these medications. Moreover, SSRIs typically take weeks to work, which increases the risk for suicide.

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GLYX-13 and ketamine produced rapid acting (1 hour) and long-lasting (24 hour) antidepressant-like effects in the rats. Fluoxetine, an SSRI that typically takes from 2-4 weeks to show efficacy in humans, did not produce a rapid antidepressant effect in this study. As expected, the scrambled GLYX-13 showed any antidepressant-like effects. The researchers observed none of the aforementioned side effects of ketamine in the GLYX-13-treated rats.

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The results are consistent with data from a recent Phase 2 clinical trial, in which a single administration of GLYX-13 produced statistically significant reductions in depression scores in patients who had failed treatment with current antidepressants. The reductions were evident within 24 hours and persisted for an average of 7 days. After a single dose of GLYX-13, the drug's antidepressant efficacy nearly doubled that seen with most conventional antidepressants after 4-6 weeks of dosing. GLYX-13 was well tolerated and it did not produce any of the schizophrenia-like effects associated with other NMDA receptor modulating agents.

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Read more: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-ketamine-cousin-rapidly-depression-side.html

Source: Courthouse News Service

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has directed electrical grid regulators to address the impact of solar flares on electrical grid operation, according to a new regulation.

The FERC is requiring the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to submit reliability standards that would help protect the power grid from failure in case of a major "geomagnetic disturbance."

Geomagnetic disturbances are caused by "space weather," a term used to describe changes in plasma, magnetic fields, radiation and other matter that is carried through space by solar winds. Geomagnetic disturbances are sometimes called solar flares, which are related to the disturbances.

The FERC, under the direction of the Department of Energy and the Federal Power Act, asked the NERC to implement its directive in two parts. First, the NERC has six months from the rule's effective date to submit "one or more reliability standards that require owners and operators of the bulk-power system to develop and implement operational procedures to mitigate the effects of geomagnetic disturbances consistent with the reliable operation of the bulk-power system," according to the FERC's action.

The second stage gives the NERC 18 months to develop one or more reliability standards that require owners and operators of facilities connected to the power grid to conduct initial and "on-going" assessments of the potential impact of "benchmark" geomagnetic disturbances on their equipment and on the grid as a whole.

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Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/05/30/58039.htm

Via http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2013/05/in_the_news.html

Source: Associated Press

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has warned against the danger of Iran’s nuclear program to the region’s security and said Iran should not threaten its neighbors since countries in the region harbor no ill-intentions to the Islamic Republic.

“We stress the danger of the Iranian nuclear program to the security of the whole region,” Prince Saud said Saturday in a joint news conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in the city of Jiddah.

Turning to Syria, he also that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime should have no role in the country’s future.

Saudi Arabia announced last week the arrest of 10 more members of an alleged Iranian spy ring.


Read more: http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-foreign-minister-calls-irans-nuclear-program-danger-to-regions-security/2013/05/25/f6a03b3c-c53d-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html

Source: Reuters

More babies born via cesarean section grow up to be heavy kids and teens than those delivered vaginally, according to a new study of more than 10,000 UK infants.

Eleven-year-olds delivered by C-section, for example, were 83 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than their vaginally-born peers once other related factors - such as their mother's weight and how long they were breastfed - were taken into account.

The findings are in line with a recent review of nine earlier studies that also found a link between C-sections and childhood obesity (see Reuters Health story of December 12, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/TV6GwC ).

With C-sections, "there may be long-term consequences to children that we don't know about," said Dr. Jan Blustein, who led the new study at the New York University School of Medicine.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/24/us-c-sections-tied-to-child-obesity-idUSBRE94N0NS20130524

Source: New York Times

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, bluntly told a North Korean envoy Friday that his country should return to diplomatic talks designed to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, according to a state-run Chinese news agency.

“The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and lasting peace on the peninsula is what the people want and also the trend of the times,” Mr. Xi said in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People with Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, a personal envoy of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, the China News Service reported.

Vice Marshal Choe, who has been in Beijing for three days on a mission to repair the prickly relationship between North Korea and China, handed Mr. Xi a letter from Mr. Kim. The contents were not disclosed.

In telling the North it should return to the negotiating table, Mr. Xi appeared to strike a stern tone, saying, “The Chinese position is very clear: no matter how the situation changes, relevant parties should all adhere to the goal of denuclearization of the peninsula, persist in safeguarding its peace and stability, and stick to solving problems through dialogue and consultation.”

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/asia/china-tells-north-korea-to-return-to-nuclear-talks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Source: Bloomberg

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is changing its strategy for rewriting the country’s pacifist constitution ahead of parliamentary elections in July, a party executive said.

The LDP will omit from its platform Abe’s pledge to first make it easier to overhaul the constitution by lowering the bar for enacting amendments, party policy chief Sanae Takaichi said today in Tokyo. Abe has repeatedly called for changing Article 96 of the charter to allow parliament to pass amendments by a simple majority rather than the current two-thirds.

“This isn’t about what may or may not come of Article 96, but about constitutional reform, which is firmly written into the platform,” Takaichi told reporters.

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The prime minister advocates revising the constitution for the first time as part of plans to strengthen the military as Japan confronts a territorial conflict with China and threats from North Korea’s nuclear program. The U.S.-drafted document was imposed on Japan after World War II and the LDP has advocated changing it since the party was founded in 1955.

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Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-24/ldp-alters-abe-s-constitutional-pledge-in-japan-election-plans.html

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