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Teen THC Increased Anxiety-Like Behavior in Adult Rats

A 2026 rat study found that 21 days of late-adolescent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure produced adult anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze and weaker novel object recognition than vehicle exposure. The controlled animal result gives a biologically anchored model for why repeated high-THC exposure during development remains a real concern.1 Research Highlights Late-adolescent THC exposure …

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SMART Texts Raised Diabetes Confidence in Schizophrenia

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A 12-week text-message intervention for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders improved diabetes self-management confidence and patient activation, but it did not yet move weight, HbA1c, physical activity, or psychiatric symptoms. SMART looked feasible and psychologically useful in this uncontrolled pilot; cardiometabolic outcomes need a full-scale randomized trial with longer follow-up.1 Research Highlights SMART was tested …

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Early Clozapine in Schizophrenia: 34% Lower Relapse Risk

Stylized illustration of a stopwatch overlaying schizophrenia treatment-stage icons, representing the multi-year delay before clozapine is offered to patients who already meet treatment-resistance criteria.

Clozapine has been the most effective antipsychotic in schizophrenia for almost 40 years, yet it is still routinely held back until patients have failed multiple alternatives over many years — a “third-line, after years of failure” default that a 2026 Current Opinion review by Davani et al. argues is no longer supported by the evidence.1 …

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Music During Ketamine Did Not Improve Resistant Depression

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Adding music to ketamine psychotherapy failed to provide extra antidepressant benefit over matched non-music support in a 2026 randomized clinical trial (RCT; a study that assigns participants to groups by chance), even though the full 6-infusion ketamine-psychotherapy course was followed by large depression-score reductions. Research Highlights Music added no confirmed MADRS benefit: in the MUSIK …

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GLP-1 Drugs Suppress Reward Feeding Through an Amygdala-Dopamine Circuit

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GLP-1 drugs are usually described as appetite drugs, but a 2026 Nature mouse study mapped a more specific reward circuit: small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonists suppressed palatable-food intake through Glp1r-expressing central-amygdala neurons that reduced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens during high-fat-food retrieval.1 That mechanism makes binge-eating and substance-use hypotheses more plausible without turning an animal …

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Stop-Signal Task Links Cannabis Use to Decision Efficiency, Not Inhibition

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A 2026 IMAGEN stop-signal task analysis found that evidence accumulation, response caution, and go-failure probability predicted cigarette-plus-cannabis use at ages 19 and 23, while inhibition parameters showed no apparent substance-use association.1 The calibrated reading is direct: conventional “poor inhibition” language may be too crude when the cigarette-plus-cannabis signal sits in general decision-making efficiency instead. Research …

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Aripiprazole Oculogyric Crisis in Tourette Tics: 2 Cases at 20-30 mg

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A 2026 Neurological Sciences brief communication added 2 Tourette syndrome cases of aripiprazole-related oculogyric crisis — sustained, involuntary upward eye deviation from extraocular-muscle dystonia — after titration to 20 mg and 30 mg daily, with remission after dose reduction.1 Research Highlights 2 new Tourette cases: Cavanna et al. reported oculogyric crisis in females aged 16 …

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