The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH, pronounced /kæm.eɪtʃ/ KAM-aytch, French: Centre de toxicomanie et de santé mentale) is a psychiatric teaching hospital located in Toronto and ten community locations throughout the province of Ontario, Canada. The hospital was formed in 1998 from the amalgamation of four separate institutions – the Queen Street Mental Health Centre, the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, the Addiction Research Foundation, and the Donwood Institute. It is Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital, and the only stand-alone psychiatric emergency department in Ontario. CAMH has 90 distinct clinical services across inpatient, outpatient, day treatment, and partial hospitalization models. CAMH has been the site of major advancements in psychiatric research, including the discovery of the Dopamine receptor D2.
Limited empirical investigation has explored how women engage with atypical sexuality. Some studies suggest that women may express paraphilic interests through fantasy, rather than action. The current study examined the expression of atypical sexuality on Wattpad, a popular fiction-based website whose readership is primarily female. Using 123 search terms based on a variety of sexual interests, data were collected on 102 distinct stories. A thematic analysis of the most popular stories (n = 11), ranging from 11,300,000 to 196,000,000 reads, revealed themes including masochism, exophilia, homoeroticism, age gap relationships, pseudo-incest, and coercion. The motifs that intertwined power, control, innocence, objectification, taboo, coercion, and otherness highlight the nuanced ways in which erotic desires reflect or challenge societal norms and personal boundaries. The results may not be clinically concerning in isolation; however, the cumulative effect of consuming taboo or harmful sexual content may have implications for sexual development among vulnerable audiences who may use fiction as a blueprint for understanding sexual dynamics. This exploratory study offers preliminary insights into how written erotica may serve as an outlet for female expression of atypical sexual fantasies, warranting further empirical research on paraphilic themes expressed through written media.
Southeast Asia plays a vital role in the global alcohol trade, with rapid economic growth and increasing intra-regional travel contributing to shifts in alcohol consumption. This descriptive review of publicly available data sources aims to assess the extent to which alcohol control policies in Southeast Asia align with the World Health Organization (WHO)'s SAFER framework. Data on alcohol consumption, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, religious demographics, and life expectancy were obtained from recent publicly available sources, including the World Bank Group and the WHO. Policy data were collected from official legal documents in each country's official language(s). Measures targeting drink-driving, alcohol availability, and alcohol advertising were most frequently implemented. All countries had some form of alcohol taxation, although levels and structures varied. Treatment services for alcohol use disorders were seldom available. The findings highlight key policy gaps and regional disparities in alcohol regulation. These insights may guide policymakers and stakeholders in developing more effective and harmonized alcohol control strategies. Limitations of the review include the lack of detailed data on policy enforcement and the exclusion of alcohol-related policies not covered by the SAFER framework.
The development of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers targeting α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregates remains a major challenge in PET imaging of neurodegenerative diseases. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advances, key obstacles, and aims to give future directions for the development of α-syn PET tracers. The first part of the review focuses on the experimental strategies to develop potential α-syn PET ligands. We overview the differences between various types of α-syn fibrils, including preformed fibrils and patient-derived fibrils, and methods such as solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and cryogenic electron microscopy used for structure elucidation of the fibrils. Furthermore, the review summarizes the techniques for the assessment of ligand binding to α-syn, such as fibril binding assays (competition and saturation binding assays), macro- and microautoradiography, and alternative methods like surface plasmon resonance and biolayer interferometry. Determination of pharmacokinetics and metabolism are likewise important steps in α-syn tracer development, and hurdles and merits of in vitro and in vivo methods are contemplated, in the context of translation to in vivo evaluation in fibril-inoculated and transgenic animal models. Finally, off-target binding of tracer candidates is described, which still remains one of the major pitfalls of α-syn-targeting PET tracers. The second part of the review overviews all small molecule α-syn PET tracers developed since 2022, highlighting their progress, current limitations, and future directions for achieving clinically viable α-syn PET imaging agents.
Indigenous Peoples have cultivated and protected natural psychoactive medicines through ceremony, kinship, and spiritual responsibility across generations, yet their long-standing contributions have often been marginalized through extractive research, commercialization, and policy exclusion. It is Indigenous communities that have stewarded and gained expertise working with psychoactive medicines for centuries, yet they remain underrepresented within the scientific discourse. This commentary advances the case for reciprocal and equitable collaboration in psychedelic science, grounded in Indigenous sovereignty, cultural and intellectual property rights, and governance. Drawing on traditions involving ayahuasca, psilocybin, peyote, and iboga, we illustrate how Indigenous methodologies, including ritual, community-based practices, and ecological approaches, offer insights critical to both safety and efficacy. We argue that research and policy must embed free, prior, and informed consent, equitable benefit-sharing, and Indigenous leadership. Such efforts require moving past tokenistic inclusion toward meaningful collaboration and systemic change in psychedelic research that is both scientifically rigorous and culturally just. We conclude by calling for more formal, transparent, and globally legitimate convening processes, such as those modeled on WHO global consultations, that can bring Indigenous leaders, researchers, and policymakers together in dialogue. These steps represent profound acts of inclusion essential for these medicines to realize their full potential to heal and transform.
