The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research.NIMH is the largest research organization in the world specializing in mental illness. Joshua A. Gordon is the current director of NIMH. The institute was first authorized by the U.S. government in 1946, when then President Harry Truman signed into law the National Mental Health Act, although the institute was not formally established until 1949.NIMH is a $1.5 billion enterprise, supporting research on mental health through grants to investigators at institutions and organizations throughout the United States and through its own internal (intramural) research effort. The mission of NIMH is "to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure."In order to fulfill this mission, NIMH "must foster innovative thinking and ensure that a full array of novel scientific perspectives are used to further discovery in the evolving science of brain, behavior, and experience. In this way, breakthroughs in science can become breakthroughs for all people with mental illnesses.S.
In 2017, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved reimbursement for billing codes specific to the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), an evidence-based practice for improving access and quality of behavioral health services in primary care. However, it remains unclear how reimbursement through these billing codes aligns with applications of CoCM for complex patient populations, such as those with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. We examined the reimbursement potential of CoCM intervention activities documented during a pragmatic clinical trial of CoCM for patients with opioid use disorder co-occurring with depression and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. We defined reimbursement potential based on federal (i.e., Medicare) CoCM billing code rules and reimbursement rates, as of 2024. Across 381 patients and 10 care managers (i.e., the CoCM interventionists), we documented 90,996 total intervention activity minutes in the project’s care management registry. Under ideal conditions where all CoCM billing codes can be and are used, a maximum of 56
Older adults are disproportionately affected by suicide, yet suicidal ideation in this population remains underexplored. This study examines gender-specific risk factors and regional differences in late-life suicidal ideation across Nordic and Visegrad countries, with loneliness as a key social determinant. This study analysed data from 11,712 participants aged 50 years and older from seven European countries (Nordic and Visegrad regions), drawing on Wave 8 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Logistic regression was used to examine gender- and region-specific associations with late-life suicidal ideation. Increased loneliness was strongly associated with higher odds of suicidal thoughts in both men and women. Higher education acts as a protective factor, with middle and high education reducing risk in men, and high education reducing risk in women. Living with a partner lowers suicidal thoughts for women but not for men. Age showed no consistent association, and Nordic men show a lower risk compared to their Visegrad counterparts, whereas no regional differences observed for women. Social and contextual factors, especially loneliness, education, and partnership, shape late-life suicidal ideation in gender- and region-specific ways, highlighting the need for targeted preventive interventions.
Age is a major common risk factor underlying neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Previous studies reported that chronological age correlates with differential gene expression across different brain regions. However, prior datasets have not disambiguated whether expression associations with age are due to changes in cell numbers and/or gene expression per cell. In this study, we leveraged single nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNAseq) to examine changes in cell proportions and transcriptomes in four different brain regions, each from 12 donors aged 20-30 years (young) or 60-85 years (old). We sampled 155,192 nuclei from two cortical regions (entorhinal cortex and middle temporal gyrus) and two subcortical regions (putamen and subventricular zone) relevant to neurodegenerative diseases or the proliferative niche. We found no changes in cellular composition of different brain regions with healthy aging. Surprisingly, we did find that each brain region has a distinct aging signature, with only minor overlap in differentially associated genes across regions. Moreover, each cell type shows distinct age-associated expression changes, including loss of protein synthesis genes in cortical inhibitory neurons, axonogenesis genes in excitatory neurons and oligodendrocyte precursor cells, enhanced gliosis markers in astrocytes and disease-associated markers in microglia, and genes critical for neuron-glia communication. Importantly, we find cell type-specific enrichments of age associations with genes nominated by Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease genome-wide association studies (GWAS), such as apolipoprotein E ( APOE ), and leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 ( LRRK2 ) in microglia that are independent of overall expression levels across cell types. We present this data as a new resource which highlights, first, region- and cell type-specific transcriptomic changes in healthy aging that may contribute to selective vulnerability and, second, provide context for testing GWAS-nominated disease risk genes in relevant subtypes and developing more targeted therapeutic strategies. The data is readily accessible without requirement for extensive computational support in a public website, https://brainexp-hykyffa56a-uc.a.run.app/ Graphical Abstract *Created using Biorender.com Highlights Establishment of a single nuclei atlas of human aging in four brain regions Each region and cell type exhibits a unique aging-associated transcriptome signature Gene expression changes occur in absence of overt cell loss and are categorically unique across cell types Neurological disease-associated genes have age-associated expression patterns in specific cell types in the context of healthy aging
This roadmap provides a comprehensive and forward-looking perspective on the individualized application and safety of non-ionizing radiation (NIR) dosimetry in diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. Covering a wide range of frequencies, i.e., from low-frequency to terahertz, this document provides an overview of the current state of the art and anticipates future research needs in selected key topics of NIR-based medical applications. It also emphasizes the importance of personalized dosimetry, rigorous safety evaluation, and interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure safe and effective integration of NIR technologies in modern therapy and diagnosis.
The use of noninvasive transcranial brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS), and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), has grown significantly over the past two decades. Evidence indicates that the dose-response relationship in brain stimulation is neither straightforward nor monotonic, with outcomes influenced by factors such as the brain state, anatomical variability, and neurophysiological mechanisms. Despite advancements in the field, there is still no consensus on standards for estimating and reporting delivered and received stimulation doses or defining dose-response relationships. This paper addresses these gaps by discussing four key areas: (1) factors influencing the delivered dose (stimulation parameters applied at the scalp), (2) quantification of the received dose (electric or acoustic fields delivered to brain tissue), (3) characterization of physiological, behavioral, and molecular responses to specific delivered/received doses, and (4) the dose-response relationship, which describes how variations in dose modulate brain function and behavior. Drawing on evidence from human and animal studies conducted in silico, in vitro, and in vivo, we outline challenges, propose solutions, and summarize current consensus standards. By promoting rigorous methodologies and transparent reporting, this paper aims to advance the reproducibility, safety, and efficacy of research on dose-response assessment in transcranial brain stimulation and its clinical applications.
