In brief
Russia calls for war on drugs
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for all "judicial, administrative
and educational" methods to be used to combat drug use and importation into
Russia, reports the weekly health review Import. In a September address to the Security
Council that was broadcast throughout Russia, Putin likened the narcotics industry
to international terrorism and vowed to "close all channels of distribution
for narcotics, both externally and internally." Putin also called for an increase
in the number of drug rehabilitation centres, especially for impoverished people
with addictions.
Sleep patterns predict adolescent
depression
Adolescents with reduced REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and intense eye movements
during REM sleep may be at risk for depression or its recurrence. The finding is
a result of an investigation into the longitudinal clinical course of depression
and its predictors in adolescents undertaken by researchers at UCLA. Twenty per cent
of adolescents in the study exhibiting this sleep pattern developed depression. As
depression is undertreated in adolescents, and children with depression often have
difficulty adjusting to adult life, this finding may make it easier for doctors to
screen for and begin treating depression.
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