SPACE

$3.5M grant to Georgia State will fuel space research across the globe

New funding for GSU’s CHARA Array allows astronomers to conduct research through an open-access application system.

Georgia State University

 

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Research conducted at the CHARA Array is focused on studying the astrophysical properties of stars in extremely fine detail.

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Credit: Courtesy: Georgia State University

ATLANTA — A new three-year, $3.5 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation will foster new research at Georgia State’s Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array by astronomers from around the world.

The grant will fund open-access time at the CHARA Array through the NSF National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF NOIRLab). The program offers astronomers the opportunity to apply for observing time at the CHARA Array to investigate all kinds of objects in the sky. Research conducted at the array is focused on studying the astrophysical properties of stars in extremely fine detail.

“We are thrilled to host these international teams of scientists to use the facilities here at the CHARA Array,” said Gail Schaefer, director of the array. “This program brings together collaborators who can share their expertise and achieve new milestones in most areas of contemporary astronomy, and specifically to the field of stellar astrophysics.”

Georgia State’s CHARA Array interferometer at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California combines the light of six telescopes spread across the mountaintop. While the views through each telescope are relatively small, when combined, they achieve the spatial resolution of a much larger telescope. This configuration gives the CHARA Array the sharpest eyes in the world for visible and infrared wavelengths.

The six domes of the CHARA Array house individual telescopes that act together to create an equivalent as large as the entire Mount Wilson Observatory grounds.

The demand for time on the CHARA Array has been extremely high due to its significance as a resource for the international research community. With the new National Science Foundation grant, the program will make 100 nights per year available to the global research community via an application system. CHARA staff members also provide scientific and technical support to assist new users at the array.

CHARA Director and Regents' Professor of Physics and Astronomy Douglas Gies said the new funding will allow astronomers to fulfill plans to explore stars in exquisite detail.

“The National Science Foundation award is the key to open the array to the best ideas about new avenues for research,” he said. “There will be remarkable new results coming soon about stars, planets and distant active galaxies.”

It has been nearly 15 years since CHARA first offered access to the array to the general community in 2010. Initially, only a limited number of 10 nights per year were available through a trial program. Thanks to its success, CHARA has been able to expand the program for open competition through NOIRLab. To date, more than 400 astronomers have led observational programs at CHARA through the open-access program.

“CHARA runs the best optical and infrared interferometer in the world and delivers the highest resolution observations possible at these wavelengths,” said Nigel Sharp, a program director in NSF’s Division of Astronomical Sciences. “It is exciting to see that such observations can be delivered routinely and that CHARA’s sought-after capabilities are now available to non-experts in the research community.”

mes of the CHARA Array house individual telescopes that act together to create an equivalent as large as the entire Mount Wilson Observatory grounds. 

Credit

Courtesy: Georgia State University/CHARA Array

Already, the program has led to exciting breakthroughs including detailed images of the surfaces of nearby stars, new high-resolution images of a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy, the first images of a nova as it exploded, the sharpest images of young planet-forming disks around stars and evidence that groups of stars can tear apart their planet-forming disk, leaving it with tilted rings.

“We anticipate significant impact through the open-application program supported by the National Science Foundation,” said Donald Hamelberg, Georgia State’s interim vice president for research and economic development. “This program not only fosters scientific collaboration but also attracts renowned scientists from across the globe to conduct groundbreaking research using the CHARA Array."

Thanks to the layout of the telescopes, the length of its baselines and the range of wavelengths covered by its beam combiner cameras, the CHARA Array is uniquely powerful for milliarcsecond imaging research. For example, the array can measure objects as small as a dime as viewed from a distance of 6,000 miles.

The CHARA Array is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation and Georgia State University through the College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. For more information about Georgia State University research and its impact, visit research.gsu.edu.

NASA’s Webb peers into the extreme outer

 galaxy

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

 

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Scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine select star-forming areas in the Extreme Outer Galaxy in near- and mid-infrared light. Within this star-forming region, known as Digel Cloud 2S, the telescope observed young, newly formed stars and their extended jets of material. This Webb image also shows a dense sea of background galaxies and red nebulous structures within the region. In this image, colors were assigned to different filters from Webb’s MIRI and NIRCam: red (F1280W, F770W, F444W), green (F356W, F200W), and blue (F150W; F115W).

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Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Ressler (JPL)

Astronomers have directed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists call this region the Extreme Outer Galaxy due to its location more than 58,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. (For comparison, Earth is approximately 26,000 light-years from the center.)

A team of scientists used Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to image select regions within two molecular clouds known as Digel Clouds 1 and 2. With its high degree of sensitivity and sharp resolution, the Webb data resolved these areas, which are hosts to star clusters undergoing bursts of star formation, in unprecedented detail. Details of this data include components of the clusters such as very young (Class 0) protostars, outflows and jets, and distinctive nebular structures.

These Webb observations, which came from telescope time allocated to Mike Ressler of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, are enabling scientists to study star formation in the outer Milky Way in the same depth of detail as observations of star formation in our own solar neighborhood.

“In the past, we knew about these star forming regions but were not able to delve into their properties,” said Natsuko Izumi of Gifu University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, lead author of the study. “The Webb data builds upon what we have incrementally gathered over the years from prior observations with different telescopes and observatories. We can get very powerful and impressive images of these clouds with Webb. In the case of Digel Cloud 2, I did not expect to see such active star formation and spectacular jets.”

Stars in the Making

Although the Digel Clouds are within our galaxy, they are relatively poor in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. This composition makes them similar to dwarf galaxies and our own Milky Way in its early history. Therefore, the team took the opportunity to use Webb to capture the activity occurring in four clusters of young stars within Digel Clouds 1 and 2: 1A, 1B, 2N, and 2S.

For Cloud 2S, Webb captured the main cluster containing young, newly formed stars. This dense area is quite active as several stars are emitting extended jets of material along their poles. Additionally, while scientists previously suspected a sub-cluster might be present within the cloud, Webb’s imaging capabilities confirmed its existence for the first time. 

“We know from studying other nearby star-forming regions that as stars form during their early life phase, they start emitting jets of material at their poles,” said Ressler, second author of the study and principal investigator of the observing program. “What was fascinating and astounding to me from the Webb data is that there are multiple jets shooting out in all different directions from this cluster of stars. It’s a little bit like a firecracker, where you see things shooting this way and that.”

The Saga of Stars

The Webb imagery skims the surface of the Extreme Outer Galaxy and the Digel Clouds, and is just a starting point for the team. They intend to revisit this outpost in the Milky Way to find answers to a variety of current mysteries, including the relative abundance of stars of various masses within Extreme Outer Galaxy star clusters. This measurement can help astronomers understand how a particular environment can influence different types of stars during their formation.

“I’m interested in continuing to study how star formation is occurring in these regions. By combining data from different observatories and telescopes, we can examine each stage in the evolution process,” said Izumi. “We also plan to investigate circumstellar disks within the Extreme Outer Galaxy. We still don’t know why their lifetimes are shorter than in star-forming regions much closer to us. And of course, I’d like to understand the kinematics of the jets we detected in Cloud 2S.”

Though the story of star formation is complex and some chapters are still shrouded in mystery, Webb is gathering clues and helping astronomers unravel this intricate tale.

These findings have been published in the Astronomical Journal.

The observations were taken as part of Guaranteed Time Observation program 1237.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

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View/Download the research results from the Astronomical Journal.

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Journal

The Astronomical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-3881/ad4e2e 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Article Title

Overview Results of JWST Observations of Star-forming Clusters in the Extreme Outer Galaxy

SpaceX-Polaris crew poised to attempt first private spacewalk

By Joey Roulette, Reuters


Polaris Dawn astronauts Anna Menon (L), Scott "Kidd" Poteet (2L), Jared Isaacman (2R) and Sarah Gillis (R). Photo: SpaceX/AFP

A group of private astronauts is set to carry out the first private spacewalk in orbit on Thursday from a SpaceX capsule, testing a new line of spacesuits in the company's riskiest mission yet.

A billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees have been orbiting Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon since their pre-dawn launch from Florida on Tuesday for the Polaris Dawn mission, the Elon Musk-led company's latest and riskiest bid to push the boundaries of commercial spaceflight.

The spacewalk is slated to begin at 2:23am ET (0623 GMT / 6.23pm NZT) at 700km in altitude, with two astronauts venturing outside Crew Dragon while the other two remain inside. The capsule will be completely depressurised, and the whole crew will need to rely on their slim, SpaceX-developed spacesuits for oxygen.

Jared Isaacman, 41, a pilot and the billionaire founder of electronic payment company Shift4, is bankrolling the Polaris mission, as he did for his Inspiration4 flight with SpaceX in 2021. He has declined to say how much he is paying for the missions, but they are likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars based on Crew Dragon's roughly US$55 million (NZ$89m) per-seat price for other flights.

The others in Polaris include mission pilot Scott Poteet, 50, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis, 30, and Anna Menon, 38, both senior engineers at the company.
Farthest since Apollo

The Crew Dragon spacecraft throughout Wednesday circled Earth at least six times in an oval-shaped orbit as shallow on one end as 190km and stretching out as far as 1400km, the farthest in space humans have travelled since the last US Apollo mission in 1972.

The gumdrop-shaped spacecraft then began to lower its orbit into a peak 700km position and adjust its cabin pressure to prepare for the spacewalk, more formally called Extravehicular Activity (EVA), the Polaris program said in a social media post on Wednesday evening.

"The crew also spent a few hours demonstrating the suit's pressurised mobility, verifying positions and accessibility in microgravity along with preparing the cabin for the EVA," it said.

During the spacewalk, Isaacman and Gillis will exit the Crew Dragon tethered by an oxygen line while Poteet and Menon stay inside the cabin.

Only government astronauts with several years of training have done spacewalks in the past. There have been roughly 270 on the International Space Station (ISS) since its creation in 2000, and 16 by Chinese astronauts on Beijing's Tiangong space station.

The first US spacewalk was in 1965, aboard a Gemini capsule, and used a similar procedure to the one planned for Polaris Dawn: the capsule was depressurised, the hatch opened, and a spacesuited astronaut ventured outside on a tether.

The private Polaris astronauts during the mission will be key subjects for a range of scientific research into how the human body reacts to deep space, adding to decades of astronaut health studies enabled by government astronauts on the ISS.

Crew Dragon, the only US vehicle capable of reliably putting humans in orbit and returning them to Earth, since 2021 has flown more than a dozen astronaut missions, mainly for NASA. The agency seeded development of the capsule under a program meant to establish commercial, privately built US vehicles capable of ferrying US astronauts to and from the ISS.

Boeing's Starliner capsule was also developed under that NASA program, but it is farther behind. Starliner launched its first astronauts to the ISS in June in a troubled test mission that ended this month with the capsule coming back empty, leaving its crew on the space station for a Crew Dragon capsule to fetch next year.

- Reuters

 

Wildfire smoke exposure boosts risk of mental illness in youth, study suggests

The study of 10,000 youth is among the first to explore how particulate pollution impacts the adolescent brain

University of Colorado at Boulder

Each additional day of exposure to wildfire smoke and other extreme forms of dirty air boosts risk of mental illness in youth a little more, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study of 10,000 9 to 11 year olds.

“We found that a greater number of days with fine particulate air pollution levels above EPA standards was associated with increased symptoms of mental illness, both during the year of exposure and up to one year later,” said first author Harry Smolker, a research associate with CU’s Institute of Cognitive Science.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, comes as smoke from Southern California fires blankets much of the West, thickening skies as far away as Las Vegas and parts of Colorado. While annual average air quality has generally improved in recent decades due to limits on emissions from combustion engines, more frequent fires have created a new problem: more days with severe levels of tiny particles of burnt things —a.k.a. particulate matter—in the air.

“We are entering a new age in which we are experiencing unprecedented levels of exposure to particulates multiple times a year,” said Smolker. “We need to understand what these extreme events are doing to young people, their brains and their behavior.”

The pollution, mental health link

While scientists have known for years that air pollution can harm lung and heart health, they’ve only recently begun to explore its impact on cognition and behavior.

Some studies show that PM 2.5, particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, may be small enough to slip across the blood-brain barrier, inflaming tissue, damaging cells and igniting an immune response that can fuel both acute and longer-term brain changes.

Hospital admissions for depression, suicide attempts and psychotic episodes have been shown to increase in adults on high pollution days. And when pregnant people are exposed to high levels of particulates, their children are more likely to have motor deficits and cognitive impairments later in life, studies suggest.

Smolker’s study is among the first to look at potential impacts on adolescents, whose brains are still developing.

The team analyzed data from 10,000 pre-teens participating in the ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study— the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States. CU Boulder is one of 21 ABCD research sites.

They looked at participant addresses and historical air quality data to determine how many days in 2016 youth were exposed to PM2.5 levels above 35 micrograms per cubic meter (35ug/m3) – the level the Environmental Protection Agency deems unsafe.

About one-third were exposed to at least one day above the EPA standard. One participant was exposed to unsafe levels for 173 days. The highest level of exposure reported was 199 micrograms/m3 – more than five times the level deemed safe.

When looking at parent questionnaires at four time points over three years, the researchers found that, across both genders, each additional day of exposure at unsafe levels boosted the likelihood of a youth having symptoms of depression, anxiety and other “internalizing symptoms” up to one year later.

This was after accounting for a wide variety of potentially confounding factors, including race, socioeconomic status and, notably, parental mental health. Even when parents did not report symptoms, their children often did.

“This suggests that PM2.5 exposure may have specific impacts on youth distinct from inpacts on their parents,” Smolker said.

Each day counts

Repeated high levels of exposure had a far greater influence on risk than annual averages or maximum levels did, suggesting that each additional day of breathing poor air counts.

For each day of unsafe exposure, risk went up .1 points on average on a scale of 1 to 50.

“This is relatively small, but not trivial,” Smolker said, noting that PM2.5 is just one of the myriad pollutants in the “exposome” — the collection of environmental exposures that shape children’s development. “Collectively they can add up.”

Some youth may be genetically predisposed to be even more vulnerable to the cognitive and behavioral impacts of air pollution, he notes.

While particulate matter can emerge from many sources, including traffic and industry, study co-author Colleen Reid, a geographer with the Institute for Behavioral Science at CU Boulder, suspects that most of the exposures in the study were due at least in part to wildfire smoke.

“Wildfire smoke events are becoming more and more common, and this study adds to a growing body of evidence that they can impact our health,” Reid said.

 

 

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Journal

Environmental Health Perspectives

DOI

10.1289/EHP13427 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The Association between Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution and the Trajectory of Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors during Late Childhood and Early Adolescence: Evidence from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

 

Research reveals reality of Ice Age teen puberty

University of Victoria

 

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Reconstruction of Romito 2, a 16-year-old teenager with a form of dwarfism who lived 11,000 years ago in southern Italy.

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Credit: Illustration: Olivier Graveleau

Landmark new research shows Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day adolescents. In a study published today in the Journal of Human Evolution of the timing of puberty in Pleistocene teens, researchers are addressing a knowledge gap about how early humans grew up.

Found in the bones of 13 ancient humans between 10 and 20 years old is evidence of puberty stages. Co-led by University of Victoria (UVic) paleoanthropologist April Nowell, researchers found specific markers in the bones that allowed them to assess the progress of adolescence.

“By analyzing specific areas of the skeleton, we inferred things like menstruation and someone’s voice breaking,” says Nowell.

The technique was developed by lead author Mary Lewis from the University of Reading. Lewis’s technique evaluates the mineralization of the canines and maturation of the bones of the hand, elbow, wrist, neck and pelvis to identify the stage of puberty reached by the individual at their time of death.

“This is the first time my puberty stage estimation method has been applied to Paleolithic fossils and it is also the oldest application of another method—peptide analysis—for biological sex estimation,” says Lewis.

Life during prehistory was believed to be as Thomas Hobbes described: “nasty, brutish and short.” However, this new study shows these teens were actually quite healthy. Most individuals in the study sample entered puberty by 13.5, reaching full adulthood between 17 and 22 years old. This indicates these Ice Age adolescents started puberty at a similar time to teens in modern, wealthy countries.

“It can sometimes be difficult for us to connect with the remote past, but we all went through puberty even if we experienced it differently,” says Nowell. “Our research helps to humanize these teens in a way that simply studying stone tools cannot.”

One of the 13 skeletons examined was “Romito 2,” an adolescent estimated to be male and the earliest known individual with a form of dwarfism. This new research on puberty assessment provides further information about Romito 2’s likely physical appearance and his social role.

Since he was mid-way through puberty, his voice would be deeper much like an adult male and he would have been able to father children; however, he may still have appeared quite youthful with fine facial hair. Due to his short height, his appearance would have been closer to that of a child, which may have had implications for how he was perceived by his community.

“The specific information about the physical appearance and developmental stage of these Ice Age adolescents derived from our puberty study provides a new lens through which to interpret their burials and treatment in death,” says archaeologist Jennifer French of the University of Liverpool, one of the co-authors of the study.

Researchers from six institutions collaborated internationally to develop this body of knowledge: UVic (Canada), University of Reading and University of Liverpool (UK), Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology of Monaco (Monaco), University of Cagliari (Italy) and University of Siena (Italy). The collaboration continues with research into the lives of Ice Age teenagers and their social roles.

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, in addition to Nowell’s Lansdowne Fellowship Award.

Dr. Mary Lewis from the University of Reading (UK) inspects the skeletal remains of Romito 2 found in southern Italy.

Credit

University of Reading

VIDEO  Dr. April Nowell (University of Victoria, Canada) explains the surprising results of the research team’s findings.

Credit

UVic Photo Services

Journal

Journal of Human Evolution

DOI

10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103577 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

An assessment of puberty status in adolescents from the European Upper Paleolithic

Article Publication Date

12-Sep-2024

 

Gen Zers who follow politics and media trend toward Kamala Harris, study finds

Young voters cite Harris’ tone and substance more than race, ethnicity or gender

Reports and Proceedings

University of California - Los Angeles

Key takeaways

• Harris motivates non-voters. Almost half of Gen Z respondents in a UCLA study said they were not motivated to vote at all in the 2024 presidential election prior to Kamala Harris’ nomination. A third of that group now says they are motivated to vote for Harris.

• Tuned-in voters favor Harris. Over half of Gen Z respondents who stay informed about the news indicate they will vote for Harris, while almost three-quarters of those who don’t follow the news say they will not vote for Harris or are unsure of who they will vote for.

• Shift from identity politics? 82.7% of Gen Z respondents cited reasons other than Harris’ racial or gender identity to explain their motivation to vote for her; 77.7% of Black Gen Z respondents expressed confidence in the political system to serve their interests. 

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Today’s young people are chronically online, and it appears that their media consumption is having an impact on their political views and likelihood to vote, according to a new study released by the UCLA Center for Scholars & Storytellers.

Gen Z (ages 16-27) and millennial (ages 28-40) participants who frequently consume media – defined in the survey as social media, television, streaming services and video games – report motivation to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris for president at higher rates (18% more) than those who report not using media at all. In addition, 29.3% of Gen Z respondents who said they were not motivated to vote in the upcoming election before the change in the Democratic nominee say they are now motivated to vote for Harris, who has a notable social media presence.

More than half (56.4%) of Gen Z respondents reported staying very informed on all news or news related to their communities, while only 16% of Gen Z respondents said they don’t follow the news. And more than half (57%) of those Gen Zers informed about the news expressed interest in voting for Harris, while 70% of those who don’t follow the news said they will not vote for Harris or are unsure of who they will vote for.

“Young adults are increasingly getting news from TikTok, reporting social media as the most authentic form of media,” said Yalda Uhls, the center’s founder and CEO, co-author of the study and adjunct professor in UCLA’s Department of Psychology. “Our data shows that young people are very engaged with what’s happening in the political sphere around them, and keeping up with the news seems to be influencing their desire to vote for Kamala Harris.”

The report, a part of a regular “Teen Snapshot” series by the center which aims to gather quick pulses on how young people are responding to current events, surveyed 1,653 participants ages 16-40 in August 2024. Respondents closely reflected the U.S. Census in terms of race and gender. The survey was supported by the Funders for Adolescent Science Translation consortium.

For young people interested in voting for Harris, her identity as a woman of color didn’t seem to be a huge motivating factor. In fact, 82.7% of Gen Z respondents cited reasons other than Harris’ racial or gender identity to explain their support for her, including “I agree with her stance on most issues,” “She’s an exciting candidate that gives me hope” and “I like what I’ve seen about her on social media.” 

“Contrary to Republican messaging about Kamala Harris being a DEI hire, young people seem more excited about her candidacy because of the tone and substance of her campaign rather than because of her race, ethnicity or gender,” said Alisha Hines, the center’s director of research and lead author of the study. “This finding makes sense in light of previous research from our 2023 Teens and Screens Report, which showed that young people are overwhelmingly interested in stories of hope — a defining mood of the Harris campaign.”

Results from the study also showed more diversity across party lines, with 15.5% of Black Gen Zers and 16.5% of Black millennials identifying as Republican (a far larger portion than Black adults, who have only made up 1-2% of the Republican party since 2016). Young Black Gen Zers overwhelmingly expressed confidence in the political system; when asked how confident they are in the political system to take care of them and their family’s interests, 77.7% of African American Gen Z respondents indicated they were either “somewhat confident” or “very confident.” This finding was a stark contrast to another recent poll featuring older generations which found two-thirds of Black Americans believe the U.S. political system was designed to hold them back.

“For young people today who grew up seeing Barack Obama in the White House, diversity is the norm, not the exception,” Uhls said. “These findings indicate a shift in how the next generation is moving away from identity politics and polarization, possibly towards an exciting new era of collaboration and consensus across party lines.”

 

High doses of some prescription stimulants tied to increased psychosis risk

McLean Hospital study of Mass General Brigham emergency intakes found high doses of prescription amphetamine were associated with more than a five-fold increased risk of new-onset psychosis or mania

McLean Hospital

Prescribing rates for stimulants that treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increased significantly over the past decade, with some of the largest increases reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new study of adult emergency department admissions at Mass General Brigham, led by McLean Hospital researchers, found that individuals who are taking high doses of amphetamine (e.g. Adderall) face more than a five-fold increased risk for developing psychosis or mania. Findings were published September 12th in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Overall, individuals with past-month prescription amphetamine use had a greater likelihood of new-onset psychosis or mania than individuals without past-month use. The risk was highest in those taking 30 mg or more of dextroamphetamine (which corresponds to 40 mg of Adderall), according to the study.

Previous studies have linked stimulants to psychosis and mania risk; however, information had been lacking on whether dosing impacted risk.

“Stimulant medications don’t have an upper dose limit on their labels, and our results show that it is clear that dose is a factor in psychosis risk and should be a chief consideration when prescribing stimulants,” said lead study author Lauren Moran, MD, a pharmacoepidemiology researcher at McLean Hospital. “This is a rare but serious side effect that should be monitored by both patients and their doctors whenever these medications are prescribed.”

Moran said the study was born out of her past clinical observations as an inpatient psychiatrist. She and her McLean colleagues would regularly see patients coming in experiencing first episodes of psychosis, and their medical records would reveal they were prescribed high doses of stimulants by their doctors.

Researchers reviewed electronic health records of Mass General Brigham patient encounters between 2005 and 2019, focusing on adults aged 16 to 35, the typical age of onset for psychosis and schizophrenia. All patients were admitted to McLean Hospital following referrals from other hospitals in the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. The researchers identified 1,374 cases of individuals presenting with first-episode psychosis or mania, compared to 2,748 control patients with a psychiatric hospitalization for other conditions like depression or anxiety. They conducted a comparison analysis of stimulant use over the preceding month and accounted for other factors, including substance use, in order to isolate the effects of stimulants.

They found the attributable risk percentage among those exposed to any prescription amphetamine was nearly 63% and for high dose amphetamine was 81%. These findings suggest that among people who take prescription amphetamine, 81% of cases of psychosis or mania could have been eliminated if they were not on the high dose. While a significant dose-related risk increase was seen in patients taking high doses of amphetamine, no significant risk increase was seen with methylphenidate (Ritalin) use, which is consistent with previous research, including a 2019 study led by Moran.

While the study does not prove causality, the researchers note there is a plausible biological mechanism in neurobiological changes that include a release of higher levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine from amphetamines, that parallel dopaminergic changes observed in psychosis.

Limitations of the study include inconsistencies with how electronic health records are kept. Additionally, with the research taking place in a psychiatric hospital in the Boston area that sees many patients with psychosis, it may make these findings less generalizable to other parts of the country.

Moran said the findings need not create alarm but should lead to extra caution when these medications are prescribed, especially for those who have risk factors for psychosis and mania.

“There’s limited evidence that prescription amphetamines are more effective in high doses,” said Moran. “Physicians should consider other medications our study found to be less risky, especially if a patient is at high risk for psychosis or mania.”

Authorship: In addition to Moran, Mass General Brigham co-authors included Joseph P. Skinner, BA (BWH), Ann K. Shinn MD, MPH (McLean), Kathryn Nielsen (McLean), Vinod Rao, MD, PhD (MGH), Trevor Taylor, MD, MPH (MGH), Talia R. Cohen (McLean), Cemre Erkol, MD (McLean), Jaisal Merchant, MA (McLean), Christin A. Mujica, MA (McLean), Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, (MGH) and Dost Ongur, MD, PhD (McLean).

Funding: This work was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), R01 MH122427.

Disclosures: Perlis received personal fees from Genomind, Burrage Capital, Psy Therapeutics Inc, Circular Genomics Inc, and Vault Health unrelated to the submitted work. Dr. Ongur received honorariums for scientific presentations to Neumora Inc. and Guggenheim LLC unrelated to the submitted work. Dr. Moran is employed by Sage Therapeutics (unrelated to this work and after study completed and submitted for publication). All other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Paper cited: Moran, LV et al. “Risk of Incident Psychosis and Mania with Prescription Amphetamines,” American Journal of Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20230329

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About McLean

McLean Hospital has a continuous commitment to put people first in patient care, innovation and discovery, and shared knowledge related to mental health. It is consistently named the #1 freestanding psychiatric hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, and is #1 in America for psychiatric care in 2023-24. McLean Hospital is the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a member of Mass General Brigham. To stay up to date on McLean, follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

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Journal

American Journal of Psychiatry

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp.20230329 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Risk of Incident Psychosis and Mania With Prescription Amphetamines

Article Publication Date

12-Sep-2024

COI Statement

Perlis received personal fees from Genomind, Burrage Capital, Psy Therapeutics Inc, Circular Genomics Inc, and Vault Health unrelated to the submitted work. Dr. Ongur received honorariums for scientific presentations to Neumora Inc. and Guggenheim LLC unrelated to the submitted work. Dr. Moran is employed by Sage Therapeutics (unrelated to this work and after study completed and submitted for publication). All other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.