Spravato must be taken while supervised by a medical professional. Credit: Alicia Windzio / DPA / GettyShareJohnson & Johnson has announced the FDAs approval of a first-of-its-kind, esketamine nasal spray called Spravato for the standalone treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), PTSD, and similar psychiatric conditions. The decision builds on previous FDA approval for the drugs treatment when combined with additional oral antidepressants. While Spravatos underlying mechanisms remain unclear and only be available to certain qualifying adults, the new option could soon provide help for many in the US dealing with treatment-resistant depression.Over 21 million Americans report depression-related issues. Of those, an estimated one-in-three people dont see improvement after using many of the most common prescription offerings. However, medication involving the anesthetic, ketamine, has shown promise in recent years for treating these hard-to-resolve depressive symptoms. But these often rely on intravenous administration in supervised settings like hospitals and clinics, which limit their accessibility for many patients. Meanwhile, some critics continue to voice concerns about lingering long-term health questions and unregulated clinics. Licensed medical providers have also faced dwindling supplies as a result of increased demand.Treatment-resistant depression can be very complicated, especially for patients who do not respond to oral antidepressants or cannot tolerate them. For too long, healthcare providers have had few options to offer patients much-needed symptom improvement, Bill Martin, Johnson & Johnsons Therapeutic Area Head in Neuroscience, said in a statement on January 21st.Researchers including Martin have spent years studying an alternative to direct ketamine IV injections and shots. This treatment is delivered through a nasal spray and relies not on ketamine, but one of its two primary components called esketamine. The end result, Spravato has since been approved in 77 countries and prescribed to over 140,000 patients. As of Tuesday, the US is now also one of those countries to allow it as its own treatment without any additional prescriptions.Like many other antidepressants, Spravato works as a non-selective, non-competitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Where it differs, however, is its ability to travel through a different brain pathway affecting the neurotransmitter, glutamate. An imbalance in a persons glutamate levels can lead to exhaustion, concentration issues, and clinical depressive problems.The FDA fast-tracked Spravatos approval through its Priority Review process after receiving results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the medication. Volunteers were sorted into two groupsone that received the prescribed medication, and another control group given a placebo. Participants took a commonly used 10-question survey known as the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale before and after the 28-day trial to contextualize their overall mental health state. Get the Popular Science newsletter Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.At the end of week four of the trial, just 7.6-percent of the placebo group reported a MADRS score indicating remission, compared to 22.5-percent of those taking Spravato. According to Johnson & Johnson, Spravatos safety profile as a standalone treatment was consistent with the existing body of clinical and real-world data when used in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, adding that researchers also didnt identify any new safety concerns.Spravato is taken by the user under the supervision of a healthcare provider in a clinic. Because reported side-effects include temporary nausea, vomiting, and tiredness, healthcare supervisors require a patient to wait a short period of time before clearing them to leave. Patients are also advised against driving for the rest of the day, and are required to have someone take them home after each treatment. Other side effects potentially include temporarily increased blood pressure, mental haziness, and bladder problems.Although the data indicates Spravato (and, by extension esketamine) helps many patients with treatment-resistant depression, researchers still arent sure how it technically works. But with most users reporting only mild-to-moderate side-effects and the FDAs approval, Spravato may offer a new option for the many Americans who have long struggled with drug-resistant depression.

Sennheisers HD 599 open-back headphones were already a great deal at $199, but right now Amazon has them for just $99, which is borderline ridiculous. Open-back headphones are basically the exact opposite of noise-canceling headphones. The earcups arent fully enclosed, which allows them to integrate your music into the ambient sound happening around you. Its an amazing experience that fancy audiophiles love. Its like having Dire Straits performing right in your living room. This is even lower than the price we saw on Black Friday for these, so go grab them while theyre still in-stock.Sennheiser Consumer Audio HD 599 Open Back Headphone, Ivory $96 (was $199)SennheiserSee ItSennheiser considers these headphones the start of its audiophile line, which goes up into the thousands of dollars. The HD 599 employs Sennheisers engineered transducers use aluminum voice coils, which you can brag about to your friends with regular headphones. These are wired headphones, so no Bluetooth built-in, but you will find both a 3.5mm jack and a 6.3mm jack so you can plug it into just about anything with a headphone port including turntables. The open-back design really is something if youve never experienced it. You wont want to listen to music any other way. SENNHEISER HD 569 Closed Back Headphone $96 (was $149)SennheiserSee ItIf youre looking for a more traditional closed-back headphone, the HD 569 is also on-sale with a deep discount right now. These are very similar to the 599s, only they provide a more immersive sound thanks to the sound isolation provided by the closed backs. More headphone dealsSennheiser Consumer Audio HD 400S Closed Back, Around Ear Headphone $49 (was $69)Jabra Evolve2 65 UC Wireless Headphones with Link380a $149 (was $301)Nothing Ear (a) Wireless Earbuds with ChatGPT Integration $87 (was $97)Nothing Ear Wireless Earbuds with ChatGPT Integration $114 (was $159)Soundcore Q11i Wireless Over-Ear Bluetooth Headphones by Anker $35 (was $49)Skullcandy Indy ANC In-Ear Noise Canceling True Wireless Earbuds $45 (was $119)The post These $199 open-back Sennheiser headphones are just $96.99 right now appeared first on Popular Science.

NewsAstronomyGalactic chaos at cosmic noon may have stunted Milky Way planet formationThat may be why the galaxys oldest stars have fewer planets than ones in our neighborhood Stars in the Milky Ways central thin disk (brightest region in this image from the Gaia spacecraft) have more planets than stars above and below that plane.DPAC/GAIA/ESABy Lisa Grossman1 hour agoThe Milky Way keeps its planets close to its chest. Stars in a thin, flat disk bisecting the galaxy have more planets on average than stars in a thicker, enveloping disk and astronomers now think they know why.Stars that currently live in the galaxys thick disk were born during a time of galactic chaos, says MIT astrophysicist Tim Hallatt. The stars violent upbringing hindered their ability to grow and retain planets, he and astrophysicist Eve Lee, formerly of McGill University in Montreal, report January 22 in the Astrophysical Journal.

Nature, Published online: 22 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00101-7A multi-ancestry genome-wide study of 158,036 people with bipolar disorder and 2,796,499 control individuals identified 298 genomic regions associated with the disease. Variations in 36 genes were linked to the condition, and this variation was enriched in certain neuronal cell populations. The genetic architecture underlying bipolar disorder varied with subtype and how cases were identified.

Nature, Published online: 22 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00143-xHuge analysis identifies regional variations in the criteria that institutions use to move researchers up the ranks.

Scientists have found an elusive third form of magnetism that could help solve a longstanding puzzle about superconductors.

A new study suggests that the explosive deaths of the universe's earliest stars created surprising quantities of water that may have sparked extraterrestrial life in the very first galaxies.

Not perfect but was fun trying to get the lighting and reflections as good as I could submitted by /u/cinnamon_mango [link] [comments]

Sometimes, its a bit addictive to watch shows about how modern people survive in the isolated wilderness without help from any modern techniques. The crazy idea to give it a try occasionally pops up for me, but it wouldnt be a great idea to do it without enough preparation or knwoledge.Luckily, video games can help us experience it virtually. The upcoming Bushcraft Simulator is one such game where you need to gather food and resources to survive in a hostile environment.This immersive open-world adventure challenges you to live off the land, honing essential bushcraft skills like resource gathering, tool crafting, shelter building, and hunting for food. Every decision you make shapes your survival journey, the game description reads.A2 SoftworksA2 SoftworksFrom drilling wood to make a fire to catching fish with a fish spear, setting up campfires to cook food and keep yourself warm, crafting various tools using the resources you collected, and filtering water using layers of small stones to make it drinkable, youll purely focus on keeping yourself alive. Its from a first-person perspective, and the environment in the game resembles reality; youll truly feel like youre physically present in the forest on the mountains.The game encourages you to pursue various goals other than surviving, like upgrading your tools and leveling up your bushcraft expertise.While focusing on crafting and surviving, youll also need to battle the elements, which I assume could be found in an abandoned house deep in the forest, where a radio repeatedly broadcasts an SOS signal, Mayday.A2 SoftworksA2 SoftworksA2 SoftworksBushcraft Simulator is developed by Poland-based indie studio A2Softworks, which teased that the game would soon be available on Steam. If youre looking for a simulation game that tests your ability to survive the wilderness, dont hesitate to add it to your wishlist.Dont forget tojoin our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Check Out This Simulation Game That Tests Your Bushcraft Expertise appeared first on CG SHARES.

Digital Foundry, a team that specializes in technical analysis of gaming hardware and software, has tested the unofficial PC version of Bloodborne brought by the creators of shadPS4, a PS4 emulator that has rapidly increased the games playability in recent months.At the moment, Bloodborne is available at 60 FPS, although youll need certain hardware to get the most out of it. Digital Foundrys Thomas Morgan took it for a ride on his AMD Ryzen 7 5700X paired with NVIDIA RTX 4080, and its the CPU that became a bottleneck, preventing him from enjoying a stable 60 FPS during the whole journey: it jumped to 45 FPS something in crowded areas, with one CPU core overloading to 100%. Morgan played at 1152p, and lowering the resolution to 1080p didnt fix the issue.One subscriber sent Digital Foundry their footage on Intel Core i5-12600K and RTX 4080 with 32 GB of RAM, and the game worked perfectly at 60 FPS and ven higher on this system, so you have an idea of what your hardware needs to be to handle the heat.Morgan used shadPS4 0.5.1, and one mod he deems crucial is the Vertex Explosion Fix, which disables face customization but makes sure you dont see your characters head glitching.FromSoftwareMorgan also tried some mods, including the Bloodborne PC Remaster Project, which he praised for its approach to visuals, and everything seems to be working fine, so if you are ready for the experience and dont plan on waiting for the official PC version, which might never come, download shadPS4 and see it for yourself.Also, join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us on Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Incredible Feat: Digital Foundry Tested Bloodborne Brought to PC by shadPS4 Emulator appeared first on CG SHARES.