Invasive strep infections are on the rise and possible cause of food allergies
Dr. Nate Wood, Yale medicine internist, lifestyle and obesity medicine physician, and director of culinary medicine at Yale School of Medicine, joined Good Morning Connecticut at 9 a.m. to discuss.
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Fast Company
5 days ago
- Fast Company
Why seeking revenge is an addiction—and how to control it
James Kimmel, Jr., is a lecturer of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, a lawyer, and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. He is the creator of The Nonjustice System, the Mircale Court app, and Saving Cain—breakthrough tools for recovering from grievances and revenge desires and preventing mass violence. What's the big idea? Revenge is more than an emotion—it's an addictive behavior. We get hyped about an epic revenge story to watch on the big screen, or cheer for the politician that will 'get even' with our societal oppressors. We ruminate about that person who cut us off on the highway and daydream about how good it would feel to teach their bumper a lesson. Whether real or imagined, the satisfaction of payback is a dangerous craving. The first victim of any revenge story is the mind thinking about it. Even if you never dole out a sentence in the real world based on the trials held in the courtroom of your mind, those fantasies harm you. By learning the healing power of forgiveness, using established addiction treatment methods, and rewiring our mental machinery, we can free ourselves from the self-inflicted damages of revenge and protect society from cycles of hate. Below, James shares five key insights from his new book, The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction–and How to Overcome It. 1. Revenge is addictive. There is a hidden addiction plaguing humanity: revenge. Neuroscientists have identified retaliation as the root cause of most human aggression, from social media outrage and road rage to school shootings, gang violence, domestic abuse, and terrorism. The common thread? The perpetrator nearly always sees themselves as a victim seeking justice. When we're hurt or humiliated, the brain's pain-processing center—the anterior insula—activates. In response, we crave relief. When we fantasize about or act on revenge, dopamine floods the brain, lighting up the same neural pathways triggered by opioids or cocaine. But instead of intoxication, we crave payback. Like any addictive behavior, the high is short-lived and followed by more pain. And the more we ruminate on a grievance, the stronger the cravings become. Most of us can control our urges for revenge, but for some, the dopamine surge can make the desire to 'get even' feel irresistible. That's how otherwise ordinary, peaceable individuals can end up committing extraordinary acts of violence. The key to prevention is recognizing revenge for what it is—not just an emotion, but an addictive behavior that demands a public health response. 2. Violence is a public health issue. Understanding revenge as an addiction changes everything we thought we knew about why people become violent and how to stop it. For decades, we've treated violence as a social or moral problem. But if revenge-seeking follows the same neurobiological pathways as substance use, then violence isn't just an emotion or moral failing—it's the behavioral outcome of an unrecognized and untreated addiction. When scientists embraced the brain disease model of addiction in the late 1990s, it sparked a revolution in research, treatment innovation, funding, and public understanding. We now have the opportunity to apply the same science-based framework to violence prevention. 'Understanding revenge as an addiction changes everything we thought we knew about why people become violent and how to stop it.' Revenge-seeking is a behavioral addiction. And like other addictions, it can be interrupted and treated. Viewing revenge through the lens of addiction expands our toolbox for treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, peer support, psychosocial approaches, and even anti-craving medications can be repurposed to help people manage revenge cravings. 3. America has a revenge addiction problem. From political polarization to courtroom dramas, and from superhero blockbusters to viral Twitter feuds, American society runs on revenge. Our legal system is a billion-dollar industry for selling revenge, packaged as justice. Our politics are fueled by grievance, with political leaders using the language of payback to rally supporters. Public calls to 'fight back' and punish enemies reflect not just rhetoric but a deeper pathology: the weaponization of revenge cravings on a national scale. Even our entertainment is saturated with revenge narratives. Movies from The Lion King to The Avengers celebrate vengeance and create a cultural script that glorifies payback. Meanwhile, social media platforms serve as digital revenge machines, propagating grievances, cueing outrage, and rewarding public shaming with dopamine hits. When these cycles of grievance and retaliation become cultural norms, the result is a society trapped in a feedback loop of addictive violence. To recover, we need to tell new stories that center on healing, not harm. 4. How to unlock the superpower of forgiveness. Forgiveness often gets framed as a moral virtue—something good people do when they're feeling generous. But now, modern neuroscience is confirming what spiritual wisdom has taught for centuries, that forgiveness is not just spiritually liberating, but neurologically healing. Brain scan studies show that simply imagining forgiving a grievance deactivates the brain's pain network, deactivates the pleasure and craving circuitry of revenge craving, and activates the prefrontal cortex of executive function and self-control. Research also shows that forgiveness reduces symptoms of stress, anxiety, PTSD, and even physical conditions like high blood pressure, pain, and insomnia. 'Refusing to forgive—under the belief that you're somehow denying a gift to the person who hurt you—achieves little more than denying yourself the healing you need.' A common misconception is that forgiveness means 'giving' something to the person who hurt you. It doesn't. Forgiveness is part of your brain's biological pain management and revenge control system. The person who receives the benefits from forgiveness is you, the person who was hurt, not the person who caused the harm. You don't even have to tell the person who hurt you that you've forgiven them to receive these benefits. And you certainly don't have to overlook or condone their behavior. Forgiveness is a process that happens inside your brain. Refusing to forgive—under the belief that you're somehow denying a gift to the person who hurt you—achieves little more than denying yourself the healing you need. That's a self-inflicted tragedy. Within the biology of the human brain, the person who receives the greatest gift from forgiving is you, the forgiver. 5. The courtroom of the mind. Before we take revenge in the real world, we often rehearse it in private—inside what I call the courtroom of the mind. This is where we hold imagined trials of the people who hurt us. We play every role: victim, prosecutor, judge, jury, even executioner. We summon evidence, hand down a sentence, and fantasize about carrying it out. Most of us—good, normal people—are routinely putting the people who offend and mistreat us on trial inside the busy courtrooms of our minds. But these internal trials can have real life-and-death consequences. At their conclusion, we will choose whether to carry out our sentences in the real world. If we hope to secure personal and communal peace, harmony, and prosperity—and reduce rage, violence, and aggression in all forms—we must learn how to win the trials taking place inside our minds. That's why I developed a 12-step program for revenge addiction recovery called The Nonjustice System (NJS). The NJS is a science-based intervention that utilizes the courtroom of the mind as a tool for healing rather than harm. In this guided role-play (which is also available as a free app called the Miracle Court app), you can imagine putting anybody who has ever wronged you on trial while playing all the roles yourself. This creates space to safely process pain, let go of destructive cravings, and explore forgiveness. The Nonjustice System and Miracle Court app have been used by people to heal from trauma, overcome intrusive revenge urges and rumination, and set themselves free from the wrongs of the past. Unlike the traditional justice system, the NJS and Miracle Court app aren't about getting even; they're about setting yourself free. By harnessing imagination and neuroscience, we can transform the mental machinery of revenge into a path toward wellbeing and recovery. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. The advance-rate deadline for the Fast Company Innovation Festival is Friday, July 11, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Claim your pass today!
Medscape
6 days ago
- Medscape
Nightmares? It Might Be Something You Ate
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Welcome to Impact Factor , your weekly dose of commentary on a new medical study. I'm Dr F. Perry Wilson from the Yale School of Medicine. When the ghost of Jacob Marley sits across from Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol , he observes that the miser doesn't believe in him. Scrooge, with forced bravado, says he's right. The ghost may be in actuality, 'an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese… There's more of gravy than of grave about you!' And so we see that, even in 1843, people believed that there was some link between the food we eat and the nightmares that plague us at the witching hour. But… is it true? Does the dinner plate affect the nightmare state? Does a late-night snack make your dreams more wack? The inspiration for today's little reverie is a perplexingly-entitled study, 'More dreams of the rarebit fiend: food sensitivity and dietary correlates of sleep and dreaming,' appearing in Frontiers in Psychology . To save you the googling, 'dreams of the rarebit fiend' were a series of comics published in the early 1900s which would depict a nightmare of a poor individual who would wake in the last panel and lament eating some food or another. Rarebit is a cheese-on-toast dish which, if you've never had it, can still be found at Mory's here in New Haven. In any case, I think the Scrooge reference is a bit more familiar than the comic, but maybe the Dickens estate is litigious. Before we dig into this study, let's think through what mechanisms there may be for food to impact dreaming. Is there biologic plausibility here? One hypothesis, the 'food specific effects' hypothesis, suggests that certain foods have a chemical or chemicals that directly impact dreaming. There is precedence for this — certain drugs, for example, are notorious for causing weird dreams. I was on mefloquine traveling in Africa once, and I still remember the surreal dreams I had on the antimalarial. Planes flying backward against an orange-colored sky. Weird stuff. There's also the 'food distress' hypothesis. This is the idea that certain foods hurt us a bit. Maybe they are spicy or make us gassy or whatever, and it's actually that pain or discomfort that prompts the bad dreams. Finally, we have the 'sleep-effects' hypothesis, which is the idea that certain foods decrease the quality of our sleep — like coffee or alcohol. And that poor sleep quality predisposes to bad dreams. So we have a number of ways that it is plausible that food may impact your dreaming… but does it? To try to figure this out, the researchers conducted a fairly detailed survey study. More than 1000 individuals — mostly undergraduate students, mostly women — were surveyed. While they were relatively healthy overall, 13.8% reported having a medical condition and 17.1% a psychiatric condition. The average PHQ4 score for anxiety and depression was 9.5 — which is in the mild-to-moderate range: typical of modern 20-somethings. It's also worth noting that 32.4% reported sensitivity to some type of food. Nearly one third of participants reported a high frequency of recalled nightmares — more than one per week — and women tended to recall more dreams and had more nightmares than men. Did these individuals feel like what they ate affected their dreaming? Not really. Just 59 individuals, (5.5%) said that they thought there was any relationship between the food they ate and the qualia of their dreams. That said, those 59 people were much more likely to have frequent nightmares. This is notably lower than the 17.8% of individuals who said food affected their dreaming in the author's prior study which was published a decade ago. That study had a smaller sample size but still focused on undergraduate students, so I think there is comparability here. We have a dramatic reduction in the perception of a link between food and dreaming. We'll get to whether there is a real link in a minute, but why are younger people less likely to believe this these days? We can only guess. It might be a secular trend towards more data-driven, scientific, or at least quasi-scientific explanations of phenomena. The food/dream hypothesis does give old-wives-tale vibes, right? Perhaps the relevance of this idea has decreased in the public consciousness as food safety has increased. Or maybe kids these days have inputs into their brains that are way more potent than the slowly digesting cheese steak in their stomachs. In any case, the researchers asked the 59 people who did feel that food affected their dreaming which types of food had the largest effects. In terms of increasing 'disturbing' dream content, sweets and dairy topped the list. In terms of leading to more pleasant dreams, fruit, vegetables, and herbal tea were up there. The fact that there was some consistency here lends modest support to the food-specific effect hypothesis. Maybe there is a chemical in dairy foods that gives you bad dreams. If so, Liz Lemon should not be working on her night cheese. And for the three of you who get that reference, I salute you. What about the food distress hypothesis? I think the data is a bit stronger here. People who were lactose-intolerant, for instance, had a higher frequency of nightmares, even if they didn't consciously believe that food intake affected dreaming. When the authors dug down into that association, they found that controlling for gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms eliminated the observed relationship. In other words, the data suggests that the reason people who are lactose intolerant have more nightmares is because people who are lactose intolerant have more GI upset. This is decent evidence for that food-distress hypothesis. Finally, that sleep-effects hypothesis. Lactose intolerance was associated with worse sleep, but a lot of that effect was mediated through GI upset. So, it seems to me that, if there is any relationship between food and dreaming, it's probably due to the distress that some food causes you as you're sleeping. Which means, of course, that Scrooge was right. A bit of underdone potato can lead to visions of fettered apparitions chastising you for the chains you forge in life. And though it ended up working out for old Ebenezer, I think most of us would like to avoid nightmares if possible. In addition to the suggestion that food sensitivities can worsen nightmares, the researchers found that nightmares were more common among people who frequently ate late at night and those who had underlying medical or psychiatric conditions. In brief, there might be some wisdom contained in the old wives' tales. For a restful and ghost-free night's sleep, it's likely best to slumber without a full belly and to avoid those foods that (for you) cause distress. As for Dickens, he was famously an insomniac, spending long nights walking the streets of London. Staying wide awake all night also avoids nightmares, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Associated Press
Clearmind Medicine Announces First Participant Ever Dosed with its CMND-100 Treatment in Groundbreaking Clinical Trial for Alcohol Use Disorder
Vancouver, Canada, June 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearmind Medicine Inc. (Nasdaq: CMND), (FSE: CWY0) ('Clearmind' or the 'Company'), a clinical-stage biotech company focused on discovery and development of novel psychedelic-derived therapeutics to solve major under-treated health problems, today announced a historic milestone: the first participant has been dosed with CMND-100, its proprietary MEAI-based oral drug candidate, in its Phase I/IIa clinical trial for the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). This marks the first time a patient has received Clearmind's innovative treatment in a clinical setting, a critical step toward the development of a potential new therapy for millions affected by AUD worldwide. The dosing follows the Company's announcement on June 5, 2025, of the enrollment of the first participant in the trial, which is being conducted at leading clinical sites, including Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States as well as Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) and Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem. The Phase I/IIa trial is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profile of CMND-100, while also assessing its preliminary efficacy in reducing alcohol cravings and consumption in patients with AUD. 'Dosing the first participant with CMND-100 in our study marks a landmark achievement towards the development of a new solution and offering new hope for the massive, underserved community suffering from alcoholism,' said Dr. Adi Zuloff-Shani, Ph. D, CEO of Clearmind Medicine. 'This exciting event marks the first time our proprietary neuroplastogen compound has been given to humans under controlled clinical trial settings, bringing us closer to potentially delivering a revolutionary treatment for the millions of individuals and families suffering from AUD.' The Phase I/IIa clinical trial is a multinational, multicenter, single- and multiple-dose study that aims to establish the safety and optimal dosing of CMND-100. The trial will also explore early signals of efficacy, including reductions in alcohol consumption and cravings, which could pave the way for further development of this groundbreaking therapy. About Clearmind Medicine Inc. Clearmind is a clinical-stage psychedelic pharmaceutical biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel psychedelic-derived therapeutics to solve widespread and underserved health problems, including alcohol use disorder. Its primary objective is to research and develop psychedelic-based compounds and attempt to commercialize them as regulated medicines, foods or supplements. The Company's intellectual portfolio currently consists of nineteen patent families including 31 granted patents. The Company intends to seek additional patents for its compounds whenever warranted and will remain opportunistic regarding the acquisition of additional intellectual property to build its portfolio. Shares of Clearmind are listed for trading on Nasdaq under the symbol 'CMND' and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 'CWY0.' For further information visit: or contact: Investor Relations [email protected] Telephone: (604) 260-1566 US: [email protected] General Inquiries [email protected] Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and other securities laws. Words such as 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'estimates' and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, the Company is using forward-looking statements when it discusses CMND-100 being a potential new therapy for millions affected by AUD worldwide and the Company potentially delivering a revolutionary treatment for the millions of individuals and families suffering from AUD. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based upon management's current expectations, beliefs and projections, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain. Such expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs and projections will be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting the Company, reference is made to the Company's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission ('SEC'), including, but not limited to, the risks detailed in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2024 and subsequent filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, subsequent events or circumstances, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect thereto or with respect to other forward-looking statements. References and links to websites have been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such websites is not incorporated by reference into this press release. Clearmind is not responsible for the contents of third-party websites.
