Whenever abortion becomes a heated political issue, you can be sure that religion is involved. The reverse also is true. Such is the case with the 2012 election season.

Decisions the Obama administration has made regarding abortion have been targeted by Republican presidential candidates vying for the votes of social conservatives, including evangelical Christians. So too has the administration’s recent move on contraception, some kinds of which are considered by opponents to be a form of abortion.

Newt Gingrich accuses President Obama of waging a “war against religion” – specifically that it has “declared war” on the Roman Catholic Church – for (among other things) requiring Catholic hospitals and universities to provide contraception as part of employee health plans.

The Monitor's Weekly News Quiz for Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 2012

Employees at many of the church’s hospitals and universities are not Roman Catholic, and most Catholic women in the United States disagree with the church’s official opposition to the use of condoms and birth control pills. Nearly 70 percent of Catholic women use sterilization, the birth control pill, or an IUD, the Guttmacher Institute reported last year.

“No one is forcing Catholics to take contraceptives,” writes Keith Soko, associate professor of religious ethics and moral theology at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, in a CNN opinion column. “It is a question of access, and hence, of justice.” (Professor Soko describes himself as “a Catholic theologian and lifelong Catholic.”)

But Mitt Romney says the Obama administration’s decision regarding Catholic hospitals and universities and contraception amounts to ordering religious organizations to “violate their conscience.” Priests around the country have read bishops’ letters at mass urging parishioners to object to the administration’s action, some warning that universities and hospitals affiliated with the church might have to close.

But the GOP front-runner’s position on birth control and abortion are a problem for him too.

As CBS’s Political Hotsheet reported last week, in 1994 Romney said "abortion should be safe and legal in this country," and in 2002 he said "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard."

Gingrich and Rick Santorum (both of whom are Roman Catholic) have gone after Romney on the issue. A Gingrich campaign spot claims that as governor of Massachusetts Romney “signed government-mandated health care with taxpayer funded abortions.”

The Boston Globe reported Friday that as governor, “Romney required all Massachusetts hospitals, including Catholic ones, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, even though some Catholics view the morning-after pill as a form of abortion.”

“The initial injury to Catholic religious freedom came not from the Obama administration but from the Romney administration,’’ C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe. “President Obama’s plan certainly constitutes an assault on the constitutional rights of Catholics, but I’m not sure Governor Romney is in a position to assert that, given his own very mixed record on this.’’

The connection between forms of birth control and abortion was sharply seen in the controversy involving the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and Planned Parenthood.

Earlier this week, the breast-cancer charity announced that it was ending grants to Planned Parenthood for breast-health services on grounds that Planned Parenthood is under investigation by a congressional subcommittee for improperly using federal money to fund abortions.

Planned Parenthood denies that taxpayer money has been used for abortions; overall, abortions account for only 3 percent of the organization’s activity.

The Komen Foundation took a lot of heat from critics who said its decision was politically-motivated. By the end of the week, Komen had reversed course and said it would continue funding breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood.

Obama is taking heat too – from many Republicans and conservative commentators, as well as from the Catholic Church, for his move on birth control and religious institutions, even though most employees at many of the church’s hospitals and universities are not Roman Catholic.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan says flatly, “President Obama just may have lost the election” because of this issue.

“The church is split on many things,” Noonan writes. “But do Catholics in the pews want the government telling their church to contravene its beliefs? A president affronting the leadership of the church, and blithely threatening its great institutions? No, they don't want that. They will unite against that.”

She notes that Obama won 54 percent of the Catholic vote in 2008. “They helped him win. They won't this year. And guess where a lot of Catholics live? In the battleground states.”

Anthony Picarello, general counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Los Angeles Times his organization would "pursue every legal mandate available to them to bring an end to this mandate.”

”That means legislation, litigation and public advocacy,” he said. “All options are on the table.”

The Monitor's Weekly News Quiz for Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 2012

SUNDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) — Although there is a stigma
associated with having head lice, infestations with these small insects
are common and nothing to be ashamed of, according to Dr. Hannah
Chow-Johnson, a pediatrician at Loyola University Health System.

Chow-Johnson knows from firsthand experience. Her own kids came home
with lice one day.

"There is no shame in having lice. In fact, they are attracted to
clean, shiny hair so the assumption that only unclean people have lice is
false," said Chow-Johnson, also an assistant professor of pediatrics at
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, in a university news
release. "I had treated kids with lice in clinic, but it wasn't until my
own kids brought those scratchy, nasty bugs into our house that I truly
understood their impact."

The size of a grain of rice, lice lay small whitish or brownish eggs
called nits that stick to hair shafts about an inch or two from the scalp.
Although they can't jump or fly, lice can be spread from person to person
through close contact, such as hugging or sleeping in the same bed. They
can also be spread when people with an infestation share their hats,
clothes or hairbrushes.

There are ways parents can prevent a lice infestation, Chow-Johnson
advised. "Try checking your child's hair once a week. It's inconvenient
but it's far easier to deal with lice early on than after the bugs have
been there for a month." She recommended that parents take the following
steps when checking for lice:

• Sit children down by a sink filled with warm water and comb their hair
  into sections using a fine-tooth comb.
• Spray water or nit spray on a small section of hair and pull the comb
  straight through to the ends.
• Rinse the comb and wipe it off with a towel.
• Repeat this process until all the hair on the child's head has been
  checked.

"It's not enough to do a quick visual by parting your child's hair.
Lice move very quickly and evade your best efforts," Chow-Johnson
said.

She pointed out that lice do not transmit disease, but they do need
blood to survive. She added that infestations with head lice can cause
itchiness (especially behind the ears and the nape of the neck) and bumps
on the neck. People with lice could also feel movement in the scalp.

Head lice must be treated effectively to prevent the insects from
returning. Hot showers and strong shampoo are not going to get rid of the
problem. Parents who find lice or nits should treat everyone in the house
and wash all bed linens and towels in hot water. Anything that can't be
washed should be sealed in a plastic bag for at least 72 hours. Car seats,
backpacks and jackets must also be treated, Chow-Johnson pointed out.

Nits typically hatch in eight to nine days, grow to maturity and mate
to produce more nits. So, it's not enough to target the live lice, she
warned. Nits must also be killed, so choose over-the-counter treatment
products that will do both.

"After having lice your child will be more susceptible to it for six
weeks, so I suggest continuing to use the anti-lice products for those
weeks and continue to check daily for lice and nits," Chow-Johnson noted.

Mango, rosemary and tea tree oil repel lice, she added. Using products
with these scents can help prevent an infestation. Daily nit and
lice-repellent sprays also are available.

"Be vigilant! Early discovery will save you a lot of time and energy.
And in this instance other parents will be grateful your child didn't
share," Chow-Johnson said.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on head lice.

SATURDAY, Feb. 4 (HealthDay News) — Winter weather can be
challenging for some seniors, especially those with mobility or other
health issues.

But planning ahead, and enlisting the help of adult children, neighbors
or caregivers when needed, can help seniors stay safe and mobile during
the cold months.

"Snow and ice, cold temperatures and heating devices are all potential
safety hazards that result in a number of accidents every year. Minor
additions or changes to a senior's home can minimize the risk of an
accident and create a dramatically safer environment," Andrea Cohen, CEO
of HouseWorks, a Massachusetts-based private-pay home care business, said
in a company news release.

She offered a number of suggestions. If mobility, balance or other
health issues have made shoveling snow too taxing, make sure someone is
available to shovel snow and remove ice so that walkways are clear and
it's safe to enter and exit the home.

Also, make sure that dryer vents and gutters are cleared.

Because cold weather and snow can limit a senior's ability to get out
to take care of errands, it's important to arrange to have someone
available to help with grocery shopping and to make sure the senior has
enough food and medication for several days, in case weather makes streets
impassable or affects electricity. Flashlights and batteries should be
readily available in case of a power outage.

Heating pads and space heaters are used by some seniors for extra
warmth, but these devices can be fire hazards if they're not functioning
properly or if they're left unattended. Check these items and repair or
remove any that might be unsafe. Fresh batteries should be placed in smoke
and carbon monoxide detectors in seniors' homes.

Make sure important phone numbers — family members, health care
providers, food delivery — are posted in a convenient and visible
location, such as the refrigerator. The telephone needs to be easily
accessible and work when the power is out. It's a good idea to provide
seniors with an easy-to-use charged mobile phone for emergencies.

If a senior lives far away from family members, arrange for a friend or
neighbor to check on them from time to time. Consider a medical alert
system that can ensure immediate response to a medical emergency.

A senior's home might require safety modifications such as grab bars,
hand-held showers, or rearrangement of furniture and rugs.

More information

The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging offers winter safety tips for seniors.

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. – A southeastern Indiana woman has been charged after prosecutors say she left her morbidly obese sister alive and decomposing in a chair for three weeks.

A grand jury in Dearborn County near the Ohio state line indicted 58-year-old Vickie Holdcraft Friday on charges of reckless homicide, neglect and perjury. A warrant was issued for her arrest and police were still seeking her Saturday.

Prosecutors say 61-year-old Priscilla Frieberger died in October after spending the last three weeks of her life decomposing in a brown cloth recliner in the Lawrenceburg home she shared with Holdcraft. Prosecutor Aaron Negangard says Frieberger’s skin was stuck to the chair and her body had started decomposing before her sister called 911 on Oct. 2.

Frieberger later died of pneumonia and a blood infection.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – There can only be one winner in Sunday's Super Bowl but for two opposing players, a bigger battle has already been won, victory over cancer.

New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich and New England Patriots offensive lineman Marcus Cannon have both had to deal with life-threatening illness and came through their treatment to achieve their sporting dream, a place in the biggest game in American sport.

After an outstanding season for Boston College, Herzlich was diagnosed, in May 2009, with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer affecting bone and soft tissue.

He underwent a six month course of chemotherapy and radiation and also needed surgery and a titanium rod inserted into his leg, which remains in place to strengthen his bone.

The linebacker said his aim of making it in the National Football League (NFL) motivated him through the arduous treatment.

"Playing football again was the goal and that really pushed me. After six hours of chemotherapy you're sitting there and your body just feels drained," he said.

"You don't want to move but I said 'I am going to be playing football again in eight months, so I need to go and workout. I need to go ride a bike, get some cardio in."

Herzlich said he made a highlights video of his 2008 season to keep him motivated.

"I would put that on in the chemo room and watch it over and over again just to see myself succeeding," he said.

"The physical pain was intense. The pain that I would get in my leg and my lower back felt like knives being stabbed into my legs. The pain coming after the surgery where I had to get the scar tissue kind of kneaded out with massage and stuff.

"That was probably the worst pain I have ever been in because they had to actually tear the muscle off the bone and tear the scar tissue away. I was screaming on the massage table," said Herzlich.

Cannon's treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma was less painful but going through chemotherapy inevitably weakened him.

"I still had faith I was going to get into the NFL, I didn't know if I was going to get drafted or not but I still believed I would play in the league," he told Reuters.

"I was blessed not to get all the side effects that so many other people get."

Cannon entered the draft but his illness pushed him down the list. Nonetheless the Patriots took him in round five with the 138th pick.

After missing training camp and the early part of the season due to his treatment, Cannon was finally activated in week ten of the season and was part of the team which beat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Conference game two weeks ago to secure a Super Bowl spot.

"The confetti was coming down and I'm sat there thinking how am I supposed to feel? It's hard to take all of this in," he said.

Herzlich returned to college football in 2010 but went undrafted and his only contract offer came from the minor UFL league, a chance he turned down to keep alive his dream of reaching the NFL.

The Giants picked him up as an undrafted free agent in July and he featured in 11 games this season.

Herzlich says his doctors played a perfect game but knows he has won one of the toughest challenges anyone can face.

"I think it is a little bit of a miracle. It's a case of beating the odds," he said.

(Editing by Julian Linden)

NEW YORK – When Dorothy Twinney first saw a Race for the Cure walk for breast cancer — “a sea of pink” traveling through her hometown of Plymouth, Mich. — she was so moved she sat in her car and wept.

This week, after watching The Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity announce plans to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, then abandon those plans amid a public furor, Twinney decided she was done with the organization for which she raised thousands of dollars on three-day, 60-mile walks that left her feet bloodied and blistered, but her spirits high.

“It just feels like it’s all tarnished now,” the 41-year-old mother of two said. “Honestly, I’m not sure what they can do to change that.”

At week’s end, many longtime Komen supporters were feeling similarly conflicted. Some, depending on where they stood on the hot-button issue of abortion, called it more of a betrayal. Those who supported Komen’s grants to Planned Parenthood for breast-cancer screenings called the initial move to cut them politically motivated; those opposed to the grants said the same thing about the reversal.

The outrage clearly stunned Komen, the country’s most widely known breast cancer organization. “I think (Komen) has been horrified to be so caught up in this culture war,” said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League.

Many women described feeling caught in the middle when The Associated Press first reported on Tuesday that Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from future breast screening grants because it was the subject of an investigation launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups. The grants totaled $680,000 in 2011.

Alyce Lee-Walker was one of them. A longtime Komen supporter, she’d never given money to Planned Parenthood. But when she learned of the funding cut, she immediately went online to donate $188 — the 88 signifying good luck in Chinese.

She didn’t stop there. The small business owner from Pinehurst, N.C., went about removing all the pink-ribbon stickers, a Komen symbol, that she’d affixed to her belongings.

“I took them off my personal car, the business car, off the doors in the office,” she said. And that pink chef’s knife she bought at Williams-Sonoma, with some of the proceeds going to Komen? “I’m done with that, too,” she said.

When she worked on Wall Street, Lee-Walker once prowled the trading floor soliciting donations “from anyone who loved a sister, mother, wife — or who was a fan of breasts,” she quips. She raised $15,000. But now, Komen’s reversal as well as its original move left her disgusted, she said: “It’s all political.”

Many shared that skepticism. “I’m wondering, is this really what they believe now, or is it just all the bad press that made them do it?” asked Mary Gauvin, a 27-year-old mother from Fort Drum, N.Y. “I doubt their motivation a bit.”

Gauvin, a supporter in the past of both Planned Parenthood and Komen, said that now, if a friend asked for sponsorship in a Race for the Cure event, she would offer to give money instead to the American Cancer Society.

Also switching allegiance was Suzanne Strempek Shea, a novelist and college writing teacher in Northhampton, Mass. “If someone asks me to sponsor them,” she said, “I’m going to say, `I wish you well, but I’m going to give the amount I’d have given you to Rays of Hope,” another breast cancer support group.

The issue was particularly painful to Shea, 51. She is a breast cancer survivor who discovered early warning signs at a Planned Parenthood breast screening (the group does screenings and refers some patients for mammograms).

“They found the cysts that led to the diagnosis. I don’t think people realize all the good they do,” Shea said. Horrified that a crucial women’s health issue had become entwined with the abortion debate, she said that despite the reversal, “I’m still angry.”

Even angrier about the reversal were anti-abortion advocates who’d applauded Komen’s original move.

“We were very happy to see (Komen) discontinue funding to Planned Parenthood,” said Tony Lauinger, state chairman for Oklahomans For Life. “For an entity … that’s trying to prevent breast cancer across the world, it’s directly counterproductive that the organization would be giving funds to Planned Parenthood, which is the largest provider of abortions in the country.”

Scheidler, of the Pro-Life Action League, sent out emails and social media messages Friday aimed at “tens of thousands” of abortion foes, urging them to withhold donations to Komen. Days earlier, when the original decision was reported, he’d urged people to donate to Komen.

Renee Wiesner, a mother of nine who opposes abortion, said she had been encouraged by Komen’s original decision.

“I had known about the grants, and that’s why I had avoided supporting Komen in the past,” said Wiesner, of Aurora, Ill. Now, she said, she will wait for the furor to die down before deciding where to contribute.

She said she suspected the reversal was simply a PR move by Komen: “They need to keep a good public image if they want to be as successful as they’ve been.”

Not everyone was beating up on Komen. “They made a bad call, but they rethought their position,” said Katie Ferdinand, 46, of Basking Ridge, N.J. “I’d consider supporting them going forward.”

Before the reversal, Ferdinand had gone on Facebook and urged friends to join her in contributing to Planned Parenthood. The organization said it received $3 million between Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon, funds it said would be used to expand its breast health services, which now provide nearly 750,000 breast exams each year.

That made Planned Parenthood supporter Cindy Froggatt happy. “I am grateful to Komen for the unintended consequence of their misguided decision,” said Froggatt, of Philadelphia. She especially admired the actions of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who himself made a $250,000 gift.

The controversy was rawest, it seemed, for breast cancer survivors, especially those, like Joyce Miller, who’d donated many hours of time to Komen. After her first breast cancer treatment, Miller spent an hour a day manning Komen’s phone lines, for nearly two years.

“I do not forgive them,” the 70-year-old Dallas woman said Friday, after the reversal. She said she was also thinking of her daughter, Twinney, the Michigan woman, who spent years on the breast cancer walks. “Those bloody feet,” Miller said. “The aching back!”

As for Twinney, she didn’t try to hold back the tears as she spoke of the years of fundraising, which included bartending stints to get cash together, and the three-day walks, buoyed by supporters including her two sons, who even agreed to dress in pink.

“Those weekends, on those walks, were some of the most special times of my life, next to the birth of my children,” she said. “You met the best people in the world. This organization began for such a special reason. And I am just so disappointed right now.”

___

Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson in Chicago and Justin V. Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla., contributed to this report.

CHICAGO – An acid reflux drug often used for hard-to-treat asthma doesn’t help children with the breathing disease and may cause side effects, a study in 300 children found.

The results echo recent research showing that a similar heartburn drug didn’t work in adults with asthma.

Use of these heavily promoted acid-blocking drugs, called proton pump inhibitors, has more than doubled in U.S. children in recent years, but the study results suggest doctors should put the brakes on that practice, said University of Arizona asthma expert Dr. Fernando Martinez.

The study found children on prescription Prevacid pills had more colds, sore throats and bronchitis infections than those given dummy pills. There were also signs that children given Prevacid were prone to broken bones. That finding was weak and could have been due to chance. But Martinez said it is worrisome, given a Food and Drug Administration advisory about fracture risks in adults using these drugs long-term. And he urged “great caution” in prescribing these drugs to all children, not just those with asthma.

The study and an editorial by Martinez were released Tuesday in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Acid reflux involves stomach acid backing up into the throat, causing irritation and often symptoms including heartburn. Asthma is an unrelated lung disease involving narrowed airways, with symptoms including wheezing, breathing difficulties and coughs. Sometimes acid reflux can cause similar respiratory symptoms and in children it often occurs without heartburn.

Some doctors believe that airway irritation caused by acid reflux may make asthma worse, and that undiagnosed acid reflux might be a reason why some people on standard asthma medicines continue to have symptoms. Prescribing acid-blocking drugs is thus common in people with poorly controlled asthma even if they have no obvious symptoms of reflux.

Previous research by some of the same study authors found that another acid-blocking drug, Nexium, didn’t improve asthma symptoms in adults. Still, those drugs continue to be widely used in patients with asthma but no reflux symptoms, said Janet Holbrook, a researcher at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, lead author of the new children’s study.

Holbrook said results from both studies likely apply to all proton pump inhibitor drugs, including those sold over the counter. Prevacid became available without a prescription during the study.

The new study involved about 300 children and teens at 19 centers whose asthma wasn’t adequately controlled by steroid drugs. Half were given daily Prevacid pills for six months; the others received dummy pills.

Asthma symptoms didn’t improve in either group. They also didn’t improve in a subgroup of study kids who had airway tests that revealed undiagnosed reflux disease, Holbrook said.

Bronchitis was twice as common in kids on Prevacid, and they were also 30 percent more likely than the others to develop colds and sore throats.

It’s unclear if those symptoms were caused by the reflux drug. But it’s possible that these drugs interfere with helpful bacteria in the body that fight infection, said Dr. Chitra Dinakar, an asthma specialist at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo. who took part in the study

Dinakar said she will no longer be inclined to prescribe powerful acid-blocking drugs for kids with asthma but no obvious signs of reflux.

Dr. Daniel Searing, an allergy and asthma specialist at National Jewish Health in Denver, said the study provides important information to pediatricians wondering if the previous study in adults was applicable to children.

The National Institutes of Health and American Lung Association paid for the study.

___

Online:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

Asthma: http://1.usa.gov/tAQMLv

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

FRIDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) — Diabetes is associated with
hearing loss in women, especially if the blood sugar disease isn't
well-controlled, new research indicates.

The study, done by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit,
examined the medical records of 990 men and women who had hearing tests
between 2000 and 2008. Patients with diabetes were divided into two
groups: well-controlled and poorly controlled.

Among women aged 60 to 75, hearing loss was 14 percent worse even in
well-controlled diabetics compared to those without diabetes. That is not
a clinically significant loss, noted study author Dr. Kathleen Yaremchuk,
chairwoman of the department of otolaryngology at the Henry Ford
Healthcare System in Detroit.

"An individual might not notice it," Yaremchuk said.

On the other hand, poorly controlled diabetics' hearing was 28 percent
worse than the non-diabetic group's hearing.

Younger women who had diabetes, well-managed or not, were more likely
to have hearing loss than those unaffected by the illness, the study
found.

Diabetes is known to affect the eyes, kidneys and other organs,
Yaremchuk said. "Our study shows it can affect hearing as well."

In the study, presented recently at the Triological Society's annual
meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., there was no link between hearing loss among
men and diabetes, whether it was well-managed or not. Men are more likely
in general to suffer from hearing loss than women, so the prevalence of
the condition among males may mask diabetes' effect, the study
suggested.

Men are exposed to more environmental causes of hearing loss, such as
loud noise, either in the workplace or during leisure activities, such as
attending large sporting events, explained Yaremchuk.

Managing diabetes properly should help prevent hearing loss or keep it
from getting worse, Yaremchuk said.

What's unknown is if better management of diabetes can reverse hearing
loss that's already occurred.

"We do not know if losing weight and improving control of diabetes will
reverse the hearing loss that is seen. However, it will stop progression
of the hearing loss," she said.

Recommendations call for diabetics' to have their vision checked every
year, said Dr. Spyros Mezitis, a clinical endocrinologist at Lenox Hill
Hospital in New York City.

This latest finding suggests diabetics may also need to have their
hearing tested, Mezitis said.

"This study will help make doctors more aware to ask about hearing,
particularly in women between 60 and 75," said Mezitis, also an assistant
professor of clinical medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell
Medical Center.

About 26 million Americans have diabetes, mostly type 2, which is
associated with obesity.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the conclusions
should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed
journal.

More information

To learn more about diabetes, visit U.S.
National Institutes of Health.

(HealthDay News) — Preparations for successful breast-feeding
begin during pregnancy.

The womenshealth.gov website offers these suggestions for new moms who
want to breast-feed their newborn:

• See your doctor regularly for good prenatal care. Discuss with the
  physician your breast-feeding plans, your mental and physical health, and
  any medications you take.
• Find out how the hospital is prepared to help with breast-feeding just
  after delivery.
• Take a breast-feeding class, and think about meeting with a lactation
  consultant before delivery.
• Talk to others who have breast-fed for advice and support, and
  consider joining a support group.

About 30 million Americans suffer from depression, and when a sudden wave of severe symptoms hits them, there's no instant fix. The most commonly prescribed drugs — Prozac, Celexa and Zoloft — take a few weeks to kick in, and in the meantime, depressed people are at an escalated risk of suicide. More than half the time, the prescribed drug doesn't end up working at all, and patients must start over with a different treatment.

But there's a new drug in town: ketamine. It's not new, exactly — it has been used as an anesthetic for decades, and it's a popular drug among night clubbers (called, in that context, "Special K"). But after noticing the euphoric effect the drug seems to have on anesthetized patients, psychiatrists have begun conducting clinical trials of ketamine as an anti-depression medication. The initial results are extremely promising.

"Once the patient takes ketamine, it causes euphoria and a rapid antidepressant effect within two hours," said Asim Shah, associate chief of psychiatry at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, where the new study is taking place. Furthermore, ketamine helps a greater proportion of the affected population than traditional antidepressants. Prozac and other treatments each improve conditions for only about 30 to 40 percent of the patient population, barely outperforming placebos; meanwhile, a single infusion of ketamine washes away the symptoms of 80 to 90 percent of patients who try it, Shah said.

Scientists understand how ketamine chemically affects the brain, but they don’t quite know why it alleviates depressive symptoms. According to Ken Robbins, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ketamine binds to portals in the brain called NMDA receptors; this prevents a chemical called glutamate from occupying the same spots. Because glutamate revs up the system and can cause cell damage, ketamine has a sedative effect by blocking it. Somehow, this causes euphoria.
    
"The hypotheses for why ketamine might be helping depression are in their infancy," Robbins said. Whatever the explanation, "it's a very different mechanism from that of other anti-depressants we now use. I think what we're seeing is there may be a whole other neurotransmitter system that plays a role in depression that we weren't aware of." [Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind]

In the new study — a joint effort of Baylor College of Medicine's Neuropsychiatric Center and researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital — depressed patients are given one dose of ketamine, and doctors monitor how long this keeps their depression at bay.

"We're seeing the benefits lasting a few days to a few weeks," Shah said. The researchers are already planning a follow-up study in which six infusions of ketamine will be administered. If the positive results continue, Shah believes the Food and Drug Administration will eventually approve the drug for use as an antidepressant; he hopes it will become available in two years, though the drug will be more expensive than the $4 per month cost of generic versions of Prozac.

The researchers suspect that ketamine — which is addictive, and must be administered intravenously — will most likely end up being used in tandem with other drugs, rather than replacing them. It would make a good temporary fix, significantly reducing patients' suicide risk, while they wait for longer-term treatments to kick in.

Some doctors are administering ketamine as a quick fix for depression already. "The fact of the matter is people have picked up on the promising research results, and doctors are prescribing it off-label without FDA approval. Even if it is not approved, when you tell a patient, 'I have an anesthetic agent that is an instant fix for your depression,' they want it," Shah said.

This puts doctors at risk of getting sued if the unapproved treatment turns out to be ineffective, and the scientists say it would be best for doctors and patients to wait until the research process has run its course.

"I don't want people to think that taking ketamine illegally or from the streets will treat depression," Shah said. "Taking the wrong dose or taking too much of it might make you even more psychotic."

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

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