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Monday, October 5, 2015
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RESEARCH
Patients who respond
to placebo more likely
to see improvement
with antidepressants
By KATIE PENROD
Daily Staff Reporter
A recent University study
found that people with depression
whose symptoms are decreased
by placebo drugs are also more
likely to respond when they are
given real antidepressants. Those
who don’t respond to the placebo
are less likely to find relief with
medication.
The research team, led by Jon-
Kar Zubieta, a former Univer-
sity faculty member who is now
chair of the psychiatry depart-
ment chair at the University of
Utah, has been studying the pla-
cebo effect for more than 10 years
through brain scanning tech-
niques.
The study was conducted with
35 participants, all with untreat-
ed major depression. The partici-
pants were told they were being
given a new drug to treat depres-
sion that researchers were look-
ing to test.
Psychiatry Prof. Marta Pecina,
one of the study’s lead authors,
said the study had two phases
in which the patients were first
given the placebo drugs, and then
actually treated.
Using
Positron
Emis-
sion Tomography, which is a
brain scanning technique, the
researchers were able to monitor
the participant’s brain activity
throughout the study to deter-
mine the reaction to the placebo
and actual drug. Researchers saw
the same changes in brain chem-
istry in patients who responded
to the placebo pill as they saw in
patients who actually took the
antidepressant.
Pecina
said
the
patients
responding to the placebo could
essentially “generate their own
medicine,” which could lead to
alternative treatments in the
future, though she acknowledged
the study wasn’t necessarily rep-
resentative of the whole popula-
tion.
“These people may in general
have more resilience, and that’s
a good point,” Pecina said. “Cer-
EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily
Five-year-old Logan Sweet, a patient at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, plays Xbox with his mother, Krystal Sweet, at the Family Center in Mott’s on Friday.
225 hospital rooms
now equipped with
Xbox consoles for
patient use
By IRENE PARK
Daily Staff Reporter
Scores of patients at C.S. Mott
Children’s Hospital will now
have access to personal enter-
tainment systems in their rooms.
On Friday, the hospital cel-
ebrated the launch of the Mott
Family Network Pediatric Gam-
ing Project, which aims to use
Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to pro-
vide recreational and therapeu-
tic experiences for patients. So
far, 225 rooms are set up with the
Xbox 360 consoles.
The Mott Golf Classic and
the Mott Family Network, two
nonprofit organizations with the
mission of advancing pediatric
medicine and improving patient
and family care, funded a large
portion of the project. The proj-
ect’s initial budget was almost
$500,000, but with donations
from the two organizations, the
project only cost about $100,000
of hospital funds.
The project began as a smaller
pilot program last year, with 32
Xbox consoles in the Hematolo-
gy/Oncology unit at the hospital.
Jean-Jacques Bouchard, a child
life specialist, said Mott saw a
need to implement the gaming
system hospital-wide to meet
the recreational, educational and
therapeutic needs of the hospi-
tal’s patients.
Bouchard said the Xbox gam-
ing system allows patients to be
treated like normal kids because
they can interact with their fam-
ily and friends online — even
when they are at the hospital.
“People who are playing with
the patients online have no idea
Michigan tops
Maryland for
fourth straight
victory, 28-0
FOOTBALL
Defense dominant
again in Big Ten
opener, No. 13
Northwestern next
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
COLLEGE PARK — In the first
four games, 36 minutes and 42
seconds of its season, the Michi-
gan football team did not have
what one might call a quick-strike
offense.
But in a span of three min-
utes, 11 seconds during the third
quarter Saturday, the Wolverines
pulled away from Maryland in
their Big Ten opener en route to a
28-0 win at Byrd Stadium.
Michigan gained possession
for the 11th time with 8:18 to
go in the third quarter. At that
point, the Wolverines led just
6-0 despite having dominated
the Terrapins on the defensive
side of the ball. That dominance
had gifted the offense yet another
opportunity, with junior corner-
back Jourdan Lewis’ interception
giving Michigan the ball at Mary-
land’s 31-yard line.
Within 19 seconds, the Wolver-
ines were in the end zone. After
two incomplete passes, on 3rd-
and-10, fifth-year senior quarter-
back Jake Rudock dumped off a
screen to redshirt junior running
back Drake Johnson, who picked
up a block on the edge and took it
in for a touchdown.
“I think
we
just calmed
down, just trusted the process,”
said junior tight end Jake Butt.
“There’s no panic on the sideline.
It was just little things here and
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Detroit resident Ebony Elmore chaperones children from her neighborhood in River Rouge as they march down
Michigan Avenue for Environmental Justice on Saturday.
Environmental
equity cited as city’s
key concern
By WILL GREENBERG
Daily News Editor
DETROIT — Marching from
Roosevelt Park to Hart Plaza,
several groups rallied together
to support each other’s various
justice causes.
The Detroit March for Jus-
tice, hosted by the National
Sierra Club and a variety of
social justice and environmen-
tal groups, drew Sierra Club
executives from around the
country Saturday, including
club President Aaron Mair.
Represented in the march
were groups like the East
Michigan
Environmental
Action Council, Water is Life,
Michigan Welfare Rights Orga-
nization and others. Marchers
carried signs calling for an end
to fracking and water shutoffs.
But many were there in
defense of Detroit’s air, one of
the pressing environmental
issues in the area. One young
boy wore a sandwich board the
read: “Most polluted zip code:
48217.”
“(We have) all the other
ENVIRONMENT
Know Tomorrow
event promotes
individual and
institutional action
By CHARLOTTE JENKINS
Daily Staff Reporter
In anticipation of the United
Nations Climate Change Con-
ference scheduled to begin this
November in Paris, University
students gathered on the Diag on
Friday to draw attention to cli-
mate change.
The rally was sponsored by
the University’s chapter of Know
Tomorrow, a student-led cam-
paign launched by Cool Globes, a
national nonprofit organization
working to raise awareness and
spur action on climate change.
See PLACEBO, Page 3A
See GAMES, Page 3A
See MARYLAND, Page 3A
See MARCH, Page 3A
See RALLY, Page 3A
Study looks
at placebo
in treating
depression
With new program, games
provide therapy at C.S. Mott
March focuses on justice
issues facing Detroiters
Rally calls
on students
to address
climate
challenges
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 4
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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