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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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