Money for old rope

Traveller said:
It's difficult to argue, though, that encouraging and funding innovation, invention and creativity is a bad thing. Of course one can find lots of individual grants made by NESTA to fund palpable rubbish, but for every one of those there is one funding the development of an tiny pump, which can be worn on the skin like a plaster, to deliver insulin to diabetics.

On balance, I have to say I am in favour.
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Funding research isn't a bad thing at all, but funding this sort of nonsense is a big fat waste of money.

With an organisation with such a budget (200million and rising) you'd expect them to be able to filter out such rubbish.

5 quid spent on nonsense like this is 5 quid too much.
 
Even fewer scientists seem to know how ... weather, seasons, etc. etc. affect us ... I know my son gets angrier in the winter months. Why?
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Ah, seasonal affective disorder. Here's a small sample of the scientific literature.

Allen JM, Lam RW, Remick RA, Sadovnick AD: Depressive Symptoms and Family History in Seasonal and Nonseasonal Mood Disorders. Am J Psychiatry 1993, 150:443--448.

Bauer MS, Kurtz J, et al. Mood and behavioral effects of four-week light treatment in winter depressives and controls. Presented at the third annual meeting of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 1991.

Booker JM, Hellekson CJ: Prevalence of Seasonal Affective Disorder in Alaska. Am J Psychiatry 1992, 149: 1176--1182.

Brunner/Mazel, 1993:167-214. Dilsaver SC, Del Medico VJ, Quadri A, Jaeckle S. Pharmacological responsiveness of winter depression. Psychopharmacol Bull 1990;26:303-9.

Dilsaver SC, Jaeckle RS. Winter depression responds to an open trial of tranylcypromine. J Clin Psychiatry 1990;51:326-9.

Dilsaver SC, Qamar AB, Del Medico VJ. The efficacy of bupropion in winter depression: results of an open trial. J Clin Psychiatry 1992;53:252-5.

Faedda GL, Tondo L, Teicher MH, Baldessarini RJ, Gelbard HA, Floris GF: Seasonal Mood Disorders. Patterns of Seasonal Recurrence in Mania and Depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1993, 50:17--23.

Kasper S, Wehr TA, Bartko JJ, Gaist PA, Rosenthal NE. Epidemiological findings of seasonal changes in mood and behavior. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1989; 46:823-33.

Krauchi K, Wirz-Justice A, Graw P. High intake of sweets late in the day predicts a rapid and persistent response to light therapy in winter depression. Psychiatry Res 1993;46:107-17.

Levitt AJ, Joffe RT, Moul DE, Lam RW, Teicher MH, Lebegue B, et al. Side effects of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:650-2.

Oren DA, Rosenthal NE. Seasonal affective disorders. In: Paykel ES, ed. Handbook of affective disorders. 2d ed. London: Churchill Livingstone, 1992:551-67.

Oren DA, Jacobsen FM, Wehr TA, Cameron CL, Rosenthal NE. Predictors of response to phototherapy in seasonal affective disorder. Compr Psychiatry 1992;33:111-4.

O'Rourke D, Wurtman JJ, Wurtman RJ, Chebli R, Gleason R. Treatment of seasonal depression with d-fenfluramine. J Clin Psychiatry 1989;50:343-7.

Pande AC, Haskett RF, Greden JF: Seasonality in Atypical Depression. Biol Psychiatry 1992, 31:965 967.
Terman M, Stewart JW: Is Seasonal Affective Disorder a Variant of Atypical Depression. IL Diagnostic Similarities [Abstract]. Abstracts of the 5th Annual Meeting of the Society of Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, San Diego, June, 1993, p.21.

Partonen T, Lonnqvist J. Moclobemide and fluoxetine in treatment of seasonal affective disorder. J Affect Disord 1996;25:41:93-9. Schlager DS. Early-morning administration of short-acting beta blockers for treatment of winter depression. Am J Psychiatry 1994;151:1383-5.

Rosen LN, Targum SD, Terman M, Bryant MT, Hoffman H, Kasper SF, Hamovit 1R, Docherty JP, Welch B, Rosenthal NE: Prevalence of Seasonal Affective Disorder at Four Latitudes. Psychiatry Res 1990; 31:131--144.

Stewart JW, Quitkin FM, Terman M, Terman JS: Is Seasonal Affective Disorder a Variant of Atypical Depression? Differential Response to Light Therapy. Psychiatry Res 1990; 33:121-128.

Swedo SE, Pleeter JD, Richter DM, Hoffman CL, Allen AJ, Hamburger SD, et al. Rates of seasonal affective disorder in children and adolescents.

Tam EM, Lam RW, Levitt AJ. Treatment of seasonal affective disorder: a review. Can J Psychiatry 1995; 40:457-66

Terman JS, Terman M, Schlager D, Rafferty B, Rosofsky M, Link MJ, et al. Efficacy of brief, intense light exposure for treatment of winter depression. Psychopharmacol Bull 1990;26:3-11.

Wehr TA, Rosenthal NE. Seasonality and affective illness. Am J Psychiatry 1989;146:829-39.

Williams RJ, Schmidt GG: Frequency of Seasonal Affective Disorder Among Individuals Seeking Treatment at a Northern Canadian Mental Health Center. Psychiatry Res 1993; 46:41--45.

Wirz-Justice A, Graw P, Krauchi K, Gisin B, Jochum A, Arendt J, et al. Light therapy in seasonal affective disorder is independent of time of day or circadian phase. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1993;50:929-37.
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Well, that took me a whole 'nother five minutes of my life that I'll never get back again. If I ever find myself with that much free time again, I might hunt up some of the vast literature on diet and mood.
 
Wow! Dr. A, I'm impressed. I'll be replying to the email I got tomorrow, I'll quote you if you don't mind. I reckon Melody owes you some of her grant!
 
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