How much is spent on mental health research: developing a system for categorising grant funding in the UK.

Knowing how much money is invested in funding mental health research, and in which areas, is essential to inform strategy and track trends to achieve the best allocation of limited resources. However, no comprehensive categorisation system for mental health research is available and, therefore, national and international data on mental health research funding are minimal and not comparable. In this Health Policy paper, we consider the complexities involved in generating such data and propose an approach to classify mental health research grants.

Impact of issuing longer- versus shorter-duration prescriptions: a systematic review.

Background: Long-term conditions place a substantial burden on primary care services, with drug therapy being a core aspect of clinical management. However, the ideal frequency for issuing repeat prescriptions for these medications is unknown.

Aim: To examine the impact of longer-duration (2-4 months) versus shorter-duration (28-day) prescriptions.

Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of issuing longer versus shorter duration (3-month vs. 28-day) prescriptions in patients with chronic conditions: systematic review and economic modelling.

Background: To reduce expenditure on, and wastage of, drugs, some commissioners have encouraged general practitioners to issue shorter prescriptions, typically 28 days in length; however, the evidence base for this recommendation is uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate the evidence of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of shorter versus longer prescriptions for people with stable chronic conditions treated in primary care.

Design/data Sources: The design of the study comprised three elements.

The National Institute for Health Research at 10 Years: An Impact Synthesis: 100 Impact Case Studies.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds and supports world-leading clinical and applied health and social care research, as well as research infrastructure in the NHS. Providing £1 billion of funding each year, NIHR aims to: drive the faster translation of new treatments, technologies and diagnostics to improve outcomes for health and care services; promote the wealth of the nation, including via inward investment from the health research community; pull basic science discoveries through into tangible benefits for patients and the public; and provide research evidence to support more effective and cost-effective NHS delivery. To mark its tenth anniversary, the Department of Health commissioned the Policy Research in Science and Medicine unit to consider the question: "What are the ways in which NIHR has benefited the health research landscape in the past ten years?" This study identifies and celebrates 100 examples of positive change resulting from NIHR's support of research.

Mapping the Global Mental Health Research Funding System.

This study maps the global funding of mental health research between 2009 and 2014. It builds from the bottom up a picture of who the major funders are, what kinds of research they support and how their strategies relate to one another. It uses the funding acknowledgements on journal papers as a starting point for this.

A 'DECISIVE' Approach to Research Funding: Lessons from Three Retrosight Studies.

The Retrosight approach consists of looking at research that was conducted in the past and, using Payback case studies, tracing that research through to the present day to understand both the extent to which the research has had impacts, within academia and more widely, and how these impacts came about. RAND Europe has conducted three studies based on this approach in different research fields: arthritis research, cardiovascular research and mental health research. Each drew out a set of observations and recommendations for policymakers and research funders in those research fields.

The impact of the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme, 2003-13: a multimethod evaluation.

Background: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme supports research tailored to the needs of NHS decision-makers, patients and clinicians. This study reviewed the impact of the programme, from 2003 to 2013, on health, clinical practice, health policy, the economy and academia. It also considered how HTA could maintain and increase its impact.

Postnatal neurodevelopmental expression and glutamate-dependent regulation of the ZNF804A rodent homologue.

The zinc finger protein ZNF804A rs1344706 variant is a replicated genome-wide significant risk variant for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. While its association with altered brain structure and cognition in patients and healthy risk allele carriers is well documented, the characteristics and function of the gene in the brain remains poorly understood. Here, we used in situ hybridization to determine mRNA expression levels of the ZNF804A rodent homologue, Zfp804a, across multiple postnatal neurodevelopmental time points in the rat brain.

The exclusive induction of extinction is gated by BDNF.

We have previously reported that the reconsolidation and extinction of hippocampal-dependent contextual fear memory can be initiated by a single context conditioned stimulus (CS) presentation of either short or long duration, and that both processes require protein synthesis in this brain region. Furthermore, reconsolidation depends on Zif268 activity in this region. Here we show that by infusing a recombinant brain-derived neurotrophic factor (rBDNF) directly into the brain of rats, that high levels of mature BDNF in the hippocampus at retrieval constrain the extinction of the fear memory after prolonged memory recall.

Quantitatively and qualitatively different cellular processes are engaged in CA1 during the consolidation and reconsolidation of contextual fear memory.

Whether the consolidation and reconsolidation long-term memory relies on qualitatively different molecular and cellular processes is controversial. Using a novel experimental strategy of combining intrahippocampal antisense oligodeoxynucleotides targeting BDNF or zif268 to the block consolidation or reconsolidation of contextual fear memory respectively, and Affymetrix microarray technology, we identified a comprehensive list of nonoverlapping candidate genes regulated in CA1 during the initial stages consolidation and reconsolidation. Using RT-qPCR in subsequent validation experiments, we estimated that over 80% of the candidates reflect gene transcripts truly regulated following the acquisition or retrieval of contextual fear memory.