BCIA Continuing Education Posts

Just when you thought the opioid crisis couldn’t get worse, a new class of drugs is quietly overtaking fentanyl as the deadliest threat on the street: nitazenes.

The brain follows a consistent pattern when transitioning from sleep, with specific rhythms and regions activating in a predictable sequence. These changes vary depending on the sleep stage and even predict how alert or sleepy a person feels upon waking.

Children who later initiated substance use had larger brains overall, including greater whole brain volume, larger cortical surface area, and bigger subcortical structures.

Autism may actually be four distinct subtypes, each with its own genetic fingerprint and developmental trajectory.

The comprehensive analysis found that people who use cannabis are 29% more likely to experience a heart attack, 20% more likely to have a stroke, and more than twice as likely to die from heart disease compared to those who don't use cannabis.

Ben's case exemplifies the core insight of Dr. Swatzyna’s clinician detective model: that not all psychiatric symptoms are psychiatric in origin, and that functional abnormalities in brain activity—detectable on EEG—can signal the presence of invisible, systemic pathology.

Benzodiazepines vary widely in EEG and clinical effects—Subtypes differ by half-life and receptor affinity, influencing sedation, rebound symptoms, and cortical modulation.

Antidepressants, particularly those that are highly activating or serotonergically potent, may be the worst choice in patients with SEB, IEDs, or focal abnormalities.

Acetaminophen excels at treating mild to moderate pain when inflammation isn't a major factor.

At its core, ADHD is not about lacking attention—it's about struggling to control it.

Stimulant treatment does not reliably translate into better grades or sustained academic gains.

EEG biomarkers offer incremental validity over behavioral observation alone.

FOXP1 and FOXP2 mutations have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Prospective value coding reconciles previous models of serotonin function.

Schizophrenia represents multiple disorders—"schizophrenias"—each potentially with distinct biological underpinnings.