Depression News and Research

Latest Depression News and Research

Gene mutation can lead to different mental illnesses when influenced by same environmental factor

Male mice born with a genetic mutation that's believed to make humans more susceptible to schizophrenia develop behaviors that mimic other major psychiatric illnesses when their mothers are exposed to an assault to the immune system while pregnant, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

4 Dec 2010

Relationship-strengthening class for expectant, first-time parents improves family life

Expectant parents who completed a brief relationship-strengthening class around the time their child was born showed lasting effects on each family member's well being and on the family's overall relationships, according to a recent Penn State study.

3 Dec 2010

CIHR experts discuss impact of violence on Canadians’ health

Although the majority of violent relationships are not reported, nearly 23,000 incidents of dating violence occurred in 2008, according to Statistics Canada.

3 Dec 2010

Quitting smoking eases symptoms of depression

Quitting smoking is certainly healthy for the body, but doctors and scientists haven't been sure whether quitting makes people happier, especially since conventional wisdom says many smokers use cigarettes to ease anxiety and depression. In a new study, researchers tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit and found that they were never happier than when they were being successful, for however long that was.

3 Dec 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Preventing hospital errors; myths about the reform law; Medicare and the independent payment advisory board

Greenbay Press Gazette: No matter what happens with health care reform, the principles we've been discussing the past few months still hold true. Health care systems should continue to focus on quality and cost.

2 Dec 2010

One-third of LGBT youth attempt suicide

One-third of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have attempted suicide in their lifetime -- a prevalence comparable to urban, minority youth -- but a majority do not experience mental illness, according to a report by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

2 Dec 2010

Sleep plays a crucial role in post-infarction remission

The heart and the brain appear to be even more closely connected than previously imagined. The damaging effects of myocardial infarction are apparently not confined to the heart, but also affect the brain.

2 Dec 2010

Study finds duplicated region of DNA in major depressive disorder

A large genetic study of people with major depression has found that a duplicated region of DNA on chromosome 5 predisposes people to the disorder. The gene involved plays an important role in the development of nerve cells, adding to evidence that disruptions in neurotransmission networks form a biological basis for depression.

1 Dec 2010

Dec. 1 news from RSNA 2010

The risk of developing radiation-induced cancer from computed tomography (CT) may be lower than previously thought, according to a Stanford University study. Using more than 10 million Medicare claims from 1998 through 2005, the researchers analyzed the distribution of CT scans, determined the ionizing radiation exposure associated with the exams and estimated the associated cancer risk in a population of older adults.

1 Dec 2010

Surgeon-Physician Marriages face more challenges in balancing personal and professional lives

Surgeons married to physicians face more challenges in balancing their personal and professional lives than do surgeons whose partners work in a non-physician field or stay at home, according to new research findings focused on surgeon marriages published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

1 Dec 2010

New experimental device could offer effective treatment option for people with swallowing disorders

In what might be one of the world's first medicinal body piercings, UC Davis Health System surgeons announced today that they have successfully implanted an experimental device in the throat of a man that will enable him to manually control his ability to swallow.

1 Dec 2010

Clinicians should assess sleep-wake disturbances to understand physiology of Parkinson's disease

Nearly three-quarters of patients with Parkinson's disease experience fatigue or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), but clinicians should assess both problems separately in order to improve the profession's understanding of their distinct, but overlapping, physiology. That is the key finding of a study published in the December issue of the European Journal of Neurology.

1 Dec 2010

Children who care for parents with AIDS have higher level of mental illness

December 1st is World AIDS day. There are 33.4 million people worldwide living with HIV, 67per cent in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. In South Africa alone, 5.6 million people are HIV-positive, with only 22 per cent having access to anti-retroviral medication. A pioneering study, funded by Economic and Social Research Council and the South African National Research Foundation, finds that those children who care for parents with AIDS have a higher level of mental illness.

1 Dec 2010

Older adults with diabetes have reduced life expectancy

Despite medical advances enabling those with diabetes to live longer today than in the past, a 50-year-old with the disease still can expect to live 8.5 years fewer years, on average, than a 50-year-old without the disease.

1 Dec 2010

Diabetes plays a vital role in regulating brain cholesterol: Research

The brain contains more cholesterol than any other organ in the body, has to produce its own cholesterol and won't function normally if it doesn't churn out enough. Defects in cholesterol metabolism have been linked with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Now researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that diabetes can affect how much cholesterol the brain can make.

1 Dec 2010

Military deployment influences sleep quality and quantity

A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found that deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan significantly influenced sleep quality and quantity in a population of 41,225 military service personnel. The study suggests that the promotion of healthier sleep patterns may be beneficial for military service members.

1 Dec 2010

MRS imaging technique may help diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy

In a study of ex-pro athletes, researchers found that a specialized imaging technique called magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) may help diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disorder caused by repetitive head trauma that currently can only be definitively diagnosed at autopsy. Results of the study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

1 Dec 2010

New tool helps gauge care for people with neurological disorder

A national conversation continues about the best ways to improve both the quality of medical care and to contain costs. So far, developing quality measurements has focused on primary care or highly prevalent, chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes. But what about brain disorders? To date, the number of measures that apply to neurologic care has been limited.

1 Dec 2010

Research reveals tricyclic anti-depressants increase risk of CVD

Research that followed nearly 15,000 people in Scotland has shown that a class of older generation anti-depressant is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study showed that tricyclic anti-depressants were associated with a 35% increased risk of CVD, but that there was no increased risk with the newer anti-depressants such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

1 Dec 2010

Los Angeles prosthodontist provides effective dental treatment for oral cancer patients

Oral cancer is a common condition affecting over 30,000 Americans each year. Worldwide the number falls into the hundreds of thousands, and a significant percentage of those with oral cancer end up losing teeth and normal mouth function in the absence of early cancer detection and treatment.

1 Dec 2010