Depressive Symptoms

Targeting inflammation to treat depression

Researchers at Emory University have found that a medication that inhibits inflammation may offer new hope for people with difficult-to-treat depression. The study was published Sept. 3 in the online version of Archives of ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 03, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)

(Medical Xpress)—The existential psychologist Rollo May wrote that "depression is the inability to construct a future"1 while Lionel Tiger stated that "optimism has been central to the process of human e ...

Neuroscience created Apr 02, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 5 | with audio podcast feature

Multiple media use tied to depression, anxiety

(Medical Xpress)—Using multiple forms of media at the same time – such as playing a computer game while watching TV – is linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression, scientists have found for the first ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Dec 04, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Depression could be evolutionary byproduct of immune system

Depression is common enough – afflicting one in ten adults in the United States – that it seems the possibility of depression must be "hard-wired" into our brains. This has led biologists to propose several theories ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 01, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Drug fights hard-to-treat depression by targeting brain receptors in a new way

A first-of-its-kind antidepressant drug discovered by a Northwestern University professor and now tested on adults who have failed other antidepressant therapies has been shown to alleviate symptoms within hours, have good ...

Medical research created Dec 07, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Molecular imaging links systemic inflammation with depression

New research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine reveals that systemic inflammation causes an increase in depressive symptoms and metabolic changes in the parts of the brain responsible for mo ...

Neuroscience created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Electric stimulation of brain releases powerful, opiate-like painkiller

Researchers used electricity on certain regions in the brain of a patient with chronic, severe facial pain to release an opiate-like substance that's considered one of the body's most powerful painkillers.

Neuroscience created Jan 02, 2013 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bias in decision-making leads to poor choices and possibly depression

When faced with making a complicated decision, our automatic instinct to avoid misfortune can result in missing out on rewards, and could even contribute to depression, according to new research.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Effects of stress on brain cells offer clues to new anti-depressant drugs

Research from King's College London reveals the detailed mechanism behind how stress hormones reduce the number of new brain cells - a process considered to be linked to depression. The researchers identified a key protein ...

Neuroscience created May 06, 2013 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify potential target for treating anhedonia - major symptom of depression

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have laid bare a novel molecular mechanism responsible for the most important symptom of major depression: anhedonia, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure. While ...

Medical research created Jul 11, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Low vitamin D levels linked to depression, psychiatrists report

Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to depression, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists working with the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. It is believed to be the largest such investigation ever ...

Health created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Some harmful effects of light at night can be reversed: study

Chronic exposure to dim light at night can lead to depressive symptoms in rodents -- but these negative effects can be reversed simply by returning to a standard light-dark cycle, a new study suggests.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jul 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study identifies point when negative thoughts turn into depression

Negative thinking is a red flag for clinical depression. Stopping such thoughts early on can save millions of people from mental illness, according research study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Optogenetics illuminates pathways of motivation through brain, study shows

Whether you are an apple tree or an antelope, survival depends on using your energy efficiently. In a difficult or dangerous situation, the key question is whether exerting effort—sending out roots in search of nutrients ...

Neuroscience created Nov 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists induce, relieve depression symptoms in mice with light

Among those who suffer from depression, the dual inabilities to experience enjoyment in things once pleasurable and to physically motivate oneself—to meet challenges, or even to get out of bed in the morning—have been ...

Neuroscience created Dec 12, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast


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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have identified a potential new risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea: asthma. Using data from the National Institutes of Health (Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)-funded Wisconsin ...

Study finds that sleep apnea and Alzheimer's are linked

A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging adds to the growing body of research linking the two.

Computational tool translates complex data into simplified 2-dimensional images

In their quest to learn more about the variability of cells between and within tissues, biomedical scientists have devised tools capable of simultaneously measuring dozens of characteristics of individual ...

New theory on genesis of osteoarthritis comes with successful therapy in mice

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'Gap' for HIV vaccine efforts after latest setback

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Ketamine shows significant therapeutic benefit in people with treatment-resistant depression

Patients with treatment-resistant major depression saw dramatic improvement in their illness after treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic, according to the largest ketamine clinical trial to-date led by researchers from the ...

Consuming coffee linked to lower risk of detrimental liver disease, study finds

Regular consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an autoimmune liver disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at the Digestive Disease ...

Returning genetic incidental findings without patient consent violates basic rights, experts say

Informed consent is the backbone of patient care. Genetic testing has long required patient consent and patients have had a "right not to know" the results. However, as 21st century medicine now begins to use the tools of ...

Vicious cycle: Obesity sustained by changes in brain biochemistry

With obesity reaching epidemic levels in some parts of the world, scientists have only begun to understand why it is such a persistent condition. A study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry adds substantially to the st ...

White matter imaging provides insight into human and chimpanzee aging

(Medical Xpress)—The instability of "white matter" in humans may contribute to greater cognitive decline during the aging of humans compared with chimpanzees, scientists from Yerkes National Primate Research ...