Depression News and Research

RSS

Depression is a serious medical illness that involves the brain. It's more than just a feeling of being "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 20 million people in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

Research Uncovers the Biology Underpinning a Rare Genetic Mutation Linked to Painlessness

The biology underpinning a rare genetic mutation that allows its carrier to live virtually pain-free, heal more rapidly and experience reduced anxiety and fear, has been uncovered by new research from UCL.

24 May 2023

Revealing the Conserved Role of Serotonin in Maintaining Germline Quality

Worms may not be depressed. However, this does not prevent them from benefiting from antidepressants.

5 May 2023

Understanding the Origins of Human Disease Using the Power of Evolutionary Genomics

Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted over the years to find the genes underlying common human traits, from eye color to intelligence and physical and mental illnesses.

28 Apr 2023

Getting Insights into Parkinson’s Patients’ Brain Cells Through Stem Cell Research

When the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are experienced by a patient, the disease has been evolving for a long period, and the patient might already have lost half of a certain kind of nerve cells in the brain.

27 Apr 2023

Mind-Body Connection is More Than Just an Abstraction

Calm body, calm mind, say the practitioners of mindfulness. A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that the idea that the body and mind are inextricably intertwined is more than just an abstraction.

20 Apr 2023

Molecular Mechanisms That Maintain the Tissue Specificity of PKMzeta

The protein PKMzeta has been strongly associated with long-term memory formation.

19 Apr 2023

Exceptional Number of Unknown Viruses Found in the Infants' Feces

Viruses are usually associated with illness. But our bodies are full of both bacteria and viruses that constantly proliferate and interact with each other in our gastrointestinal tract.

12 Apr 2023

Key Mediator of Anhedonia-Like Behavior Identified

Researchers uncovered a stress-regulated gene that is important in the relationship between chronic stress and typical depressed behavior in mice.

10 Apr 2023

Study Reveals a Unique Mode of Reproduction that Produces Chimeric Males in Yellow Crazy Ants

Male yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) are chimeras of two separate genetic lineages, researchers report in a study that reveals a unique mode of reproduction in this species – one previously unknown to science.

7 Apr 2023

Poor Sleep Combined With High Genetic Susceptibility Results in Greater Asthma Risk

Poor quality sleep may bolster a person's genetic susceptibility to asthma, potentially doubling their risk of being diagnosed with the condition, suggests a large UK Biobank study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research.

6 Apr 2023

Common Epstein-Barr virus may be a trigger for multiple sclerosis

In 1868, French physician Jean-Martin Charcot, known as the founder of modern neurology, defined a disease entity in which multiple plaques formed in the brain and spinal cord, with varying physical symptoms, called Sclérose en plaques, or in English as multiple sclerosis (MS).

24 Mar 2023

T cell-driven changes in the gut may affect brain function associated with depression

In experiments with mice and humans, a team led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers says it has identified a particular intestinal immune cell that impacts the gut microbiome, which in turn may affect brain functions linked to stress-induced disorders such as depression.

21 Mar 2023

Study may help identify new sex-specific treatments for depression

Depression is widely reported to be more common in women than in men, with women twice as likely to receive a diagnosis than men.

20 Mar 2023

Study reveals the cellular composition and circuit organization of the locus coeruleus

A small nucleus in the brainstem called locus coeruleus (literally the "blue spot,") is the primary source of a major neuromodulator, norepinephrine (NE), an important mediator of the 'fight or flight' response in animals. However, very little is known about the local connections of this small albeit critically important group of neurons.

16 Mar 2023

Novel model tracks hippocampal synaptic plasticity to reveal molecular mechanisms

The accumulation of amyloid beta proteins, which encourage synaptic malfunction, causes cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to scientific evidence.

10 Mar 2023

COVID-19 has taken a limited toll on the mental health, finds study

COVID-19 has taken a relatively limited toll on the mental health of most people around the globe, according to a paper published today in the BMJ by a McGill University-led research team involving collaborators from McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and other institutions.

10 Mar 2023

Researchers find methods to awaken and revive neural stem cells

Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood. A team led by scientists from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Lausanne (UNIL) has discovered the importance of cell metabolism in this process and identified how to wake up these neural stem cells and reactivate them. Biologists succeeded in increasing the number of new neurons in the brain of adult and even elderly mice. These results, promising for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, are to be discovered in the journal Science Advances.

2 Mar 2023

Study elucidates the cellular changes caused by exposure to adversity during childhood

A new brain connection discovered by University of California, Irvine researchers can explain how early-life stress and adversity trigger disrupted operation of the brain's reward circuit, offering a new therapeutic target for treating mental illness. Impaired function of this circuit is thought to underlie several major disorders, such as depression, substance abuse and excessive risk-taking.

28 Feb 2023

Study provides new insight into the brain circuits involved in opioid addiction

The ongoing opioid epidemic continues to take a heavy toll on American communities, with more than 80,000 opioid-related deaths reported in 2021, according to the National Institutes of Health.

23 Feb 2023

Pets help improve the mental health and wellbeing of older people

Furry, finned, or feathered, our family pets come in all shapes and sizes. But while these friendly faces keep us company at home, it's a very different story for people in aged care – many of whom must relinquish their beloved pet as a condition of entry.

21 Feb 2023