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.
A group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed the world's first microrobot ("microbot") capable of navigating within groups of cells and stimulating individual cells.
Recent research reveals that people who are hospitalized for depression are at an increased risk of developing conditions like substance abuse, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety, depending on their genetic predisposition to the individual disorder.
An antibody in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format that binds to the powerful opioid carfentanil was shown to reverse signs of carfentanil overdose in preclinical tests conducted by scientists at Scripps Research.
Neurons and astrocytes are the two types of cells required by the brain to enjoy the scent of morning coffee and freshly baked cookies or to discern the warning smell of something burning.
Cognitive deficits accompany mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions, often with debilitating effects.
Childhood adversity-;circumstances that threaten to a child's physical or psychological well-being--has long been associated with poorer physical and mental health throughout life, such as greater risks of developing cardiac disease, cancer, or depression.
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.
Worms may not be depressed. However, this does not prevent them from benefiting from antidepressants.
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.
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.
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.
The protein PKMzeta has been strongly associated with long-term memory formation.
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.
Researchers uncovered a stress-regulated gene that is important in the relationship between chronic stress and typical depressed behavior in mice.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Depression is widely reported to be more common in women than in men, with women twice as likely to receive a diagnosis than men.
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.