Depression News and Research

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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.

The influence of genes and small molecules on personal disease risk

Each individual has a unique chemical fingerprint. Small molecules in the blood, like fats or sugars, have a significant impact on how the human body responds to stress, which diseases people are predisposed to, and how serious an illness will be.

23 Nov 2022

Urban Mind app shows direct link between seeing or hearing birds and positive mood

New research from King's College London has found that seeing or hearing birds is associated with an improvement in mental wellbeing that can last up to eight hours.

28 Oct 2022

Harsh parenting leads to depression later in life

Strict parenting can influence how the body reads the children’s DNA. These modifications can become “hard-wired” into the DNA of kids who consider their parents to be harsh, enhancing their biological risk for depression in adolescence and later life.

20 Oct 2022

Interactional closeness with a dog can increase prefrontal brain activity

Researchers led by Rahel Marti at the University of Basel in Switzerland report that viewing, feeling, and touching real dogs leads to increasingly higher levels of activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

6 Oct 2022

The deep relationship between Tob gene and common mental health conditions

The Tob gene is well known for its connection to cancer. Scientists have discovered that this gene also has a significant role in lowering depression, fear, and anxiety in a multidisciplinary study that blends molecular biology with neuroscience.

12 Sep 2022

Microbes in the human gut impact neurological and emotional health

According to a recent viewpoint piece in Science by a UT Southwestern researcher, there is growing evidence that the microbes found in the human stomach might also affect a person’s neurological and emotional health.

9 Sep 2022

Genomics plays a major role in psychedelic drugs behavior

It can be crippling for those who suffer from conditions like depression, anxiety, and cluster headaches. In clinical research, psychedelic substances have demonstrated benefits as therapies for several ailments, but not in all cases.

1 Aug 2022

Healthy people can reap mental health benefits from gardening

Many longtime gardeners will tell you that the garden is their happy place. New research suggests that many people may indeed reap mental health benefits from working with plants -; even if they've never gardened before.

7 Jul 2022

Trial assesses the impact of Mediterranean diet on depression symptoms in young men

Depression is a common mental health condition that affects approximately 1 million Australians each year. It is a significant risk factor for suicide, the leading cause of death in young adults.

10 May 2022

New technique uses genetic data that may better predict disease risk in a population

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) are promising tools for forecasting disease risk, but current versions have bias built-in, which can reduce their accuracy in some populations and lead to health disparities.

10 May 2022

What does Creativity and Innovation Look Like In Science?

For World Creativity and Innovation Day, we asked leading experts within the life sciences industry 'What does creativity and innovation look like to you within science?'.

21 Apr 2022

New research shows significant variations in B-cells in women with PPD

Jerry Guintivano, PhD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, led an exclusive transcriptome-wide association research that showed substantial changes in B-cells in women with postpartum depression, with pathway observations indicating modified B-cell activation and insulin resistance.

19 Apr 2022

Research associates depressive diseases and deformability of blood cells

For the first time, a study conducted by the TU Dresden and the University of Zurich in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light finds a relationship between depressive disorders and mechanical features of all main blood cell types.

19 Apr 2022

Researchers discover 15 genetic 'hotspots' that speed up or slow down brain aging

Researchers from a USC-led consortium have discovered 15 "hotspots" in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down -; a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative brain disorders, as well as developmental delays.

6 Apr 2022

Specific brain cells in the claustrum of mice control stress-induced anxiety behaviors

It is well known that long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious psychiatric problems. However, the precise mechanisms underpinning the stress response have remained largely elusive.

From Osaka University 21 Mar 2022

New research demonstrates genetic markers in leadership positions

The locations of nine core genetic markers related with leadership have been discovered in a recent study led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School.

From National University of Singapore (NUS) 21 Mar 2022

Researchers develop an antibody as a tool for opening the blood-brain barrier

The brain is composed of billions of neurons-; vulnerable cells that require a protective environment to function properly.

17 Mar 2022

Study takes a deep dive into the molecular biology of the brain in bipolar disorder patients

In a comprehensive study involving one of the largest-ever samples of post-mortem brains, scientists at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, in collaboration with researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, have pinpointed significant differences in gene expression in two specific regions of the brains of hundreds of patients who had bipolar disorder.

8 Mar 2022

Researchers study how metabolomic assessment finds postmortem biomarkers indicating decedent’s diabetes mellitus history

One of the most important and difficult aspects of a forensic examination is identifying the cause of death.

2 Mar 2022

Study discovers common genetic factors between depression and Alzheimer’s disease

Recent research discovered common genetic factors between depression and AD.

18 Feb 2022