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Posts Tagged ‘Major depressive disorder’

First ever replication of a GxE in psychiatric genetics

Posted in CRHR1, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia According to the authors of  “Protective effect of CRHR1 gene variants on the development of adult depression following childhood maltreatment: replication and extension“  [PMID: 19736354], theirs is “the first instance of Genes x Environment research that stress has been ascertained by more than 1 study using the same instrument“.  The gene they [...]

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Feeling good about feeling bad

Posted in 5HTT, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Just a pointer to a great book – The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder by Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield.  Its an in-depth treatment on the many reasons and contexts in which we – quite naturally – feel sad and depressed and the way in which diagnostic [...]

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Video library of mental illness

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on November 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia pointer to symptommedia.org – fantastic video resource of specific symptoms of mental illness. “The intention of these clips are to be used in the classroom setting as visual compliments to the written description of symptoms for psychological phenomena found in the DSM handbook.”

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rs6265 moderates my hippocampus’ response to stress

Posted in BDNF, tagged , , , , , , , on September 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Image by digitalART2 via Flickr In Robert Sapolsky’s book, “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers“, he details a biological feedback system wherein psychological stress leads to the release of glucocorticoids that have beneficial effects in the near-term but negative effects (e.g. ulcers, depression, etc.) in the long-term.  The key to getting the near-term benefits and avoiding [...]

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Gene expression divides coolest part of your brain into 4 parts

Posted in acetylcholine, Cingulate cortex, GABA, Glutamate, tagged , , , , , , on January 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

OK, there’s not really a “coolest” part of the brain, but, some areas are pretty darn weird & wild.  Consider the cingulate cortex (shown here).  Electrical stimulation of the pACC region in humans can produce overwhelming fear – even a feeling that death is imminent – while stimulation of white matter tracts adjacent to area [...]

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Piccolo leads a long commute away from major depressive disorder

Posted in Kinesin, PCLO, tagged , , , on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Commuting to work is a total drag.  Commuting to work in New York City is not just a total drag, but THE definitive commuting nightmare.  Still, when one ponders the masses of people (more than 2 million each day) who tread in, out and around Manhattan, its pretty remarkable that one can [...]

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Relief of big pharma’s antidepressant blues is as easy as ABC ?

Posted in ABCB1, tagged , , , on February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Recent meta-analytical research, “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy” (N Engl J Med 2008;358:252-60) reveals that while 94% of published antidepressant drug trials show positive findings, only 51% of all such (published and unpublished) trials show positive effects (with a range of effect sizes from 11-69%). This [...]

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Sweatin’ to the oldies, VGF-style

Posted in Hippocampus, VGF, tagged , , , on December 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia The Wall Street Journal just ran a piece on the growing use of electro-convulsive (“shock”) therapy in elderly patients suffering from severe depression. While the clinical evidence may show this approach is effective – albeit scary – it is notable that another study published on the same day by Hunsberger et al., [...]

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AMPA receptor polymorphisms add to antidepressant – suicide puzzle

Posted in 5HTT, AMPA receptor, Glutamate, GRIA3, GRIK2, tagged , , , , on September 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia The recent paper, “Genetic Markers of Suicidal Ideation Emerging During Citalopram Treatment of Major Depression” finds that among 68 candidate genes, markers for 2 AMPA-type glutamate receptors (rs4825476, rs2518224: GRIA3 and GRIK2) show significant association in 120 individuals who experienced suicidal ideation in a large medication trial for major depressive disorder. Many [...]

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Brain based algorithms and personalized medicine

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia I much enjoyed Helen Mayberg’s October 13th podcast, “Paths to Recovery in Major Depression: Insights from Functional Neuroimaging” hosted by Science & the City, the webzine of the NY Academy of Science. One comment that stuck with me was her mention of ‘brain-based algorithms’ for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. [...]

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