A meta-analysis of more than 50,000 patients has shown that general practitioners (GPs) continue to have difficulty separating those with and without depression, with substantial numbers missed and misidentified. GPs looking for depression make more misidentifications (false positives of depression) than the number of depressions they correctly spot following an initial consultation but accuracy could improved by re-assessment of people suspected of (more…)

In an effort to improve worker health, researchers from Michigan State University and Portland State University have created an innovative training program that calls for supervisors to better support their employees’ work and family demands.
The scientific-based program is featured in the upcoming August edition of the Journal of Management.
The researchers also have been awarded a $4.1 million federal grant to refine and expand the program. The grant is part (more…)

A lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Environmental Health used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlight exposure across the United States and linked this information to the prevalence of cognitive impairment in depressed people.
Shia Kent, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led a team of US researchers who used cross-sectional (more…)

"Silent" strokes, which are strokes that don’t result in any noticeable symptoms but cause brain damage, are common in people over 60, and especially in those with high blood pressure, according to a study published in the July 28, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"These strokes are not truly silent, because (more…)

In New Hampshire, Foster’s Daily Democrat reports: "As unemployment statistics increase and the economic climate deteriorates, a large group of people who would otherwise likely not need mental health services are finding themselves at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviors and substance abuse, according (to) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and (more…)

Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), July 28 - August 1, 2009, the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that after a 6-month behavioral weight loss program, depressed patients not only lost 8% of their initial weight but also reported significant improvements in their symptoms of depression, as well as reductions (more…)

It would make sense that teenage mothers have a lot of psychological stress in their lives, but a new study shows that the distress comes before the pregnancy, not because of it.
"Psychological distress does not appear to be caused by teen childbearing, nor does it cause teen childbearing, except apparently among girls from poor households," said Stefanie Mollborn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at the Institute of Behavioral (more…)

A method of reducing the impact or symptoms of anaphylactic shock has been identified by university researchers.
The team from Glasgow are the first in the world to pinpoint a molecule which amplifies the allergic reaction and have successfully developed a biological agent to reduce the symptoms.
The breakthrough could lead to a huge reduction in the number of fatal cases of anaphylactic shock across the world.
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction - the (more…)

Cyberonics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYBX) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has approved the company’s proposal to amend the protocol of its D-21 post-approval dosing study in depression patients treated with VNS Therapy(TM).
The company submitted a proposal in November 2008 to reduce the number of study subjects from 460 to 330 and completed enrollment of 331 study subjects in February 2009. With this decision from (more…)

We’ve all been asked at routine visits to the doctor to record our family’s history with medical problems like cancer, diabetes or heart disease. But when it comes to mental disorders, usually mum’s the word.
New findings by researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) make a strong case for changing that status quo. Generic zocor pills no prescription They (more…)