Brain Images Reveal Effects Of Anti-Depressants
February 29, 2008 |20:10 | Gossips By : Kaneta Babar
When one is depressed he/she cannot understand or comprehend anything that is said to that person the reason being that he/she is so depressed that nothing feels like to be done by this particular person the only thing needed by this individual at this point of depression is to remain alone and not to talk to anyone but this effects the family at a large level being in a close knit family the others cannot let their dear one be on its own at any cost, the result is anti-depressants which are given to the person in need of them with the hope that these anti-depressants will help him/her in getting out of depression. But medically brain images have shown that there are after effects of these medicines on the brain. The experiences of millions of people have proved that antidepressants work, but only with the advent of sophisticated imaging technology have scientists begun to learn exactly how the medications affect brain structures and circuits to bring relief from depression. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW Medical School recently added important new information to the growing body of knowledge. For the first time, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)--technology that provides a view of the brain as it is working--to see what changes occur over time during antidepressant treatment while patients experience negative and positive emotions. The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. UW psychology professor Richard Davidson, Ph.D., psychiatry department chair Ned Kalin, MD, research associate William Irwin and research assistant Michael Anderle were the authors. The researchers found that when they gave the antidepressant venlafaxine (Effexor(r)) to a small group of clinically depressed patients, the drug produced robust alterations in the anterior cingulate. This area of the brain has to do with focused attention and also becomes activated when people face conflicts. Unexpectedly, the changes were observed in just two weeks. "Conducting repeated brain scans in these patients allowed us to see for the first time how quickly antidepressants work on brain mechanisms," said Davidson, who also is director of the W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, where imaging for the study took place. He noted that the findings were surprising because patients don't usually begin noticing mood improvements until after they have been taking antidepressants for three to five weeks. The researchers also found that while the depressed patients displayed lower overall activity in the anterior cingulate than non-depressed controls, those depressed patients who showed relatively more activity before treatment responded better to the medication than those with lower pre-treatment activity. This kind of information may be extremely useful to clinicians someday, Kalin said. "We expect that physicians in the future will be able to predict which patients will be the best candidates for antidepressants simply by looking at brain scans that reveal this type of pertinent information," said Kalin, who also is director of the HealthEmotions Research Institute, where scientists concentrate on uncovering the scientific basis of linkages between emotions and health. One third of all patients treated with antidepressants do not respond to them, and of those that do, only about 50 percent get completely better, he added. Virtually all previous studies analyzing brain activity in depressed people used PET (positron emission tomography) and SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) technology. With these imaging systems scientists were not able to obtain pictures with the same resolution as that which is now obtainable with fMRI, which provides a "working snapshot" of the brain. The Wisconsin team used fMRI's capability to capture brain activity as it occurred to record subjects' reactions as they viewed pictures designed to stimulate negative and positive emotions. "We believe that we can uncover the best indicators of treatment changes when we present research subjects these emotion challenges," said Davidson. "The pictures activate the individual circuits that underlie different kinds of emotional responses." UW emotions researchers have been using fMRIs with emotion-challenging pictures for several years in an effort to understand normal and abnormal brain responses to a range of emotions. They theorize that in depressed people, reactions to negative emotions are similar to, but more exaggerated than, reactions that non-depressed people have, and that the reactions may be more difficult to turn off. "We all experience some sadness from time to time, but in depression, the responses may be sustained and out of context," said psychiatrist Kalin.
Depression may be caused or precipitated by the use or abuse of substances such as drugs, alcohol, medications, or exposure to toxins. A mental health professional or physician must determine whether the mood disorder occurs as a result of the substance or just happens to occur at the same time by coincidence. If it develops as a result of the use of or exposure to the substance then this diagnosis may be appropriate. To make a diagnosis of a substance-induced mood disorder, the disturbance can only occur while a person is intoxicated, going through withdrawal, or within four weeks of either.
where all medical science fails its at that time that people turn to healing of Indian herbs and that is why its known to many that an Indian herb helps very much in healing people with blood sugar meaning diabetes. An extract of Coccinia indica, a perennial herb that grows abundantly in India, may help people with mild type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels, the results of a new study suggest. In the journal Diabetes Care, researchers note that while Coccinia indica, also known as Coccinia cordifolia, has been widely used in traditional treatments of diabetes, carefully controlled studies have not been done.To examine the effects of this herb on blood sugar levels, the India-based researchers randomly assigned 60 adults with newly detected type 2 diabetes to receive Coccinia extract or placebo. The subjects were between 35 and 60 years old and were being treated with diet and lifestyle modification only. According to Dr. Rebecca Kuriyan, from the Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research in Bangalore, and colleagues, there were significant differences in blood sugar favoring Coccinia extract over placebo after 90 days of treatment. Fasting blood sugar levels at 90 days in people taking the Coccinia extract fell by an impressive 16 percent, while fasting blood sugar levels rose slightly in the placebo takers. Likewise, patients in the Coccinia extract group had an 18-percent decrease in post-meal blood sugar levels at the study's end, whereas the placebo group experienced a small increase in post-meal blood sugar levels.This study suggests that Coccinia extract has a potential blood sugar lowering action in patients with mild diabetes. Kuriyan and colleagues note however that additional studies are needed to identify the mechanisms involved.
In order to receive this diagnosis, a mental health professional or physician must first determine that a general medical condition is present. This, of course, may already be established if a person with a medical disorder seeks treatment for problems with his or her mood. Having clinical depression is not a normal part of coping with a medical condition. In fact, the presence of clinical depression can complicate a person's recovery from a medical condition. One problem is that having a mood disorder along with a serious medical condition can increase the risk of a person attempting and completing suicide. The greatest risk of suicide is related to the more chronic, painful, and incurable illnesses such as spinal cord injury, head injury, AIDS, malignant cancer, etc.
Stress is no doubt a silent killer and it’s because of this that women who are under stress all the time are more prone to Cervical Cancer. Therefore it’s better to stay away from stress and to keep one self busy, all the time so that you can lead a long and a healthy life at least this is the least one can do for oneself in order to save yourself from Cervical Cancer. High levels of daily stress could explain why some women infected with malignancy-linked types of human papillomavirus (HPV) develop cervical cancer, a new study suggests. Scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia tested 74 women, all diagnosed with cervical dysplasia (precancerous cervical lesions), for an immune response to HPV 16, one of the strains of human papillomavirus thought to be a major cause of cervical cancer. The women also completed a questionnaire that assessed stressful life events experienced during the previous six months -- including deaths of family members, loss of a job or divorce -- as well as their perceived daily stress level over the previous month.The research, published in the February issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, found that slightly more than 55 percent of the women tested positive for one or more types of HPV, a sexually transmitted infection that can cause genital warts as well as cancer. "We observed that stress was associated with deficits in immune response to HPV 16," said Carolyn Y. Fang, the study's lead investigator. Most HPV infections in healthy women disappear over time without progressing to precancerous cervical lesions or cancer. "That means HPV infection alone is not sufficient to cause cervical cancer," Fang said. "Our study suggests a potential mechanism by which stress may influence cervical disease progression."We were surprised to discover no significant association between the occurrence of major stressful life events and immune response to HPV 16, possibly because of the amount of time that had passed since the event and how the women coped," she added. "However, women with higher perceived levels of daily stress were more likely to have an impaired immune response." HPV expert Dr. Kevin Ault, associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said, "It is unusual to see psychology and immunology in the same study, and this is very interesting. It is clear that almost all sexually active men and women get infected by HPV but very few have cancer. We already knew that nutrition may play a role. It seems likely that immune responses to HPV are influenced by stress, too." Dr. Charles Raison, clinical director of Emory University's Mind-Body Program, said the new study adds to the growing evidence that stress can negatively influence health. "There is data that stress can put the immune system at a disadvantage in dealing with viral infections. Even daily hassles like commuting in bad traffic can impact how the body functions," he said. "If a person with HPV is feeling stressed, it is important to do something positive to reduce the stress load. Exercise is known to help, and psychiatric therapy for any depression is important, too." Fang added: "We want women to understand that stress does not cause cervical cancer, and feeling stressed out does not mean that one will develop cervical cancer. In this initial study, we observed that stress was associated with deficits in immune response to HPV. Whether stress causes these deficits, however, is unknown, and much more research will need to be done." To that end, Fang and her research team have launched a five-year randomized trial to examine whether participation in an eight-week stress reduction program can lead to enhanced HPV-specific immune responses in women diagnosed with cervical dysplasia. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that one in four American women between the ages of 14 and 59 years is infected with HPV. Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against several cancer-causing HPV sub-types, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, the vaccine works best when given to girls before they become sexually active and is not effective in women already infected. That means the best protection against cervical cancer for sexually active women, whether or not diagnosed with HPV, is to have regular Pap tests and to develop good health habits, Ault said.
Giving birth to a boy can lead to higher levels of severe postnatal depression (PND) than having a girl, according to a study.
A Somali immigrant who allegedly stabbed both pilots on a small commercial plane in a hijack attempt was ordered held in custody for psychiatric assessment when she appeared in court Saturday. 
A milder yet more enduring type of bipolar disorder. For at least two years a person will have experienced many periods of hypomanic symptoms (but not quite a manic episode), alternating with many periods of depressive symptoms (but not quite a major depressive episode). Essentially, a person's mood alternates between a less severe mania (known as hypomania) and a less severe depression. Cyclothymia appears to affect equal numbers of men and women. It typically begins when a person is an adolescent or young adult and the condition tends to be chronic. There is a risk of 15%-50% that a person with cyclothymia will eventually develop bipolar disorder.
