St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) announced the first patient implants in a clinical study that is investigating whether deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy will help people who suffer from major depressive disorder, a severe form of depression. The patients, a 59-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man, were implanted at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Chicago, with the St. Jude Medical Libra® Deep Brain Stimulation System, an investigational device. (more…)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes limitation of
airflow in the lungs that cannot be fully reversed, leading to
symptoms of breathlessness, cough, wheeze and sputum production.
The disease, although chronic, is interspersed with periods of acute
symptomatic and functional deterioration known as exacerbations.
Exacerbations have important consequences for patients and their
healthcare providers.
It (more…)
The children of parents who die suddenly - whether by suicide, accident or natural causes - are three times more likely to develop depression and are at higher risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than children who don’t face such a difficult life event, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in the current issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (more…)
Expectant mothers can safely use prescribed antidepressants during their first trimester, according to a new study from the Universit?© de Montr?©al and Ste. Justine Hospital published in the May edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Dr. Anick B?©rard and her team found that antidepressants have no effect on foetal development. "This is (more…)
Employees who work overtime are at increased risk of anxiety and depression, suggests a study in the June Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Elisabeth Kleppa and colleagues of the University of Bergen, Norway, analyzed data on work hours (more…)
An article published in the May 28 issue of JAMA reports
that patients who took the drug escitalopram or participated in a
problem-solving therapy group during the year following a stroke were
found to have a lower risk of depression compared to patients who
received
placebo.
Of the over 700,000 incidences of stroke per year in the United (more…)
For many women, the lovely images of life with a new baby don’t jive with their reality. Instead of feeling happy, they feel overwhelmed.
University of New Hampshire researcher Kathleen Kendall-Tackett says there are a myriad of treatments available to new mothers experiencing postpartum depression. She is the author of a new monograph, "Non-Pharmacological Treatments for Depression in New Mothers" (more…)
A new study published in the Journal of
Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry finds that Prozac, a
commonly prescribed antidepressant, may be an agent in slowing
down the disease process of the relapsing remitting form of multiple
sclerosis (MS).
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the immune system
attacks the central nervous (more…)
Many people use "alternative" or complementary products because they see them as a more gentle form of medicine. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care has now analysed the latest research on several products and released the results along with a guide for consumers.
St John’s wort (hypericum), for example, could help ease mild depression, (more…)
Depression is prevalent among people living with chronic diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Although most people with MS live normal lives, they must manage symptoms and treatments that cause increased emotional and psychological stress on a daily basis. Now, researchers from two universities have found that people with MS who increase positive experiences (more…)
New findings from research supported by NARSAD, the world’s leading charity dedicated to mental health research, and conducted by scientists at Washington University’s School of Medicine (WUSM) now point to new options for treating preschool-aged children with significant clinical depression as well as those severely depressed adults who don’t respond to standard treatments, such as antidepressants (more…)
Symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among caregivers of deceased lung transplant patients are four-to-five times more prevalent than in the average population, according to researchers who analyzed the stress levels of caregivers, as well as their perceptions of the transplant recipients’ quality of dying and death. Their findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society’s (more…)
”We as policy makers working in the area of suicide prevention need to foster a culture where people in distress, at whatever stage in their lives, won’t hesitate to seek help,” - Devins
Dr Jimmy Devins TD, Minister for Disability and Mental Health, yesterday addressed the National Office for Suicide Prevention’s third (more…)
Even after the age of 70, people prone to feelings of anxiety, worry, distress and insecurity face a risk for a first lifetime episode of clinically significant depression, according to a unique study led by a University of Rochester Medical Center researcher.
"We assume that because depression has not developed for people with these personality traits by the (more…)
Nearly one in five, or about 300,000, soldiers who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan has post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression — illnesses that could cost the U.S. as much as $6.2 billion over two years in care, lost productivity and lost lives through suicide, according to a RAND report released on Thursday, the Washington Post reports (Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 4/18). The study was based (more…)
Researchers in Norway found symptoms of depression and anxiety to be significantly higher among people with MS compared with those without MS. This study provides important data on the occurrence of emotional changes in people with MS, and the necessity to increase treatment of these symptoms. Antonie G. Beiske, MD (University Hospital, Akershus, NO) and (more…)
UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers have taken what they learned from their groundbreaking research on treating depression and are applying it to real-world clinical settings.
The Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study was the largest ever on the treatment of major depressive disorder and is considered a benchmark in the field of depression research. (more…)
Forest Laboratories, Inc.
(NYSE: FRX) announced that study results show Lexapro (escitalopram
oxalate) significantly improved symptoms of depression as compared to
placebo treatment and was well tolerated in adolescents, aged 12-17, with
major depressive disorder (MDD), according to phase III data presented at
the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. These
results suggest that Lexapro has potential as a useful treatment (more…)
Researchers have long known that type-2 diabetes and depression often go hand in hand. However, it’s been unclear which condition develops first in patients who end up with both. Now, a new study led by Johns Hopkins doctors suggests (more…)
St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) announced pilot study results from the first multi-center study investigating deep brain stimulation (DBS) of Brodmann Area 25 for major depressive disorder.
Results of the study, which were presented at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) meeting in Washington, D.C., found that (more…)
Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk) addressed a plenary session of the 12th Annual Conference of the National Hispanic Medical Association’s (NHMA) today. She spoke at a session titled "Recognition and Management of Depression and Co-Morbidities in the Hispanic Population." The session will be held from 11 am - 3 pm in Room HC-7 of the U.S. Capitol. (more…)
Primary care has the lead role in easing the burden of common mental disorders in Australia, according to an editorial in the supplement to the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.
Buy diflucan without prescription The MJA’s 48-page supplement, funded by a grant from beyondblue: the national depression initiative, adds to the evidence (more…)
Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Brown University, and Massachusetts General Hospital will present results of a long-term outcome study that builds on previous promising research, which has shown that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a potentially effective treatment option for people with treatment resistant major depression.
The World Health Organization rates major depression as the top cause of disability (more…)
University of Iowa researchers have shown for the first time that an anti-depressant and a form of talk therapy each can prevent or delay the onset of depression in people who have had acute stroke.
The findings will appear in the May 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Previous studies on this type of prevention had not shown positive results; however, this new study, (more…)
A new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center supports the idea that depression is truly a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease rather than a subtle early sign of its underlying pathology. The study, published in the April issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, found no evidence of an increase in depressive symptoms during the prodromal phase before the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Numerous observational studies have found higher (more…)