Category Health/Medical

What does inflammation in the context of depression look like inside the brain? Emory researchers have found that high inflammation is linked to a “failure to communicate” between two parts of the brain: the ventral striatum (VS, vertical cross section) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, horizontal). Credit: Felger et al, Molecular Psychiatry (2015)

Brain imaging shows distinctive aspects of high-inflammation depression. About 1/3 of people with depression have high levels of inflammation markers in their blood. New research indicates persistent inflammation affects the brain in ways that are connected with stubborn symptoms of depression, such as anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.

The findings bolster the case that the high-inflammation form of depression is dist...

Getting up earlier on work days may harm metabolic health, according to researchers.

The piercing tone of the alarm clock alerts us in the most unsubtle way that we have to get up for work. But this early awakening is more than just bothersome; a new study finds it may actually be harmful to health. Published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the study found that routine sleep changes – such as waking up early on weekdays – may increase the risk for metabolic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Previous research has already established that sleep disruption can pose negative health implications. Eg shift workers – whose circadian rhythms are frequently disrupted due to irregular working hours – are at greater risk for poor metabolic health.

Howeve...

Brain region significantly associated with the subjective happiness score. (Left) A statistical parametric map (p < 0.001, peak-level uncorrected for display purposes). The area is overlaid on the spatially normalized gray matter tissue probability map. The blue cross indicates the location of the peak voxel. The red-white color scale indicates the T-value. (Right) A scatter plot of the adjusted gray matter volume as a function of the subjective happiness score at the peak voxel.

The study paves the way for measuring happiness objectively – and also provides insights on a neurologically based way of being happy. Exercising, meditating, scouring self-help books… we go out of our way to be happy, but do we really know what happiness is?

Wataru Sato and his team at Kyoto University have f...

Researcher using a slit lamp. Credit: Courtesy of the National Eye Institute

Lucentis (ranibizumab) has been found to be highly effective for treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can occur as a complication of diabetes. The researchers, part of the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network, say this is the first major advance in therapy in 40 years.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness among working-age Americans. An advanced stage, called proliferative diabetic retinopathy, occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow near the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. These new vessels can leak blood, which can obscure vision and damage the retina...